Spies on the road

July 2, 2025

Spies on the road: Washington State’s using motion data from your phone — yep, the same one in your car’s cupholder — to find speeding hot spots. A Michelin-backed system anonymously logs braking and acceleration, then tips off the State Patrol. The upside? Fewer crashes. The downside? Your commute just joined the surveillance state. Not tracked personally, but just enough to ruin your shortcut.

Tags: crashes, data, Spies, Surveillance, system

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When your stock is actually a scam

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I don’t mean to be a downer, but I need to warn you that tens of thousands of Americans, folks just like you, are getting duped into buying worthless Chinese stocks.

The Wall Street Journal (paywall link) found even seasoned investors are falling for this scam, losing big bucks in the blink of an eye.

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Stop using 2FA text codes already

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Today’s a short but super important security tip. If you’re still getting login codes via text on your phone, stop. That’s so 2010 and one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to online security.

Sure, it’s convenient. You type in your password, get a six-digit code via SMS, enter it, and you’re in. But here’s the problem: Hackers have figured out how to steal those codes.

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Google’s Veo 3 is out

The new AI video generator creates lifelike eight-second clips from just a prompt. It’s amazing. You can try it free through Vertex AI on Google Cloud by signing up for a trial and using the $300 in credits. FYI: This thing was trained on millions of YouTube videos.

$40 million

That’s how much brands shelled out to plaster their logos on a fictional Formula 1 team in F1: The Movie. Brad Pitt’s race suit is just fire-resistant, fully monetized and stitched up with sponsors like Mercedes, IWC and Expensify. Basically NASCAR meets Paris Fashion Week, and every logo is paying rent.

$144 million

That’s how much the new F1 racing movie made globally on its opening weekend. It’s Brad Pitt’s biggest debut ever, beating World War Z’s $112 million. This thrill ride cost $200 million to $300 million to make. I’m definitely going to see this movie!

Over 35,000

People were paid by Stanford to quit Instagram or Facebook for six weeks. The goal? See what happens to emotional well-being. Turns out there was only a slight mood boost. The biggest gains came from people over 35 quitting Facebook and women under 25 leaving IG.

5 to 3

That’s the final score in a soccer match where no one broke a sweat, or had a pulse. Tsinghua’s robot squad took the W against China Agricultural University in the world’s first all-autonomous 3v3 match. Strategy, teamwork, AI, basically FIFA meets I, Robot. Coming soon: an algorithm for yellow cards.

200 cookies

What the average American eats each year. A 50-state survey showed one in six Americans, or a little over 16%, eats dessert daily. That percentage is highest in Tennessee, at 25%. On average, sweets cravings hit hardest at 2:30 p.m. For the record, Newman-O’s are my favorite cookie.

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

Almost 90%

That’s how much heart attacks have dropped since 1970, thanks to better meds and emergency care. The twist? With more people surviving, issues like heart failure and high blood pressure are becoming the silent killers. Add in obesity nearly tripling since the ’70s, and, well … hearts are still under serious pressure.

30%

That’s how much of Salesforce’s workload AI is already doing. Marc Benioff says bots are now answering customer questions and writing code like it’s no big deal. You know, just casually replacing a third of the org chart before lunch. The high-end estimate of Salesforce’s work done by AI? Nearly half (paywall link).