Most-streamed songs and artists globally on Spotify (2024)

🤖 Autonomous warfare: A U.S. Air Force general says the military is still years away from letting robots replace human pilots. Even though they’re testing AI software to fly fighter jets, there’s still a big gap between the digital world and the real deal. Apparently, robot pilots continue to make “unexpected” choices during test flights. Meanwhile, Trump’s advisors have other plans; Elon Musk says to forget pricey F-35 jets because we’re in the age of drones.

The price of living on a Virgin Voyages cruise ship for a year. The new all-you-can-sail pass covers two guests, laundry services, speedy Wi-Fi, priority boarding and a balcony cabin. Hey, it’s about the same as an assisted-living facility, just sayin’.

It cost him $165,999: A driver bricked his new Cybertruck in less than 24 hours. Only a day into owning it, the truck failed to defrost, wouldn’t shift gears and completely shut down. Its owner spent four hours on the phone with Tesla’s customer service, but the vehicle ultimately had to be towed.

Rental spikes, exposed: Landlords are using AI tools to drive up rent prices. Take RealPage: Its software lets them input lease info, pool it with data from other landlords and use an algorithm to recommend (usually higher) rent prices, even when the market trends downward. San Francisco has already banned AI rent-setting software, and more cities are drafting similar laws.

No more green bubbles … kinda: Apple’s upcoming iOS 18.2 update for iPhones ends the blue-versus-green speech bubble dilemma. Blue bubbles have always meant secure iMessage chats (iPhone to iPhone), whereas green bubbles lacked end-to-end encryption (Android to iPhone). Now, you’ll be able to set third-party apps like WhatsApp or Signal as your default encrypted messenger.

PR BS: Google’s CEO says the search engine will “change profoundly” next year … without giving any details. This news comes as Google is updating its crappy Gemini AI model to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and with Perplexity. Dang, it’s like watching the Titanic sinking.

🚨 Watch out for these numbers: Fraudsters are using local area codes to gain your trust and steal your personal info. The most popular ones include 720 (Colorado), 272 (Pennsylvania), 959 (Connecticut) and 346 (Texas). The three most identified numbers were (763) 274-3899, (217) 402-1312 and (202) 456-1111. Calls from these numbers are usually banking scams. If you get one, hang up and contact your bank directly.

Potential per-hour rates for a professional back-scratcher. It’s not just scratching someone’s back; you play with their hair, too. One pro scratcher quit her six-figure job to open a spa. Now, she’s making even more money.