🤓 OpenAI cracks world’s hardest math test: Its new model solved 5 out of 6 problems on the International Mathematical Olympiad, earning a gold-level score. That’s huge. It takes sustained creative thinking (paywall link), something AI has struggled with until now. The bot could go public in a few months. PSA: Not all math jokes are bad. Just sum.
Your pocket scientist is smarter than you think
Android Earthquake Alerts (AEA) system
I read a geeky article that I think you’ll also find amazing.
Google quietly used its Android operating system to turn billions of phones into the largest earthquake detection network in human history.
Your Android phone can warn you about an earthquake before the shaking even starts. It’s built right in. You can do the same with your iPhone, too.
🌎 How it works
Earthquakes begin with fast, subtle P-waves. Those are the early rumbles most people don’t feel at all. But your phone’s accelerometer (yep, the same sensor that knows when you turn your phone sideways) can detect those waves.
When enough Android phones in the same area sense the same motion, Google’s system kicks in and sends early alerts to people who are about to get hit by the stronger, slower S-waves. Those are the ones that actually cause damage.
This gives you 15 to 60 seconds of warning. Not much time, but enough to move away from windows, duck under a desk or stop that ladder climb. Seconds matter when the ground starts rolling.
🫨 This isn’t just theoretical
According to a study in Science, the Android-based earthquake detection network caught over 11,000 real earthquakes between 2021 and 2024.
It covers 98 countries and pushes out around 18 million alerts a month.
In some cases, people had over a minute’s notice before the shaking started. And false alarms? Just three total across more than 1,300 confirmed events. Try getting those odds from your weather app. That’s incredible for a free feature hiding in your phone.
📲 Even if you don’t live on the San Andreas fault, make sure the setting is on in case you travel to an area where you need it:
14 minutes and 8 seconds
That’s how long the average dog watches TV per day. Sure, they’ll perk up for a barking scene, but unless it’s a nature doc with squirrels, consider them emotionally unavailable. After that, they’re back to their real passion: licking themselves and judging your life choices.
🧬 Three-parent baby drop: UK scientists have pulled off a medical hat trick: eight babies born using DNA from three people — mom, dad and a donor — to dodge deadly mitochondrial diseases. The donor’s part is just 0.1% but makes all the difference. The science is wild, but the result is healthy kids.
Hacked, packed and resold: A startup called Farnsworth Intelligence is taking hacked data (yep, from infostealer malware) and selling it to divorce lawyers, debt collectors and your competitor’s sales team. Over 50 million computers’ worth of stolen info. Passwords, browsing habits, embarrassing accounts and more up for grabs for about $50 each. How is this legal?
🏝️ Tropic like it’s hot: Mark Zuckerberg just expanded his Kauai compound to over 2,300 acres, making him one of Hawaii’s biggest landowners. The property includes known Native Hawaiian burial sites, which are being preserved, but locals worry about what might stay hidden under NDA-heavy construction. His $300M+ Hawaiian fortress also includes macadamia-fed cattle that moo in cursive.
AI faked her daughter: A Florida woman lost $15K after scammers used AI to mimic her daughter’s voice in a fake car crash call. They even called back asking for $30K more, claiming her daughter lost a baby in the accident. Her real daughter was at work the whole time. Have a secret family code word to thwart these crimes. Next up, AI is doing method acting on Broadway.
🧨 Microsoft’s China copilot: Microsoft’s finally getting rid of communist China-based engineers on U.S. military cloud projects after a ProPublica report triggered a Pentagon freak-out. Turns out so-called “digital escorts,” security-cleared U.S. babysitters, didn’t understand the tech they were supposed to be safeguarding. Now the defense secretary’s ordered a full supply chain scrub. Microsoft swears it disclosed everything. The military is now triple-checking everything for leaks and spies.
1 billion
That’s how many people watch podcasts on YouTube each month. Yes, watching. Turns out we didn’t kill our attention spans, we just moved them to couches, desks and smart TVs. If you’re multitasking with video in the background, congrats: You’re in excellent company. Might I suggest adding my podcast to the rotation? It’s cheaper than therapy.
🤖 Roblox adds AI selfie check: Kids can now chat more freely with friends, but only after proving they’re over 13. That starts with a video selfie, so AI can estimate their age (yes, really). If that doesn’t work, they’ll need to upload a government ID, finally.
100,000+
That’s how many accounts Chess.com bans every month for cheating. Turns out a lot of people need engine assistance to lose with dignity. With 20 million games played daily (13,000 per minute!), the site’s 30-member Fair Play Team is part detective squad, part digital janitor and very busy. No rookies allowed.
Uber’s luxury clone army: It’s throwing hundreds of millions at Lucid and Nuro to deploy 20,000 self-driving Gravity SUVs by 2030. Lucid builds the luxe EVs, Nuro wires the robot brains, and Uber handles the rides. It’s their biggest AV deal ever. Roll out is in 2026, city TBD.
🎶 Songwriters go social: TikTok just launched a “Songwriter” tag and profile tab, so hitmakers behind the hits can finally get some spotlight, as opposed to solely relying on dancing teens for career stability.
ChatGPT gets a PC now: OpenAI just gave ChatGPT a full-on virtual computer. It can now browse the web, run code, download and edit files, even log into your apps to draft emails or pull info. Basically, it does the annoying computer stuff for you. Available now for $200/month for Pro users. Coming soon to Plus and Team. I’m gonna try it out, so I can let you know how it works, or not.
402 Tbps
That’s the new internet speed record just set in Japan. It’s 4 million times faster than your Wi-Fi, and no, that’s not a typo. We’re talking entire Netflix libraries in seconds, on regular fiber. Somewhere, a Comcast exec just spit out their latte.
🪙 It’s genius: President Trump signed the GENIUS Act, bringing new rules to cryptocurrency, specifically stablecoins like USDC and Tether, which are backed by real assets like the U.S. dollar. The law sets standards for who can issue them and how they’re regulated. Bottom line: Crypto’s going legit, with tracking, taxing and oversight baked in. Sorry, crypto cowboys.
30TB
That’s the size of Seagate’s new monster hard drive, and yes, you can actually buy it. After 20 years of laser dreams, it’s finally here: 30TB for $600. In 2005, that cash got you 400GB, maybe. That’s 75x the space, same price and a lot fewer tangled cables.
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🧀 Cottage cheese is hot: Cottage cheese is having a weird moment. Albertsons says sales are booming thanks to TikTok recipes and a renewed obsession with protein. Sales surged by 18% in a year, hitting $1.75 billion last year. Why? Cottage cheese ice cream, toast, even pancakes. Next up: cottage cheese cold brew. You know it’s coming.
🧲 Planes ditch GPS (kinda): Scientists are turning to the Earth’s crust for next-gen flight nav. Turns out, underground magnetic quirks can help planes figure out where they are, no satellites needed. It’s called magnetic anomaly mapping, and it could be a game changer when GPS gets jammed, spoofed or quiet-quits midair.
Hackers don’t need your permission, just one weak link or data breach, and your identity is theirs. I don’t take chances. I use NordProtect to stay one step ahead. Full protection, 65% off right now. Don’t wait.