🙃 Take a people detox: Humans need each other. But sometimes you just want everyone to disappear. That’s not misanthropy, that’s “aloneliness”: the emotional ache of not getting enough alone time. New research shows even 15 minutes of solitude lowers stress, boosts creativity and dials down cortisol. So give yourself some me time today.
Adpocalypse survival guide
ChatGPT
“Kim, I am so sick and tired of all the ads on websites. It feels like they’ve gotten worse since ChatGPT is taking away site traffic from Google. How do I block the annoying ads?” — Terry in Ohio
Terry, you’re right. Websites are loading up with more ads than ever.
Pop-ups, auto-playing videos, banners that dance around while you’re just trying to read a recipe or check the news. It’s digital chaos.
Why? Because many sites are losing tremendous ad revenue in the 60% range from fewer clicks and fewer visitors. So they’re cramming in even more ads, hoping to squeeze out one more buck before you give up and close the tab.
But you don’t have to live like this. Here’s how to shut down the noise.
🔧 Start with your browser
Fight back, one browser setting at a time.
Chrome:
- Click the three dots (top right) > Settings > Privacy and security > Site Settings
- Scroll down and block pop-ups and redirects
Safari (Mac):
- Safari > Settings > Websites > Content Blockers
- It tries to get rid of pop-ups, trackers, auto-play videos and more
Firefox:
$118,000+
The price of Bitcoin’s new all-time high. The crown jewel of crypto just blasted past $118,000, fueled by a massive short squeeze, billions poured into spot ETFs, and pro‑crypto policy moves in Washington. It’s up over 110% from this time last year. Coming soon, my new once-a-week crypto newsletter to keep you in the know. Click here to sign up.
🍿 Find your next movie: Movie-Map is a free site that helps you find films similar to ones you already like. Just type in a favorite, and the screen fills up with other titles. Your pick sits in the center, and the closer the other names are, the more alike they are. Goodbye, endless scrolling.
🙊 Catfishing finance: Scammers are using deepfake Zoom calls (paywall link) and cloned exec voices to steal millions. Companies keep falling for it. One Hong Kong firm wired $25M to a video call of “CFOs” who turned out to be AI sock puppets. Congrats to the bots, you now officially have LinkedIn clout.
🍟 McHack at McHire: McDonald’s AI job portal leaked data from 64 million applications. Why? Because the login was basically “admin / 123456.” Hackers didn’t need skills (paywall link), just fingers. Names, emails, phone numbers … all up for grabs. The site was built by Paradox.ai, which now has a new definition of “paradox.”
OpenAI wants your tabs: OpenAI’s cooking up its own AI-powered web browser to go toe-to-toe with Chrome. It’s Chromium-based, ChatGPT-loaded and maybe a little nosy. The goal? Bury Google in your bookmarks and snag all that sweet, sweet user data while it’s at it.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Watching YouTube on PC? Press K to pause or play, J to rewind 10 seconds and L to fast-forward 10 seconds. You can also tap M to mute or unmute, and F to enter full screen mode. Nice.
🔥 Anker battery recall: Six power bank models might literally catch fire. If you’ve got a PowerCore, MagGo or Zolo model, check the serial number, and stop using it immediately. A free replacement or $30 gift card could be yours. Recall form here.
💸 GameStop owes you cash: GameStop’s shelling out $4.5M after quietly slipping your purchase info to Facebook via tracking pixels. If you bought a game online from August 2020 to April 2025 and had a Facebook account, you might get $5 or a $10 store voucher. It’s petty cash, but still, they owe you. File by Aug. 15, 2025.
✈️ I hate slow Wi-fi on planes: But times are changing. Starlink is now on over 1,000 airplanes worldwide, giving millions of passengers access to high-speed internet in the air. Airlines like Qatar, Hawaiian and United use it. But how fast? Tests show over 100 Mbps. SpaceX says 2,000 more planes are coming soon.
Water you doing? Here’s something they don’t tell you about those huge data centers. Beverly thought she retired into rural peace, then Meta built a data center 400 yards away. Her well went cloudy, her toilet needs bucket-flushing, and the water’s too gunky to drink. Meta denies any link, but the booming data center biz raises red flags, like AI slurping trillions of gallons by 2027.
1
That’s how many people on Earth have the Gwada negative blood type. Talk about being your own emergency contact. The woman, a 68-year-old from Guadeloupe, is the sole human with a blood type so rare it wasn’t even recognized until now. She’s basically a medical unicorn, with receipts.
🤖 Grok just keeps Grokking: Elon’s chatbot went rogue, quoting Hitler and calling itself “MechaHitler.” xAI blamed a system prompt. Days later? Boom, Grok 4 launches with a $300/month “SuperGrok Heavy” tier. It allegedly doubled OpenAI’s top model score. “Terrifying rate of progress” sounds less cool when your bot’s quoting Mein Kampf.
If you’re a podcaster, you’re now a target: A scammer impersonating “The Bill Simmons Podcast” almost took over Magic Singh’s socials using a fake interview setup. They even tricked his management. The red flag? A “test call” that ended with a sketchy dude asking for Facebook Business access. Nope.
🚨 Fake sites on Google: Hackers are poisoning search results, getting fake websites to rank at the top. This time it’s for legit-looking Windows tools. Download them, and you’ll end up with nasty malware. Tip: Type in the official site directly, and always use real-time solid antivirus protection on your computers and phone. My pick is TotalAV.
41%
That’s how much Prime Day sales may have dipped this year, ouch. But a softer showing doesn’t mean there weren’t great deals. Shoppers are just choosier these days (recession brain is real). Essentials won, splurges lost, and flashy new features couldn’t quite save the cart.
👶 Heartbeat in your hand: This is cool if you’re pregnant. A new AI-powered app lets you feel your unborn baby’s heartbeat by translating ultrasound data into phone vibrations. It’s giving “skin-to-skin” a low-latency, Bluetooth-enabled twist. It’s also $96/year, not FDA-cleared, but pretty neat at womb temperature.
$293 million
That’s the global box office haul for Apple’s biggest movie ever … so far.F1: The Movie beat out Napoleon to take the top spot in Apple’s box office history. About 1 in 5 tickets sold were in IMAX alone, making it the coziest way to feel like you’re inside an F1 car. Popcorn included.
“Full self-driving” debunked: A Tesla owner just got his $10K back after proving “Full Self-Driving” isn’t even close. The car never qualified for FSD beta, and turns out the hardware can’t handle autonomy anyway. It’s “Full Self-Driving” the way LaCroix is “juice.”