🚔 AI eyes on the road: Police are using AI cameras to spot and flag drivers texting or not wearing a seatbelt. If they catch you, the images are sent to nearby officers, who will pull you over almost in real time. North Carolina has seen phone violations jump ninefold since adopting the tech.
How NASA plans to back up data on lunar soil
Let me ask you a question: Do you think the cloud is a safe place to back up your data, the world’s treasures and government secrets? In a world of increasing breaches, hackers and threats, even cloud storage might not be enough.
Welcome to the next frontier: Lunar backups. NASA is teaming up with Lonestar, a Florida-based startup, and the Isle of Man, that self-governing British Crown Dependency you might’ve never heard of, to store data on the moon. Think of it like the ultra-secure Fort Knox but for digital information.
🚀 Blockchain goes intergalactic
How do you keep data safe on the moon? By using a blockchain — the same tech behind crypto. It ensures data is secure, genuine and tamper-proof. This isn’t your mom’s filing cabinet; it’s out of this world.
The first data cube, “Freedom,” landed on the moon in February 2024, proving the concept works. Lonestar’s first commercial mission takes off in 2026. Oh, and the Isle of Man’s post office got in on the fun, too, sending digital stamps to the moon. Now that’s first-class mail.
🌝 Why the moon?
The moon isn’t becoming a storage locker for your embarrassing selfies. The mission is first to preserve humanity’s crown jewels — our most vital data. Think of it as Earth’s external hard drive or a modern Library of Alexandria (hopefully, with a less tragic end).
What’s on the moon-bound list? Obvious candidates include:
- Scientific research: DNA sequencing data, climate models and pandemic studies.
- Cultural archives: Literary classics, historical texts and digitized art collections.
- Financial records: Stock market data, transaction histories and economic models.
- Health care information: Genome mapping and medical research.
- National security data: Sensitive classified information.
- Tech blueprints: Designs for critical infrastructure, from power plants to the internet backbone.
- “The Kim Komando Show”: Audio files of all my shows, because they’re that important to all mankind. (OK, I made that up!)
🌎 Earth vs. the moon
Not everyone’s on board with storing data on the moon. It’s not like you can send a tech to fix things. And retrieving something? Think “break glass in case of emergency,” not your daily backup.
Accessing lunar data would take spacecraft, encryption and dealing with space itself. Long-term storage? Sure. Easy? Not at all.
100 hours
MrBeast and his crew will spend a little over four days in Egypt’s Great Pyramids. They rented them out. The Egyptian government will guide them through the tombs, share their history, allow them to sleep inside them … and get in some ghost hunting. What’s the difference between an ancient Egyptian prince and a Jenner? The Egyptian prince knew from the start his daddy would become a mummy.
“Never felt better”: That’s how Towana Looney feels after getting a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig. She struggled to find a human donor, and now, she’s only the third person in the U.S. to have this surgery. Doctors at New York University plan a clinical trial next year. This could really help others waiting for kidney donors.
Sales of portable CD players and MP3s are climbing: A great idea if you don’t want your kids on social media or a screen. Sure, you might have to give a crash course on how CDs work, but it beats them joining the nearly 50% of teens who are constantly online (paywall link).
✈️ This is going to take off: A Chinese company is developing a supersonic civilian jet that can travel four times the speed of sound. In tests, its engine clocked 3,045 mph at altitudes over 65,600 feet. That means it could take you from London to New York in under two hours, complete with a view of the earth’s curvature. Look for commercial flights by 2030.
🚨 Takeover fraud: A Colorado couple lost $3,700 after a scammer broke into their AT&T account and bought an iPad, iPhone, smartwatch and headphones. How? The crooks gained access to the couple’s login details. Keep an eye out for fake login links and impersonation calls. PSA: AT&T will never call you to lock down your account.
👼 Welcome to the world, little one: The first baby conceived via Fertilo was just born in Lima, Peru. This is different from IVF. Doctors use stem cell tech to help eggs mature before they’re implanted in the mom’s womb. There are 80% fewer shots, and it takes two to three days instead of two to three weeks.
Travel gram: Meet 94-year-old Joy Ryan. She’s on a journey to visit every continent with her grandson, and she didn’t even get her passport until she was 91. She’s the oldest person to visit all 63 U.S. national parks, too. I hope she got the senior discount! Follow her journey on Instagram. It’s amazing!
18 times better than Wi-Fi: Z-Wave’s long-range tech extends the maximum wireless range to 1.5 miles — way better than Wi-Fi (up to 300 feet) or Bluetooth (only 30 feet). It supports 4,000 devices on one network, so it’s perfect for offices, too. It’ll be out next year.
Hit the right notes: Now you can chat with Google’s NotebookLM AI podcast host-sounding bots. Feed in your notes and they’ll answer questions based on what you wrote. It’s still in beta, so double-check to make sure it doesn’t mess up any facts. Barb in Chicago wrote, “Kim, thanks for telling me about NotebookLM. I am using it to teach my customers about how to use the hair products I sell.” You’re welcome.
No way to Excel, I Azure you: Push notifications to buy “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6” are popping up on Windows 11 PCs. They’re upselling Microsoft Defender security software, too. It’s free … but now requires a Microsoft 365 subscription for all the features. What a crock. Here’s how to disable the ads.
$30,000 a month
How much a teen mom influencer makes. TikTokker MariClare MacLamroc rakes in millions of views posting about her life as a 19-year-old mom. She’s not alone; other young parents are turning their everyday activities into content … and six-figure incomes.
🦍 Tag, you’re it: If you’ve got kids obsessed with the Meta VR game “Gorilla Tag,” talk to them. There are videos all over the internet telling them to install the free VPN app Big Mama to cheat. It’s just a front for selling access to your home internet and network. Need a VPN you can trust? Here’s my pick.
The future is expensive: LG just dropped its brand-new transparent OLED TV. The price tag? A whopping $60,000. The small but see-through 55-inch screen looks pretty cool, and there’s an opaque mode when the novelty wears off. Check out this video to see it in action. Santa, I’d like this for Christmas.
History teachers are in the past: An online charter school in Arizona is ditching human teachers. Kids get two hours of academic instruction daily taught entirely by AI. The rest of the day is dedicated to life skills workshops covering subjects like financial literacy, goal setting and entrepreneurship led by “guides.” Bet they make even less than teachers.
Google Street View helped crack a murder case: A Google car grabbed snapshots of a man taking a suspiciously human-shaped bag out of his car and moving it in a wheelbarrow. And that’s not even the wildest part: It was the first time in 15 years a Google car had driven through the town.
Maybe they really are UFOs: An Air Force vet posted a bunch of videos of a glowing orb flying over his house in New Jersey. The orb darted around for about 30 minutes in broad daylight. He used to work on airplanes, knows a ton about drones and says he’s never seen anything like it. Have you? See the videos for yourself.
Your gas is as good as mine: California and 11 other states just got the OK to ban sales of new gas cars by 2035. Hitting that goal is a long shot; this year, about 25% of California’s car sales were EVs and hybrids. When President-elect Trump’s back in the driver’s seat, expect the brakes to slam quickly on the ruling.
Seriously, what’s going on in NJ? The FAA banned all drones from flying over parts of New Jersey until Jan. 17. The U.S. government’s even saying they’ll shoot down or detain anyone caught in a no-fly zone. Thinking about flying a drone there? First, check the list of 22 areas in which drones are banned.