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💍 Diamonds aren’t forever: What if a mystery red box with a diamond ring arrived in your mail? Ask Tiffany Grove. She got one from the “Global Gemological Research Academy,” did some digging and realized it was a scam. It came with a QR code for a “warranty” that leads to a phishing site. Apparently, the only gem they’re offering is emotional damage. Don’t scan it, just report it.
🤖 AI just passed the Turing test: Yep, the one where a human has to guess if they’re talking to a machine or a real person. In a study, people chatted for five minutes with both a human and a chatbot without knowing which was which. Their job? Pick the human. GPT-4.5 fooled them 73% of the time, and LLaMA 3.1 got 56%. Yikes.
💆🏻‍♀️ Luxury vehicles are turning into spas? Brands like Mercedes, Lincoln and BMW are going all-in on in-car wellness (paywall link). The Lincoln Nautilus, for example, has a “Rejuvenate” program with massage chairs, mood lighting and scent diffusers. Kale yeah, this is great! Because nothing says “I’m thriving” like getting aromatherapy in traffic.
🥷 Another gold bar scam: A Florida woman lost over $280,000 after scammers tricked her into thinking her Social Security number was compromised. A fake federal officer told her to protect her assets by buying gold from a bullion store. They arranged a delivery, gave her a secret “password” and then vanished. PSA: No legit agency asks for gift cards, crypto or undercover missions.
🥴 “What’d you say?” If you find yourself asking this more and more, it’s time to make a change. Forget the hearing aids your grandpa wore; today’s tech is so much better. These hearing aids* have two tiny processors that analyze the sound around you to make conversations crystal clear. Incredible. If your ears had a software update, this would be it.
📱 Does your kid have a burner phone? We’ve reached the era of middle schoolers running black market tech ops. A dad posted to Reddit after he found out his 12-year-old son was hiding one in a pillow to access apps he wasn’t supposed to be on. Signs to watch for: They’re ignoring the phone you know about, there are sudden dips in data usage, or you notice new devices using the Wi-Fi.
📺 Make your own Netflix? Vimeo just launched a new tool that lets you build your own subscription-based streaming service (no coding required). Because clearly, what the internet needs is one more subscription service. You can offer tiered memberships, stream live events, sell merch and customize the whole thing. They say it’s to give us more control and cash instead of relying on the algorithm, but remember, Vimeo’s still taking their cut.
💾 Blast from the past: Bill Gates is in his nostalgia feels. To mark Microsoft’s 50th, Bill is letting you download the OG operating system he and Paul Allen whipped up. Fire up your nostalgia engines and see what computing was like when disco was king.