🔞 Forget the days of finding Dad’s Playboy under the bed: If you have teens, talk to them about this. Teens are romancing bots and AI on apps. Some bots have filters, others barely try. The risk isn’t just sexting, it’s warping emotional development in a world where your “girlfriend” never says no and always texts back. Speaking of … Years ago, a monk was selling flowers on the Playboy Mansion grounds, and no one but Hef could get him to leave. Turns out, only Hugh would prevent florist friars. (I saw you shake your head!)
Meetings now come with surveillance
Chat GPT
It doesn’t bother me anymore, but it used to. Maybe it’s happened to you. You’re in a Zoom call, wearing pajama bottoms, and someone casually says, “Oh, my AI assistant is taking notes of everything everyone is saying.”
Wait, what?! There’s a digital stenographer silently documenting every sigh, awkward pause and half-baked idea you mutter?
AI meeting assistants like Otter.ai, Fireflies, Notion and others are the new must-have workplace tool. They can:
- Transcribe every word, so you can focus instead of frantically typing.
- Summarize key points, so you don’t have to rewatch the whole meeting.
- Highlight decisions and deadlines, so you know what matters.
- Assign tasks automatically based on what’s said. No more “Who was supposed to do that?”
- Even integrate with your apps like Slack, Trello or email to keep the ball rolling.
Super helpful, right? But just because you can bring AI into the boardroom doesn’t mean you always should.
🤖 Rule #1: Be up front
If AI is eavesdropping, slip in a casual, “Hey, I’ve got AI taking notes.” Be cool about it. Don’t drop it like a Bond villain mid-meeting: “Ah yes, my transcription robot is always listening.”
📩 Rule #2: Offer the summary
Want to be everyone’s favorite? Share the AI-generated recap.
People love walking away from a meeting with clear notes, even if they were only half-paying attention (you know who you are). Sharing = good karma.
🛑 Rule #3: Respect boundaries
If someone isn’t comfortable being recorded or transcribed, don’t push. Hit pause on the AI. Forcing it makes you look tone-deaf and can even lead to people opting out of the meeting entirely.
57%
Of all spam emails in the world come from the U.S. We’ve got loads of data centers, which makes it difficult to enforce regulations properly. This isn’t just inbox clutter, either; 67% of those messages contain phishing or malware links. You could say we’re the outbreak monkey of the internet.
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Crypto brain drain: Glen Fishman thought he was talking to legit Coinbase support. Turns out, it was a scammer who yoinked his password and stole his crypto fortune. FBI clawed back $95K (truly a miracle), but the rest? Poof. Fishman says he may have to delay retirement. Reminder: Never trust a dude whose support ticket opens with “Hey boss.”
Facial ID, no thanks: Airport scanners know your face before TSA even checks your ID. It’s now live at 84 airports, pitched as “frictionless.” Opting out is possible, but no one tells you how. Critics say it screams surveillance state. TSA says it’s just “enhanced security.” Next upgrade: retina scan in the TSA PreCheck mirror.
📸 Talk about driving a point home: Rep. Nancy Mace displayed a censored still of her naked body at a congressional hearing, saying it was taken without her consent by her ex-fiancé’s security cam. She’s pushing two bills to beef up federal voyeurism laws. The ex denies it all. The Founding Fathers did not die for 4K creep shots.
🚨 Biggest social media data breach ever: A cybercriminal gang calling themselves ByteBreaker says they scraped 1.2 billion Facebook records. We’re talking names, emails, birthdays and more being sold on the dark web. Meta says it’s just 2021 leftovers, but do we really believe them? Either way, it’s a buffet for scammers. You know the drill. Change your passwords. Freeze your credit. Put alerts on your bank accounts. Dang, I feel like there have been so many data breaches that hackers are deleting duplicates of my data to save on space.
Don’t trust pop-ups: A Florida man got a message on his laptop that looked like it came from a cybersecurity company he uses. Then scammers called and said someone took out a gambling loan in his name. The fix? Deposit $38K through a Bitcoin ATM. Yeah, they got him. If someone phones demanding crypto, hang up.
⚠️ Use Apple AirPlay? Be careful. Researchers found security flaws that could let hackers take over compatible devices like speakers if they’re on the same Wi-Fi. They can control them remotely and possibly use mics to spy. Reminder: Keep your Apple gadgets updated, and turn off AirPlay when you’re not using it.
Getting weird Ring emails? You’re not alone. People are receiving legit Ring account sign-up messages they never asked for, and some of the usernames include racist slurs. It looks like hackers got hold of a bunch of stolen email addresses. If one lands in your inbox, don’t click anything. Just delete it.
🚨 Hackers can disable Windows Defender: A sneaky tool called Defendnot tricks your system by pretending to be another antivirus. Since Windows doesn’t allow two at once, it shuts Defender off automatically. Crazy, right? Just another reason to always use strong antivirus with real-time protection. TotalAV is my go-to!
🛠️ Hood’s up, scam’s on: Scammers are showing up to buy your car and sabotaging it mid-sale. They’re pouring oil into the coolant to fake engine issues, then trying to lowball you into selling the vehicle cheap. Even if you don’t fall for it, you’re stuck with a mess and a repair bill.
14 months
How long you’ll sit in prison for faking an ID and hijacking the SEC’s Twitter. Eric Council Jr. SIM swapped his way into the SEC’s X account with a bogus ID, dropped a fake Bitcoin ETF approval tweet and briefly spiked and tanked the Bitcoin price. The feds didn’t LOL. Now he’s got over a year to think about it.
👁️ New Orleans secret surveillance: For two years, police used facial recognition to track people in real time. They tapped into a private network of cameras to scan crowds for anyone on a wanted list and sent alerts to officers. The twist? It might not have been legal. The program’s now paused (paywall link).
🚨 Update Chrome ASAP: Google dropped an emergency patch to fix a flaw that could let hackers take over your accounts. Don’t wait. Go to Settings > About Chrome and make sure you’re up to date. Windows and Linux should be on version 136.0.7103.113. macOS should be on 136.0.7103.114.
Take It Down Act: President Trump just signed a law making it a crime to post someone’s intimate images without their consent, even if they’re AI deepfakes. It’s serious stuff. You could face up to three years in prison, plus fines. Platforms have 48 hours to take down reported content and scrub any copies.
🚨 Deliverability: Noun. The likelihood that an email will successfully land in your inbox instead of being exiled to the deadly spam folder. I switched ESPs (email service providers), and I need your help. Reply, forward or rate the newsletter at the end, so Big Tech and your email provider know you want my free newsletter. This way, I’ll stick around like guac on a chip.
T-Mobile payout: Remember the 2021 data breach that exposed info from 76 million people? A class action lawsuit followed, and T-Mobile agreed to a $350 million settlement. Good news: Checks are going out this month. If you were part of the lawsuit, you could get back your losses or a flat payment of $25. Nothing says I’m sorry like a Chipotle bowl and a bottle of CVS wine.