🚗 Meanwhile, have a second-gen Rivian? A new update lets you drive with your hands totally off the wheel. It only works on 135,000 miles of “compatible highways” in the U.S. and Canada. I wouldn’t trust it.
Meet your future robot coworker
Humanoid robots have come a long way. In 2000, Honda’s $2.5 million ASIMO could barely shuffle along at 1 mph. Now, robots are running, flipping and handling customer service. Let’s dive into the robot revolution.
🦾 Why humanoid bots?
Most robots are one-trick ponies — great at one task but useless everywhere else. The problem? Our world isn’t built for machines; it’s built for us. We climb stairs, twist off bottle caps and reach shelves designed for human hands.
Crack the code on robots that move and think like us, and suddenly, they can slot into any job. That’s why Elon Musk thinks his Optimus robots could pull in $10 trillion.
They’ll do anything from mowing your lawn to babysitting. He wants to make several thousand this year. Expect to shell out $20,000 to $30,000 for one.
🤖 Who’s your da-ta?
Education: Van Robotics got turned away by Shark Tank in 2020. Now, their $5,000 robot tutor, ABii, is helping kids learn reading and math in 36 states and seven countries. It’s just 18 inches tall and sits right on your desk. Perfect for eye level.
Health care: Moxi robots make over a million deliveries at 31 hospitals. They’ve saved staff over 1.5 billion steps and 575,000 hours carrying meds and lab samples. The $11,625 a month each is covered by grants.
Hospitality: In Spain, there are the nearly $100K Kime bartenders that whip up 180 drinks an hour. Meanwhile, Japanese restaurant chain Skylark has around 3,000 cat-eared robots delivering food to tables. They might’ve taken up to 15,000 human jobs.
Logistics: Agility Robotics’ 5-foot-9-inch Digit lifts up to 35 pounds. It’s the only robot you can actually buy for warehouses and factories. Companies are paying $30 an hour for ’em. That’s around $62,400 a year, assuming it’s working 40 hours a week.
Security: The $150,000 Eve bots, funded by OpenAI, are doing security duty at a couple of industrial sites. Let’s hope no intruders can outrun its top speed of 9.8 mph.
🏠 Robot, come here
Stop your devices from listening
What’s the obvious downside for always-on devices that constantly listen for commands? They’re always listening. Voice-activated tech uses microphones that listen for wake words, meaning they can hear personal conversations you don’t want them to hear. Don’t worry, you can stop it.
$1 million
Royalties Spotify paid nearly 1,500 artists in 2024. You need over 20 million streams a month to earn that. Guess who is the number one earner on Spotify? Yup, it’s a “Tay Day” pay day for Taylor Swift who made an estimated $79.8 million to $133 million from 26.6 billion streams.
He must have used Bono as his GPS voice: A Tesla driver was following Google Maps on a mountain and took the wrong turn. Instead of sticking to the clearly marked roadway, he ended up on a ski slope. Luckily, the ski patrol spotted the car, chased it down and stopped it. The driver still doesn’t know what he was looking for.
📨 Inbox under attack: Beware if you use Microsoft 365. Hackers are putting phishing links in emails sent from Microsoft addresses. Yep, even those from “.onmicrosoft.com” can be fake. This is getting around security checks. Be extra careful about clicking on links. Search the email address in your inbox to see if it’s familiar.
🏜️ Lost civilizations? Many are buried beneath sand making them nearly impossible to find. But now, researchers are using incredible SAR technology to send radar waves underground to detect hidden structures. Combine that with AI, and boom, it’s picking up things like 5,000-year-old settlements in Dubai. Amazing. Mummy’s home!
17%
Lower risk of dying early by swapping butter for plant oils. A big Harvard study tracked over 220,000 Americans for 33 years. Swapping just two tablespoons on your bread makes a difference. The kicker? Baking with butter doesn’t have the same risk. No margarine for error here.
🌍 Heading overseas? Don’t get slammed with outrageous roaming fees! Stay connected affordably in 200+ destinations with the eSIM I trust. Just download the Saily app, choose a plan and connect instantly — no physical SIM needed. It’s fast, secure and hassle-free. Grab yours now and save 10%!
👶 It’s Octomom, aka Natalie Suleman: Yep, the woman who made headlines years ago for giving birth to eight kids! Well, they’re all 16 now, and momma bear is raising them old-school and strict. No phones, no dating until 18 and zero social media.
You have to C#: Fired web dev Davis Lu allegedly activated a kill switch, locking thousands out of his past employer’s systems. Now, the 55-year-old faces up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of criminal sabotage, though he plans to appeal. Anytime you need to get rid of someone in IT, minimize the risks.
💸 Scammers are posing as Fidelity, Morgan Stanley and other financial giants: Remember, they’ll never call or text asking for your password, one-time code, money transfers or remote access to your computer. If something feels off, stop and contact them directly. Stay sharp!
25%
Americans feel burned out before they turn 30. Many Gen Z and millennials say they’ve hit “peak stress” at 25. That’s way younger than the average of 42 years old when most folks start having a midlife crisis.
Over $1 billion
In unclaimed tax refunds from 2021 will expire in four weeks. If you didn’t file your 2021 tax return, act fast or that money goes straight to the U.S. Treasury … forever. The average refund is $781, but some could get as much as $6,728! The deadline is April 15, 2025. See if you’re eligible on the IRS website.
♥️ Kindness goes viral: I love this. Lisa Aamot and her family are very close with their elderly neighbors, Fred and Evy. Recently, Lisa recorded her 4-year-old daughter, Sutton, walking to their house to borrow some maple syrup. Surprisingly, Fred, who’s usually relaxing in his chair, answered the door. The video has touched over 4 million hearts on TikTok.
$16 per month
Gets you access to Snapchat Platinum, including its new AI video Lenses. Think of it as a filter where you can see yourself cuddling up with cute virtual animals on screen. So far, there’s a raccoon and fox, plus spring flowers. People need to cool it with the age filter. It’s getting old.
iRobot is launching eight new vacuums: For the first time, they’re adding lidar tech for smart mapping to entry-level models. That means room-specific cleaning and keep-out zones right from the app. FYI: Amazon almost bought iRobot for over $1 billion, and recently, iRobot said they’re not sure they will survive. Damn, that sucks.
✈️ Heard of Jeniffer Castro? She refused to give up her window seat for a crying child and got filmed during the whole thing. Now, she’s suing the airline and the passenger who recorded her over the online hate and public shaming that followed. It got so bad she quit her job and stopped leaving her house.
Busted by their own getaway car: Three men were arrested for home thefts across North Carolina. Their rented SUV had a GPS tracker that logged their whereabouts for the past two to three weeks, linking them to more crimes in at least 10 North Carolina counties.