Your phone is spying on you

Your phone keeps all your secrets. Where you’ve been. What you’ve typed. Even which sketchy Wi-Fi you used in 2017. It’s got the memory of an elephant and the self-restraint of a toddler with a drum set. 

Let’s just call your phone “Sir Veillance.”

Here’s a quick breakdown of the creepy stuff your phone is tracking, and what (if anything) you lose by turning it off. 

1. A secret map. Your phone logs your every move like it’s writing your biography. Grocery store, dentist, Vegas strip club, all of it. Want to see it?

  • iPhone: Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations 
  • Android: Google Maps > Your Timeline

✋ Turning it off gives you your privacy back. But say goodbye to “last parked location” and personalized suggestions.

2. GPS in your photos. Every selfie? Geotagged. Your beach vacation photos know exactly which beach.

  • iPhone: Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Camera > Never
  • Android: Camera app > Settings > turn off “Location tags”

✋ Kill it, and your pics won’t show up on a map using your photo app anymore. 

3. Wi-Fi from the dark ages. Your phone still remembers that Wi-Fi from that one airport layover in 2019.

  • iPhone: Settings > Wi-Fi > Tap “i” > Forget This Network
  • Android: Settings > Network > Saved Networks > Forget

✋ Scrub old networks for security’s sake. You’ll need to re-enter passwords if you ever use them again.

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Credit card? Try regret card

Look at the image. That’s not the real Omaha Steaks. It’s from a fake site designed to steal your money.

It’s happening all over the internet right now. You see a great deal on name-brand stuff, a new smartwatch, fancy cookware, maybe some designer jeans, and you click. 

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1 minute

That’s how much footage is mysteriously missing from Jeffrey Epstein’s jail video. The DOJ dropped 11 hours of grainy surveillance and still managed to skip the one minute everyone cares about. Conspiracy thriller writers, congrats, the feds just gave you your cold open. Oh, and it wasn’t just one, but two jail cams that “malfunctioned” near Epstein’s cell.

🎧 Control podcast speed: Here’s a trick to save time or catch every word. Tap the “1x” on your podcast’s now-playing screen to change the playback speed. Speed things up to 1.25x, 1.5x or 2x to move faster. Or slow it down to 0.75x when you want to listen more carefully. Works on most apps, like Spotify and Apple.

Gen Z wants out: Nearly 50% of Gen Z says they’d rather live in a world without the internet, according to a recent survey. Not less of it, none. The vibe? They’re not Luddites, they’re nostalgic for a weirder, less curated life where friendships weren’t content and the boredom felt more human.  

Phones keep vanishing: TSA bins are the Bermuda Triangle for your electronics. A travel pro’s now-viral advice? Never put your phone straight into the tray. Thieves can (and do) swipe them while you’re still retying your shoes. Instead, zip your tech into a bag pocket unless an agent tells you otherwise.

🌀 Send cash, not cans: After severe floods hit Central Texas, relief orgs are begging people to stop donating old clothes and expired soup (paywall link). Money is faster and way more useful. ADRN is turning cash into gift cards for displaced families. Meanwhile, scammers are already circling like vultures, so triple-check before you Venmo “FloodRelief25.” Only donate through verified sites.

Drones, stand down: Personal drones are jamming up rescue ops during deadly floods in Texas, just like they did during the LA fires and Hurricane Helene. It’s not heroic, it’s borderline criminal. Some folks hear “no-fly zone” and take it as a challenge. Morons.

🚨 FBI warns of new phone scam: Criminals are posing as federal agents, telling people they’re about to be arrested unless they pay up. They’re spoofing phone numbers so the calls look like it’s a real government agency asking for money, gift cards or crypto. Hang up and report it.

5 startups

That’s how many gigs he allegedly held at once. YC‑backed stealth ops, AI moon shots, you name it, a developer in India, Soham Parekh, was reportedly collecting paychecks like NFTs. Founders say he aced interviews, disappeared into Slack and ghosted deadlines while working full-time elsewhere. The wild part? This juggling act lasted over a year. 

🚨 Prime Day scams to watch for: The big sale’s here, and so are the scammers! Common tricks? Fake order confirmations, account issue alerts, fishy social media deals and “package delayed” warnings. These land in your inbox or texts to push you into clicking shady links. Here’s a link to the best deals under $50.

😊 Emojis = happier relationships: A study shows that using emojis in texts can make your partner feel more appreciated. Why? Because apparently, it signals you’re paying more attention. But before you get carried away, remember that different generations don’t always interpret them the same way. Gen Z might see a 🙂 or 👍 as sarcastic.

About 80%

The amount of time teen drivers are actually watching the road. The rest? Spent on their phones. Most of that screen time isn’t for directions. It’s music, texting and social media. Terrifying when you realize that looking down for 5 seconds at 55 mph is like driving a football field with your eyes shut.

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80,000

That’s how many Bitcoins just moved after 14 years. That same stash is worth over $8 billion today, shifting wallets without a single test transaction. If you’re wondering about the ROI, it’s 13,800,000%. 

ChatGPT, take the wheel: In a simulated space mission, researchers handed ChatGPT the controls of a spacecraft, and it didn’t crash into a moon. In fact, it placed second (behind math), beating several AI systems trained like actual astronauts. Translation: A chatbot that forgets what you just said five seconds ago can still land a spaceship. Allegedly.

⏰ Clock is TikTokin’: Look for a new app just for U.S. folks ahead of a forced sell-off of the communist Chinese phenomena to American investors. It drops Sept. 5, and yeah, you’ll need to download it. Trump says the deal is “pretty much” done. 

250 million

That’s how many views over 9,000 pirated movies and shows pulled on YouTube, before anyone noticed. From Netflix exclusives to box office hits, pirates uploaded it all (paywall link). YouTube’s algorithm even gave them a boost.

Scam emails

Scam emails? So 2022. Phishers now are spinning up entire scam sites faster than you can microwave leftovers. Okta, a login security company, caught bad actors using v0 (a site-building AI tool by Vercel) to launch convincing login clones, including one of Okta’s own.