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April 22, 2025

💸 $20 scam spreading: Don’t fall for it. A stranger walks up and says you dropped $20. They try to stuff the cash back into your wallet, but they’re really swiping your debit card. One woman at a Ralphs grocery store fell for it. Thieves withdrew thousands in 30 minutes. Yikes.

🤖 No more humans working: The future is bright, if you’re a GPU or own six condos. Mechanize wants to replace all human work with AI. They say it’ll boost the economy since companies won’t have to pay salaries. Because robots are totally going to pay taxes for us.

🚨 Don’t fall for this Zoom scam: Hackers are tricking people into installing malware. It starts with a fake podcast or interview invite. They ask you to share your screen. Then they request remote access but change their display name to “Zoom” so it looks like the app. Click Approve, and they’re in! Tip: Disable remote control in your settings.

🌳 No green thumb required: Why wait years for your yard to bloom? Fast Growing Trees makes it simple to plant like a pro. They’ll recommend the best trees and shrubs for your exact location and ship them straight to your door. No hauling, no guesswork. Use promo code KIM to save an extra 15%. I got an avocado tree, and it’s thriving!*

🗣️ YouTube wants to dub every video: AI tools will soon translate any video into any language (paywall link). It’ll use the creator’s own voice and sync their lips to match. The AI behind this is trained on current videos … and you agreed to it years ago. If you’re a creator, congrats, you’re multilingual now.

📢 Government drone testing is back: The FAA says don’t panic if you see them swarming New Jersey skies. They’re testing over 100 drones through April 25. It’s apparently to improve drone detection and to make sure they don’t mess with aircraft navigation. New Mexico, North Dakota and Mississippi, you’re up next. Don’t worry, it’s just 100 flying robots stress-testing your paranoia.

🛒 Check yourself: Say goodbye to all traditional and self-checkout lanes at Sam’s Club’s nearly 600 stores. Instead, you’ll use “Scan & Go” on their app. Then, AI-powered cameras and sensors will check your cart as you walk right out. Shoplifting? No. Shop-glitching? Maybe.

🤝 I want to be your secret helper and mentor: Do you think you’re getting scammed? Wondering how to use AI in your business or life? Need some advice? I would love to help you. Ask me your questions here on my site. I read every single note.

🏠 Zillow’s new rule: If a home is advertised anywhere online, it now has to be listed on Zillow, too, or they’ll blacklist it. Why? Some brokerages have been posting homes on their own sites first to give their clients early access. Harsh. Long story short: If you’re selling, now you know, thanks to me.

32 minutes

How long it takes to cook the perfect egg. If you hard-boil it, the yolk goes chalky. Soft-boil it, and the whites stay wobbly. Why? Yolks cook best at 149°F, whites at 185°F. Scientists found a fix: Switch the egg between boiling water (212°F) and tepid water (86°F) every two minutes for 32 minutes. This isn’t a breakfast, it’s a culinary hostage situation.

😒 Comcast’s sneaky offer: New Xfinity customers can now lock their internet price for five years. Talking $55/month for 400 Mbps or $105 for 2.1 Gbps. The catch? It doesn’t include taxes or fees. Plus, internet deals will get cheaper with competition from Starlink and AT&T’s satellite service. Locking in your price for five years sounds great, until you realize the fees are multiplying in the dark like gremlins.

🧠 ChatGPT can “think with images”: OpenAI’s latest models, o3 and o4-mini, take ChatGPT’s visual reasoning to unsettlingly sharp levels. They can describe what’s in a photo, zoom, crop and enhance images. “Thinking with images” sounds cool until your AI starts judging your handwriting and that stain on your shirt.

Mind over metal: Move over, Neuralink. Precision Neuroscience, started by a Neuralink cofounder, just tested a brain patch thinner than a human hair on Tim Fisher, a 63-year-old with Parkinson’s (paywall link). Unlike Neuralink, this patch sits gently on your brain without poking it. The FDA just approved it for use for up to 30 days. Tim even fist-bumped the robotic hand used in the test. Love that.

Around 70%

Of people are polite to AI. The kicker? All those “pleases” and “thank yous” are adding up and costing OpenAI tens of millions of dollars in electricity. CEO Sam Altman doesn’t think it’s a bad thing, though. Why? Just in case there’s an AI uprising someday. Plus, being nice can get you better responses.

🛡️ Google scrambles to fix Gmail phishing mess: I told you about this on Saturday, but it’s still going in full force. Don’t fall for spoofed emails claiming your Gmail account is about to be closed down. These are passing Gmail’s scam filters, slipping into inboxes looking squeaky-clean. You know it’s bad when the scammer gets better deliverability than your friend’s birthday email.

AGI, but then what? While most companies are figuring out how to responsibly build AI, Google’s DeepMind is already hiring for what comes after, AI being smarter than humans. The job description should include “Please stop Skynet.”

7,000 miles

That’s the range of the U.S. military’s MQ-9B spy drone. The twist? It just got a whole lot deadlier. They’ve strapped a 25-kilowatt laser to it that can melt incoming kamikaze drones and missiles right out of the sky. And it doesn’t stop there: The laser can be scaled up to 300kW in future versions.

🤖 Robocop is real: Thailand just showed off the Cyborg 1.0, and yes, it’s a bot dressed in full police gear. This thing has 360-degree cameras for eyes, facial recognition to spot suspects and the ability to detect weapons. The creepiest part? Its AI can analyze CCTV and drone footage from anywhere so it can keep tabs on everything. Coming soon near you, there’s a robot dude with WALL-E eyes and a badge.