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September 2, 2024

How much kids should read for a better adulthood. Researchers analyzed 10,000 kids and found the earlier they started reading for fun, the better their learning, memory, speech and mental well-being. Looking for recommendations? These are the bestselling kids’ books on Amazon.

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Tags: Amazon, fun, kids, Learning

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Zip it: If your phone rings and someone says, “Can you hear me?” or “Is this [your name]?” hang up. Scammers record your “Yes” to create voice authorizations for bank account access. Bonus points if you report shady numbers to the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker.

📸 Heartwarming moment: A middle school assistant principal in North Carolina had to be at work early on the first day of classes, which meant missing out on her son’s first day of school … again. This year, though, she got a Ring notification on her phone just as he was heading out the door. Mom got to say hi, see his outfit and snap a photo before he left. The video is adorable.

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

Stop blabbin’: Dropbox’s AI may share your files with OpenAI and other third parties. Don’t remember signing up for that? Me, neither. To turn it off, log in to Dropbox, hit your Account icon, go to Settings, find the Third-Party AI tab and toggle the switch to Off.

🗣️ Alexa’s makeover is going to cost you: This is interesting. Amazon’s in-house Alexa AI software struggled, sometimes taking seven seconds (a digital lifetime) to reply. Now, they’re using Anthropic’s Claude AI. Amazon invested $4 billion in Anthropic. A smarter Alexa is coming in October, costing $5 to $10 a month.

If you crash this, you’ll see a drone man cry: Chinese drone maker DJI is about to drop Neo. This tiny drone fits in the palm of your hand, weighs less than one-third of a pound and shoots 4K video. Expect a price starting around $230.

🤖 Want a job in AI? Recruiters want candidates with a technical background and degree in data science, computer science, mathematics and applied science (paywall link). You also should be proficient in a few programming languages, starting with Python and JavaScript. Bonus points if you’ve taken a course in AI ethics.

His password is 1Forrest1: Tom Hanks is warning fans about online ads promoting “miracle cures and wonder drugs” using an AI-generated Tom. The vids are fakes, of course, created without his permission. This isn’t the first time scammers have stolen Tom’s voice; last October, a deepfaked Hanks was promoting a dental plan online.

Amazing Grace: Meet Grace Hopper, the legendary computer scientist and U.S. Navy rear admiral, who gave a lecture in 1982 called “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software and People.” This iconic talk has been unavailable to the public because it was stuck on outdated AMPEX tapes. Now, it’s digitized. Here’s Part 1 and here’s Part 2.

📝 This snoop is a real dog: A new AI wearable records your conversations and transcribes them to help you be more productive. The company behind it says it can save you 260 hours a year. Cost? $169 plus monthly fees. That’s an expensive tracker.

New Instagram features: Add text to photos by tapping the text button, or throw in stickers via the gallery. Reels got an upgrade, too, with new fonts, animations and text effects. Simply tap the text button, and then hit the animations button and effects button. Plus, you can now upload up to 20 photos in one post.