Tech roundup: 2025 predictions, robotic surgeons, EV data leak

🐷 Ham radio is a contact sport: There’s a huge potential break in the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 mystery. The plane vanished without a trace in 2014. Maritime robotics company Ocean Infinity is using Weak Signal Propagation Reporter (WSPR), aka ham radio tech, to track flight paths in the southern Indian Ocean. The search area for the wreckage is the size of Connecticut. I spoke with the person leading this theory on my podcast.

The value of a one-square-mile parcel in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park that’s now protected from development. The state has considered selling the plot — a migration path for pronghorn and elk — to luxury developers. The nonprofit Grand Teton National Park Foundation raised about one-third of the cash; the rest is from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Talk about heartwarming: Brianna Cry surprised her grandparents with a trip to Paris for Christmas. The TikTok video of the surprise has over 600,000 views. The couple adopted Brianna, so she wanted to give back. They’re headed for the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles and a ballet at Palais Garnier opera house. 

😳 I pass gas: Auto software provider Cariad leaked the location data for 800,000 electric vehicles. We’re talking owners’ names and the movements of politicians, cops and business big-shots driving Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT and Skoda EVs — all wide open for months. They say nothing was accessed before they patched it, but I’m not buying it.

So bloody amazing: Robots have been helping surgeons for years. Now they’re leveling up just by watching videos. Bots from Johns Hopkins and Stanford can tie knots, suture wounds, pick up dropped needles and even work on animal cadavers. They could help fill the surgeon shortage that’s expected to hit up to 20,000 by 2036.

Keep this in mind: The 2025 predictions from the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center aren’t pretty. The cybercrime job market is booming, with postings for “software testers” all over the Dark Web. Get this: 12% of identity theft victims who contacted the nonprofit for help in 2024 shared thoughts about ending their lives because the impacts of the theft were so devastating. If this is ever you, do me a favor and call 988 or go here.

Of life gone for every cigarette smoked. Yikes! I still cannot believe there were ads in the 1940s that said, basically, cigarettes were good for you. A new study out of University College London found a pack of 20 cigarettes knocks 7 hours off a person’s life. Say you smoke 10 a day and quit on Jan. 1. By the end of the year, you’ve “earned back” 50 extra days. Now, that’s incredible motivation.

😤 Life savings, gone: Here’s another money scam making the rounds. Kay, 80, from Virginia transferred her money to a “secure account” after someone claiming to work for Wells Fargo called, saying her money was in danger. They drained her savings account of tens of thousands until nothing was left. If you get a call your money is at risk in some way, hang up. Call your bank directly using the number on the back of your card.