Two families ruined forever

August 29, 2024

Two families ruined forever: A Michigan teenager is facing second-degree murder charges after losing control of a BMW and killing his 18-year-old friend. His mom knew about his reckless driving habits, watching him on the Life360 app, and she even texted him, “I have screenshots of you doing 123 mph. Slow the f… down!” The victim’s family wants the mother charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Tags: apps, family, mother, murder

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Retailers have so many ways to track you – Here’s how to fight back

If you have an internet connection, companies are racing to gather every bit of data they can on what you might buy — and they’re getting increasingly sophisticated about it.

How do they do it? Let’s dive into how retail tracking works and, more importantly, what you can do about it.

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$100M podcast deal

For football players Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason. “New Heights” recently hit No. 4 on the podcast charts. Hope they thanked Taylor Swift for the boost. Amazon’s podcast division, Wondery, will host the livestream and give paying subs early ad-free access. Jeff, call me. I’ll do it for $50 million.

23% of those 18 to 34

Never answer the phone. Never! And 56% assume a call out of the blue means bad news. Hey, it’s hard to blame them, given how bad spam calls have gotten in the last few years.

$17 million loss

On a $27 million dream home. A New Jersey couple spent seven years building a 40,000-square-foot property that includes a chapel, an English-style pub, a gym, a home theater, a wine grotto and a golf simulator (paywall link). It’s up for auction with a reserve price of just $10 million.

43 times out of 100

AI car features are more trouble than they’re worth. J.D. Power polled Americans who drive 2024 models that include tech like facial recognition, a fingerprint reader and interior gesture controls. The feedback? “Meh.” See the top-rated manufacturers and models here.

1.6M brain scans

Used to train an AI tool that predicts dementia risk. Researchers are using MRI and CT scans to find patterns that could help doctors spot dementia sooner and treat it better. I sure hope it works; by 2050, the number of people with dementia is expected to triple.

10M copies

Three-day sales of Black Myth: Wukong, a new action game for PC and PlayStation 5. It’s based on the Chinese novel “Journey to the West.” It’s officially one of the fastest-selling games of all time, and it broke the record for the most-played single-player game on Steam, taking out Cyberpunk 2077.

$100M from Google

To fund propaganda surrounding the war in Ukraine. The money was taken from the tech giant’s Russian bank accounts in 2022, forcing Google’s Russian entity to declare bankruptcy. The funds went to Russian TV channels that pledged to use the funds to support the Kremlin’s war.

7,000 pancreases

Listed as missing and never transplanted from 2021 to 2023. There’s a loophole in federal transplant regulations that allows organ procurement organizations to use pancreas cells for diabetes clinical trials. Meanwhile, there are folks sitting on the waiting list for these organs and the operations aren’t happening.

$300 a year

For Google Maps access in a new Chevy Silverado. It’s now built into the infotainment system through Chevy’s Connected Vehicle Plan, priced at $24.99 a month. To make matters more annoying, reviewers say it doesn’t even work well.