First electric vehicle

June 30, 2024

You might think electric cars are new. Nope! Who gets credit for inventing the first electric vehicle? This is a tough one. Was it … A.) Thomas Edison in 1893, B.) Nikola Tesla in 1923, C.) Thomas Davenport in 1834 or D.) Karl Benz in 1941?

The answer: C.) Thomas Davenport in 1834. The blacksmith from Vermont built a small locomotive powered by a 1.5-volt electric motor — long before the invention of the internal combustion engine.

Tags: cars, credit, Tesla, vehicle

Printer friendly

Watch out for scam ads on social

Scammers are upgrading their tactics. The latest scam uses enticing ads featuring AI art, making everyone think they too can be a content creator.

🛑 Been saying this for years: A new lawsuit claims Chinese app Temu is essentially malware that accesses everything on your phone, from texts to emails, and sells your data to third parties. Temu says they’re “surprised” by the lawsuit and blame misinformation. If you still have the app, delete it ASAP.

DIY Projector

Sometimes, it’s just too hot to go outside and play. Why not try this DIY smartphone projector? You can enjoy time with the kids while staying cool.

American tourists are big targets abroad: You can thank Hollywood stereotypes that paint us all as wealthy. In some countries, you could be robbed, drugged or worse. If you’re traveling, keep your voice down (everyone knows an American accent), ditch USA-branded clothes and if something feels off, get outta there.

Keep scrolling, saints: Hot Jesus is all over Facebook, flaunting a shredded six-pack and duking it out with the devil (seriously). The AI-generated pics are getting hundreds of thousands of views, with captions that dare you to like and comment to prove your faith. Once the page gets an audience, boom — spam links galore.

🚨 Homebuyers, beware: A New Jersey couple was duped out of $32,500 when trying to buy their dream home. Scammers faked an entire email thread with their lawyer, the seller’s lawyer and the real estate agent. They wired the down payment to crooks. The scam email addresses were one letter off from the real ones. Wowsie, watch out if you’re buying or selling a home.

Ask for forgiveness, not permission: Microsoft now automatically backs up your files to OneDrive — yep, without asking. Want to deactivate it? Right-click on the OneDrive icon > Settings > Sync and backup > Manage backup and deactivate any folders you don’t want synced.

Bad ads: Fake Google ads for browser company Arc are routing people to a landing page that looks nearly identical to the real one. When you install the software, malware sends your data to a shady IP address. Tip: If a download tells you to right-click to open instead of just double-clicking, it’s a scam. That’s a trick they use to bypass macOS security.

😵‍💫 54% of the time, folks thought they were chatting with a real human, not ChatGPT‑4. In a study, people had five minutes to chat over text before being asked to guess whether it was another person they were chatting with or AI. Insane we’re already at coin-flip numbers.

🔫 Drone down: A 72-year-old guy in Florida shot down a Walmart delivery drone, and now he’s facing felony charges. No word on why, but he’s a good shot: He hit whatever the drone was carrying with his 9mm pistol. PSA: Drone deliveries are not prizes for skeet shooting.