Sucking up dirt

October 13, 2024

Sucking up dirt: A prankster is targeting Chinese-made robot vacuums inside American homes. A Minnesota lawyer’s Ecovacs Deebot X2 app showed someone accessing the live camera feed, then racial slurs and a few f-bombs blasted through the speaker. In Los Angeles, another vacuum chased an owner’s dog. Ecovacs says to change your password. I say you should do a factory reset and toss your Ecovacs. This Roomba is on sale.

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Tags: Ecovacs, hackers, home

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Elon’s future: Autonomous cabs, vans and robot butlers

I know you’ve seen it all over the news. Elon Musk took to the stage at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank to spotlight what he says is the future of transportation … and to show off his army of cowboy-hat-wearing robots. Will any of this make it to production and into our homes? Well, I’ll get to that.

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23andMe is a sinking ship – Delete your data

23andMe is going down like a sinking ship, and CEO Anne Wojcicki is waffling on whether to sell. You know what else would be up for sale if she did? The DNA of 23andMe’s 15 million customers.

If you’ve used the genetic testing service, you have every right to be concerned. Depending on who buys it, your genetic information could be used in a whole new way. Here’s the latest on what’s happening and how you can protect yourself.

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Introducing: Bolt & Bolt-M

💣 War drones need specially trained operators: Well, they did. The U.S. Marine Corps is testing a new AI-powered strike drone. Select any target, and Bolt-M follows autonomously, even if it loses connection. To attack, choose the direction, angle and height, and it does the rest. Just … wow.

24,000 Redbox machines

Left abandoned across the U.S. CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Dollar General, Albertsons and Kroger all are trying to get permission from Redbox’s bankruptcy court to trash the 890-pound DVD vending machines (paywall link). Hey, maybe you can score one.

What is STOL? What are the rules?

This trend is going to take off: Competitive short takeoff and landing, aka STOL, looks like a lot of fun. It’s one of aviation’s fastest-growing sports, thanks, in part, to Microsoft Flight Simulator. Watch how it works — I’d love to try this!

Tesla: 'We, Robot' event livestream

I know you’ve seen it all over the news: Elon Musk recently took to the stage at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank to spotlight what he says is the future of transportation — and show off his army of cowboy hat-wearing robots. Will any of this make it to production and into our driveways? Well, we’ll see.

Introducing 'Dookie Demastered'

Green Day is going all out: To celebrate their “Dookie” album’s 30th anniversary, the California punk rock band has released “demastered” versions of their songs played on some hilariously inconvenient formats, including “Pulling Teeth” on a toothbrush, “Chump” on a Teddy Ruxpin and “Welcome to Paradise” on a Game Boy cartridge.

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10K run

A new drug mimics the effects of a long run in just one pill. LaKe appears to flush toxins, strengthen the heart, suppress hunger and reduce the risk of major diseases, just like strenuous exercise. All that and no chafing? Bring it on!

$3,000 cellphones

White-collar criminals are shelling out to stay connected in prison. Some are smuggled in by guards and others via drone. A former securities broker who went to prison told Business Insider (paywall link) a box of 50 phones, camouflaged to look like grass, landed in the yard one day.

$4 smart remote

Temu is selling a knockoff remote that works with Amazon’s Fire TV. What a bargain … for something that could be listening and sending everything you do back to Communist China. Stay away.