Quick reminder: Most old cellphones can still call 911 even without a plan. Federal law requires all cellphones to connect to emergency services, even if they don’t have active service. A 2-year-old in Oklahoma put this to the test by calling for an emergency donut delivery. The dispatcher played along, and the police showed up with Dunkin’ treats.
'Emergency donuts'
📲 Whaddaya want? Soon, you’ll know why a business is calling — at least if you use an Android on the AT&T network. Maybe you’ve already noticed official logos pop up when a company calls. Now you’ll see what they want, with no extra app required. Options include appointment and refill reminders, delivery service, and upcoming visits. This is neat, but, of course, now I’m worried when someone will hack this …
Staying in is the new going out
Friday night celebration? Nah. We’ve got food delivery and streaming. You can thank Wi-Fi for that.
Tesla’s ghost delivery: This is something. Tesla just delivered a car from its factory to a customer with zero humans inside, not even a remote operator. The car just snuck home like a teenager after curfew. Elon says it’s the first true hands-off highway drive. I wonder: If you miss a few car payments, will it also drive itself back to the dealer?
61%
That’s the share of parents who use DoorDash. More than half of families with kids are ordering delivery at least once a week. Because between soccer practice and homework meltdowns, no one’s got time to sauté. Basically, Uber Eats is the new family dinner.
Get to the point: Cut to the chase if you’re adding special instructions to your online order. If there’s a gate code, for instance, start the message with “Gate code 1234” (or whatever your code is). Often, those notes get cut short for the delivery person, so put the important stuff right up front.
🚚 Amazon’s getting faster: Same or next-day delivery is coming to over 4,000 small towns and cities by the end of the year. It’s part of a $4 billion plan to triple the size of the company’s rural network. Bonus: Prime Day runs July 8 to 11. Click here to snag early deals.
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📦 Walmart’s expanding drone delivery: It’s coming to five more cities, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando and Tampa. If you’re in one of them, you can sign up on Wing’s site to get notified when it goes live near you. FYI: That brings the service to 100 stores. At this rate, we’ll be living like the Jetsons in no time.
Alexa’s on the case: Wondering where your Amazon package is? You could hit this link or just say, “Alexa, where’s my stuff?” or “Alexa, track my order.” She’ll give you a quick update on your delivery status. Hands-free and hassle-free.
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🤖 Humanoids at your doorstep: Amazon’s testing humanoid robots that might literally leap out of delivery vans. The company’s building a “humanoid park” to train these robot couriers to drop packages while dodging pets, toddlers and possibly your Ring camera judgment. Humans may still drive the vans, for now.
🪖 Welcome to drone country, soldier: The Army just launched its biggest makeover since the Cold War, and it’s all about drones. Think 1,000 drones (paywall link) per combat division, replacing aging gear with swarms of flying surveillance bots, delivery drones and attack craft that would make a Call of Duty dev blush.
📦 “Help me”: A brave woman in Florida whispered that to her Amazon delivery driver, who saw marks on her neck and called 911. The police arrested her ex-husband, Frank Mandolini, for allegedly choking her. He still lives with her and their daughter. His excuse? He told the cops he didn’t “cause her to lose her breath.” Sound familiar to you? Call 911 or 800-799-SAFE (800-799-7233), text START to 88788 or go here. I care about you.
🥷 Another gold bar scam: A Florida woman lost over $280,000 after scammers tricked her into thinking her Social Security number was compromised. A fake federal officer told her to protect her assets by buying gold from a bullion store. They arranged a delivery, gave her a secret “password” and then vanished. PSA: No legit agency asks for gift cards, crypto or undercover missions.
$70
Total price of a $20 order on DoorDash. It’s not just delivery fees and tips. DoorDash now lets you split your bill into four payments with Klarna. Miss a payment? That’s a $7 late fee and maybe overdraft charges from your bank. The other day, I ordered DoorDash and got this message, “Jesus is on his way.” I thought, “He sure is!”
$2
That’s all an Indiana pizza delivery driver got after delivering a $40 order during a massive snowstorm. A police officer saw him, shared his story on TikTok and started a GoFundMe campaign. The goal was $500, but over $30,000 poured in. Thank goodness, he kneaded the dough. (Oh, that was so bad, it was good!)
6 pages
Length of Amazon memos. Keeping it short speeds up decisions. AI robotics startup Swiss-Mile followed suit when they pitched to Jeff Bezos in April. He gave them $22 million for testing delivery bots in Zurich. Less is more.
🪦 RIP, Chromecast: After 11 years, Google is upgrading its streaming device to something that feels suspiciously like the Apple TV. Google TV Streamer plugs in via HDMI and is a lot more powerful than the old Chromecasts. Preorder is live now with September delivery.
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👀 How FedEx is helping cops spy on you: Flock Safety makes automated license plate readers and video surveillance gear. Its 40,000 cameras are used in 3,000 communities across 40 states. FedEx has AI-powered cameras in its delivery trucks recording everything it sees. Now, FedEx is selling those recordings to Flock, which will provide them to law enforcement agencies and who knows who else. Reminds me of the book “1984.”
The post office delivery scam
Did you get a text about a package from the post office or FedEx? Stop and think. This message could be a dangerous scam.
🔫 Drone down: A 72-year-old guy in Florida shot down a Walmart delivery drone, and now he’s facing felony charges. No word on why, but he’s a good shot: He hit whatever the drone was carrying with his 9mm pistol. PSA: Drone deliveries are not prizes for skeet shooting.