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Closing time at an Earlybirds Club dance party. It starts at 6 p.m. so folks with a job and a bedtime can still let loose. The clubs began in Chicago but are all over the U.S. now. Playlists are stacked with favorites from the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s. Sounds fun!
Pranksters, unite: TouchTunes is the app equivalent of putting a quarter into a jukebox. Over 65,000 bars and restaurants use them, and you don’t have to be there in person to add a song to the queue (paywall link). That made it easy for the troll who played “Rocky Top” (the University of Tennessee’s unofficial fight song) in an Ohio State University bar … from 500 miles away.
🎨 No paint, no gain: Christie’s is planning its first-ever auction dedicated to AI art, and let’s just say people are not having it. The biggest gripe? Most generative AI tools were trained on IRL artists’ work without consent. A letter demanding Christie’s cancel the show has gathered thousands of signatures.
🛰️ T-Mobile Starlink free offer: Let me explain the Super Bowl commercial. When your cellphone gets out of range of a cell tower, your phone will connect to the T-Mobile Starlink network. Messages are sent and received just as they are today on a traditional network, including group texts and reactions. It works on most smartphones from the last four years. Anyone, no matter the carrier, can join the public beta. Sign up here so you get to use it free until July. I did.
A new scam making the rounds: Oh, happy day, a present in the mail! Not so fast. Scammers are mailing free gift packages with a QR code inside. Scan it and the malware that launches lets them take over your phone in seconds. The worst part? The package looks totally legit, complete with your name, address and a familiar retailer, like Amazon. If you get one, don’t scan any codes inside.
🚨 A chatbot without limits: It’s simple to trick Chinese AI DeepSeek into giving out dangerous information. Researchers found using a tactic called “jailbreaking” — bypassing the AI’s built-in restrictions — you can get instructions on making a Molotov cocktail, evading law enforcement and even creating malware (paywall link). And we thought TikTok was dangerous.
Corporate playground: I want to see this thing IRL. There’s a $2.5 billion office called The Round being built in London to lure the youngest of Gen Z workers. It’ll have nap pods, space for breathwork classes, a gym and all sorts of other luxuries (paywall link). It probably comes with participation trophies, too.
💸 Budget iPhone? Rumor has it Apple will drop the iPhone SE 4 next week for around $429. It’s packing a 6.1-inch OLED screen, a 48 MP camera, an A18 chip and 8GB of RAM, and it can even run Apple Intelligence. Pretty tempting, but I’d still wait for reviews to see how well it actually performs. For all the bells and whistles, consider spending a little more on a renewed iPhone 15 Pro instead.
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I’m not switching: Microsoft Edge’s new scareware blocker spots pop-ups that try to trick you into downloading malware or giving hackers remote access. Sounds great … until you realize it works by scanning every page you visit. Want real-time protection you can trust? My pick is TotalAV.
🎭 Hate getting ready for video calls? What a world. Pickle AI lets you create an AI body double to sit in on your Zoom and Teams meetings. Record a five-minute video of yourself, upload it and let AI train your digital clone. Plans start at $24 per month. I wonder how often they glitch mid-presentation.
🎓 This makes cents: Tech is moving so quickly, the firms in Silicon Valley are hiring prodigies without college degrees. Not just that, but they’re handing out $100,000 checks just to get them to drop out. If you know someone struggling in college or not going because they can’t afford it, pass this one along.