I get this

I get this: My Amazon Astro robot has been turned off, and I miss the little guy. Rationally, we know robots don’t feel emotions. Practically, we’re still softies. Researchers in the Netherlands asked participants to shake a robot. If it was silent, they’d do it again — no problem. If the bot made a sad sound, they’d try to avoid it.

Tags: Netherlands, research, Robots


When a spy takes over IT at your company

John is my “IT Genius.” I trust John, and that’s how it should be when you hire someone who works in IT. They have access to everything. 

It’s also the reason North Korean IT workers are infiltrating American companies. Read on to learn how this works. If you know someone who hires IT folks, be sure to share this important information with them by tapping the social media and email icons at the end.

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'Mind-reading' headphones track user's brain signals

Jedi mind tricks: Neurable is creating mind-reading headphones. The sensors pick up tiny electrical impulses from your skull, which you can view in an app to see how intensely you’re focusing. Telepathy might be next. In one of their gamified exercises, the more you focus, the faster you make a rocket accelerate.

Post when it matters: On Facebook, weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. is best. Wednesday posts get the most eyeballs. Weekends and outside of normal business hours are the lowest engagement times.

$20 decillion (34 zeros!)

How much a Russian court wants Google to cough up. The crime? Blocking their TV channels on YouTube. The amount is doubling every week. For the record, Google can’t pay it; their parent company is only worth $2 trillion (12 zeros).

George Carlin on airlines and flying

✈️ Get back in line: American Airlines is considering new boarding tech that sounds a really loud beep when you try to cut the line and board without your group. It’s being tested now in Albuquerque, Tucson and Washington, D.C. I’ll spare you a plane joke (it won’t take off), but if you need a laugh, watch George Carlin talk about the boarding process. So funny.

693 square feet

Size of the largest communication satellites that just unfolded in space. AST SpaceMobile wants to create the first space-based direct-to-smartphone broadband network. Bad news for astronomers: These things outshine everything in the night sky.

$1 million

How much a North Carolina man won on a scratch-off lottery ticket. The best part is he bought it with a $20 bill he found in the parking lot of the store. He’s taking home $429,007 after taxes. I found a $20 bill in the Costco parking lot and I thought, “What would Jesus do?” So I turned it into wine.

10 most affordable cities 

In the U.S. are primarily in the South and Midwest. McAllen, Texas, takes the top spot, with home prices averaging $275,000 (paywall link). Rounding out the top three: Wichita, Kansas, and Little Rock, Arkansas.

$3 million

The value found within a bitcoin wallet that was unlocked after 11 years. Its owner had forgotten his password and contacted an ethical hacker to regain control of his crypto. Good thing, too — when he lost access to his wallet originally, its contents were only worth $3,000 to $4,000.

$500M (and counting)

Sales this year alone for Nerds Gummy Clusters candy. The crunchy, chewy treats are huge hit for Nerds; previously, they averaged around $50 million a year in sales total for all their brands (paywall link). Try them out or get them for the kids to be the ultimate Nerd hero.

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