Not wheelie good

🚴‍♂️ Not wheelie good: Researchers found a way to hack bicycle wireless gear shifters with just a few hundred bucks of tech and a laptop. The trick works on Shimano Di2 shifters, which are used by top cycling teams worldwide. A patch is rolling out in late August.

Tags: hacks, laptop, patch, researchers, Teams, tech, trick, wireless


The latest class-action lawsuits

From big banks to canned tuna, companies are paying out huge money to settle some pretty fishy business. I’ve rounded up a few of the biggest class-action lawsuits and how to grab your slice of the pie.

This is your reminder I’m not a lawyer, this is not legal advice and a company paying out a settlement doesn’t mean they’re admitting, “Yeah, we messed up.”

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Robo-dog built to defend against drones

The U.S. military is developing a gun-wielding robot dog to protect our forces from aerial drones. The doggo is equipped with an AR-15-type rifle, electro-optical targeting system, infrared/thermal vision and a laser aiming device.

$1,370 raised

On GoFundMe for goldfish living in a sidewalk puddle near a leaky fire hydrant in Brooklyn. After noticing the leak, a guy went to the pet store and got 100 goldfish for $16. Neighbors (and the internet) are loving it and trying to make their makeshift home permanent.

60 miles

Swimming in the wrong direction. A long-distance swimmer attempting 80 miles across Lake Michigan had to call it quits after his GPS watch died and he got way off course. Stinks it ended this way for 60-year-old Jim Dryer, aka “The Shark.”

700 miles per charge

For the new breed of EVs known as extended-range electric vehicles. The catch: You’ll have to gas up every now and then (paywall link). EREVs have a small combustion engine that’s there to charge the electric battery as you drive.

40,000 steps

Reported by Target workers on a single day. That was during an especially busy time: Target Circle Week. The typical store is about 125,000 square feet, and workers took to Reddit to share how far they walked each day.

15 billion page views

Per month for Wikipedia. Traffic seems to be trending down, but execs say that any decline can’t be traced back to AI just yet. (Yeah, sure.) They are worried AI hallucinations (when bots make stuff up) could spread misinformation at an alarming rate. Not wrong …

$30 game controller

Could cost OceanGate $50 million. The family of a crew member who died in the Titan sub implosion is suing. They blame, among other things, the decision to rely solely on a cheap Logitech F710 controller for navigation. Game controllers are common in military and space flights,  but there’s always a secondary, hard-wired backup option.

$351,178 raised

For a 90-year-old veteran caring for his wife with dementia. A woman started the GoFundMe campaign after she saw Air Force vet Donald attempting to pawn jewelry to catch up on bills. I just love stories like this.

$1.5 billion raised

By AI defense tech startup, Anduril. It’s run by the founder of Oculus VR, Palmer Luckey, who wants to create a Tesla-style factory that pumps out autonomous drones and other AI battlefield tech.