I spent a day on the Dark Web [Part 1]
When I say Dark Web, what comes to mind? A hacker in a hoodie? Digital drug deals and hitmen for hire? Usually what our imagination cooks up is a lot more dramatic than reality. But when it comes to the Dark Web, not so much.
Kim Kardashian’s Instagram mistake: No, she didn’t post an unedited pic. Instead, she posted about Texas death row inmate Ivan Cantu, who was convicted of murdering two people and executed around this time last year. Turns out the picture she posted was a different guy, same name, who is very much alive and now suing for slander and libel. Talk about a false bottom.
$0.00
For non-dairy milk in your coffee at Dunkin. Starting March 5, swapping almond or oat milk comes at no extra charge. In queso missed it, about a year ago, they paid out a class-action lawsuit for discriminating against lactose-intolerant customers. No whey!
400 million
Weekly active ChatGPT users. Whoa. That’s double their numbers last August and more than Reddit. The AI train has left the station, folks.
Smart Alexa: Might be coming soon to an Echo near you. Today, Amazon is dropping all the details on the next version of Alexa that can actually hold a conversation (not holding my breath). No livestream, but I’ll share all the intel here Thursday. I bet there’s a pay version.
NASA’s new mission to deal with space junk is Apollo G: Over 11,000 satellites orbit Earth. When they crash into each other, it creates junk. (We’re talking 40K pieces of debris in low orbit.) The fix: ELROI (Extremely Low Resource Optical Identifier). In you and me terms, it’s a solar powered, stamp-sized device that’s a license plate for space identification and communication.
🇨🇳 Communist China’s at it again: Now, China’s sending hackers after Microsoft 365 accounts, mostly in the financial services and insurance biz. Their method of choice is password spraying, aka attempting to log in to accounts with all the most common, weakest passwords. This is your friendly reminder to use a complex password for every single account.
50 states
Have introduced right to repair laws. Most require companies to sell parts and release repair manuals so you don’t have to pay someone else an arm and a leg to fix broken tech for you. So far, they’ve been passed in Massachusetts, New York, Minnesota, Colorado, California and Oregon.