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February 6, 2025

🚨 DeepSeek gets all your deep secrets: I said this when DeepSeek first came out, but maybe you weren’t paying close attention. If you use DeepSeek AI, your login information to various sites, documents, pics, searches, videos and more goes straight to China. They’re not even trying to hide it. PSA: Only use DeepSeek the secure way if you have to at all. Steps here on my site.

This is why I don’t change at the gym: A 68-year-old creep in Kaysville, Utah, planted a camera in a gym’s private tanning room. He connected it to the gym’s Wi-Fi for remote access to the footage. It was there two whole days before anyone noticed. Before you tan, change clothes or go to the bathroom in public, look around for a camera first. There are so many creeps in the world.

😱 Apple, we have a problem: For the first time ever, crypto-stealing apps made it into Apple’s App Store. (Yes, they’re on Google Play, too.) The infected apps snoop through your images, looking for crypto wallet recovery phrases. One of them, ChatAi, has 50,000 downloads on Google Play. I sure hope you’re using malware protection* on your phone.

They only care about money: Searching “undress app” on Google brings up paid-search promoted results for AI tools that create nonconsensual naked pictures. All you need is a photo of someone’s face to make a very lifelike fake. Google’s ad policies prohibit deepfakes, but these links keep showing up. When there’s money to be made, enforcement gets blurry.

No-drone zone: Don’t even think about trying to fly a drone over the Super Bowl in New Orleans. The FAA is ready to slap anyone who flies over the Caesars Superdome with fines up to $75,000 starting Sunday at 1:30 p.m. local time.

🐾 I’m a dog person: My Abby makes life better. It turns out that’s true even if the pet isn’t real. Ageless Innovation makes meowing cats, wagging dogs and chirping birds that respond like the real thing, minus the walking, feeding or litter box duty. Now they’re all over assisted-living facilities and even hospice care centers. Some 93% of folks say they feel more joy after getting one. They’re for sale on Amazon.

A real-life nightmare: Imagine random people showing up at your door, primed and ready for a good time. That’s what happened to a university professor who was stalked for seven years. The creep behind it fed her info into an AI chat site where people hang out, looking for sex. The first line of his ad? “[Victim] Is University’s Hottest Professor. How Will You Seduce Her?” She wasn’t his only victim, and the 36-year-old guy could spend up to 20 years in prison.

This makes cents: If you’re looking to make some extra cash, this might be for you. Instacart is rolling out a new side gig where you can make money by just taking photos of products on store shelves. This way, brands see what’s selling and how their products look to customers. The pay? Around $12 for 10 minutes of work (paywall link). I made $15 taking pics of store shelves at Costco while writing about the TaskRabbit app years ago. Too bad I walked out with 50 boxes of animal crackers and a kayak.

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25 years later

EA is re-releasing the original Sims and Sims 2 games digitally. The first game was only available on disk, but now both come bundled in the 25th Birthday Bundle for $39.99. Grab your copy on Steam, the Epic Games Store or the EA app for Windows.

0.5%

Of your brain is plastic. The most common microplastic researchers found in brain tissue samples is polyethylene, the stuff used in single-use bottles and cups. I use mostly glass and metal containers. Scary, dementia patients had 10 times the levels of plastic of a healthy brain.

$1,320,000

Auction price for a super-rare motorcycle. The bright yellow 1915 Cyclone V-Twin is one of only 14 still around today. I bet it’d be fun to ride, but the new owner can’t; it’s for display only, since the Cyclone isn’t cleared for us on roads or highways.

🔑 Know the secret Amazon code: A woman bought a $600 coat on Amazon. In the pocket, she found house keys and a car fob with an Apple AirTag attached. The AirTag wasn’t in Lost mode, but she tracked down the owner days later. Turns out, that new coat was a return. Prepare to be amazed by this insider tip: You can tell if an item you bought on Amazon was returned if it has a label that starts with “LPN.” Seriously, where else can you get this intel?