It’s time to get spooky with some tech. I have some expert tips for an instant haunted house.
Turn your yard into serious cash
ChatGPT
One of the best calls I’ve had recently on my show came from a listener named Stacy. He casually told me he’s made $80,000 renting the vacant land he covered with gravel behind his house.
That’s it. A rectangle of rocks. No building. No tenants. No fancy business plan. Just a patch of dirt he wasn’t using. Stacy listed it on an app called Neighbor, which connects people who need storage (RVs, boats, trailers, buses) with folks who have extra space.
Since listing it, he’s had over 60 people park everything from luxury campers to school buses. He charges $90 to $200 a month, and he’s booked solid.
He didn’t build anything. Didn’t babysit anyone’s stuff. Didn’t even have Wi-Fi out there. And it’s paid off big-time.
Want to do the same?
You don’t need acres. Got a driveway? A garage you haven’t opened since 2011? A little side yard? People are willing to pay for space to park or store their stuff, and apps make it ridiculously easy.
Yes, Neighbor is one option. But there’s also:
- Spacer and JustPark for driveways and parking spots.
- Hipcamp, if you’ve got land and don’t mind a camper or two.
- Sniffspot, yes, you can even rent your fenced backyard to dog owners.
Real people are doing this:
- A guy in Indiana gets $175 a month for his dusty garage.
- A couple in Arizona stores a neighbor’s boat in their side yard for $250 a month.
- One woman turned her unused barn into year-round RV storage. She doesn’t want to say how much she makes. I bet it’s a lot.
So take a walk outside and look at that forgotten patch of land or extra space. That’s your weird-flex-but-OK income stream waiting to happen.
🤔 If you do give it a shot (or have another unique way of making money), let me know. I want your success story on the show next.
🥃 Robots on the rocks: While bourbon brands collapse left and right, two Kentucky vets just opened Whiskey House, a five-story robot-run distillery that tracks 1,500 sensors per barrel. They make whiskey for everyone else’s labels, like a ghostwriter with a drinking problem. The crazy part? Only seven people run the whole plant. The story about it is really interesting (paywall link).
$49 million
The price tag on Sam Altman’s Hawaiian hideaway. The OpenAI CEO just listed his 21.8-acre Kailua estate for nearly $6 million more than he paid in 2021. Ten bedrooms, a private marina, helicopter pad, theater, staff quarters and sweeping Pacific views. Not really a house, but more like a billionaire’s personal resort.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Alexa has a Whisper Mode that replies quietly when you whisper to it. Just say, “Alexa, turn on Whisper Mode.” Great for late-night requests without waking the house.
The battery rule that could save your house
A firefighter’s dog chewed a lithium battery and set the rug on fire. Here’s the one thing you should never do with battery-powered devices.
Secrets that lurk in home listings
Want the dirt on your neighbor’s house? See what they paid, what they owe, and more. Here’s where to look.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Someone’s alarm blaring across the house? Don’t get up. Just call them. One ring is usually enough to silence it. Works on most phones and saves you the … awkward confrontation.
🕰️ Gen Z raids Grandma: Turns out Grandma’s house is the new Supreme drop. Estate sales are popping with 20-somethings hunting for secondhand treasures that are cheap and well-made. It’s thrifting 2.0, but with more mid-century lamps you’ll aggressively make your personality for six months.
Anyone can snoop your home
Zillow isn’t just for house hunting. It’s a window into your financial life. Here’s how to take control of it.
How to blur your house on Google
Home burglaries are down but the bad guys have gotten smarter. Here’s how they use tech to steal.
$41,000
That’s the retail price of a stolen Bobcat, and no, it’s not a house cat. These guys tried to snag it with a fake rental, a U-Haul and a $380 cash “deposit.” Too bad they didn’t know about the victim’s secret weapon: an Apple AirTag.
30 cats
That’s how many feline participants confirmed you smell exactly like they thought you would. Researchers in Tokyo ran a sniff test with 30 house cats and found they spent more time smelling strangers than their own humans. Translation: Your cat knows who you are and has already decided you’re not worth the extra sniff.
Moon me: Hidden CIA files claim the U.S. made contact with aliens in 1959 and met them face-to-face to swap info about our species. A group called Majestic 12 was behind it all, handling communication and experiments … while keeping it secret from the White House. The FBI says it’s all fake.
🗺️ Map wars begin: Google renamed the “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” for U.S. users, and Mexico’s not having it. President Claudia Sheinbaum is suing, saying the U.S. can’t rename an international body of water just because it passed a House bill. Rumor is the line is drawn at renaming tacos “Lettuce Pray Wraps.”
508,883
The number of bacteria lurking on your sofa per 15.5 inches squared. That’s 75 times more than a toilet seat. Turns out the dirtiest place in your house might be where you binge Netflix.
Read me: Getting to your home screen on Kindle can be tricky. If you have a book open, tap the top of the screen > back arrow > Home. From the Kindle store, hit the X icon > Home. FYI, if your Kindle is older, look for a house icon (top left) or a physical home button.
🌿 2,000-year-old garden under Jesus’ tomb? This is amazing. Italian archaeologists just found ancient grapevines and olive trees buried beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the same place long believed to house the tomb of Jesus. There’s also this post going viral about Jesus’ body found under the Great Pyramid of Egypt.
🍏 Big changes coming to iPadOS: Apple’s making the new iPadOS 19 feel more like a Mac with smoother multitasking and app window management. It won’t be macOS on an iPad, but it’s getting closer. Expect details at WWDC 2025 in June, with a release later this year. I’ll keep you posted. iPads are slowly becoming Macs the same way your house cat slowly becomes your boss.