The 1-star shakedown

September 14, 2025

💥 The 1-star shakedown: Scammers are flooding small businesses with fake one-star nasty Google reviews, then demanding big money (paywall link) to take them down. Contractors, movers, roofers, you name it. Victims report losing thousands in jobs while paying bribes. Because in 2025, your biggest threat isn’t a guy named Vinnie, it’s a burner Gmail account.

Tags: Gmail, Google, jobs, money, reviews

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Tractors, TVs and tyranny

Bing Image Creator

Health data, now with ad targeting

Bing Image Creator

Your smartwatch is great for counting steps and buzzing you when you’ve been sitting on your butt too long. But have you ever stopped to think where all that personal data is going?

From sleep patterns to how stressed you are on a Tuesday afternoon, it’s all being logged in a digital diary. And guess what? That diary is worth big money to advertisers, insurance companies and, of course, hackers.

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600,000 miles

That’s how long the world’s biggest battery maker, CATL, says its new EV battery will last. For context, that’s like driving to the moon and back … then back again. Your EV will give up long before the battery does. Oh, and it also only takes 10 minutes to charge it from 10% to 80%. Wild.

Stop wasting money! Most of us pay for subscriptions we forgot about. Rocket Money finds them, tracks them and helps you cancel what you don’t need. I saved $435 on my first try. See how much you’ll save!

📂 Kindle maintenance: If your Kindle feels slow, it might be time to free up space. Go to Settings > Device options > Storage management > Manual removal. From there, browse the Books, Docs, Audible or Others folders. Scroll through the lists, pick what you no longer need and tap Remove.

👨‍👩‍👧 Make Netflix profiles for everyone: Netflix recommends shows based on what you watch, so don’t let cartoons mess up your rom-coms. Go to Manage Profiles > Add Profile > name it > Save. FYI: It also makes it easier to track what your kids are watching. Go back to Manage Profiles > their profile > Viewing activity.

More than 80%

That was Tesla’s share of the U.S. EV market back in the day. They’re down to just 38% of sales, the lowest since 2017. Why? While other automakers pump out shiny new EVs, Tesla’s busy dreaming about robotaxis and humanoid robots. Their last “new” model was the Cybertruck in 2023.

🔔 Turn on Instagram post notifications: Following too many accounts? Don’t miss updates from your favorites. Take me as an example. Go to my profile, tap the bell icon and toggle All for Posts, Stories, Reels and Live videos.

11:37 p.m.

The average bedtime for American adults. We’re clocking six hours and 40 minutes of sleep a night, well below the recommended seven to nine. People who stick to the same bedtime get 40 extra minutes of rest and spend 36% less time tossing and turning. TikTok will still be there tomorrow. Promise.

$2 million

How much the Las Vegas Sphere makes every single day. Not from concerts but from showing the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. Between 4,000 and 5,000 fans show up multiple times a day, each paying about $200 a ticket. Execs estimate the film could top $1 billion over its run (paywall link). I guess the real Emerald City is in Vegas. Btw, I saw it. I loved it!