🎰 Hacker hits the house: In 2023, a hacker group called Scattered Spider phished MGM’s IT desk on LinkedIn, then nuked slot machines, room keys and reservations from the inside. MGM lost over $100M refusing ransom. Caesars paid $15M. One of the hackers just turned himself in and, drumroll … he’s a teenager! He’s facing six felony charges.
77%
That’s the chance aliens had of overhearing us during an Earth-Mars alignment. When Earth and Mars line up, NASA’s Deep Space Network beams so many signals at the Red Planet that an alien telescope would’ve had a 3-in-4 shot of catching us. Basically, we butt-dialed deep space and may have started an accidental group chat.
💬 Comment anonymously on Facebook: Want to chime in without revealing your name? In the app, tap Menu > Groups and open the group you want. Find a post, tap Comment, then your profile icon. Switch it to Anonymous participant, type your comment. FYI: The group must have this feature enabled.
📬 Create a Gmail group email: Tired of adding the same people one by one? Make a contact group instead. In Gmail, click Google apps (top right) > Contacts. Select your people, tap Manage labels (top right) > Create label and name your group. Back in Gmail, compose a message, type the group name in “To,” and everyone’s added automatically. Magic.
🕳️ Crypto bribery network: So X says scammers tried to bribe employees into reinstating banned crypto accounts. The group behind it, “The Com,” is basically a hacker frat for teenagers, linked to 120+ attacks, even against the London Underground. Imagine hacking the subway before you can drive a car. Legal action’s in motion, but heads up: If you see “double your Bitcoin now,” it’s not your lucky day.
America loves spyware: Guess who’s the biggest investor in spyware? Home of screaming bald eagles and football fields. A lot of this money isn’t just coming from hedge funds, it’s pouring in from teachers’ and firefighters’ retirement plans buying things like NSO Group and SIO. Congrats, your 401(k) is riding on being Big Brother.
🗨️ Discord DMs helped crack the case: Discord, a chat app originally built for gamers, is used for everything from group chats to niche communities. The Charlie Kirk murder suspect’s roommate showed investigators Discord messages that laid out his plan in shocking detail, including stashing the rifle in a bush, which is exactly where police later found it. Nothing is private, looks like he wanted to get caught. I’m heartbroken that something so horrific happened in a place meant for open conversation and ideas.
👾 Vibe-hacking in the wild: An anonymous hacker used Anthropic’s Claude chatbot to run a fully AI-powered extortion spree, hitting 17 companies. Claude picked targets, coded the malware, analyzed stolen files and even drafted ransom notes. The crazy part? This isn’t some shadowy hacker group, it’s just one person with one AI. The scams are just going to get worse. Please, keep your guard up always.
Customize Windows 11 Start menu: Under Pinned apps, right-click anything you don’t need (like Disney+) and select Unpin from Start. To add an app, right-click its shortcut and choose Pin to Start. You can also drag apps to arrange them in any order you want or group them together.
🤐 AI learns to shut up: OpenAI’s newest model finally admits what the last ones wouldn’t: Sometimes, it just doesn’t know. No more flattery, fewer fake facts and a 45% drop in hallucinations. It’s also 80% better at admitting it’s clueless, which is more than I can say for half my group chats.
Stream your own drama: Fable Studio just got Amazon funding for Showrunner, an AI platform where you can script shows, insert yourself into episodes and get paid if others build on your story. It’s $10 to $40/month and launching publicly this week. Your next group chat meme could be a full TV episode.
2.5 billion
That’s how many prompts ChatGPT gets every single day. Apparently, asking an AI to settle your group chat arguments or plan your vacation is a full-time job, worldwide. Some 330 million of those prompts are coming from U.S. users alone, and at least half are from my Monday morning before coffee.
Good in the world: After the horrific July 4th floods tore through Kerr County, Texas, one woman started a Facebook group to reunite survivors with their stuff, and 36,000 strangers joined in. Volunteers are cleaning mud-soaked diaries, baby shoes and wedding rings, then posting photos to help people reclaim what’s left. It’s heartbreak, healing and hope.
💪 Get in shape: MuscleWiki is a free workout tool that shows you exercises for every muscle group. Select Male or Female, then click on a muscle in the body map. You’ll get a list of exercises to choose from, each with a demo video and step-by-step instructions so you know exactly what to do.
👀 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.
🍑 Corporate glutes in crisis: TikTok has declared war on “office chair butt,” the slow flattening of your glutes from too much sitting. The formal diagnosis? Gluteal muscle group atrophy. Symptoms include sagging cheeks, back pain and a general vibe of “my body quit.” Now people are squatting between Zooms and lifting water jugs like resistance bands.
💻 Israel vs Iran online: The conflict isn’t just happening on the ground. It’s playing out in cyberspace, too. A hacking group linked to Israel apparently hit an Iranian bank, cutting off access to people’s money. Then, fake texts were sent to Israelis, warning of terror attacks on bomb shelters to stir panic. Tense times.
🧠 Upgrading your brain: Neuromorphic chips are here to decode your brain like it’s a messy group chat. Typically used for brain disorders, these AI-enhanced implants are designed to enhance human capabilities. They can read your neurons, zap them back if they misfire, and maybe, just maybe, turn ADHD into just HD.
Taking a group shot? Don’t just snap one photo (someone’s always blinking or looking away). Hold down your phone’s camera button to use Burst mode, which takes a bunch of pics in seconds. This gives you a better chance of capturing everyone at their best. Neat.
$38 billion
That’s how much Saudi Arabia is pouring into gaming. Basically the Thanos of gaming via Savvy Games Group, the kingdom controls 40% of the global esports industry and big chunks of ESL, Scopely, Nintendo, EA and more. When your gaming strategy includes Red Bull partnerships and a sovereign wealth fund, you’re not playing games when it comes to games.