Stop the “Where are you?” texts

🐶 Lost and found: Such a great story! Paul Guilbeault’s dog, Damian, ran away while he was moving from Massachusetts to Arizona in 2017. Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago, when Paul got a text: “Damian’s been found.” The American Kennel Club tracked his chip all those years later! Paul drove 14 hours to Oklahoma City for the reunion. The pup’s cataracts made him a bit slow to recognize him, but, once he did, it was pure joy.

Of ChatGPT’s mobile users are guys. With 353 million downloads, there’s a serious gender gap in AI. Women are way more skeptical (not me); about 53% won’t let their kids touch AI, compared to 26% of men. Remember, artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

Read all about it: Does your town still have a newspaper? An average of 2.5 newspapers close each week, and 200 U.S. counties are now considered “news deserts.” Facebook groups are stepping in, covering everything from events to weather. Some have almost as many members as their town’s population. Search for your town’s name to see if there’s a group for you.

Ready for takeoff: Before your drone’s next flight, check out B4UFLY. It’s the FAA’s new tool for knowing where you can and can’t fly — airspace restrictions, temporary zones for special events and no-fly zones. The FAA has given the thumbs-up to four companies to use it. Try it on the web or your phone for Android or iOS.

🏥 Your health, at risk: Two patient monitors that track your vitals have gaping security holes. Hackers can snoop on data, mess with settings or even assume total control. The Chinese-built models completely ignore network settings, meaning someone with the right know-how can break in. The only fix hospitals have? Unplug it and keep it off the network.

Update your Apple gear — except your iPhone: Apple dropped updates for new and old devices. Wait a few weeks to update your iPhone, though, because I’m hearing the new update destroys your battery life. On the bright side, the security flaws patched in iPadOS 18.3, macOS Sequoia 15.3, watchOS 11.3, tvOS 18.3 and visionOS 2.3 keep malicious apps from taking full control of your device. Go to Settings > General > Software Update and get it done. Here’s the full list of fixes.

🌍 Why Greenland? It all comes back to the AI race. The country is rich in precious metals. KoBold Metals is one startup digging up raw materials there to fuel AI production. Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg are all investors. Gotta secure those resources to keep scaling up AI data centers. Follow the money, folks. I really want to go to Greenland.

OpenAI makes a move ahead of schedule: Instead of waiting until spring, OpenAI just dropped its newest AI models, o3-mini and o3-mini-high, which have o1-level reasoning with 4o-level speed. Translation? They’re fast, smart, cheap and built to crush DeepSeek (paywall link). Try them now in ChatGPT under the dropdown Model Menu. I’m using it, and it’s another major jump forward in AI.

DeepSeek’s rise is a wake-up call: China isn’t just catching up; they’re proving they can compete, despite fewer resources and U.S. sanctions in place. If the U.S. wants to stay ahead, we can’t just play defense by restricting China’s access to chips and technology; we need to double down on innovation, AI investment and infrastructure, because, in the race for AI dominance, second place isn’t an option. We need to win!

🇨🇳 Numbers speak: Since DeepSeek was unveiled, OpenAI, which has attracted roughly $15 billion in funding, and Anthropic, with nearly $3 billion behind it, both have seen their valuations dip by up to 20%. DeepSeek led to a massive sell-off in AI tech stocks, with Nvidia losing nearly $600 billion in market value in a single day.