Stop porch pirates this Christmas

Winter brake: Employees at Tesla’s Cybertruck factory were told to stay home for a few days. This is after weeks of inconsistent schedules and odd assignments. Demand is dipping, and the supposed years-long backlog has dried up. Having six recalls in one year isn’t great for PR.

Sold on eBay. The single puff duct-taped to a wall was Frito-Lay’s cheeky response to a similar “art” piece of a banana that sold for $6.2 million. At least the winner of this auction got a supply of Cheetos worth their bid’s price — about 450 8.5-ounce bags. Orange fingers for life.

🏴‍☠ Hands off my treasure: Porch piracy is so out of control, you can now pay for stolen package insurance. PorchPals covers up to $2,000 of deliveries (or three claims a year) for $120 annually. Don’t bother. Save your money. Sign for your packages or have them delivered to a locker. Steps here!

Are driven by only 148 terms. The top hits? “YouTube,” “Gmail,” “Amazon,” “Facebook” and “ChatGPT.” And 44% of searches are for branded terms (think “ESPN Fantasy Football” rather than just “fantasy football”).

🎮 Twitch and YouTube are booming: Gamers spend more hours per week watching other people play video games than playing themselves. This year’s League of Legends World Championship esports event peaked at nearly 7 million viewers. Hey, parents — your kids can turn playing video games into a real job after all.

Re-FundMe: There’s a lot of drama here. Donors to a GoFundMe campaign meant to locate missing Hawaii woman Hannah Kobayashi want their money back. The 30-year-old vanished after missing a flight at LAX, but CCTV shows she went to Mexico. The family used part of the $46,000 raised for her father’s funeral; he committed suicide during the search. Don’t give to a GoFundMe unless you know the recipient personally.

InWin’s Infinite clocks in at 100 pounds. It has 180-degree curved glass, diamond-cut edges and a mechanical hinge that opens with the press of a button. Each glass panel takes about 12 hours to mold. Uh, don’t drop it.

On Xiaohongshu (China’s Instagram) for Maye Musk. Elon’s gorgeous mom has been a model for many years and is a superstar in China. At 75, she’s a top silver-haired influencer. Maye we all be this fabulous.

🚖 Cybercab’s dirty secret: Elon Musk says Tesla’s robotaxi service is coming by 2026. The catch? It won’t be “fully autonomous” as promised. A recent job listing shows Tesla is hiring a team to remotely control its vehicles when they get stuck. FYI: They’re not the first to do this, it’s an industry standard. Waymo and others just keep it under wraps.

Winging it: Forget those small prop planes carrying advertising banners over beaches. Drones are replacing planes in places like Miami Beach. They’re quieter and — get this — they track ad views in real time and fly about 400 feet lower than planes. There’s no avoiding ‘em.