Not surprising but really gross

February 19, 2024

Not surprising but really gross: A woman in Connecticut started chemotherapy to fight cancer. It wasn’t long before her mailbox was full of ads for cremation services. How’d she get on their list? A data broker site sold her info. Medical information isn’t as protected as we’d like to think.

Tags: advertisements (ads), cancer, Connecticut, data, data broker, medical information, services

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Their kids died in shootings. Now they’re voices of gun reform

When I read how some grieving parents are using AI to grab the emotions of lawmakers, I thought you’d want to know about it, too. I will warn you this is not one of my usual happy stories.

I’m sure you remember six years ago when a gunman opened fire on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 14 students and three staff members. One of the students who died that day was 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver.

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‘Can you tape that?’ Phrases tech has killed off forever

Remember this? “You hang up first.” “No, you hang up first.” Not quite as romantic when you fumble for the “End call” button on your iPhone, eh? As times change and our tech changes, so do the phrases we use.

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As you’d probably guess, New York City is the most expensive city for an Uber ride. Which city takes the No. 2 slot — Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., Seattle or Nashville?

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5-second detection

Scientists say a $5 circuit board can sample saliva to detect breast cancer. The test strips cost a few cents each. As someone who hates cancer, I love this.

Hide your home on Google Maps and Apple Maps

Don’t want your house and address number visible to anyone online? Request a privacy blur over pictures of your home and car. I did it and so should you.

On Google Maps:

Open Google Maps or the Street View gallery and look up your address.
Tap the Street View photo you want blurred. It has to show your face, home, license plate or other identifying information.
Click Report a problem in the bottom right or by clicking the three-dot menu on a photo. Complete the form, then click Submit.

Apple Maps makes it more of a pain. Get this — you actually have to email them. (At least it’s not a fax!) Email your request to MapsImageCollection@apple.com. Include your full address and any property details so they know which house is yours.

😂 I got a Bonnie Tyler GPS. It just keeps telling me to turn around. And every now and then, it falls apart. (I heard you laugh!)

$90M in revenue

That’s what video game Baldur’s Gate 3 brought in for Hasbro last year. It’s based on Dungeons & Dragons. Old-school nerds, this one is for you!

$8,000 price drop for Lucid Motor’s cheapest EV

The Air Pure now starts at $69,900. I’d steer clear. Fisker did the same thing with its hybrid before the company went out of business.

270,315 printer cartridges

How much HP’s CEO earned in 2023. Poor Enrique Lores got a 7% pay cut — which still comes to $19.46 million in pay, stocks and perks. HP says his actual take-home was $12,858,597. So, he’s fine.

4,000 layoffs at Cisco

That’s following 5,000 layoffs in 2022. The internet networking company is doing what a bunch of other tech outfits have done: Laying folks off to work on AI.

$1.83 trillion market cap for chip maker Nvidia

It just passed Amazon and Alphabet (aka Google). No surprise, given its chips power the majority of today’s AI models.