$2,000,000,000

Cost to build the Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas. The world’s largest cruise ship measures 1,198 feet in length, making this 250,800-ton giant five times larger than the Titanic. It can hold up to 7,600 guests, many of whom are getting ship-faced and a little nauti.

Tags: cost, Cruise, guests, ship


💲 If you put a Ring on it: Ring’s raised its Basic video doorbell subscription costs from $3.99 to $4.99 a month. Always something, huh? More than ever, getting SimpliSafe to protect your whole home is a smarter and cheaper choice.

Interview plus-ones? One in four Gen Zers says they’ve brought a parent to their job interview. Another 25% have had their parents submit a job application for them. PSA: If your kid asks you to join their job interview, say no. No matter how badly you want them out of the house, they’ve gotta learn to fly on their own.

Trivia

I saw an $82,000 Cybertruck driving down the road in Phoenix. I still say slap a gun on the back and it’s Halo in real life. More than 1 million people have ordered the EV truck-slash-tank, but how many have actually been delivered, as of May 26, 2024? Is it … A.) 3,878, B.) 42,184, C.) 122,101 or D.) 201,032?

Find the answer here!

⚡️ Not everything can be AI: Microsoft says to advertise as an “AI PC,” computers need three things: Microsoft’s AI assistant, Copilot (how convenient), a special Copilot button on the keyboard (OK, sure) and an NPU (NP‑who?). The NPU, or Neural Processing Unit, is a processor specially designed for machine learning algorithms. Will that make them work better than a regular PC? TBD.

A 30% pay gap: No, not between men and women (that’s still about 16%) — between engineers. AI software engineers now make a median salary of $300,000, or about $100,000 more than other software engineers. Meanwhile, non-AI computer science grads say the job hunt is tougher than ever. Never thought I’d see the day.

Lipstick on a pig: The feds now consider buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps a type of credit card. Uh, ya think? Now, buyers will get the same refund and fraud protections they do with plastic while they’re putting off those payments. BNPL companies say they’re a totally different model. Nope.

🍯 High-tech honeypot: The FBI wanted to spy on criminals doing business on untraceable phones, so they started a phone company. “Anom” sold encrypted phones that secretly sent copies of every message straight to the FBI. Even Anom’s employees knew they were a part of the sting. Their slogan? “Keep secrets safe!” Ahem, not sure spilling the beans about Anom was a great idea …

Trivia

Sure, they grew up with tech in their hands, but Gen Z falls for more online scams than any other generation. What percentage of people between 18 and 25 have been tricked into giving up their info or money? Is it … A.) 10%, B.) 20%, C.) 27% or D.) 34%?

Find the answer here!

Cop today, drone tomorrow: The NYPD has new crime-fighting drones thanks to 24-year-old Blake Resnick’s company, Brinc Drones (paywall), now worth over $300 million with backing from OpenAI’s Sam Altman. This is just the beginning of police drones coming out in full force. You heard it here first.

🎓 Share this AI tool with a teacher: Khan Academy’s AI teaching assistant, Khanmigo, is now free for teachers to whip up quick lesson plans, thanks to a donation from Microsoft. You can bet this is going to make a huge dent on teachers who sell their lesson plans on TeachersPayTeachers⁠.⁠com.