Tech tremors

April 5, 2024

🌍 Tech tremors: A 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan briefly shut down the world’s largest chipmaker, TSMC. The quake killed nine, injured over 900, and sparked supply-chain paranoia from cars to smartphones. News sites are buzzing with clickbait about how this event will cause a chip shortage. TSMC is already up and running again, though, with minimal damage.

Tags: paranoia, tech

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Weekend update: Eclipse info, email warning, hot new job

Spring has sprung, and I don’t know about you, but I’m gearing up for a big weekend of hiking and biking! Before you clock out for the week, I’ve got three things to put on your weekend radar.

The solar eclipse is on Monday, and NASA has a great interactive map to help make sure you’re in the right place at the right time. Don’t worry if you’re not dead center in the path of totality; you’ll still get a pretty good view of the action.

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Want better streaming suggestions? Try these hacks

I watched one episode of “Is it Cake?” on Netflix. Spoiler: Everything is cake, and it’s totally not for me. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s completely wrecked my streaming recommendations — and I’m guessing yours aren’t much better.

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Save your TikToks: I can’t tell you if the government’s TikTok ban will happen, but it’s not a bad time to download your videos if you use the app. Doing it from a desktop is easier than on a phone. Right-click on a video you want to save and select Download Video.

Google’s email launched 20 years ago. Back then, you had to have an invite to join. It wasn’t till later they introduced perhaps my favorite feature: “Undo send.” Was that in … A.) 2007, B.) 2009, C.) 2012 or D.) 2015?

Find the answer here →

3 metric tons is the weight of the world’s largest camera

Why so massive? It’s built for photographing space. The 3,200-megapixel camera will be attached to a telescope and has a lens five feet in diameter. Displaying the images at full size will take hundreds of ultra-high-definition TVs.

Tax Day’s coming up

If you did your taxes, a gold star for you. And if you have not done your taxes, April 15 is a week and a half away. Sorry for the jump scare.

That’s still plenty of time to file if you haven’t yet … and plenty of time to get ripped off if you have. I’ve got your back with a last-minute checklist to avoid getting screwed by the IRS — or post-file scammers.

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$1.46 million in a 401(k)

That’s the new “magic number” for retirement. That’s according to a survey of 4,588 Americans. Good news: That’s probably overkill (paywall link) for most families. Fidelity recommends saving 10 times your annual salary by age 67.

58.7 seconds per day is how much quicker time passes on the moon

Enter Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), a new time zone for future lunar missions. The 2026 Artemis III mission could be the first to use it; it’ll be NASA’s first manned lunar trip since the 1970s! ‘Bout time.

60% of small-biz owners worry about cybersecurity

But only half of the respondents said they train their staff on cyberthreats. Wish both of those numbers were closer to 100%. If you’re reading this newsletter, consider yourself ahead of the curve.

Calling all night owls: Have an older Roku model and a house full of light sleepers? Upgrade to the Voice Remote Pro (on sale right now) and get Headphone mode. Plug in your headphones, and enjoy the full sound of your favorite show without waking anyone up. Sweet!

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