👀 Sofa surprise: This is wild. The Baroque painting “Portrait of a Lady,” stolen by Nazis in 1940, just popped up casually hanging above a couch in a living room photo on an Argentinian real estate site. Doesn’t take a history buff to guess how that happened. Apparently the Zestimate skyrockets when your décor is a war crime.
Hidden setting lets apps spy on you through Bluetooth
Midjourney
Think Bluetooth is just for headphones and car calls? Think again. It’s one of the sneakiest ways apps track you, and most people have no clue it’s happening.
Even when GPS is off, your phone is constantly “sniffing” for nearby devices like AirTags, smartwatches and fitness trackers. That’s normal.
Here’s where it gets shady: Some apps piggyback on that signal to figure out where you are, how long you stay and who else is around. I’m talking about fitness apps, shopping apps, airline apps, even flashlights and wallpaper apps. (Yep.)
Retail stores can use this data to detect when you walk by or how long you linger near a display. Creepy and totally preventable.
🔧 Take back control
Plenty of popular apps request Bluetooth access, not to connect to a device but to build a profile of where you go and who you’re near. The good news? You can shut it down in seconds.
▶️ On iPhone:
- Go to Settings, tap Privacy & Security.
- Select Bluetooth.
- Look through the list. If an app doesn’t need Bluetooth (think: Uber, Target, games), toggle it off.
▶️ On Android:
- Go to Settings.
- Select Apps (or Apps & notifications).
- Tap See all apps (or the three-dot icon for Permission manager).
- Choose an app and tap Permissions.
- Check if it has Nearby Devices or Bluetooth access. If it doesn’t need it, hit Deny.
🤯 Why this matters
This has nothing to do with pairing your earbuds. It’s about passive location tracking done without GPS and often without your knowledge.
Smart glasses are spyware
Kim Komando
That’s me, virtually trying on Meta’s glasses on their website, doing my best Tom Cruise Risky Business impersonation. Spoiler, I didn’t buy them.
These remind me of Google Glass. Those awkward $1,500 face computers from 2013 that made you look like a cyborg at brunch. They launched with a ton of hype and died just as fast.
▶️ Add a channel trailer on YouTube: Give potential subscribers a preview of what to expect. Log in to YouTube and go to YouTube Studio > Customization > Home tab > Layout. Click + Add section > Channel trailer, pick the video you want, and hit Publish. Pro tip: Swap it out every few weeks to keep things fresh.
⚡ Classic cars get plugged in: Imagine your busted Land Rover or the Ferrari 308 from Magnum, P.I., now whisper-quiet as a Tesla. U.K.’s Electric Classic Cars has converted 100+ classics since 2015, swapping gas engines for battery packs without chopping up the vintage shells. Conversions start around $57K, but wild custom builds climb past $190K. I don’t know, I love the roar of my ’67 Corvette that was actually in the movie Con Air.
8 inches
That’s how far off AI was when it flagged the wrong guy as a criminal. The innocent guy is taller, heavier and was miles away when the crime happened, but the NYPD’s facial recognition still went “Enhance!” and called it a match. Nothing like AI-powered “Where’s Waldo?” with people’s lives on the line.
YouTube’s family freeloader era is over, too: So you’ve been coasting on someone else’s YouTube Premium family plan for years? Well, YouTube just went full Netflix on us. Starting now, every 30 days, it’ll GPS‑scan your butt to make sure you actually live under the same roof as the account holder.
🙏🏻 iPhone saves teen’s life: A 16-year-old in Greenville fell asleep at the wheel and crashed, leaving her with multiple broken bones. Trapped inside her pickup, she couldn’t call for help, but her iPhone did. Crash Detection automatically dialed 911 and got rescuers there. Want the same safety net? Go to Settings > Emergency SOS and toggle on Call After Severe Crash.
2 hours
That’s the school day for core subjects at Alpha, the AI-powered private school. Kids in this $40K-to-$65K-a-year program blast through math, reading and science on personalized software before lunch, then spend afternoons on bike rides, hobbies or “life skills.” Imagine that.
📼 Own it? Not really: A new lawsuit says Amazon’s “Buy” button on video downloads is misleading, because what you’re really buying is a long-term rental they can take back anytime. A new California law backs the claim. So if your “purchased” movie vanishes next week, well, that’s legal. Somewhere, your dusty DVD collection is cackling.
👨🏻⚖️ Tesla said, “No data here” … Oopsie: Tesla told a jury there was absolutely no data showing what happened in a 2019 Autopilot crash that killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and left her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, seriously injured. Then a hacker in a Starbucks found the so-called “missing” evidence, and it was game over. The jury hit Tesla with a $243 million verdict.
$60,000
The median annual pay for HVAC techs, no bachelor’s required. That’s about the same as a liberal arts grad, minus the $43,000 student debt. Hot take: Installing AC might actually be the cooler job. Blame “AI-xiety,” but better a wrench in hand than a résumé lost in the algorithm.
The quiet speaks: Get this, researchers built an AI tool (SeeMe) that can spot teeny-tiny facial movements in coma patients days before doctors even notice. Wild part? These little flickers, like an eye twitch or a mouth move, mean some patients we thought were unreachable might actually be conscious, and even able to answer yes-or-no questions. Amazing.
📩 He was supposed to help: A U.S. postal fraud inspector, the very person meant to protect elderly scam victims, allegedly stole over $330,000 from them instead. He rerouted packages meant for evidence and used the cash for cruises, escorts and home renovations. Investigators say he even tried to cover his tracks by laundering the money through family members. There’s a special place for people like this; hopefully, it’s a prison cell with some great roommates.
😲 Google gets a slap not a split: Google just dodged a breakup in its big monopoly trial but don’t break out the champagne in Mountain View just yet. A judge says Google can’t keep cutting those sweetheart “default search” deals and has to open up some of its secret search data to rivals. Chrome stays safe, and Google keeps its crown, but this ruling cracks the door for competitors, especially with AI nipping at Google’s heels.
17 inches
That’s the neck size where men’s health risks spike. For the ladies, it’s 14 inches. A thicker neck isn’t just a linebacker flex, it’s a red flag for heart disease, diabetes and sleep apnea. Turns out your shirt collar might be better at predicting your future hospital visits than your bathroom scale.
🕵️ AirTagged and bagged: Guy loses his AirTag-equipped suitcase at LAX, chases the signal, finds his clothes being modeled by squatters in a condemned building not far from the airport. The bag was trashed, but he still got most of his wardrobe back, just … pre-worn. Imagine sprinting after your underwear on Find My iPhone.
Check your Facebook settings: The sinister mobile app has quietly turned on two settings that let Meta scan your phone’s entire camera roll. Nice. That means Facebook can look at your photos, even the ones you haven’t uploaded. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Camera roll sharing suggestions > and Toggle off Custom sharing suggestions from your camera roll and Get camera roll suggestions when you’re browsing Facebook. PSA: Your steps may vary but these work for most.
$46.7 billion
Nvidia’s Q2 revenue hit a record high, and nearly half of it came from six companies. The AI gold rush is paying off big-time, but that kind of customer concentration is the corporate equivalent of putting all your GPUs in one basket. Two customers are nearly 40%! Let’s just hope “Customer A” doesn’t speak Chinese.