The Current Plus: Elon’s weirdo AI, Google Flights trick, scammers caught | In partnership with T-Mobile | | Say hello to Fri-yay, friend! Let’s kick off today’s tech know-how with trivia. Which tech entrepreneur sold a game to Atari at the age of 12 and later became a co-founder of one of the most successful tech companies ever? Was it … A.) Jeff Bezos, B.) Bill Gates, C.) Steve Jobs or D.) Elon Musk? Answer at the end! 🦸 Want to be my superhero? Just share this email with one friend who’ll enjoy it as much as you do. Your unique referral link at the end of each newsletter is your superpower. One click, one share — that's all it takes to help our community soar. Thanks for being awesome! — Kim 📫 First-time reader? Sign up here. (It’s free!) IN THIS ISSUE 👀 I always feel like … 🚫 Review crackdown 😵💫 What the Grok? |
TODAY'S TOP STORY I spy with my little eye Not long ago, I heard a familiar buzz while swimming in my backyard pool. Sure enough, a drone hovered overhead and quickly vanished when I shooed it away with my hand. That’s how I got the idea for this post. The legality of drone surveillance varies by country and state, but if the drone is flying on your private property and recording you without your consent, call the police. It’s a violation of your privacy. It’s hard to learn who owns a drone In my case, it flew out of my eyesight in seconds. Had my iPhone been within reach, I would’ve taken a photo of it. Some drones have their registration numbers visible, usually in case the owner loses sight of it. The Federal Aviation Administration maintains a database of registered drone owners, but they've made it harder to search unless you're a registered drone owner yourself. To search for a drone using its FAA registration number, try a third-party website like ReclaimDrone. The things you should never do to a drone There are effective, perfectly legal ways to avoid surveillance. There are also a few ways that are illegal for private citizens. The FAA legally protects drones from being: Shot at: Firing a gun into the sky is dangerous and illegal. Just don’t do it. Interfered with physically: This includes lasers and other objects. Disabled or otherwise tampered with: Using a jammer and hacking are criminal acts. Now that you know what you can't do to a drone when you find one in the wild, let's cover some additional ways to protect your privacy from those eyes in the sky — and on the ground. Carry an umbrella It’s a cheap and practical way to protect your privacy. In rainy or extra-sunny weather, it’s a no-brainer. You might get some strange looks, but who cares? Get one now while you’re thinking about it. This tiny umbrella is the size of a cellphone so you can keep it in your pocket. This one is bigger but will hold up better in wind and rain. Wear an invisibility cloak Researchers at the University of Maryland found patterned sweaters can thwart AI systems. No kidding, busy clothing can fool the algorithms enough that they see you as an object, not a person. Opt out when you can … … Like at the airport. This isn’t necessarily drone-related, but let’s also limit facial recognition. If the airport workers ask to take your pic, stand away from the camera, present your ID and say something like, “I opt out of biometrics. I want the standard verification process.” I did this and got a strange look from the TSA agent. But it’s not like I’m inviting him to my BBQ, ever. 🌳 Ya know, getting my drone stuck in a tree isn’t the worst thing that happened to me today. But it’s definitely up there. |
DEALS OF THE DAY 🪭 Amazon fan faves under $10 Warning: You’re going to want them all. Hand massager (20% off): Better circulation, less stiffness, and soothing for arthritis and joint pain. Condiment containers: Never spill a drop of salad dressing again! Cargo net for your car (47% off): Keep your trunk neat and organized. Hat organizer (38% off): Store your ball caps vertically. Genius! Magnetic cable managers: Silicone so you can use them again and again. |
WEB WATERCOOLER 🛑 I see fake people: The FTC is banning marketers from using fake reviews (including any written by AI), paying for reviews and using bots to boost follower counts. The new rules kick in sometime in mid-October. Will the penalties be stiff enough to keep companies honest? Nope. Say a quick prayer for this family: A Pennsylvania father helped the FBI track down the scammers responsible for his son's suicide. Nigerian fraudsters posed as a woman online, got the boy to send nude photos and then demanded $1,000. Just three minutes after he told them he didn’t have the money, he took his own life. His dad later found the email and phone number linking the criminals to the crime. Zooming away from that one: Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt is walking back his claim that Google is losing the AI race because of remote work. He originally said their policies of going home early and working from home had taken priority over winning. Now? “I regret my error.” Ahem, bet he heard from the legal team. 🚫 Ad crackdown: Google Chrome is tightening its grip on ad blockers, and the mega-popular uBlock Origin is getting the boot. New browser extension rules will automatically disable the ad blocker relied on by over 30 million Chrome users in an upcoming update. Heads-up if you have it: An updated version, uBlock Origin Lite, is already available. Don’t throw your Bluetooth speaker in a lake; it’ll sync: Sonos rolled out a screwed-up app in May that’s missing basic features, and now speakers are turning off intermittently. They’re working on a fix that’ll cost a cool $20 million or more, but there’s no timeline yet. I’m sure it doesn’t help that they just laid off 100 people yesterday … 📸 Shutter up! For real? The latest Apple leak shows the iPhone 16 has a dual vertical-stacked camera. Looks a lot like the camera from the iPhone X. The LED flash is on the side, no longer in the main camera bump. Rumored colors? Blue, teal, pink, black and white. I so want a pink iPhone! AI madness: Elon Musk’s updated Grok image generator for X Premium and Premium+ subscribers just dropped, and it’s a wild one. Unlike other AI tools, this one creates uncensored images of real people in real locations doing some seriously weird things … like this absurd AI pic of Trump and Harris kissing. |
TECH LIFE UPGRADES 🖨️ Give your printer some love: Soak a piece of paper with rubbing alcohol (not too much and leave the edges dry), and run that through your printer’s roller. It’ll clean it right up. Better than holding the power button: Your Windows PC has a hidden emergency restart when nothing will respond. Hold down Ctrl and click the power icon in the Start menu. You’ll get a dramatic-looking message warning you’ll lose any unsaved data. Click OK to restart immediately. Biometric bandwagon: Unlock your Amazon app on your iPhone with your fingerprint or face. On the web, open Amazon account settings, click Login & security, then click Set up next to Passkey. Once it's ready, you can use your passkey with the iOS app. Sorry, Android peeps, but you’ll have to wait. ✈️ Cheap flight cheat code: Go to Google Flights, select your departure location for a round-trip flight, then choose Anywhere as your destination. Leave the dates blank, and watch a map populate with the cheapest round-trip tickets available. From Phoenix, I could vacay in Cancún for $229, Seattle for $38 and Bora Bora for $1,341. I know what you’re thinking: “Kim, I’ve always wanted to go Bora Bora, but I’m poor’a‑poor’a!” ✔️ Verification nation: Provide your government ID to third-party platform CLEAR, and you'll get a checkmark next to your name on LinkedIn. Why bother? LinkedIn says verified profiles get more views, comments and messages — so the slight hassle could help you get your next job. P.S. You can post a job for free with my link.* |
LISTEN UP | | How to wipe out everything Google tracks about you Wouldn’t it freak you out if someone was jotting down your every move online? Google already does — here’s how you can stop it. Play Now • 7:52 ▶ |
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QUESTION OF THE DAY Just a quick 'Yes' or 'No,' please Do you buy things on Amazon? I appreciate you letting me know! 👍 Yes 👎 No |
BY THE NUMBERS 44 and 60 years old When our bodies go through dramatic aging. Researchers tracked the molecules and microbes of 108 people over seven years. Most didn’t age gradually but did so in big bursts in their mid-40s and early 60s. Yup, age is an issue of mind over matter; if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. 10,000 years How long Microsoft’s ultra-durable glass plates can store data. A small sheet can hold terabytes — we’re talking enough music to play for 13 years. Maybe this is what we should use for time capsules. It’s like a Superman material! 220-mile-high club On everyone’s mind with two astronauts stuck in space. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were expecting an eight-day trip but are stuck on the ISS for six months. Technically, it’s possible … but there’s zero privacy. |
UNTIL NEXT TIME ... The answer: Steve Jobs. Get this: When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak designed the arcade game Breakout, Jobs sold it to Atari for $5,000. But he told Wozniak they were paid $700 and gave him half, or $350. Years later, Wozniak found out about the lie and said he would’ve been happy to give Jobs the larger share if he’d known. Yeah, right. 🥇 Thank you for letting me in your inbox. It’s an honor I don’t take lightly. I’ll be back tomorrow with another edition of the best newsletter in the USA! Be sure to share me with one person today using your referral link below. You rock! — Kim |
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