Calendar con job: Here’s a fun new nightmare. Hackers are sliding scams straight into Apple Calendar invites. They toss fake “big purchases” into event notes, slap on a shady customer service number and wait for you to panic-call. Do that, and congrats, you’ve just invited malware into your phone. Even your 8 a.m. dentist reminder isn’t safe anymore. Be scam aware.
Tractors, TVs and tyranny
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Picture this. A farmer is out in the fields when his $300,000 John Deere tractor shuts off with an error code. He knows what’s wrong. But he can’t touch it. An authorized (pricey) technician must come to his farm, unlock the tractor’s operating system and fix it.
You see, the farmer doesn’t own the right to repair something he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for. That’s not just a farmer’s problem. It’s yours and mine, too.
🚜 Why this matters
This isn’t limited to tractors. The same issue affects our phone, TV, car, smart fridge, laptop, home automation system and more.
If a part breaks, the manufacturer can decide whether or not you’re allowed to fix it. Companies use proprietary screws, secret tool kits and software locks to trap us in their repair quicksand. They can make parts and tools unavailable. They can lock you out of the software. Even worse, they can void your warranty if you dare take it to anyone outside their little repair club.
John Deere now faces a major lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission and several states for blocking farmers from fixing their own machines. The courts recently ruled the case can move forward, and that’s a big win.
Right to repair laws would force companies to make parts, tools and manuals available. They would stop manufacturers from using software to block you from changing a battery, replacing a screen or updating a component without their say-so.
📈 How tech companies rate
I took a look at The Public Interest Network’s “Failing the Fix” report that graded various tech companies:
- Smartphones: Apple and Google top the list with B– grades; Motorola trails at C+ and Samsung lags with C–.
- Laptops: ASUS leads with an A–; Acer follows with B+; Dell, Samsung and Microsoft tie at B–; HP scores C; Apple earns C–; and Lenovo falls to F, due to no repair data on most models.
You can see the entire report here. I thought it was interesting.
🕺 What you can do
Health data, now with ad targeting
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Your smartwatch is great for counting steps and buzzing you when you’ve been sitting on your butt too long. But have you ever stopped to think where all that personal data is going?
From sleep patterns to how stressed you are on a Tuesday afternoon, it’s all being logged in a digital diary. And guess what? That diary is worth big money to advertisers, insurance companies and, of course, hackers.
600,000 miles
That’s how long the world’s biggest battery maker, CATL, says its new EV battery will last. For context, that’s like driving to the moon and back … then back again. Your EV will give up long before the battery does. Oh, and it also only takes 10 minutes to charge it from 10% to 80%. Wild.
🔔 Turn on Instagram post notifications: Following too many accounts? Don’t miss updates from your favorites. Take me as an example. Go to my profile, tap the bell icon and toggle All for Posts, Stories, Reels and Live videos.
😵💫 This is so bizarre: Wikipedia editors are actually discussing whether to delete Erika Kirk’s page because they claim she’s not “notable” enough. She was Miss Arizona, runs her own media and philanthropy projects, regularly appeared on stage with Charlie Kirk and was with him the day he was assassinated, but somehow that’s not worth a Wikipedia entry? If you want to see the back-and-forth or make your own case, here’s the thread: Wikipedia:Articles for Deletion/Erika Kirk. This is why Wikipedia cannot be trusted.
🎙️ Talk is cheap: Startup Inception Point AI is pumping out 3,000+ AI-hosted podcast episodes a week, using AI personalities like Claire Delish and Oly Bennett. The cost? Less than $1 per show. They’ve already racked up 10 million downloads, and now they’re turning these bots into full-blown egoless influencers that don’t need a mic, only an LLM.
More than 80%
That was Tesla’s share of the U.S. EV market back in the day. They’re down to just 38% of sales, the lowest since 2017. Why? While other automakers pump out shiny new EVs, Tesla’s busy dreaming about robotaxis and humanoid robots. Their last “new” model was the Cybertruck in 2023.
Ultrasounds for sale? People were selling them, along with positive pregnancy test photos, on the marketplace app Mercari. They went for about $14 a pop to fake pregnancies and extort men. Wild.
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🚨 Microsoft Patch Tuesday: The latest update fixes 86 security flaws across Windows, Office, SharePoint and more. The scariest? A remote code execution bug in Microsoft’s High Performance Compute pack. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Check for updates.
🛸 Missile vs. UFO: Congress just dropped a wild video of a U.S. drone firing a Hellfire missile at a glowing orb off Yemen. The missile bounced off. I’m no military expert, but that’s not business as usual. Veterans testified they’ve seen triangles, cubes and Tic Tacs in the sky, claiming the government buried reports and retaliated against whistleblowers.
11:37 p.m.
The average bedtime for American adults. We’re clocking six hours and 40 minutes of sleep a night, well below the recommended seven to nine. People who stick to the same bedtime get 40 extra minutes of rest and spend 36% less time tossing and turning. TikTok will still be there tomorrow. Promise.
Tech takes the hit: The Bureau of Labor Statistics just admitted it was off by nearly 1 million jobs last year. That’s not a typo. Tech and information roles saw some of the steepest cuts. AI’s fingerprints are all over the mess, especially in entry-level roles. The robots didn’t just come for your job, they already started clocking in.
🚀 Golden Dome race: Varda Space nailed a capsule reentry (paywall link) in Australia, on target at hypersonic speed. Sounds nerdy, but here’s the point: The U.S. is funding a “missile shield” against future threats, and tech startups are competing to build it. Translation: Silicon Valley is shifting from dating apps to defense contracts.
📺 RIP Freevee: Amazon’s free streaming service, used by millions, is officially gone. Open the app now, and you’ll be redirected to a site to download Prime Video instead. The silver lining? Some of Freevee’s original shows will still be on Prime, and you won’t need a membership to watch. Cue tiny violin.
⚡ Crypto malware scare: In the biggest supply chain hack in history, hackers hijacked 18 huge npm packages (chalk, debug and others), slipping in code that swapped crypto wallet addresses mid-transaction. Those poisoned packages? Downloaded over a billion times. Developers yanked the infected versions and purged caches in record time. Mischief managed, but it shows how fragile the web’s plumbing really is.
🕳️ The web’s falling apart: Google just told a judge the web’s in “rapid decline.” Advertisers are bailing for streaming and shopping platforms, leaving websites high and dry. Basically, the internet’s breaking up with quirky blogs and small sites for someone hotter, richer and way more into retail. It’s kind of like watching your favorite diner get replaced by a Sweetgreen.
$2 million
How much the Las Vegas Sphere makes every single day. Not from concerts but from showing the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. Between 4,000 and 5,000 fans show up multiple times a day, each paying about $200 a ticket. Execs estimate the film could top $1 billion over its run (paywall link). I guess the real Emerald City is in Vegas. Btw, I saw it. I loved it!
👀 Romance scam face-off: A Florida grandma thought she was chatting up a retired Army general. Nope, just scammers milking her for $60K. Deputies say one guy pocketed $30K and bought a Hyundai Kona. She got to confront him face-to-face. He swears he was “scamming the scammer.” The vehicle of choice for world-class con artists: midrange compact SUV.