Good guys and bad guys

February 20, 2025

Whoa, it’s not an iPhone SE 4! Apple’s newest budget model ($599) is the iPhone 16e. It’ll have a 6.1-inch OLED screen, 48MP Fusion Camera, 5G modem, Apple Intelligence and a beefier A18 chip. What’s missing? MagSafe, the old Home Button and zippy Wi-Fi 7. Preorders start on Friday. Both the iPhone 14 and iPhone SE were discontinued, too.

😱 Robin Hood: Hackers dropped a toolkit that permanently unlocks almost all versions of Windows (7 and up), plus Office 2013 to 2024. They’re giving it away for free because “profiting from piracy is not good.” How ethical. Go with the free LibreOffice instead.

Craigslist scam: The guy listed a luxury Palm Beach apartment for $950/month (red flag because it actually costs $5,200/month), and a couple took the bait. The scammer gave them a tour and handed over the keys so it seemed legit. Turns out the real owner had left them in the door for a handyman. Argh.

💰 Armed rideshares are popping up everywhere: The new Protector app (iPhone only) lets you book armed guards and Escalades to chauffeur you around for $200 an hour. Think Uber, but with active or retired law enforcement and military officers behind the wheel. BlackWolf hires military and law enforcement too.

🍑 Imagine accidentally leaking your own nudes: That’s what happened to one guy thanks to a little-known Google Pixel setting. Pressing the power button five times activates Emergency SOS. It calls emergency services and sends a video recording to your chosen contacts. He was naked in bed and half asleep. You can turn it off under Settings > Safety & Emergency > Emergency SOS.

I own a real green screen: The YouTube Shorts AI, Veo 2, whips up clips with just a few words. Like OpenAI’s Sora, type what you want and the AI does the rest. You can specify a style, lens or cinematic effect. Want to try it yourself? Open YouTube, go to Shorts camera > Green Screen > and type your prompt.

Bow wow: A former police officer is using a heat-seeking drone to track down missing dogs. So far, he’s reunited 42 dogs with their families. Here’s an adorable clip of a pup lost in the snow. His little tail wags like crazy when he sees his owner. I’m so excited that I’m getting a new puppy. Meet Bella.

Bow wow

A former police officer is using a heat-seeking drone to track down missing dogs. So far, he’s reunited 42 dogs with their families. Here’s an adorable clip of a pup lost in the snow. His little tail wags like crazy when he sees his owner. I’m so excited that I’m getting a new puppy. Meet Bella.

🚢 Captains make ship happen: Barry walks around our boat with a special remote to dock it. So smart. Yamaha’s Helm Master EX’s new handheld remote control looks like a Wii controller. It works with a slew of fishing boats and cruisers and powers off the engines if someone falls overboard. Watch it in action now.

5,000 year old

Mummies smell woody, spicy and sweet. That’s what a team of human sniffers (yes, it’s a real job) say. Ancient Egyptians used special waxes and balms to keep their pharaohs and nobles smelling nice. BO in the afterlife was a sign of corruption. I heard they also liked wrap music.

iSpy: A private detective took to social media to spill one of the tricks of the trade. He says if someone comes to your door looking for help with a lost pet, it’s just a ploy to see your face and verify you’re home.

30 seconds

Time after a distraction ends before drivers refocus. Researchers found glancing at your phone for five seconds really takes your attention off the road for 35. Next time you’re in a car with a younger driver, count to 35 and tell them this fact.

✅ 50% off alert: My home security pick, SimpliSafe, is having a massive sale. I love their new Active Guard technology that alerts you before a break-in happens. You don’t need to live in fear or worry about burglars when you’re not home. Get all the gear to lock down your home for half off.

Forever ends now: Starting today, your Facebook live videos will only be stored for 30 days and then, they’ll be deleted. This also means if you have any videos older than 30 days, they’re off to the intergalactic bit bucket gone forever. Until now, your live videos were stored forever.

🍏 It’s Apple launch day: They’re rolling out a new iPhone SE without the old home button, revamped AirTags with a longer range and a speaker that’s harder to remove. Watch it live on Apple’s YouTube channel at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET). While you’re at it, don’t forget to subscribe to mine, too.

🤑 MrBeast earned how much? A screenshot showed $4.2 million in earnings after racking up 2.6 billion views in 28 days on YouTube. That’s more than $50 million a year. What a great American success story!

Elon Musk’s Grok-3 AI is here: He says “reasoning” is why his model is better than ChatGPT, Gemini and DeepSeek. It’s not free. xAI’s Premium Plus subscription is $40 a month, up from $22. The SuperGrok standalone plan is $30. I tried it. Saying it’s 10x times better is a crock.