🍏 AppleCare just got easier: Starting today at 8 a.m. ET, you can cover up to three devices for $20/month, instead of paying for each separately. Most products are eligible up to four years after purchase (up from 60 days). Theft and loss coverage now includes iPads and Apple Watches. Sign up at an Apple Store or in the Settings menu of your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
Your pocket scientist is smarter than you think
Android Earthquake Alerts (AEA) system
I read a geeky article that I think you’ll also find amazing.
Google quietly used its Android operating system to turn billions of phones into the largest earthquake detection network in human history.
Your Android phone can warn you about an earthquake before the shaking even starts. It’s built right in. You can do the same with your iPhone, too.
🌎 How it works
Earthquakes begin with fast, subtle P-waves. Those are the early rumbles most people don’t feel at all. But your phone’s accelerometer (yep, the same sensor that knows when you turn your phone sideways) can detect those waves.
When enough Android phones in the same area sense the same motion, Google’s system kicks in and sends early alerts to people who are about to get hit by the stronger, slower S-waves. Those are the ones that actually cause damage.
This gives you 15 to 60 seconds of warning. Not much time, but enough to move away from windows, duck under a desk or stop that ladder climb. Seconds matter when the ground starts rolling.
🫨 This isn’t just theoretical
According to a study in Science, the Android-based earthquake detection network caught over 11,000 real earthquakes between 2021 and 2024.
It covers 98 countries and pushes out around 18 million alerts a month.
In some cases, people had over a minute’s notice before the shaking started. And false alarms? Just three total across more than 1,300 confirmed events. Try getting those odds from your weather app. That’s incredible for a free feature hiding in your phone.
📲 Even if you don’t live on the San Andreas fault, make sure the setting is on in case you travel to an area where you need it:
95 billion
That’s how many hours Netflix had people glued to their couch in the first half of 2025. That’s over 10 million years of screen time, roughly twice the age of Homo sapiens. Netflix plans to double its ad revenue with pause ads and interactive pop-ups. Nothing says “immersive drama” like a toothpaste ad mid-tear.
I thought Alexa was creepy: Amazon’s buying Bee, a company whose wearable bracelet records everything you say. Why? AI summarizes your day, makes to-do lists and creates a searchable log of your life. It’s always listening and has no wake word (paywall link). I’ll pass.
🧨 Fission accomplished: This is bad. Communist China hackers used a SharePoint flaw to target 400+ orgs, including the U.S. nuke agency (NNSA). Microsoft says the exploit hit agencies in the U.S., EU, Middle East and more. They say no classified files were stolen since the backdoor’s been open since July 7. Yea, right.
👶🏼 Billionaire baby mama drama: Ashley St. Clair, a 26-year-old conservative influencer, is suing Elon Musk (paywall link) for full custody of their son, Romulus (yes, really). She claims he offered $15M and $100K/month to keep quiet, then slashed support when she didn’t. Now the court’s involved, the windows are papered and Elon’s side quest is fully glitching.
🧪 Tumors, meet your match: Scientists may have found a workaround for cancer’s ghosting tendencies. Instead of waiting for tumors to “respond,” they’re forcing the convo with a generic RNA vaccine. It basically slaps the immune system awake, and in mouse tests, it worked solo or with backup. I hate cancer.
💸 $350M fake merch mess: A sports memorabilia dealer confessed on Facebook to selling over 4 million counterfeit items, then took his own life hours later. Brett Lemieux ran the MisterManCave site, allegedly faking holograms of Kobe, Jordan, Brady and more. The scam allegedly made $350 million.
Cloudy with a solid chance of deletion: AT&T is shutting down its Personal Cloud service on Oct. 31, 2025, and any files stored there will be deleted permanently. If you ever used the app to back up photos, videos or documents, download everything before it’s gone for good. You can move them to Google Photos, OneDrive or your device.
Over 2,400 nautical miles
How far a father-son duo rowed from San Francisco to Hawaii in 48 days. The son is 18, and if verified, he’ll be the youngest person to complete the mid-Pacific route. The heartwarming part? They did it to raise awareness and funds for veterans living with PTSD. Total legends.
🤓 OpenAI cracks world’s hardest math test: Its new model solved 5 out of 6 problems on the International Mathematical Olympiad, earning a gold-level score. That’s huge. It takes sustained creative thinking (paywall link), something AI has struggled with until now. The bot could go public in a few months. PSA: Not all math jokes are bad. Just sum.
🧬 Three-parent baby drop: UK scientists have pulled off a medical hat trick: eight babies born using DNA from three people — mom, dad and a donor — to dodge deadly mitochondrial diseases. The donor’s part is just 0.1% but makes all the difference. The science is wild, but the result is healthy kids.
14 minutes and 8 seconds
That’s how long the average dog watches TV per day. Sure, they’ll perk up for a barking scene, but unless it’s a nature doc with squirrels, consider them emotionally unavailable. After that, they’re back to their real passion: licking themselves and judging your life choices.
Hacked, packed and resold: A startup called Farnsworth Intelligence is taking hacked data (yep, from infostealer malware) and selling it to divorce lawyers, debt collectors and your competitor’s sales team. Over 50 million computers’ worth of stolen info. Passwords, browsing habits, embarrassing accounts and more up for grabs for about $50 each. How is this legal?
🏝️ Tropic like it’s hot: Mark Zuckerberg just expanded his Kauai compound to over 2,300 acres, making him one of Hawaii’s biggest landowners. The property includes known Native Hawaiian burial sites, which are being preserved, but locals worry about what might stay hidden under NDA-heavy construction. His $300M+ Hawaiian fortress also includes macadamia-fed cattle that moo in cursive.
AI faked her daughter: A Florida woman lost $15K after scammers used AI to mimic her daughter’s voice in a fake car crash call. They even called back asking for $30K more, claiming her daughter lost a baby in the accident. Her real daughter was at work the whole time. Have a secret family code word to thwart these crimes. Next up, AI is doing method acting on Broadway.
🧨 Microsoft’s China copilot: Microsoft’s finally getting rid of communist China-based engineers on U.S. military cloud projects after a ProPublica report triggered a Pentagon freak-out. Turns out so-called “digital escorts,” security-cleared U.S. babysitters, didn’t understand the tech they were supposed to be safeguarding. Now the defense secretary’s ordered a full supply chain scrub. Microsoft swears it disclosed everything. The military is now triple-checking everything for leaks and spies.
1 billion
That’s how many people watch podcasts on YouTube each month. Yes, watching. Turns out we didn’t kill our attention spans, we just moved them to couches, desks and smart TVs. If you’re multitasking with video in the background, congrats: You’re in excellent company. Might I suggest adding my podcast to the rotation? It’s cheaper than therapy.
🤖 Roblox adds AI selfie check: Kids can now chat more freely with friends, but only after proving they’re over 13. That starts with a video selfie, so AI can estimate their age (yes, really). If that doesn’t work, they’ll need to upload a government ID, finally.
100,000+
That’s how many accounts Chess.com bans every month for cheating. Turns out a lot of people need engine assistance to lose with dignity. With 20 million games played daily (13,000 per minute!), the site’s 30-member Fair Play Team is part detective squad, part digital janitor and very busy. No rookies allowed.