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Across Meta apps — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads. Fun fact: WhatsApp for iPhone hit about 250,000 downloads per day in January. Meanwhile, on Jan. 4 alone, 1.3 million downloads on Android.
Tags: Android, Apple iPhone
Mark Zuckerberg’s favorite word is “public.” In Meta’s recent Q4 earnings call, he said, “On Facebook and Instagram, there are hundreds of billions of publicly shared images and tens of billions of public videos, which we estimate is greater than the Common Crawl dataset and people share large numbers of public text posts in comments across our services as well.”
🐶 Does the name “Pavlov” ring a bell? Those Facebook quizzes titled “What’s your aura color?” or “Which dog breed are you?” come with a catch, according to the BBB, and it’s something I’ve said for years. The quizzes are probably phishing for your password security answers. Mom’s maiden name? First pet? Just say no.
Drone SOS: Brian Telford, a drone photographer, found himself stranded in the snow in Fairview, Utah. In a clever move, he attached a note to his drone pleading for help, which flew to the Taylor family’s home. They saw his drone, read the note, hopped in their vehicle and pulled him out of the snow.
🦠 Getting nerdy: Euglenoids are microorganisms that have survived Earth’s five mass extinctions. How? Researchers at Utrecht University proposed they lived in microfossils, and looking up clips of microfossils on YouTube confirmed their hunch. A microscope vid of a microfossil showed precisely what they were looking for.
You’ve been a very bag girl: 55% of TikTok users have bought something via TikTok Shop. Quick tip: Double-check before you click to buy; people are getting scammed with fake items. It’s always smart to peek at the seller’s rep first, especially with “refurb” or “closeout” deals.
Drives me crazy: In a vid on X, Dante Lentini is seen driving his Tesla on autopilot wearing the Vision Pro. The clip shows him being stopped by police, complete with their lights flashing behind him. Dante said the police bit was just a skit, but he really did drive with the headset on.
“The Simpsons” called it again: Back in 2016, an episode showed Mr. Burns unleashing a VR headset that looked just like the Apple Vision Pro. What went down? Chaos. Folks in Springfield started walking around with these headsets on, crashing into lampposts and falling into manholes. See the pics here.
If Apple makes a car, will it have Windows? Apple stepped on the self-driving car accelerator, quadrupling its California test drives last year. Still, it’s way behind others like Waymo and General Motors. Apple is now focusing on simpler driving-assistance tech, which will be available in 2028.
