The app store’s worst roommate

August 14, 2025

🕵️ The app store’s worst roommate: Cybercrime crew VexTrio Viper has been publishing fake VPNs, RAM cleaners and dating apps in official stores, pulling millions into their ad-and-scam trap since 2015. That store badge? Just lipstick on a hacker pig. Treat the app store like a public bathroom: Use it, but don’t touch anything without checking first.

Tags: cybercrime, dating, RAM, stores, touch

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Your phone is tracking you even when you think it’s not

ChatGPT

You know that little GPS icon that pops up when an app is using your location? That’s the polite part. The tip of the iceberg. The warm handshake before your phone whispers your every movement to Big Tech behind your back.

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The sound police are coming for ya

Sorama

Look at that picture. What we’ve got here is not just another traffic camera, but a fully deputized decibel detective. Meet the sound police.

These new noise cameras are the cousins of speed and red-light cameras, but instead of catching you with a heavy foot, they’re busting you for a heavy exhaust.

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$7.7 billion

That’s how much Paramount paid for the rights to the UFC. That’s more than the GDP of Fiji. Seven years, 43 events a year and zero pay-per-view fees, just all-you-can-binge brawling for your $12.99 Paramount+ subscription. ESPN’s old $500M-a-year deal looks like pocket change.

▶️ Control Facebook video autoplay: You can choose whether videos in your feed play automatically. On PC, go to Settings & privacy > Settings > Media and toggle off Autoplay animations. On mobile, go to Settings & privacy > Settings > Media > Autoplay and tap Never or On Wi-Fi only.

$34.5 billion

How much Perplexity just offered Google to buy Chrome. Just for comparison’s sake: Perplexity is worth $18 billion, and Google is worth $2.5 trillion. Chrome isn’t exactly on the clearance aisle, especially not for couch cushion change (paywall link) from a competitor. Either way, looks like a bad deal. I got Chrome for free!

110 million to 115 million years old

Dinosaur tracks were uncovered in Travis County, Texas, after July’s horrific floods. A volunteer helping clear debris found 15 three-clawed footprints in a crisscross pattern, each 18 to 20 inches long. So what was it? Experts think they belonged to a meat-eating dino like the 35-foot Acrocanthosaurus. Imagine that thing chasing you.

$14.5 billion

Biggest crypto theft ever. In 2020, a hacker cracked one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining pools using a laughably weak 32-bit security system you could brute-force with a gaming PC. They drained 127,000 Bitcoins (worth $3.5B then, $14.5B now) from over 5,000 wallets and then just left the stash untouched for five years.

34 years

That’s how long AOL’s dial-up has been screeching. Come Sept. 30, 2025, the iconic modem handshake will join Blockbuster late fees in the nostalgia graveyard. Broadband won years ago, this is just a very late funeral. If you’ve never heard it, imagine R2-D2 having a panic attack through a kazoo. Hey, in the mood to go back in time? Check out these home pages from way back to log on to memory lane.

$300,000 in 1883

On HBO’s The Gilded Age is about $9 million to $10 million today. Shoes cost $3, a dentist visit was 50 cents and a fully furnished 2,000 sq. ft. home went for $12K to $15K. The kicker? The mega-rich didn’t pay income tax (paywall link). If you did not see that series, stream it today. It’s fantastic!

4.56 billion years old

The age of a meteorite that crashed through a Georgia home back in June. Scientists say it’s roughly 20 million years older than Earth itself. Oh, and this wasn’t a one-off, it’s the 27th meteorite recovered in the state. Talk about Skyfall, no Adele needed.