A very techy Tuesday to you, friend! A tourist in New York City was carrying a briefcase filled with $500,000 worth of jewels. He stopped for a slice of pizza in Queens, and, as he left the restaurant, two guys jumped out of a black SUV, snatched his briefcase, roughed him up and sped off.

Here’s where it gets good. The guy had the brilliant idea to toss an Apple AirTag inside the briefcase. Police tracked the jewels, busted the crooks and, for some reason, ticketed the crooks for a tinted windshield. The moral of the story? A $24 gadget can save you.

🧏‍♀️ Hear me out! This is important. Hearing aids aren’t expensive and bulky like they used to be. If you or a loved one needs help, check out these German-engineered hearing aids. There’s no reason not to hear loudly and clearly with today’s affordable tech. On to the news! — Kim

The drones hovering over New Jersey fly lower than commercial planes, a few thousand feet up, and produce a slight electric hum. Most are two to three feet long, but some are the size of an SUV.

The internet is bursting with conspiracy theories. Are they military tech? Foreign surveillance? Something not of this world?

I called up my radio pal, George Noory

He’s the host of Coast to Coast AM, heard on over 600 U.S. radio stations, and he’s a leading voice of the unexplained. I asked a question millions of people are wondering: Could this be alien technology?

“It’s bizarre,” Noory agrees. “It just doesn’t sound like the work of a hobbyist — some guy in his backyard with about 50 drones. There’s something else very, very nefarious about this.”

But alien tech? He says it doesn’t add up. “I’m going to rule out [the] extraterrestrial,” he says. “It sounds more like a military effort than anything else.”

What the heck is going on?

The drones gather in clusters at night and fly with their lights off. We’re not talking about little hobby drones or the bigger ones you’d find at tech expos. Reports describe these as massive, multirotor, helicopter-like drones.

The CEO of a remote aircraft company dropped a viral TikTok video claiming the only reason to fly an unmanned drone at night is if you’re “looking for something.” His theory? They’re sniffing out a gas leak or radioactive material. This freaked out podcaster Joe Rogan.

How do we figure out what they are?

There’s some pretty incredible tech that can help:

• Radio-frequency (RF) detection: It sniffs out the communication signals between a drone and its controller to pinpoint its make and model.
• Radar systems: Think of these as high-tech sky-scanning systems that track drones by analyzing their size, speed and flight patterns.
• Robin Radar: This one’s impressive. It uses 360-degree radar combined with AI to detect and track drones within a five-kilometer radius. In other words, it sees everything.
• Remote ID technology: Some drones are required to broadcast identifying details, including the location of their operators. It’s like a digital license plate for drones.
• Declassified radio wave tech: This reads electronic registrations and can track a drone right back to where it lands.

There’s tech you can use, too

Flightradar24, Plane Finder and FlightAware have been on my radar (sorry, had to) for years to identify commercial and private flights. They collect satellite data and the info most aircraft submit to ground stations and other planes. Here’s a deep dive on that for my aviation nerds.

It’s incredible to point your phone into the sky, scan an airplane, and see exactly what it is and where it’s headed. Want to try it out?

✈️ Flightradar24: On the web, iPhone, Android
✈️ Plane Finder: On the web, iPhone, Android
✈️ FlightAware: On the web, iPhone, Android

So, what do you think is going on?

Check out my full interview with George, and let me know your theories when you rate this email. I think it’s AI drones doing military tests in a real urban area.

Speaking of … What did the UFO denier say when shown video proof of alien spaceships, including one containing the leader of the universe? “Which craft?” (Ba‑dum‑tss.)

Are you struggling to catch every word or constantly asking people to repeat what they said? That’s so isolating, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The Horizon IX hearing aids are a game‑changer:

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Thanks to hear.com’s network of audiologists and convenient online consultations, expert care is always close by. Join over 425,000 satisfied customers who’ve said goodbye to muffled conversations and hello to better hearing.

An offer you should refuse: “Gamified” job scams start with a random text or WhatsApp message asking you to do online tasks for money. You might even see some profits before they ask you for money, promising big returns. This trick made up almost 40% of job scam reports this year, with $41 million lost in just the first half of 2024. Oof.

🛑 Help during a bus driver shortage: School districts around the country are cutting bus routes big time. About 36% of students took a bus in 2017, but now, it’s only 28%. If you’re having trouble getting the kids to school, check out ride-hailing apps like the PiggyBack Network and HopSkipDrive.

Stalkerware is up 239%: Apps like mSpy and Life360 market themselves as ways to track your kids. Abusers use them to see everywhere their partner goes. This is no small problem; 85% of domestic violence survivors have experienced digital abuse. Need help? Here’s my guide to protecting yourself.

Brave new world: U.K. police are testing a facial recognition phone app that lets officers identify people walking down the street. Some communities put up signs as a warning. This tech is worldwide; American police searched Clearview AI’s facial database 2 million times in New York City and Dallas this year.

🚨 North Korean hackers are targeting Macs: It starts with an email containing a fake crypto news headline (e.g., “Hidden Risk Behind New Surge of Bitcoin Price”) and includes a link, supposedly to a PDF. The link actually leads to a malicious app that lets the sender take control of your system. If you’ve clicked on a random PDF link recently, scan for malware ASAP. I use TotalAV.*

That escalated quickly: TikTok Shop is pulling in more customers than retail giants Shein and Sephora. It launched in September of 2023, and 45% of Americans have already bought something through it. Fashion and beauty items pitched by influencers are the most popular.

🎥 “Endorsement for AI”: That’s what Lisa Kudrow is calling Tom Hanks’ new film, “Here.” The Robert Zemeckis-directed flick uses AI to de-age Hanks and Robin Wright into younger versions of themselves. The “Friends” star thinks bots will replace real actors. It’s like she heard my show last week.

Face, meet palm: A so-called “misinformation expert” was caught spreading misinformation. Jeff Hancock submitted a doc with fake AI-generated citations. Minnesota’s Attorney General paid him $600 an hour for expert testimony defending a new state law that bans AI-driven voter deception. You can’t make this up … but a bot did.

🪦 Where there’s a will, there’s a relative: Jesse Beck, 45, recorded a video “will” four days before he died in a motorcycle crash. It didn’t hold up in court. Why? Estate law (paywall link) is old school, and video or audio recordings don’t cut it. The legal validity of wills from text messages and emails also depends on where you live, but a signed, witnessed and notarized paper doc is still the gold standard.

😂 Murphy’s Law states anything that can happen will happen: But are you familiar with Cole’s Law? It’s finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing, commonly either vinaigrette or mayonnaise.

❤️‍🔥 Turn the holidays into lovin’.

• A hand-casting kit (20% off) makes a mold out of your and your partner’s hands. Freakin’ adorable.
• Scratch off all the food you’ve eaten together on this travel print (11% off). Or maybe just decide what’s for dinner.
• Don’t tell them you got a stuffed waffle maker (29% off), and surprise them in bed with a Nutella-filled waffle. Not advised with white sheets.
• A chalkboard coffee mug ($13) lets you write a new message every morning for your partner. Cute!
• For long-distance lovers, tap this lamp, and your partner’s matching lamp will light up in the same color.
• This portable picnic table (22% off, $35) has wineglass holders — no spillage disasters allowed.
• This homemade gin kit comes with two bottles, so if you mess up yours, you can just steal sips of theirs! That’s love.
• They knead a massage gun in their life.

Windows users, take note: Mike in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, wrote in to ask if it’s safe to upgrade to Windows 11 version 24H2, which rolled out in October. I’m glad you held off, Mike, because there were a lot of bugs. The major kinks have been worked out now, so you’re good to go.

🦺 Junior mode: That’s the kid-friendly version of Disney+. To enable it for your little one, create a new profile, then tap Add profile. To do this with an existing profile, tap Edit profile. Toggle on Junior mode to limit streaming options to kid-appropriate content, all with a simpler, easier-to-navigate interface.

Be the smartest one at work: Download NetSuite’s free knowledge drop, “The CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning.”* No matter what your role is, you should know more about using AI for your business.

🐭 Zoom-zoom! You can change how fast your cursor moves around your screen. On a Windows PC, click on the Start menu icon in your taskbar and type mouse. Click on Mouse settings, and use the Mouse pointer speed slider to adjust your cursor speed. You can also change the number of lines your mouse wheel scrolls at a time, too.

Mac magic: Hit the Apple menu > System Settings > Mouse (if you have one) or Trackpad (on a MacBook). You’ll find all kinds of settings you can adjust to your heart’s desire, including cursor speed and how hard you have to tap your trackpad to click.

Ideal number of bank accounts: Is one bank account enough? Probably not. My pal, Clark Howard, recommends at least two bank accounts, but you may need more if you’re married or use payment apps. to receive more must-have money tips every day.

Now, don’t let your guard down if you live in one of the five least at-risk states: Idaho (9.46 risk score), Vermont (8.40), West Virginia (7.14), Iowa (5.96) and South Dakota (2.14).

💠 Don’t have a briefcase of jewels? I have an AirTag on my dog, Abby, and in every car I own. My checked bags always have AirTags, too. I have a friend who stuck one on her husband’s EpiPen so they can find it easily in an emergency. So smart.

Btw, if you’re an Android person, Tile and Chipolo trackers are great, too.

😂 Did you hear about the two birds who decided to pull a bank heist? Well … one was a chicken, and the other was Robin. (I’ll see myself out.)

Before you go … Is your hearing not as great as it used to be? Need a hearing aid? Maybe you know someone who does. Stop waiting. Things will just get worse, not better. Check right now to see if you qualify for a 45-day free trial! See you back here tomorrow, bright and early, with another issue of the best tech newsletter in the USA! You’ve gotta admit, today’s jokes were funny. — Kim