💳 Turning dollars into sense: Consolidate leftover gift cards with just a little bit of cash remaining on them using Amazon. Go to Account > Gift Cards > Purchase a Gift Card in the total of your remaining balance and send that electronic gift card to yourself. Now you can spend it. Easy‑peasy.
Use the NewsBreak app? Delete it. Here’s why
My husband, Barry, is a total news junkie. He has all the major news apps on his phone. That’s why this story stopped me in my tracks. NewsBreak, the most downloaded news app in the U.S., with more than 50 million readers per month, has strong ties to Communist China.
A Reuters investigation shows the NewsBreak app is also packed with inaccurate stories (including some that appear to be totally made up by AI), content stolen from legit sources and fake bylines. This is bad, people.
Join the party
NewsBreak is a privately owned company with offices in Mountain View, California, along with Beijing and Shanghai. It bills itself as “all things local” for American readers, but one of its primary backers is Beijing-based IDG Capital.
Never heard of it? Let me catch you up. In February, the Pentagon added IDG Capital to a list of Chinese companies said to be working directly with Beijing’s military.
Def not the write stuff
NewsBreak republishes news from sources like Reuters, Fox, the Associated Press and CNN. They used to republish my content and let me tell you, the traffic from it to my website was huge. NewsBreak stopped sharing my stuff when I started writing negatively about apps with ties to China. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
The rest of NewsBreak’s content is “written” by AI, with facts scraped from press releases and sites around the web. All this happens where half their staff works (about 200 people) — in their China-based offices. Their algorithm isn’t just choosing what stories make it in the app, by the way; it’s also influencing the angles of the coverage.
That’s a huge problem. When the parent company has a political agenda (i.e., China wants to destroy our commerce and influence votes), that trickles down into what you read.
When news is the money machine
Like most apps, NewsBreak makes bank by showing you ads. The more often you use the app, the more ads you’ll see — and the more money they make. That means the whole goal is to publish stories that keep you coming back.
That’s where things get messy. Take a story they published in December: “Christmas Day Tragedy Strikes Bridgeton, New Jersey Amid Rising Gun Violence in Small Towns.” Wow, I bet most of us would click on that. The problem? The shooting never happened.
Patch your Windows PC! Here's what the latest update does
Microsoft routinely patches various products and services but usually focuses on the Windows operating system. March’s Patch Tuesday update is no different, and it fixes several flaws that hackers can exploit.
Read on to see what this update entails and how to get it.
❤️ For the first time ever: An artificial heart was successfully implanted in a patient with end-stage heart failure. Total Artificial Heart supports patients while they wait for a real heart transplant. With heart failure affecting at least 26 million people globally and fewer than 6,000 transplants performed each year, this could be a medical breakthrough. Four more patients will go through trials soon.
Let’s grow our minds with this brainteaser going viral on social media: “7 men have 7 wives. Each man and each wife have 7 children. What’s the total number of people?”
1 million Starlink users
Added over the last four months. They hit 3 million total in May. Some major price drops certainly helped; Starlink lowered its dish price from $499 to $299 in August. I use it on my boat and as a backup at home.
Firewall vs. antivirus: What's the difference and do you need both?
When it comes to protecting yourself online, there’s a lot of confusion. Between VPNs, two-factor authentication, antivirus software and firewalls, there are so many ways to protect yourself that it can be hard to track them all.
Free app to quickly remove your pics and posts on Facebook, Twitter and more
Kim couldn’t tell you how many messages and emails she has gotten over the years asking the same question: “How can I delete myself from the internet?” Sadly, you can’t. Not really. There’s just too much out there.
With the two astronauts stuck on the ISS, how long was the longest spaceflight ever taken by an American astronaut? In days, was it … A.) 371, B.) 665, C.) 204 or D.) 225?
$14.2 billion
Total Amazon Prime Day 2024 sales across both days. This year’s sales beat those in 2023 by 11% … and almost beat the national GDP of the Bahamas. Top product categories? Electronics and back-to-school gear. That’s a lot of erasers.
🚨 180,000 Shopify users just had their data compromised, thanks to a third-party app. The exposed info includes account IDs, names, email addresses, cellphone numbers and total spending. If you have a Shopify account, watch for any legit-looking emails from them and don’t give out any personal info.
Let’s do a fun math problem that’s stumping the internet. “A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?”
Like the plot for 1990’s Schwarzenegger’s flick, “Total Recall”: A scientist wants to implant prisoners with memories of their crimes from the victims’ perspectives. The Cognify system uses a brain implant and VR-like device to induce emotional trauma and physical pain. Ahem, what if the prisoner is a psycho and would enjoy those memories?
Analyze tables in ChatGPT: First, select GPT-4o as your model. Upload your table and hit the “expand” button to explore your data. Click on a specific column and type any prompt (e.g., “What’s the total?”). You can also ask it to make a new spreadsheet from your data with specific formatting or layouts.
Memorize this: On a PC, hit Alt + Tab. On Mac, it’s Cmd + Tab. Keep hitting Tab while holding down Alt or Cmd to switch between your open applications. It’ll make you feel like a total pro.
Gone phishing: An Army veteran turned romance scammer was sentenced to three years in prison — not for stealing hearts, but for stealing money from lonely folks. His total take was $350,000. One recent divorcée gave him $100,000. Jerkface.
True or false: Macs are immune to malware and viruses
There is a common misconception that Apple’s Mac computers can’t get viruses or malware. The belief is that only Windows-based systems suffer from malicious code and nasty bugs.
There is no consensus on where the claim originated. But it might have been Apple itself. Until 2012, Apple’s marketing for its Mac computers included the line that “a Mac isn’t susceptible to the thousands of viruses plaguing Windows-based computers.”
Update Google Chrome ASAP to patch this severe vulnerability
It has been a lousy month for Google. Early last week, the tech giant rolled out an update for the Chrome browser that plugs a security flaw for its 3.2 billion users. Bad news. Another vulnerability can expose you to hackers.
Giving up Kaspersky? Get a year of Kim's antivirus pick for only $19
With tensions mounting across the world during the Russia-Ukraine War, cybersecurity experts warn not to use Russian-owned Kasperksy antivirus protection. Here’s why.
A question I get time and time again is, “What’s your antivirus recommendation?” Whether you’ve never used antivirus, stopped years ago, or want to get rid of Kaspersky, I can help.