Share:
MacKenzie Scott’s donation spree this year. Since her split from Jeff Bezos in 2019, she’s dished out $19.2 billion. She got 4% of Amazon in the divorce. About 75% of her cash donations have gone toward fighting poverty. She’s still one of the richest women in the world, with a net worth of almost $41 billion.
Christmas Day is a time for reflection, gratitude and connection. This year, it’s extra special as Hanukkah also begins tonight. Both holidays remind us of the importance of light, hope and the traditions that bring us closer together.
AI-generated videos of fake UFOS and drone swarms are flooding the web and fooling a whole lot of people. Saucers flying over NYC, “mother ships” hovering over the Pacific and shots of ships straight from “Star Wars” are getting hundreds of thousands of likes. Check out this video that shows how easy it is to make AI drone videos. Don’t fall for it!
Slice of tech history: A YouTuber just saved a 440-pound retro CRT TV from demolition in Osaka, Japan. What’s the big deal? The 45-inch TV is the largest CRT ever made, and it originally sold in the ‘80s for the equivalent of $100,000 today. It’s the stuff of legends. Here’s a video of the rescue mission.
Pushing out the little guy: Google’s algorithm changes are hitting smaller independent websites hard. Between AI-generated answers, sponsored ads and bigger publishers getting all the play, gaming site Retro Dodo says its traffic has tanked 85% since September 2023. Just 16 companies own over 400 sites that receive 3.8 billion clicks a month from Google. Let that sink in for a moment.
🚘 Looking for a cheap Tesla? Try renting one on Hertz. One Reddit user did, then scored a 2023 Tesla Model 3 with 30,000 miles for just $17,913. Be careful — most are pretty beaten up by the time they hit over 100,000 miles. That’s when Tesla’s battery warranty expires, so it may not be such a steal after all.
Memory lane: Here’s a hot TikTok trend I told you about (checks watch) 10 years ago. Pop into old Street View photos on Google Maps for a hit of virtual nostalgia. Fun finds: One gal spotted her childhood dog in the yard, and another found herself in high school cleaning eggs off her car. Open Google Maps on a browser, type in an address and click the photo that pops up. Choose See more dates. Find something great? Let me know!
🐶 Hold onto your leash: Have you seen the viral videos of dogs pressing buttons on soundboards to “talk”? They’re real! A study tracked over 190,000 button presses from 152 dogs over 21 months. Dogs pressed buttons like “play + ball” in a way that showed they knew what they wanted. (That’s why your pup isn’t hitting the “bath” button.) I’m eyeing this set so I can teach Abby!
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
📸 Saving memories: A North Carolina woman is using Instagram to reunite families with photographs lost during Hurricane Helene. Taylor Schenker has collected hundreds of photos from the debris and shares them on her page, Photos from Helene. Folks can reach out to claim them or have them mailed back. Only about 15% have been returned. Spread the word if you can.
Is Netflix going to tick off millions of people again? The streaming giant is going live with two NFL games tomorrow: The Chiefs versus the Steelers and the Ravens versus the Texans. After the Tyson-Paul fight fiasco, they must’ve learned their lesson, right? Internet providers like Comcast are stepping in with extra capacity, and Netflix says they’re ready (paywall link). They passed on third-party backups, so we’ll see.
Shady streaming: Spotify is filling playlists with “ghost artists” so they don’t have to pay so much in royalties. Just 20 songwriters are behind over 500 artists and thousands of tracks. The genres most affected? Classical, jazz, ambient and lo-fi hip-hop.
