Watch out for scam ads on social

Scammers are upgrading their tactics. The latest scam uses enticing ads featuring AI art, making everyone think they too can be a content creator.

Tags: advertisements (ads), AI (artificial intelligence), art, content, creator, scam, scammers, social, tactics, trends, trick, viruses


Ask for forgiveness, not permission: Microsoft now automatically backs up your files to OneDrive — yep, without asking. Want to deactivate it? Right-click on the OneDrive icon > Settings > Sync and backup > Manage backup and deactivate any folders you don’t want synced.

Trivia

Google is still the most-visited website in the world. What’s No. 2? Is it … A.) Facebook, B.) YouTube, C.) Wikipedia or D.) Chinese search engine Baidu?

Find the answer here!

110 new languages

On Google Translate, thanks to AI. It took Google 16 years to master its first 133 languages. It learned these 110 in just two years. With the company’s PaLM 2 large language model, Google plans to support 1,000 of the most spoken languages in the world. Lo! (That’s “Wow!” in Swahili.)

Bad ads: Fake Google ads for browser company Arc are routing people to a landing page that looks nearly identical to the real one. When you install the software, malware sends your data to a shady IP address. Tip: If a download tells you to right-click to open instead of just double-clicking, it’s a scam. That’s a trick they use to bypass macOS security.

😵‍💫 54% of the time, folks thought they were chatting with a real human, not ChatGPT‑4. In a study, people had five minutes to chat over text before being asked to guess whether it was another person they were chatting with or AI. Insane we’re already at coin-flip numbers.

🔫 Drone down: A 72-year-old guy in Florida shot down a Walmart delivery drone, and now he’s facing felony charges. No word on why, but he’s a good shot: He hit whatever the drone was carrying with his 9mm pistol. PSA: Drone deliveries are not prizes for skeet shooting.

$5 billion

Investment in Rivian EVs … from Volkswagen? Yep, Rivian stock shot up over 50% following news about the two automakers teaming up. Investors are hoping Rivian will benefit from Volkwagen’s manufacturing know-how and Rivian will give them a leg up on software.

🦏 Stop smugglers: South African scientists are implanting nontoxic radioactive isotopes into rhino horns. This makes them unsuitable for consumption (they’re used in traditional medicines) and easier to track. This could save other endangered species, too, like elephants and pangolins, if it works. Isn’t that amazing?

“Needless Markup” hacked: Hackers stole info from at least 64,472 Neiman Marcus customers and employees, including names, contact details and birth dates. The data is for sale on the dark web for $150,000.

🎮 Next-level rage: A 20-year-old gamer flew from New Jersey to Florida to try to kill another player. He showed up with a hammer after they fought in a game called ArcheAge. He’s been charged with attempted second-degree murder and armed burglary. Remember, someone who really wants to find you generally can because your private info is for sale online.