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Your smart assistant is listening
Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant — they’re always listening, even when you think they’re not.
❤️ A father’s love: An IT director in Toronto called corporate life quits after doctors told him his son had an ultra-rare neurodegenerative disease with no cure. They said his boy would be paralyzed from the waist down by age 10 and quadriplegic by 20. Dad liquidated his savings and teamed up with researchers working on a promising gene therapy. Years later, his son received the treatment and can now stand up. So wonderful.
A father’s love
An IT director from Toronto called corporate life quits after doctors told him his son had an ultra-rare neurodegenerative disease with no cure. They said his boy would be paralyzed from the waist down by 10 and quadriplegic by 20. Dad liquidated his savings and teamed up with researchers working on a promising gene therapy. Years later, his son received the treatment and can now stand up.
11 years
Added to your life just by doing chores. Every time you do yard work, take the stairs or vacuum up dust bunnies, you’re boosting your metabolism and increasing your life expectancy. Tell your kids this next time they “forget” to clean their rooms.
✈️ Aisle be waiting at the airport: You can now pay for a JetBlue flight using Venmo. They’re the first airline to offer it, and I bet others will follow. Why the change? JetBlue’s in the red, reporting hundreds of millions in losses. Reminder, if you’re booking secret travel, all your purchases on Venmo are public unless you take these steps.
Fountain of youth: Retro Biosciences is developing a set of proteins that could turn back the clock on human skin cells. Their goal? To add 10 years to your life. Their work is powered by ChatGPT GPT-4b micro, an AI model created by OpenAI. They didn’t sign a big deal, but OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has already invested $180 million of his own money into Retro Biosciences.
🥵 It’s all over social media: Heating pads, space heaters and electric fireplaces are leaving people with toasted skin syndrome caused by too much heat exposure. It looks like a lacey spotted rash and could take months or years to go away, if ever. Have it? See your doctor ASAP.
Big promises, no results: There are some big opinions on Meta ditching its fact-checking program, but here’s the joke: It didn’t work in the first place. An analysis found only 14% of posts pushing foreign enemy state narratives were flagged as false on Meta. The new plan of action? Community notes … because that’s totally working out for X.
🚗 270,000 Ford models recalled: Certain 2021-2023 Bronco Sport SUVs and 2022-2023 Maverick trucks could stop suddenly, making them a scary crash risk. It’s an issue with their 12-volt batteries degrading. Own one? Look for a letter in the mail around Feb. 3 with info on dealer inspections and replacements.
60 million
Students and teachers impacted by a massive software breach. PowerSchool, used by 16,000 schools for grades and administration, was hacked. Cybercriminals got Social Security numbers, medical records and home addresses. In some cases, the data went back to the ‘80s. You should get a call if your info is impacted.
⚠️ Don’t click Google ads: Mac owners searching for Homebrew, an open-source download installer, are getting ads for a fake. The ads display the correct URL, brew.sh, but clicking redirects you to a copycat site. When you install the phony software, you’ve just welcomed info-stealing malware. Argh. Make sure you’re using antivirus software.