A humanoid robot in China malfunctioned, flailed around, and thrashed wildly at factory workers during a routine test. Naturally, some humans online are calling the start of our AI judgment day, while others are still debating 100 men vs 1 gorilla. Cool, cool.
Credit card? Try regret card
Silent Push
Look at the image. That’s not the real Omaha Steaks. It’s from a fake site designed to steal your money.
It’s happening all over the internet right now. You see a great deal on name-brand stuff, a new smartwatch, fancy cookware, maybe some designer jeans, and you click.
Everything looks real. The logos, the layout, even Apple and Google Pay are options. But it’s a scam, and now your credit card info is out there.
A massive scam targeting you
Silent Push analysts uncovered thousands of fake websites posing as trusted stores like Apple, Michael Kors, Harbor Freight, REI, Omaha Steaks and more. There’s a massive global scam operation that uses real payment methods on fake checkout pages. Like thousands-of-sites massive.
The twist? The criminals, likely based in China, take your payment and ghost you. No product. No refund. No customer service. Total fake-out.
They cloned sites
They’re copying everything. Logos, layouts, even the checkout process, so much so that you’d swear you were on the real REI website while buying $10 trail shoes.
But there were some sites with mismatched logos and products. A Harbor Freight clone showed Wrangler jeans.
Even worse: These scam sites are popping up faster than hosting companies can take them down. Many are still up right now.
Don’t fall for it
- Slow down and read. Misspelled words, weird domain names like “nordstromltems.com” (that’s an L, not an I) or random products are huge red flags.
- Use virtual cards or a credit card. Not a debit card. You need that fraud protection.
- Stick to the real URL. Skip the sketchy ads. Always type the URL in yourself.
- If the deal looks too good, it probably is a scam. Period.
When your stock is actually a scam
ChatGPT
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.
China built a pregnancy robot
A $14K baby-making machine? Yep, it’s real. Charles in Atlanta calls in to see if AI can help his band land more gigs. Plus: an $800K gold scam, a Bluetooth hack you need to know, and Amazon’s used car lot.
🇨🇳 TikTok on the clock: Looks like the U.S. and China are inching toward a deal that could keep TikTok alive in America. The plan would move U.S. operations, with Oracle overseeing data here in the States. Communist China’s ByteDance would still have a hand in the algorithm, which is the heart and soul of the app.
293.54 mph
Speeds hit by China’s BYD U9, claiming EV hypercar supremacy. So it turns out Yangwang’s engineering marvel U9 casually obliterated the speed charts. It didn’t just nudge the status quo; it demolished it. Anyone up for some electric NASCAR?
Baby got bot: Taking cues from the 2019 I Am Mother movie, China’s building a humanoid with a synthetic womb that can carry a fetus from start to finish. Price tag? Just $14K, way cheaper than a human surrogate. Get this: The inventor, Dr. Zhang Qifeng, says they’re aiming for a working prototype within a year. Frightening.
70+ years
How long since the U.S. opened a rare earth mine. One dusty spot in Wyoming could supply America with rare earths for over 150 years. That’s phones, fighter jets and EVs covered till 2175. China controls 90% of processing right now, so yeah, this is big news for cowboy country. Yeehaw, meet geopolitics.
🛬 DJI drones aren’t banned yet: But they’re vanishing like crypto influencers in a bear market. The U.S. says all drones from communist China need a security review by December, but that review hasn’t even started. DJI says customs is already blocking shipments. You can still buy one, if you enjoy paying 2x MSRP and firmware roulette.
8,000 vs. 120
That’s the USA vs. China satellite count. SpaceX is casually orbiting 8,000 Starlink satellites. China? Still stuck at 120 (paywall link). It’s a space race where one kid showed up on a rocket bike and the other forgot their shoes. China’s grand plan for 27,000 satellites is stuck at 0.4% complete. Talk about taking a red-eye.
🧨 Fission accomplished: This is bad. Communist China hackers used a SharePoint flaw to target 400+ orgs, including the U.S. nuke agency (NNSA). Microsoft says the exploit hit agencies in the U.S., EU, Middle East and more. They say no classified files were stolen since the backdoor’s been open since July 7. Yea, right.
13
The number of autonomous vehicle companies Uber now has deals with. It currently counts companies like Waymo, Motional, Baidu, even delivery bots like Nuro, in its Infinity Gauntlet. Uber’s building the whole arena. Baidu alone ran 1.4 million robotaxi rides last quarter in China.
$500 million
That’s the deal Apple just signed with MP Materials, which operates a rare-earth mine in the U.S. The company will soon produce magnets for iPhones and other high-tech gear. Why? Apple wants to cut back on communist China’s grip controlling about 70% of the world’s critical minerals.
What would you do? A San Jose woman got buried in hundreds and hundreds of Amazon packages. Think faux leather cheap car seat covers she never ordered from a seller in China. Turns out, shady return scammers were dumping rejected goods on her doorstep. Amazon’s response? A $100 gift card and radio silence … until the news shamed them into action.
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.
👀 TikTok’s mystery buyers: President Trump claims “very wealthy people” are ready to buy TikTok, but he won’t say who. Only catch? The deal still needs China’s OK. The deadline’s now Sept. 17. This is the third delay while lawmakers try to kill the app. It feels like a group project we all forgot about that keeps getting deadline extensions.
The micro spy
It looks like a bug, acts like a spy and it’s made in China. This tiny drone is so stealthy you’d never know it was watching.
1,000 miles
That’s how far China’s newest range-extended SUVs can go on one charge and a bit of gas. That’s New York to Key West without the “where’s the next charger?” panic attack. Huawei and Chery’s Luxeed R7 (paywall link) leads the pack, mixing EV cred with a gas backup. Range anxiety? Cured. Now it’s just regular life’s anxiety left.
Move over, DJI: A U.S. company called SiFly says its new drones are way better. The Q12 model can fly for up to three hours, and the Q250 can carry 200 pounds. That means longer range, more gear, better performance in emergencies and no secrets sent back to communist China.
2,899
That’s how many satellites China wants in its new orbiting AI supercomputer. It’s called the “Three-Body Computing Constellation,” and they’ve already launched 12. Each satellite runs its own 8 billion parameter AI model and talks to the others at up to 100 Gbps (with lasers, obviously). The goal is basically turning space into one giant neural net.