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šŸ’° It pays not to work: New reports say bitcoin-mining company Riot Platforms struck gold during the August heatwave in Texas. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas paid them $31.7 million to use less power. Thatā€™s $22 million more than they made mining bitcoin that month, all paid for by taxpayers.

10,000 pics at once: Imagine you have 10,000 images with a white background that should be blue. Before, youā€™d have to open each file, change the background, save it, and then do it again, over and over. Not anymore. Adobeā€™s new Firefly Bulk Create app can edit them all at once. The AI-powered tool resizes, removes or replaces backgrounds with a single click. You’ll need a Firefly Premium plan ($49 per month) and ā€œgenerative creditsā€ to unlock the feature.

Call the referee: Hundreds of AI-fueled websites are flooding the internet with crappy sports articles, often stolen from legit sources. One tip-off: URLs that look like the real thing only if you squint, like ā€œBBCSportss.ā€ Itā€™s all about ad money; theyā€™ve got deals from big brands like Sephora, Net-A-Porter and Asana.

Pure scam: Itā€™s wild how successful purebred puppy scams are. The ā€œbreederā€ hooks you with cute pics, then itā€™s all downhill. Once you send a deposit for the furry little one through Venmo or Zelle, scammers hand over a (fake) pick-up address and vanish. Donā€™t pay for a pet youā€™ve never seen in real life. If you spot a suspicious ad, report it to the FTC.

šŸš€ The age of exploration: The U.S. launched 145 rockets in 2024 and plans to be even busier this year. A ā€œtraffic jamā€ is forming at three key launchpads in Florida and California approved for big rockets. New spaceports might be coming to a city near you. Rockets reach orbit easiest when launched near the equator, and most are by the ocean.

Skinny is in: Rumors are swirling about Appleā€™s iPhone 17 Air, measuring a mere 5.5mm in thickness. The iPhone Pro 16 is about two stacked pennies thicker, at 8.25mm. With less room, the specs for the Air arenā€™t as impressive. Expect a single rear camera, a single speaker and a smaller battery that dies faster. Androidā€™s version, the Galaxy Slim, could drop in May.

šŸŽ® ā€œFix it for meā€: This is the start of something big. Nvidiaā€™s Project G-Assist adjusts your game settings for you based on a conversation. Ask the AI questions like your current frame rate and how to improve it, and itā€™ll adjust your GPU, aka graphics card, for better performance. Hereā€™s a sneak peek.

Sew much fun: This is the year of ā€œgrandmacoreā€ hobbies for 20-something gals ā€” baking, knitting, embroidery, crocheting, gardening and anything else granny loved, too. No surprise, they say itā€™s more relaxing than scrolling. I bought a knitting set three years ago, and itā€™s still in the closet. Maybe this is my sign to try it!