Tech roundup: Sleep apnea pills, travel phishing scam, goodbye passports

YGTR (You Got That Right!): A Stanford study says abbreviations in texts make you come across as insincere. Sure, you might think you’re being laid-back, but others see it as being lazy. Bonus cringe: People who use abbreviations are less likely to get replies. So, if you’re being ghosted, maybe ditch the “IDK” and try a full sentence, just sayin’.

The listing price for the 1.84-acre empty lot next to Jeff Bezos’ house in Miami. It’s in the “Billionaire Bunker” area of the Indian Creek neighborhood. The price is over seven times what the last owner paid in 2018 ($27.5 million). Hey, Jeff, how’d you like an amazing house in Phoenix?

🎮 Couples unite: A mom says her husband called her selfish for refusing to buy their son a skin in his League of Legends video game. She was fine with spending $25 or maybe $50, but $300? Nope. Dad argued she should lighten up because it’s Christmas. The twist? Their son didn’t care.

Watt? This is shocking: AI data centers are popping up everywhere in the U.S., devouring massive amounts of electricity. Beyond driving up energy bills, they’re putting intense pressure on the grid and disrupting the normal flow of electricity. The consequences include damaged home appliances, blackouts, flickering lights and, in some cases, fires caused by voltage surges.

🛂 All you need is love a passport: In just a few years, say goodbye to paper passports. All your passport info, including your facial data, will go digital and link to your phone. At airports, you’ll just show your phone, and facial recognition cameras will authenticate you. I sure hope they’ve thought of privacy breaches, false rejections and lookalike frauds.

This bytes: Security camera apps are some of the biggest data hoarders, collecting payment details, location info, and image and audio recordings. The top offenders? Deep Sentinel, Lorex, Nest Labs, Ring and Arlo. Once they grab your data, it’s used for targeted ads or sold to third parties. Protect yourself: Always review and limit your app permissions.

🚨 Heads-up, drivers: Scammers are sending fake phishing texts claiming you need to pay your FasTrak bill to avoid late fees or you’ll be in big legal trouble. Don’t fall for it! It’s a ploy to trick you into clicking a bogus link to steal your personal info and drain your wallet.

Until AI drives humanity to extinction, according to a “godfather of AI,” Geoffrey Hinton. He’s the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics and previously put the odds of AI taking over at only 10%. I know many people are thinking, “Great! I won’t have to pay off my student loans!”

The technology to reverse cancer: This is incredible. Most cancer treatments focus on destroying harmful cells, often causing lots of other damage to the body. Korean researchers just figured out how to flip colon cancer cells back to a normal state. This removes the cancer without killing the cells. I hate cancer.

Timeline: That’s Google’s creepy (and interesting) map that shows everywhere you’ve been and the routes you took to get there. Starting in early 2025, all your Timeline data will be moved from Google’s cloud servers to your device for more security. I bet Google’s finally getting its hands slapped by the government ruler for privacy violations. Hit this link for steps to delete or download your info before it’s too late.