For years people have been asking for an audio version of The Current Newsletter and now with AI, we’re finally able to deliver!
🔴 Red pill teens are rising: “Red pilled” used to mean you saw the truth, like in The Matrix. Now it’s code for online communities where young men vent about women, feminism and dating, often turning hateful, sexist and sometimes racist. It’s becoming a gateway drug for disillusioned boys looking for belonging. Make sure your guys are not partaking.
70+ years
How long since the U.S. opened a rare earth mine. One dusty spot in Wyoming could supply America with rare earths for over 150 years. That’s phones, fighter jets and EVs covered till 2175. China controls 90% of processing right now, so yeah, this is big news for cowboy country. Yeehaw, meet geopolitics.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Switch between Gmail accounts fast. Tap your profile icon (top right), select Add another account and sign in. Now tap the profile icon again to swap between inboxes.
Hands-off AI regulation
In 1993, leaders resisted calls to control the internet and it changed the world. Now, the U.S. is taking the same approach with AI.
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Mario gets friend-zoned: Nintendo just hard-launched emotional damage by announcing Mario and Peach are “just good friends.” This, despite years of flirty kisses, wedding attempts and Nintendo itself calling them a couple in past games. Peach watched him fight Bowser and still said, “Thanks, bestie!” Guess saving someone from 500+ castles only gets you a LinkedIn endorsement now.
👟 Heel, yeah: Skechers just launched Find My Skecher, a $50 kids’ pair of sneakers with a hidden AirTag pocket in the heel. Now you can track your kid or their missing left shoe right in Apple’s Find My app. The AirTag slips under a cushy, breathable insole, totally out of sight. Such a great idea!
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$2.3 million
What it now takes to be considered “wealthy” in the U.S. That’s down from $2.5M last year. Still, unless you’ve got a trust fund or a crypto time machine, you’re probably just “comfortable.”
Layoffs in the name of AI
Layoffs used to be a corporate embarrassment. Now, CEOs are proudly slashing jobs as proof they’re all-in on AI.
Make the cursor pop: On Windows, if you’re having trouble seeing your mouse pointer, go to Settings > Accessibility > Mouse pointer and touch. Under Mouse pointer style, choose Custom and pick a new color. Now drag the Size slider to make it bigger.
📹 No cellfies here: Turns out the FBI does have the “missing minute” from the Epstein prison footage. You know, the one that mysteriously vanished from the DOJ’s public video. The metadata shows it was recorded, just not released. Officials now claim the raw footage exists and shows nothing sketchy, obviously.
🍏 Add nicknames in iPhone contacts: Can’t decide between a real name or nickname? You don’t have to. Create the contact using their real name, then open it > tap Edit > add field > Nickname, type it in and press Done. Now you can use either name with Siri or search, and your phone will know who you mean.
🤖 Who’s the bot now? ChatGPT’s new agent tool snooped its way through a human verification test by clicking the “I am not a robot” checkbox. Yes, it passed a bot test as a bot. Even narrated the click like it was writing its memoir. Somewhere, a human is failing the same CAPTCHA and crying into their LaCroix.
💔 Ghosted by ChatGPT: Andréa Sunshine, a 55-year-old fitness coach, says she fell for her ChatGPT companion “Théo” while cowriting a book. Things got flirty, fast. Then, poof, he vanished mid-sext, leaving her emotionally wrecked. She’s now in therapy. It really makes you wonder, how bad was that book she was writing?
🔍 Tour de Fraud? Cycling officials are now X-raying sweaty bikes for secret motors. Tadej Pogacar’s winning ride once got flagged, alongside seven others. Mechanical doping (like riding a stealth-mode eBike) is the new fear (paywall link). One guy’s whole job is catching battery-powered frauds at the finish line. What happened to good old-fashioned steroids?
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Watching a YouTube video and want to share the good part? Pause it where you want, right-click and select Copy video URL at current time. Now send the link. Easy.
🕳️ Divine rug pull: A Denver pastor and his wife convinced their church to invest $3.4M into a holy crypto scheme allegedly blessed by God. Spoiler: God did not 10x those returns. Now they’re facing 40 felony charges, including racketeering and securities fraud, and the coin is worth about as much as one prayer in the blockchain void.
⚡ Office apps get speed boost: Microsoft’s new Startup Boost preloads Office apps like Word and Excel in the background at boot. Apps chill in a paused state until you open them, shaving seconds off launch time. It’s already live for some Word users and will hit everyone by September. Your PC: now preheating like an oven.