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Age of footprints found in Saudi Arabia. These are the oldest ones ever uncovered on the Arabian Peninsula. They turned up in a dried-up watering hole in the Nafud Desert, right next to animal tracks. The area was wetter back then, and early humans were likely taking a water break alongside other animals, like a prehistoric rest stop.
Nine days after going missing, 4-year-old German shepherd mix Athena rang her owner’s doorbell. It was Christmas Eve at 2:30 a.m. — a holiday miracle! The Green Cove Springs, Florida fam searched as far as Jacksonville and Saint Augustine.
Cue the “Jeopardy!” music: This company added a 27-inch LCD screen to its new microwave to bombard you with ads. The answer: Who is LG? Nothing’s sacred. They’re following Samsung’s lead by putting screens on everything as a way to make extra cash. I’ll keep my “dumb” microwave.
Nvidia, the $3 trillion AI chip giant, is betting on robotics as the next big thing. Next year, they’ll launch the Jetson Thor, a new “brain” designed for robots. The Jetson line includes this teeny-tiny AI computer. The robotics biz is expected to jump from $78 billion to $165 billion by 2029. I want one! Do you?
Can AI save Facebook? Meta hopes so. They’re rolling out AI avatars (paywall link) to pull in younger people. Robo-influencers are all the rage. Snapchat and TikTok are jumping on the bandwagon, too. It sounds strange, but I’ve read some of these AI-based virtual influencers make $10,000 per post. Maybe I’m in the wrong business.
🛜 Thanks for your service: Looks like Google secretly used phones for an interesting project. Researchers turned millions of Androids into tiny stations to map the ionosphere — 37 to 190 miles up, where space particles mess with GPS systems, leaving gaps in places like South America and Africa. It’s good the service is getting better for folks who live there, but isn’t it creepy Google can just flip a switch like that?
39,000 more vehicles recalled: The latest round includes Volvo C40 electric crossovers, Mercedes-Benz E 350 and 450 models, Ram 1500s, and the Ford F-150 Lightning. Instead of wading through lists, download the free SaferCar app that alerts you to recalls as they happen.
🇨🇳 Communist China hacked the U.S. Treasury: They stole a key from a third-party cybersecurity firm called BeyondTrust (ironic name) on Dec. 8 to take a good, long look and steal a ton of unclassified docs. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI are still sussing out how bad the breach was. China denies everything, of course.
🐷 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.
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.
