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What an antique collector paid for a suspected Van Gogh painting. It was the deal of the century at a garage sale in Minnesota. Specialists are trying to prove the portrait of a fisherman, “Elimar,” is authentic. If so, it’s worth at least $15 million (paywall link). Speaking of … My Van doesn’t Gogh. It’s out of Degas. (I saw you smile right there.)
One more place to watch out for TV spoilers: A podcast about the dystopian TV series “Severance” on AppleTV+ included an ad for an episode that hadn’t aired yet. Director Ben Stiller dropped a bombshell (paywall link). Yeah, fans are peeved. “Severance” is fantastic and weird. Here’s the spoiler-free trailer if you need a new show.
🌋 Kick some ash: Scientists found a burnt scroll from Herculaneum, another Roman town Mount Vesuvius wiped out in 79 A.D. They’re using X-rays and AI to read without touching it. Early hints say it might be a work of philosophy. When I visited Pompeii, I was amazed at how forward-thinking they were. There were food courts, sanitation, lovely homes, and even a brothel with the names of prostitutes on the walls with prices and ratings. Really! If you go, ask your tour guide the question I do wherever we go: “What’s something you normally don’t show tourists?” I will save my story about cannibals on the Amazon River for another day.
Shop local: Bet you never thought about it while browsing cheap stuff on Temu, but after President Trump did away with a tax break for e-commerce companies, the site’s algorithm changed. Now you’ll see more products from the Chinese retailer’s U.S. warehouse marked with a green “local” badge. Yeah, I still won’t use Temu.
🤖 Alexa’s glow-up: Save the date for Feb. 26. That’s when Amazon will show off a new Alexa with generative AI. Yep, it’s finally happening after many delays. Alexa will be able to chat back and forth with you and help you get things done. Expect the smarter Alexa to cost you a few bucks a month.
🧀 Gouda grief, not again: Google had to edit one of its Super Bowl ads after its AI butchered a fact about Gouda. In the original video, Gemini said Gouda made up 50% to 60% of the world’s cheese consumption. Spoiler: It doesn’t. The fixed version calls it “one of the most popular cheeses in the world.” Another reminder AI loves to make crap up or, as the AI companies say, “hallucinate.”
🍏 I called this months ago: A foldable iPhone is coming, finally. Rumor has it it’ll be ultra-thin, at just 4.6mm unfolded, and will use a Samsung foldable OLED panel since they’ve already figured out the tech. It could be a massive 12 inches, with two 6.1-inch displays connected by a hinge. The price is TBA, but I bet it’ll cost a fortune. We’ll find out in 2026.
Ingenious till it wasn’t: A guy in Idaho got caught using a homemade barcode ring to scam Walmart’s self-checkout. He ripped off the store a few times without getting caught, then made a total bonehead move: He tried to ring up a $300 grill for the price of a 70-cent can of tomato soup. I wonder how the tomato soup is in jail.
⚡ Pulling the plug, literally: Wow, this is a wild one. Thailand just cut electricity to parts of Myanmar that house billion-dollar scam operations. There are shady compounds where people are forced to run schemes like romance and pig-butchering scams for little or no money. It won’t do much to lower the number of scammers, sadly. Crime bosses are already switching to diesel generators for power and Elon Musk’s Starlink for the internet.
This makes cents: If you’re looking to make some extra cash, this might be for you. Instacart is rolling out a new side gig where you can make money by just taking photos of products on store shelves. This way, brands see what’s selling and how their products look to customers. The pay? Around $12 for 10 minutes of work (paywall link). I made $15 taking pics of store shelves at Costco while writing about the TaskRabbit app years ago. Too bad I walked out with 50 boxes of animal crackers and a kayak.
A real-life nightmare: Imagine random people showing up at your door, primed and ready for a good time. That’s what happened to a university professor who was stalked for seven years. The creep behind it fed her info into an AI chat site where people hang out, looking for sex. The first line of his ad? “[Victim] Is University’s Hottest Professor. How Will You Seduce Her?” She wasn’t his only victim, and the 36-year-old guy could spend up to 20 years in prison.