Andrew and Joey are back with another edition of Smart Dads! Joey breaks down who the Costco Guys are and why they’re famous. Plus, Andrew has a life hack to get around all those annoying concert service fees!
Tags: Costco, download, fees, Life, service
Uncanny valley: Hit play on the 1980s sitcom “A Different World” on Netflix, you’ll notice something is … off. The streamer used AI to make the old footage HD quality. The result is nightmare-inducing. Faces look warped, and words or objects in the background are all pixelated. Check out this video to see for yourself. Dumb.
When life gets a little messy, I’ve got the fixes for you.
🏠 Home upgrade? Check out my handpicked favorites to get your place all ready in time for spring.
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Asking price for 509-SWIFTIE. That’s the phone number 509-794-3843. Taylor Swift-related phone numbers have become a hot commodity. Also for sale: 75-ERAS-TOUR for $4,500 and 41-SWIFT-ERA for $3,300. I have a Roomba that I named “Taylor Swiffer.” I named my iPhone “My little phoney.” Before you ask, none of my tech is named “Hugh Jass.”
Beam me up, Kimmie: By the end of this year, Google and HP are set to make video calls freakishly realistic. Their new tech uses AI and multiple cameras to create real-time 3D images, making it look like the other person is right in front of you. Yup, think “Star Trek”! No price yet (paywall link).
🖨️ Oh Brother: The printer manufacturer quietly pushed a firmware update that blocks third-party ink cartridges. It gets worse. They scrubbed older firmware versions from their support site, so there’s no way to roll back. If you haven’t updated, keep your device offline and reject firmware updates.
🚨 YouTube creators, don’t fall for this: Scammers are using an AI video of CEO Neal Mohan to trick you into giving up sensitive info. They’ll send it privately, claiming YouTube is changing its monetization policy. It’s your credentials they’re after. Reminder: YouTube will never contact you or share updates through a private video.
Inspected the New York City subway system. They were placed on subway cars from September to January to check for things like broken rails and signals. Using AI, they collected 335 million vibration and sound readings and found 92% of issues human inspectors spotted later. Neat.
💪 Man with the golden arm: That’s what Australians called James Harrison. He donated his blood and plasma 1,173 times. He passed away peacefully in his sleep last month at 88. His plasma had a rare antibody to prevent rhesus disease — when a pregnant mother’s blood is incompatible with her baby. He’s credited with saving 2.4 million babies’ lives. What a hero!
New iPad gets a boost: Apple says its new iPad Air is twice as fast as the one from a few years back, thanks to the M3 chip that Apple makes themselves. It can be paired with an upgraded Magic Keyboard. Plus, it comes with Apple Intelligence and 11-inch ($599) and 13-inch ($799) options. Preorder to get it by March 12.
🏁 $28,000 down the drain: A guy from Ohio found a used Dodge Ram on Facebook Marketplace. He’s smart, so he asked for the VIN, ran three checks and called the original dealership. It all checked out. A couple weeks later, six cops showed up. The scam is called cloning. A thief swaps the VIN on a stolen vehicle with a clean one, sells it and moves on. Poor guy is on the hook for the loan.
