Watts of love: After a fling with a mannequin named Pierre (yes, you read that right), Alicia Framis is marrying an AI hologram named AILex. This time, her lover is crafted from the data of her exes (because why not?). She’s even trying to get a joint bank account. I don’t understand it. But at least she won’t have to pick up her hologram husband’s dirty underwear.
What was the original ringtone before customizable ringtones took over our mobile phones? Was it … Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5,” the theme from “Star Wars,” Nokia’s “Gran Vals” or the sound of a rotary phone?
60% of OpenAI’s responses contain plagiarism
Bad, bad look for ChatGPT. Authors, songwriters and even the New York Times are suing for copyright infringement. This definitely helps their case.
Tacos with a side of TMI
You guac my world. Most people don’t realize all they share when sending a picture via text. Nearly every social media site strips out the metadata that reveals a photo’s little details, like when, where and how it was taken. But that info is not protected if you text a pic. You can stop that.
To stop location sharing on iPhone:
- Open the image you want to send and tap the share button.
- Select Options and toggle off Location. Tap Done.
To disable location tracking in your camera altogether:
- Open Settings. Tap Privacy & Security > Location Services.
- Scroll down, tap on Camera, then select Never.
On Android, here’s how to wipe the location data for a single photo:
- Open your gallery and select the photo.
- Go to Details (it may be a three-dot menu) and click Remove location data.
⚠️ A cautionary tale: Marley Stevens, a student at the University of North Georgia, learned the hard way Grammarly can spell trouble. She used the grammar-checking tool for a paper and was flagged for AI use. That snowballed into a failed assignment, lost scholarship and academic probation. Ridiculous.
Future-proof: Apple’s all excited because they’re rolling out PQ3, a new cryptographic protocol for iMessage in iOS 17.4, iPadOS 17.4, macOS 14.4 and watchOS 10.4, this March. Huh? In real-world speak, it’s a standard that would keep messages safe from quantum computer attacks. A quantum leap in security? Eh, time will tell.
Watch this lead to justice: Melody Hoffman’s Apple Watch revealed her final moments, leading cops to her body in Lily Lake. The device recorded a heart rate spike before silence. The prime suspect, a man she was dating, now faces serious charges. Police found Hoffman’s bloodied watch band in his car trunk.
🛡️ Don’t browse without it! Google’s new Private Network Access for Navigation Requests just dropped in beta to shield your home network. In Chrome, it checks if both the source and destination of a website are secure before letting you through. The full rollout starts on March 13. In Chrome, click the three dots in the top right corner, hover over Help and click About Google Chrome. It’ll update if one is available.
Auctions were his bid-ness: Evan James Coker in Oklahoma turned a government auction site into his personal bargain bin. He bid thousands like a high roller, then hacked the prices down to a dollar at checkout. The feds weren’t amused, and now he’s guilty of wire fraud for his $150,000 web heist.
📵 Network meltdown: A massive outage across AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile left about 80,000 folks without service yesterday. No calls — a total mess. In a pinch, text 911, use Wi-Fi calling if you need to reach someone, or try data roaming. The cause? Still a big question mark. I share my hunch on the video podcast.