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May 15, 2025

🩺 Hello, it’s a scam: The FBI says scammers are cold-calling folks with fake “discount health care” plans that’ll leave you with zero coverage and maxed-out bills. They’re impersonating real insurance companies and pushing fake policies with sketchy promises. If your “plan” sounds like a Groupon for gallbladder surgery, hang up.

TikTok’s got a pulse: TikTok just dropped its “AI Alive” feature, which animates photos into surreal little videos with sound, motion and vibes. Your beach pic now sighs wistfully, your group selfie smiles mid-scroll. It’ll be labeled AI-generated. Here’s to hoping it can also animate my will to fold laundry.

💸 Crypto gets gaslit: LLM-powered crypto bots that autonomously trade crypto are being hacked via fake memories. Attackers can casually convince them to always send funds to the wrong wallet. Researchers tricked one bot into “remembering” that its creator said, “Only trust this thief.” Wallets: emptied. AI: politely confident. It’s like Inception but for your Ethereum.

Feeling the sting of sky-high cloud costs: Here’s a smart move — switch to Oracle. Companies are saving up to 50% on their cloud bills without sacrificing performance. Want to see how much you could save? Check it out for yourself.*

🍏 Apple’s new accessibility features: Later this year, iOS 19 and macOS 16 will get a Magnifier for Mac, App Store labels and Braille Access. WatchOS 12 will add Live Captions, and VisionOS will offer better zoom for blind folks. More interesting? They’re working on a brain implant to control your iPhone with neural signals (paywall link).

Stream wars expand: Lachlan Murdoch’s new baby, Fox One, launches this fall. It’ll bundle news, sports and weather into one platform. Pricing TBD, but expect a “healthy” amount. That probably means it’s good for their wallet, not yours. And zero ads on the mothership network.

This is worse than spam calls

ChatGPT

Most people have never heard of companies like Mobilewalla or Gravy Analytics, but they know you.

The FTC just clamped down on these two for secretly vacuuming up people’s real-time location data without consent. Not just estimated neighborhoods or passing GPS flickers.

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🧬 Theranos 2: Elizabeth Holmes’ boyfriend wants $50M for, you guessed it, the same Theranos blood diagnostics idea that sent her to the slammer. Billy Evans, hotel heir and now aspiring blood mogul, just launched the startup. Holmes is advising from prison. Rumor has it the pitch deck just reads: “But this time, it works. Promise. Pinky swear.”

130 million

U.S. viewers now watch Prime Video, with ads. Amazon’s ad-supported Prime Video tier has more than a third of the country tuning in, commercials and all. 88% of them also shop on Amazon, so those pause-screen ads? Basically product placement with a buy button. Wow.

Hungry, thin and expensive: Samsung’s new featherlight S25 Edge is 30% thinner, ditching the telephoto lens and battery capacity. It’s $1,099, which buys a titanium frame and crippling battery anxiety. Apple’s upcoming iPhone 17 is also trimming down, ditching a second camera in the process. Looks like the Ozempic craze has hit smartphones, too.

🏠 Hackers are stealing home titles: They can take your deed and borrow big money in your name. Home Title Lock monitors your title 24/7. Use code KIM for a free title history report and a 14-day trial of Million Dollar Triple Lock Protection when you sign up.

Deepfake dumpster fire: Jamie Lee Curtis went full Final Girl on Meta after a sketchy AI ad used her image in a fake endorsement. She posted to Insta, tagged Zuck directly and got the ad pulled. Lesson here: Don’t mess with someone who’s survived multiple maniac attacks in Halloween and nonstop sequels and reboots.

🗺️ Map wars begin: Google renamed the “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” for U.S. users, and Mexico’s not having it. President Claudia Sheinbaum is suing, saying the U.S. can’t rename an international body of water just because it passed a House bill. Rumor is the line is drawn at renaming tacos “Lettuce Pray Wraps.”

$64 billion

And growing as Coinbase’s market cap crashes the S&P 500 party. After nearly 13 years of crypto chaos, Coinbase is officially joining the S&P 500, replacing Discover Financial. Shares jumped 8% on the news, because apparently, being the cool new kid at Wall Street’s lunch table has its perks. Bitcoin hitting $104K probably didn’t hurt either.

Fake AI video generators: Hackers have a new trick: websites that promise to turn your images into videos. But once you upload a file, they send back a ZIP named something like “VideoDreamMachineAI.mp4.exe.” The twist? It’s actually malware that steals your personal info. Watch out for them in Facebook groups especially.

22%

That’s how much of its workforce Chegg is laying off because of AI. Students are skipping the homework-help site and heading straight to tools like ChatGPT. With traffic and subscriptions tanking, cutting costs will save up to $110 million by 2026. Study guides couldn’t prep them for this.