Welcome to a tech-terrific Thursday, friends! Here’s today’s trivia. In 2003, a tech CEO was in a helicopter blown off-course by wind. It crashed, but everyone survived. Was it Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Page or Jeff Bezos? Answer’s at the end.

Before we start: I test out products and services before they get my seal of approval. When I signed up for the Rocket Money app, I wasn’t expecting to instantly save a whopping $450. Give it a try! Nope, I don’t get paid if you use it. On to the news! — Kim

Mark Zuckerberg is building a $100 million hidden compound on his Hawaiian island ranch — and he doesn't want you to know about it.

I'm so fascinated by this. It's not just the Meta CEO, either — billionaires worldwide are adding fortresses to their properties. Why? Good question.

Staff it where the sun don’t shine

Zuckerberg bought the gorgeous 1,400-acre Koolau Ranch spanning from the ocean to the mountains on the island of Kauai in 2014, but only in the last few years did he start a major construction project on the property. Of course, workers had to sign documents promising to keep the details quiet.

Good thing for us who want to be nosey: All the work requires permits. Planning documents and permits show Zuck is building a sprawling estate with a dozen buildings (no surprise) and a 5,000-square-foot end-of-the-world bunker hidden deep underground.

Is Zuck preparing for the apocalypse or at least some sort of societal collapse? Maybe. The plans do include what appears to be a blast-resistant door. Dang, I forgot to include one of those at my new house. Makes you wonder what he knows that we don’t.

Billionaires’ club

If Zuck is getting ready for the end of days, he's not the first multibillionaire to hedge his bets on the fate of humanity. Heck, he wouldn't even be the only one to do so on Kauai. Another, Frank VanderSloot (his real name), recently bought a 2,000-acre ranch just south of Zuck's compound for a cool $51 million.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said he and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel have an “arrangement” set up in case the world is ending. If things hit the fan, the pair would fly to one of Thiel's properties in New Zealand to hide out.

I wonder where, exactly, they're going to stay. In 2022, a local community council on New Zealand's South Island blocked Thiel's plans to build a bunker compound. They said it would disturb the local environment. Look at that — the little guy still wins sometimes.

BYOP (Buy Your Own Passport)

More and more uber-wealthy people have been buying islands — or at least big chunks of them — in recent years. Richard Branson and Johnny Depp top listicles about privately owned islands, along with wealthy fams like the DuPonts and Disneys. (OK, I want to stay on the Disney private island. Know anyone?)

Some are even paying top dollar to become citizens in different countries. So-called “golden visas” effectively allow wealthy people to gain residence — and even citizenship — in foreign countries in exchange for cold, hard cash. How much? We’re talking millions, in some cases.

So, uh, what are they worried about?

No one is really coming out and saying it, but you name it, and I bet it's on the list: War, pollution, asteroids, climate, famine, the robot revolution … aliens? Maybe it's all of the above. As for me, I'm good. I have cash, guns, food and — oh, one more thing: My faith in God.

🚨 Banking app alert: “Web injections” have compromised over 40 banks worldwide. This kind of malware grabs logins and one-time passwords sent via email or text. The scariest part? It’s up to your bank to protect you, so you’d better hope they’re reading this. Keep an eye on your bank accounts and set up transaction alerts, too.

Grim (data) Reaper: Danish scientists cooked up an AI tool that predicts when you'll kick the bucket with 78% accuracy. "life2vec" analyzes 6 million data points — your job, where you live and even past injuries. It's in research right now, so it isn’t a tool you can use. Gives you time to decide if you'd really want to know.

Faceplant: Rite-Aid just got slapped with a five-year facial recognition ban after its tech flagged an 11-year-old girl (and lots of others) as a shoplifting suspect. It was especially bad at identifying Black, Asian, Latino and female customers. Cue false accusations, customers’ embarrassment and class-action lawsuits.

This season, it's all about the classics: Samba TV says "Elf" tops the chart this year with a whopping 9 million views, followed by "National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation" and "Home Alone." Newer flicks like Netflix's "Best. Christmas. Ever!" and Eddie Murphy's "Candy Cane Lane" made the cut, too.

Say it in French this time: Google's Recorder app can now re-transcribe your old recordings into 42 languages. Open a past recording, tap More, and select Transcribe again to pick from the language list. Sorry, it’s a Pixel-exclusive for now (le sigh). Other Android folks, you’ll have to wait.

🚗 Back to basics: After a chorus of grumbles about fiddly touch and haptic controls, Volkswagen's bringing back good ol' physical buttons. The new “ID.2all concept” is all about easy-to-use, backlit buttons and knobs. No more accidental volume mishaps!

Cosmic kitty: NASA's latest feat? Streaming a video of a cat named Taters from Deep Space. The Psyche mission beamed a furball's antics 19 million miles to Earth to test new laser tech that could ramp up data speed by 10x to 100x for future Mars missions.

🎅 Giving ho’s a new meaning: BLOOM, an adults-only audio app, has a festive new feature: You can “sext” with AI “hot Santa” and his “naughty elf.” Over 6 million messages have been sent already. Getting down with Santa is wrong, even if he knows where all the naughty girls live.

Hanging one picture is pretty easy. But what if you want to hang four pictures with two hooks on each back and want them exactly 5.5 inches apart?

Just hanging one thing?

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In my no-nonsense, straight-talking podcast, I serve up everything tech in digestible, fun-sized pieces. New to the tech scene? Or maybe you're a pro? Doesn't matter. I’ve got you covered.

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📶 Goodnight, kids! If yours sneak back onto their phones, tablets and computers at night, I have a trick: Disable the Wi‑Fi after a specific time — for all your devices or just certain ones, like your kiddo’s iPad. If you use an app to control your internet, pop in there. Otherwise, log into your router’s web interface. Steps here!

Because dealing with cash is annoying: Split the check for that big-ticket gift for your parents through Venmo. Open the Venmo app and choose Pay in the bottom corner. Tap the names of the people you want to split the check with. Enter the amount and click Split. Phew, done.

💸 U.S. states are holding onto $70 billion in unclaimed assets: Visit the National Association of Unclaimed Property online to find the link for your state’s treasury website. Pro tip: If you have a frequently misspelled name, nickname or any former names, check those, too. You never know — I helped one listener find $25,000. No, I didn’t get a cut.

Finding and canceling all your subscriptions is a major pain. Rocket Money is an app that does it for you. It hunts down subscription services and makes it super easy to cancel the ones you don’t use. I did it and saved $456.76.

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Save yourself time and trouble and use Rocket Money. It’s worth it.

I am 100% going to make this for my family over the holidays.

🚁 The answer: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. He was scouting a Texas ranch on which to test spacecraft in 2003. A gust of wind blew his copter off course, but no one was injured in the crash. No joke, the pilot’s nickname was “Cheater.” Feels like a bad omen full of ups and downs.

👍 Glad to have you here. Rate this issue below and let me know if there’s anything tech I can write about to get your 2024 started on the right foot. I’ve got your back! See you back here tomorrow with the best newsletter in the USA! — Kim