Kindness + Tech = Heroes: After Hurricane Helene and the Eaton Fire, Taylor Schenker and Claire Schwartz are reuniting lost photos with their owners. They find damaged pictures, clean them, and post them on Facebook and Instagram to match them with the right families. Here are photos found from the Eaton Fire. So nice.
🩸 Elizabeth Holmes’ life in vein: Convicted felon and former CEO of Theranos wants us to feel sorry for her after cheating and stealing $724 million for tech that didn’t work. In a PR puff piece interview, she says prison is “hell and torture,” waking up at 5 a.m., earning 31 cents an hour and only seeing her kids twice a week. This criminal’s best asset is her lie ability.
Lifetime subscriptions: It’s the newest marketing ploy. Pay once and get access forever, right? But “forever” means “as long as the company stays in business” (paywall link). If it shuts down or abandons the app, you’re out of luck. Ask yourself, “Will I use this five years from now?” Probably not.
Take part in research: Apple’s looking for 350,000 people for a new health study about how mental health impacts heart rate and sleep affects exercise. Spoiler: Joining means sharing a lot of personal data. Hopefully, we’ll get another useful tool like the AirPods hearing test.
“Rage-baiting”: It’s what Winta Zesu does when she posts videos of her life as a NY model whose biggest problem is being “too pretty.” Is she a narcissist? Nope. People get angry and post hateful comments. Joke’s on them. More engagement translates to money and sponsorships for her.
🔞 Watch the kids on ChatGPT: You can now ask about and create spicy and gory content and images. People complained restrictions were interfering with news reporting and crime scene depictions.
🔪 The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large: A true crime YouTube channel is racking up views, and most people listening don’t realize every “true story” is completely fake. They’re all AI-generated. The channel owner called it “True Crime” because the genre gets the most clicks. Nice ploy, buddy.
💘 Dating apps are out: My son has been telling me this for years. Folks are still finding love online but through shared interests and hobbies instead. Nate and Jess developed a long-distance relationship playing World of Warcraft. And it’s not just gaming. People are meeting through fitness apps like Strava, too, and social media DMs.
🍏 So long, farewell: We’ll get the full scoop on the next budget iPhone on Feb. 19, but the SE 4 is finally ditching the Home button. Touch ID? That’s gone, too. Face ID is taking over. Lightning charging is out, too, making way for USB-C.