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Cybercriminals are targeting holiday shoppers with a fake ‘free iPhone’ scam that can steal your financial data. Here’s how to stay safe.
Off to the great Best Buy in the sky: Microsoft has discontinued its $4,500 Surface Studio 2+ — and it looks like the end of their all-in-one desktop line altogether. If you spot the one for sale, don’t buy it. It’s dead, Jim.
🚨 Recall alert: Anker is recalling 80,000 Bluetooth speakers after 33 reports of overheating batteries and fires. If you have a Soundcore or PowerConf speaker with the model number A3102016, A3302011 or A3302031, stop using it and get a free replacement.
Heartbreaking: The parents of Ashley Scott, a 14-year-old cheerleader who died by suicide, believe Ashley and other girls were cyberbullied and tormented during school hours. Such a sad story. Parents, talk to your kids about this. You never know what pain they’re hiding. Remind them they’re never alone.
Putting the “AI” in “fair?” Starting in January, the Los Angeles Times will add an AI-powered bias meter to its political stories. The paper’s billionaire owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, says the tool lets you read a different perspective on the same topic. Let’s all hope the AI doesn’t hallucinate too much.
r/f**kyourheadlights: It’s the subreddit behind a national movement to make car headlights less bright. Headlight brightness has doubled since 2015 after manufacturers made the switch to super-bright LEDs. This is wild: The standards for acceptable headlight brightness haven’t been updated since 1986. Speaking of headlights, need a smile? Look at this.
📱 Will TikTok get banned? A U.S. appeals court just said Congress can force TikTok to cut ties with its parent company, Communist China’s ByteDance, or get banned. It’ll be appealed in the Supreme Court. If TikTok is banned, it won’t be illegal for you to use TikTok; the ban would only prohibit app stores from letting users download the app, among other things. Remember, TikTok sends just about everything you do on your phone to Chinese servers.
🏠 We have Fort Knox at home: Facial recognition and 3D surveillance are just the first steps for Silicon Valley tech elites turning their homes into military-grade fortresses. The startup Sauron (named after the villain in “The Lord of the Rings”) uses drones to create a “deterrence pod” that projects a searchlight to scare off trespassers. Boy, I could’ve used that when Chilean gangs targeted my home and the Phoenix SWAT team saved the day.
🌺 Keep this news to a-lo-ha: Botanists found a new plant species on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. They flew a drone to the Waiahulu Valley, where the cliffs are too steep to climb. The drone’s robotic arm returned a sample that scientists have named Schiedea waiahuluensis. Only about 345 are hanging on for dear life in tiny pockets of soil.
⛅ Cloudy with a chance of AI: Right now, predicting the weather beyond five days is hit or miss. GenCast, a new AI weather-forecasting system from Google DeepMind, can make 15-day forecasts with up to 97% accuracy. We’re entering the age where severe weather will no longer surprise anyone.
Rich parents tickle their kids by saying, “Gucci, Gucci, Gucci!” Aris Yeager got his big break on social media with a viral video mocking his wealthy college roommate’s entitled behavior. He started an account called “The European Kid,” a parody persona of a spoiled heir. Now, 1.7 million TikTok followers later, he makes up to $30,000 per post.
