Another wayward Waymo

đźš– Another wayward Waymo: A San Francisco woman was trapped in an autonomous Waymo cab when two men stood in front of the car and wouldn’t move. Why? They wanted her phone number.  She told them no, but the cab wouldn’t budge, leaving her stuck until they finally walked away. Waymo’s response? She got a free ride.

Tags: California, safety, Waymo


Your phone’s dirty little secret

True or false: If your phone’s got all four reception bars lit up and it’s displaying the 5G symbol, you’ve got A+ service.

The answer? False. When you see “5G,” all it means is there are 5G connections nearby. Whether you’re on that network is another story. I know, eye roll. Cell service bars don’t mean much, either.

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293% increase

In e-bike injuries between 2019 and 2022. Scooter injuries were up 88% in that time, too. FYI, injuries from e-bikes are much more likely to lead to a hospital visit than other “micro-mobility” devices like scooters and standard bikes. Just make sure your helmet is MIPS-rated to keep your noggin safe.

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94 years old

Clint Eastwood’s age — and he’s still directing. The trailer just dropped for his newest film, “Juror #2.” It’s a courtroom thriller. (I know, shocker.) Looks good! My goal is to be like Clint when I’m 94.

$1 to buy Dish

DirecTV is looking to buy its rival. If the deal goes through, they’d pay just $1 and take on Dish’s debt — about $9.75 billion. Why buy Dish? Separately, DirecTV and Dish are screwed. Together, they might be big enough to stand up to the streaming platforms.

45 days of parental leave

Can be transferred to a friend or family member in Sweden. Folks will earn 80% of their salary by looking after their grandkids. Sweden was the first country to allow parental leave, so maybe this benefit will spread to other countries, too. It makes perfect sense!

$10 for remote start

That’s what Mazda is charging for its connected features. They used to be free, and there was even an open-source (free) workaround. Yep, Mazda had that taken down. They’re not the only car company charging for previously free stuff.

78.7% drop in value

For X since Elon Musk took over. Yeesh. That’s based on a Fidelity disclosure valuing its stake in X at around $4.19 million. The initial investment? $19.66 million.

3 cups of coffee

The amount linked to a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. That’s 200 to 300 mg of caffeine per day. One small steep for man, one giant steep for mankind.

1 million Starlink users 

Added over the last four months. They hit 3 million total in May. Some major price drops certainly helped; Starlink lowered its dish price from $499 to $299 in August. I use it on my boat and as a backup at home.

$50,000 spent on AI

By the Secret Service. They won’t say why (national security and all that), but we do know the money went to Microsoft Azure and OpenAI cloud services (paywall link).