Explosive new social trend 💩

🚗 New travel rule: Only ride in a self-driving car during the middle of the day. A study of more than 2,000 autonomous vehicles found they’re 5.25 times more likely to cause accidents in early morning, twilight and low-light conditions. They’re nearly twice as likely to mess up turns compared to human drivers, too. Yikes.

In travel scams in the past year. That’s according to Booking.com, at least. ChatGPT has made it easier than ever to generate realistic scam emails. Do I believe there’s been an increase? Absolutely, but 900% …?

Apple’s specs appeal: No one’s buying Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro headsets, so Apple’s now holding off on the Vision Pro 2 to focus instead on a cheaper version of the original for 2025. It’ll have the same high-end displays but fewer cameras, a simpler headband and smaller speakers. I bet its price is around $1,500, much like a high-end iPhone.

🎥 Streaming success: A year after “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” flopped in theaters, it’s making a comeback on Netflix. It hit the Global Top 10 list, with 5.6 million views from June 10 to June 16. It always had good reviews, but it just wasn’t a hit in theaters. Yeah, I prefer to watch movies at home, too.

Trouble getting your car serviced this week? Blame a cyberattack on CDK, the operating system used by dealerships, which was shut down amidst the chaos. This disruption meant dealers couldn’t process electronic titling or access service records. Stay tuned. I’m sure we’ll hear about a data breach soon.

TikTok takeover? U.S. billionaire Frank McCourt made his fortune in real estate and wants to buy TikTok before it gets banned. He says he’s trying to keep it out of the hands of Big Tech companies that are destroying society and endangering kids. I’m sure that’s some part of his reasoning.

🇨🇳 Say it’s not Tso: The U.S. House of Representatives just passed a ban on DJI drones made in Communist China. All that’s left is for the Senate to pass its version, and then it’s off to the president. If you already have a DJI, you can keep using it. The ban stops future sales on U.S. soil. Why? To keep China from spying on us, of course.

Heads-up, parents: Instagram is pushing sexually explicit videos to teenagers minutes after they’ve logged in (paywall link). New accounts get slightly seductive videos, but the content gets racier the more they watch. Talk to your kids about what they click on and watch. It’s not them; IG itself is pushing it.

🏥 Deadly hospital hack: The fallout from last month’s cyberattack on the Ascension hospital network is still unfolding. One woman went into cardiac arrest and died when lab results crucial for her treatment were delayed. In another case, a nurse nearly gave a baby a dangerous dose of narcotics because of confusing paperwork. Horrifying. Save your health records as a PDF now. Here’s how.

Haven’t been spotted for at least a decade. Are they extinct? Scientists aren’t sure. They’re turning to folks like you and me to keep a lookout. Think you’ve seen a purple-winged ground dove? Reach out at the official Lost Birds website with photo or audio evidence.