Not exactly brag-worthy

November 8, 2024

Not exactly brag-worthy: The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is tooting its own horn for no successful hacks during the U.S. election. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t interference. Russia ramped up its disinformation campaigns on social media, and several bogus bomb threats made at polling stations were traced back to them. And don’t forget China hacked phones belonging to President-elect Trump and JD Vance.

Tags: China, CISA, cybersecurity, disinformation, elections, government, interference, Russia

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True or false: You need antivirus protection for your phone

Ah, the wide world of tech myths. I’ve heard ‘em all:

Macs are immune to viruses. Stick a wet phone in rice and it’ll be as good as new. Always run your battery down to 0% before you charge.

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How to know if you’re being stalked or are just paranoid

I’ve heard it all on my national radio show. There was the guy totally freaked out because too many strangers in public knew his name for it to be a coincidence. (His name was Buddy.)

There was a woman who swore one of Metallica’s band members hacked her iPhone to stalk her after she rejected him online. And another who bought and sold three cars because she thought they all had hidden trackers.

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'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story' official trailer

😲 The No. 1 show on Netflix right now is “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” It dives into the true story of two brothers convicted of murdering their parents in 1996. They said a lifetime of abuse drove them to it; prosecutors argued it was all about inheriting the family fortune.

$125,000 in 'baguettes'

Hackers are demanding ransom from France’s Schneider Electric. If they don’t get it, they’ll spill 40GB of stolen data, including company projects, employee details and customer info. Talk about handing over the dough.

'Here' official trailer

🎬 Plot twist: “Here” follows Tom Hanks and Robin Wright across a 60-year span, de-aged entirely by AI. A few years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible without Marvel-level budgets. Now? They’re pulling it off for $50 million. The trailer gave me goosebumps!

60-plus emails

Opened at the same time will crash the Outlook app. Microsoft isn’t sure why, but it might be due to overloading the working memory. I’ll keep you posted when a fix is out. I was on the fence about buying Office 365. I shook a Magic 8 Ball, and it said, “Outlook not good!”

$3 million

For your very own Batmobile. Wayne Enterprises (yep, a licensed company) is taking preorders, with deliveries planned to start in 15 months. Yes, the jet engine and gun turrets are just for show.

No. 2 in EV sales

For automaker GM, which sold 32,000 electric vehicles in the U.S. during the third quarter. Ford insists they’re still in the second spot, claiming “GM is adding every brand EV” they sell, including Chevy, GMC and Cadillac. You guessed it — Tesla remains No. 1. You know what they say: 95% of electric cars are still on the road; the other 5% made it all the way home.

Over 10 billion

URLs Google has been asked to take down by copyright holders. Arrr, it’s pirated content, matey. It’s not just classic torrent sites anymore; movies, music and lots more land on streaming sites and file-hosting services.

11 minutes, 21 seconds

How long an F-35 jet flew on its own after the pilot ejected too early. An electrical malfunction made the pilot think the $135 million jet was out of control. As it turns out, the F-35 was still flyable. Everyone is OK, but how’d you like to explain this to your superior?