Not really, but scammers want you to think so. They’re cloning Elon’s face and voice to steal thousands. Also: Meta’s sneaky new ad move, forgotten tech phrases, Kodak’s film revival. I talk with Tom from Florida, who’s using AI to bring in extra cash. Smart thinking.
Your camera roll deserves a cleanse
Kim Komando
I remember my parents saying, “Kim, stop wasting the film.” Oh, yes, this was back when we’d put film in a camera, take up to 36 pictures, then wait for the roll to get developed to see if any of the shots were good. Those days are long gone, fortunately.
Now, the average American takes 20 photos every single day. And I’ll bet many of those are duplicate (or triplicate as in my selfie above) shots of the same thing. So how do we tackle the deluge of doubles? I’ll walk you through the steps. This is a perfect weekend project.
🧼 Clean up your photo libraries
One quick thing. I checked these steps on my own gear, but your version might look a bit different, depending on your phone, model or operating system (and possibly planetary alignment). If so, just explore a bit, you’ll get there.
For Windows: There’s no built-in duplicate finder, so you’ll need to download a third-party app. I recommend Duplicate Cleaner.
- Scan your library: After installing Duplicate Cleaner, the app will review your files by size, content and similarity, catching those pesky near-duplicates.
- Review and delete: Once a scan is completed, the app will present you with a list of duplicates. Review these to make sure no photos are incorrectly marked, and delete any copies to free up storage.
For Apple: Lucky you! The Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, iMac or MacBook has a built-in “duplicate photos” tool. (Make sure you’ve updated to the latest version.) This tool is so easy to use. Here’s how:
- Open your Photos app and scroll down to Collections.
- Find Utilities and choose Duplicates. (I just looked at mine and had 329 duplicate photos and eight videos!)
- Scroll through your dupes and select Merge to combine your dupes into one great shot.
For Android: Don’t delete your duplicates manually. Open the Files by Google app, then select Clean. If you don’t have the app, download it for free from the Google Play store.
- Next, tap Menu > Clean > Junk files and select what you want to clear.
- When you’re ready, tap Clean xx MB > Clear. That’s all it takes to remove screenshots, memes, duplicates and other junk mixed in with your important photos.
For Google Photos: There’s no built-in duplicate-cleaning tool here, so it’s up to you.
- Log into Google Photos, and click Photos in the left panel.
- Select any photos you no longer need (or want), and click Delete.
Geocaching turns 25, and it’s never been cooler 🎉
ChatGPT
The weekend is here, and it’s hard to believe that geocaching recently turned 25 years old. It’s still going strong with over 3.4 million caches hidden around the world.
I used to do geocaching with my son Ian. It’s a lot of fun.
The prank economy: OK, there’s this new site called Dare Market that pays people in crypto to do pranks. Film yourself doing something ridiculous, and if the crowd likes it, you get Solana. If not, congrats, you humiliated yourself for free. It’s raised $2 million already. They swear no one’s getting hurt, but I’ve heard that before.
$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!
🎨 Better AI images: The next time you use an AI image generator like Bing, imagine you’re giving directions to an artist who takes things literally. Start with your main subject, then layer in details such as color, background and mood. Don’t forget the style. Try “watercolor,” “realistic photo,” “Pixar style,” “vintage film” or even “cyberpunk.” And always say what to avoid. Example: “A happy golden retriever in an autumn park at sunset chasing a ball, Pixar style. No people.” The clearer you are, the better the magic turns out.
10 true tech stories you can stream right now
ChatGPT
I’m way more into movies based on true stories. Real people, real drama, that’s my kind of thing. You can keep the wizards and aliens. Give me a story where something unbelievable actually happened.
I put together this list for you as proof that tech isn’t just lines of code or shiny gadgets. It’s ambition, hype, brilliance and yeah, sometimes a total train wreck. You’re gonna want to see each one.
🎥 AI’s next film class: Google’s new Veo 3.1 can generate eerily realistic videos complete with audio, edits and, this is a big one, TikTok-ready vertical frames. It’s rolling out across Gemini and YouTube Shorts, which means spotting what’s real online just got harder. If you blink, you might miss the line between “content” and “AI slop.”
🎓 Creepin’ 101: Students at the University of San Francisco got a safety alert after reports of a man using Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses to film women without consent. Who could have predicted that happening? He’s allegedly posting the clips on TikTok. Idiot.
📸 Back to basics: Kodak is doing something it hasn’t done in over a decade … selling its own film. Like, actual 35mm. Remember those yellow rolls in every junk drawer? Same stuff. Kodak’s cutting out the middleman to bring prices down. It’s a quiet comeback from a brand that basically shot every ’80s birthday party you’ve ever been to.
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🎥 Welles, Welles, Welles, what do we have here? AI studio Showrunner is trying to rebuild Orson Welles’ butchered masterpiece The Magnificent Ambersons. The missing 43 minutes were burned for storage space in 1942. Now, AI + live actors + face-swapping tech are piecing it back together. Amazon is backing it, but without the movie rights, it’s just a very expensive Frankenstein film.
🐱 You’ve got to be kitten me: Every year since 2016, people have gone to theaters to watch a full-length film of cats being chaotic, cute and ridiculous (case in point). CatVideoFest is a compilation of viral clips and fan submissions aka YouTube, but on the big screen. The kicker? It’s a hit. Last year alone, it clawed in over $1 million. That’s the cat’s meow.
$4 million
What MrBeast just dropped on a single YouTube video. That’s a full Hollywood film budget, minus the red carpet and plus way more slime. He spent over a year on it, with 171 days of filming and 11,000 hours of footage. The video is scheduled to drop on Saturday.
🤖 Blocky box office: A Minecraft Movie is exclusively hitting HBO Max this Friday. It’s got Jason Momoa, Jack Black, even a villain named Malgosha, all in one magical cube-based world. It’s already earned $951M+ worldwide since its March debut, becoming the top-grossing film of 2025. You and your kiddos will love it.
Three per day
Satellite or rocket parts crash back to Earth. A 4-inch shard from the ISS punched through a Florida roof last month, as if those hurricanes weren’t bad enough. We may hit 15 daily as Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper launch more satellites. Did you hear about the film they’re making, where Dallas gets destroyed by space junk? Debris Does Dallas. (Thank you for that chuckle.)
🎶 Binge-worthy tunes: Stream music from your favorite shows on Spotify and Apple Music’s hubs for Netflix, Disney+, Max and more. Just tap Search > TV & Movies (Spotify) or Film, TV & Stage (Apple Music) for playlists filled with hits from those iconic moments.
100
That’s how many hours MrBeast and his crew were allowed to explore the Great Pyramids of Giza. The YouTube megastar teamed up with Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and famed archaeologist Zahi Hawass to film a 21-minute whirlwind through ancient tombs, submerged chambers and more in tunnels tighter than a Mario Kart shortcut. And just because … How many Egyptians can you fit in a pyramid? A pharaoh mount. 😂
3+ hours
Length of Avatar: Fire and Ash. James Cameron says the third film will be way longer than The Way of Water, which was three hours and 12 minutes. And no, he doesn’t believe in intermissions. Bring snacks. Bring a charger. Bring a change of clothes.
🎬 Keeping it reel: Gen Z is ditching big-budget TV and movies for social media content. They say it feels more real, more relevant and they trust creators over celebrities. Barry helped produce a feature film over a decade ago (Frontera — Watch it!), and it was tough then. Today? Getting a movie made is like climbing Everest in flip-flops.