Whoever said to throw the laptop out, instead of squeezing everyone else out, is a genius.
Stream 4K for free: If you have Sling TV, you’ll be able to stream sports in 4K starting this week, including NFL games and the Olympics. You’ll see two versions of an event as you browse. Just click the one labeled “4K” to watch. You’ll need a Roku or Fire TV with 4K in the name, too. Here’s the full list of compatible devices.
Stop your electronics from exploding
Your phone or e-bike could catch fire if the battery gets too hot. Here’s how to keep it safe.
🔥 Suspect arrested: A 29-year-old Uber driver named Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested for allegedly starting the Palisades Fire that killed 12 and destroyed nearly 7,000 homes in LA. Feds say he started an open flame right after dropping off passengers and used ChatGPT to create images of a “dystopian painting” of a city being burned on one side while “hundreds of thousands of people in poverty are trying to get past a gigantic gate with a big dollar sign on it.” He faces 20 years.
$40 million
That’s how much brands shelled out to plaster their logos on a fictional Formula 1 team in F1: The Movie. Brad Pitt’s race suit is just fire-resistant, fully monetized and stitched up with sponsors like Mercedes, IWC and Expensify. Basically NASCAR meets Paris Fashion Week, and every logo is paying rent.
🔥 Keep your Fire Stick cool: If it’s tucked tightly behind your TV, it can overheat and slow down. Good news: Amazon usually includes an HDMI extension cable. Use it to move your Fire Stick away from the back of the TV for better airflow.
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🔥 Drone and out: A 57-year-old SoCal man took his drone to watch the fire, crashed it into a plane fighting the fire, grounded said plane, then claimed he didn’t know. He’s now doing 14 days in federal prison, 30 at home, and owes $156K. The fire burned 23,000 acres. Dummy.
As if cops don’t have enough to do: A man told Portland police his car, and 1-year-old, were stolen. Oregon cops pinged an AirTag and found both at a truck stop hours away. The kicker? The “thief” was the kid’s mom. Yup, another AirTag caught in the cross fire of a nasty co-parenting situation.
Lithium-ion battery fire: A home in Fairway, Kansas, caught fire after a lawn mower battery blew up in the garage. It was on the charger when family members heard an explosion, and the fire spread quickly. Thankfully, everyone got out safely. PSA: Charge your electric goodies outside, not in the garage.
Batteries that don’t burn: Lithium batteries are super efficient and occasionally super explode-y. But researchers just made a version that stops itself from catching fire. When the battery gets too hot, built-in flame retardants release chemicals that shut down the reaction before it becomes a fireworks show. No flames. No smoke. No 30,000-gallon fire truck cameo. EVs really need this pronto.
Baby, you’re a firework: For better Fourth pics, turn off your flash and try Burst mode. Hold down your finger on the picture button to enter Burst mode and take dozens of rapid-fire photos. Or do what I do and just enjoy it IRL. No one’s gonna want to see the fireworks video you took with your phone, just sayin’.
🧗♂️ Cliffhanger stupidity: Two Seattle tourists got stuck on a San Francisco cliff trying to retrieve a dropped phone. Fire teams spent over an hour rescuing them with ropes and helmets. Nobody died, but they did get handed a $300 “what were you thinking?” fine. PSA: Going off-trail is a Darwin test.
16
That’s how many times Tom Cruise jumped out of a helicopter with his parachute on fire. Why? Because regular Mission: Impossible movie skydiving is for interns. To break a Guinness World Record, he lit his chute, bailed midair and deployed a backup like it was just another Tuesday.
Deepfake dumpster fire: Jamie Lee Curtis went full Final Girl on Meta after a sketchy AI ad used her image in a fake endorsement. She posted to Insta, tagged Zuck directly and got the ad pulled. Lesson here: Don’t mess with someone who’s survived multiple maniac attacks in Halloween and nonstop sequels and reboots.
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.
💾 Blast from the past: Bill Gates is in his nostalgia feels. To mark Microsoft’s 50th, Bill is letting you download the OG operating system he and Paul Allen whipped up. Fire up your nostalgia engines and see what computing was like when disco was king.
2 hours
Into an Air France flight, the plane made a U-turn back to Paris. A passenger boarded the plane with his phone but somehow couldn’t find it anywhere during the flight. Phone batteries can start a fire, so airlines don’t take chances. My guess: He flushed it. That’s something we never said in the ’80s … “I lost my phone.”
July 27th, 2024
CrowdStrike’s under fire after a faulty security update took down PCs worldwide. Noland Arbaugh, the first Neuralink brain-chip implant recipient, joins me in the studio. Play in VR? You could end up in the ER. That and much more, plus all your calls and questions.
Laptop catches fire on plane
It started smoking inside a passenger’s bag. Plus, the RiteAid hack, and AT&T data breach. We also talk to Elliston Berry and Anna McAdams, a mother-daughter team fighting deepfake revenge porn.
Baby, you’re a firework: For better Fourth pics, turn off your flash and try Burst mode. Hold down your finger on the picture button to enter Burst mode and take dozens of rapid-fire photos. Or do what I do and just enjoy it IRL.