☕ Starbucks Secret Menu is out: It’s now officially in the app under the offers tab, starting with fan favorites: Cookies on Top, Dragonfruit Glow-Up, Just Add White Mocha, and Lemon, Tea & Pearls. Bonus: There’s also a Secret Menu Contest running until July 20. You could win up to $25,000. Try this for fun: The next time you go to Starbucks, tell them your name is “Bueller.” Don’t go the first time they call your name! 😂
Folding phones, unfolding regrets
ChatGPT
I would love a foldable phone. It’s fun to imagine strutting into a coffee shop, flipping open your phone like you’re Batman calling Alfred.
But now Samsung’s dropped the seventh-gen Galaxy Z Fold and Flip, Google threw in the Pixel Fold, Motorola whipped out retro with the modern Razr+, and I’ve got questions.
It all sounds exciting until you start looking closer.
🛠️ How they work
Foldable phones use ultrathin flexible glass over OLED displays, combined with a mechanical hinge system. The tech allows the phone to physically bend while still displaying a full-resolution screen.
The hinges are engineered to survive hundreds of thousands of folds, which maths out to up to a decade of opening and closing more than a few times a day.
📱 Big screens, big prices
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 opens like a book, giving you a tablet-size 7.6-inch screen inside and a 6.2-inch screen outside.
The Flip 7 folds vertically like a compact mirror that’s a 6.7-inch screen when open and a 3.4-inch mini display on the outside. Perfect for glancing at texts and ignoring people in real life.
Google’s Pixel Fold offers a wider front screen and a slightly smaller inside display.
They’re eye-catching, no doubt. But here’s the part that usually gets glossed over: The Fold 7 starts at $1,899 and the Pixel Fold at $1,799. The Flip 7 and Motorola’s Razr+ are slightly more “affordable” at around $999, but still a serious chunk of change.
These phones are bulkier, more fragile and harder to protect than the slab you already own.
Even Queen Bey ain’t safe
You’d think Beyoncé’s secret files crew would be protected by a force field of security, privacy settings and Sasha Fierce energy. But nope, real-world crime doesn’t care how many Grammys you have.
Right before her recent Atlanta show, thieves smashed the glass of a rental Jeep used by her crew and made off with two suitcases. Inside? A laptop, five thumb drives filled with unreleased, watermarked music, confidential tour plans and one very important piece of tech.
$500 million
That’s the deal Apple just signed with MP Materials, which operates a rare-earth mine in the U.S. The company will soon produce magnets for iPhones and other high-tech gear. Why? Apple wants to cut back on communist China’s grip controlling about 70% of the world’s critical minerals.
Stop poking your Echo: Say, “Alexa, volume up” or “volume down” to adjust the sound. Want more control? Say “Alexa, set volume to 5.” The range goes from 1 to 10, so you can dial it in for podcasts (like The Kim Komando Show), playlists or whatever you’re playing.
GoFraudMe: Scammers’ latest ploy is fake fundraisers exploiting a real tragedy. A woman’s husband was killed with a hatchet on vacation, and bogus GoFundMes popped up using his story. GoFundMe pulled the pages, but it’s a brutal reminder: Always verify before donating.
🧨 Pentagon goes promptcore: We need this. The Pentagon is writing jumbo checks (up to $200M each) to OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and, yes, xAI, to build agentic AIs for war. The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office says this is about speeding up military decision-making and “mission workflows.”
🙄 Sick of Comcast? Two guys in Michigan got so fed up with the service that they started their own internet company. It’s all fiber (read: reliable), with no data caps or contracts, and it’s already in about 1,500 homes. The twist? Comcast caught wind and started calling ex-customers with discounts and new unlimited deals. Shocker.
Around 1 in 3
U.S. counties have no full-time local journalist. That number has dropped 75% since 2002. The fix? Experts say we need more funding and policy changes. Kinda scary to think no one in the public eye is watching over local government, businesses or schools.
🔌 Belkin bricks tech: Say goodbye to 27 models of its Wemo smart home devices, including some sold as recently as 2023. After January 2026, they’ll lose app access, Alexa integrations and cloud features. Warranty users might get partial refunds. Everyone else? Straight to e-waste. Your “smart” hardware’s about to get real dumb.
Twerked, tagged, tracked: Ohio police arrested two brain-trust women who twerked on a parked cop car. The dance party left dents and scratches, so authorities ran footage through Clearview AI facial recognition. Got ’em! Now, the women are facing charges.
🤳 Hide Instagram stories: If your account’s public, anyone can view your stories by tapping your profile pic. Want to block certain followers? Go to your Profile > tap the Menu (three lines) > Who can see your content > Hide story and live > Hide story and live from, then select accounts. Bye, nosy ex.
What would you do? A San Jose woman got buried in hundreds and hundreds of Amazon packages. Think faux leather cheap car seat covers she never ordered from a seller in China. Turns out, shady return scammers were dumping rejected goods on her doorstep. Amazon’s response? A $100 gift card and radio silence … until the news shamed them into action.
🦎 Gecko gotcha: Carrie just wanted cheaper car insurance, but Google served her scam. She clicked a fake Geico link, handed over everything (yes, even her SSN) and Venmo’d $400 to fraudsters. Didn’t realize the con until Geico HQ had no record of payment. Gotta watch where you click, folks.
Battery boost: If your phone’s nearly dead and you’ve only got 20 minutes, plug it in and switch on Airplane mode. This shuts off Wi-Fi, cellular and Bluetooth, basically all the stuff that quietly drains power. With fewer background processes, your phone can focus on charging faster.
🐻 Motorcyclist feeds bears, ends up on the menu: So sad and very avoidable. A motorcyclist died after stopping to take selfies and feed a wild bear along a Romanian highway, a top-tier route for riders. Authorities say tourists keep feeding the animals like it’s a zoo. Now, bears are basically pawing for snacks. As our very own National Park Service says, “Don’t pet the fluffy cows.”
🌌 You are glowing: Turns out your cells are out there throwing microscopic raves 24/7. Humans emit ultraweak photon emissions — basically cellular sparkle dust — until we die. It’s metabolic, not magic. You just can’t see it unless you’re in a lab with fancy cameras. But yes, you are technically glowing with stress and slowly fading like a bio glow stick.
69%
The biggest cholesterol drop from a single shot of VERVE-102. Forget daily pills, this gene-editing jab might rewrite the cholesterol playbook. One dose in, and someone’s LDL dropped by nearly 70%. The crazy part? It doesn’t just lower your LDL, it turns off the gene behind it. Heart attack prevention just went full sci-fi.
Print, click, bang: Wired just rebuilt a 3D-printed gun tied to a CEO murder plot, and yeah, it works. Despite some federal and state bans, making an untraceable firearm (paywall link) at home is shockingly legal (and easy) in much of the U.S.