Attention, campers and hikers

June 23, 2024

Attention, campers and hikers: SpaceX is launching a backpack-sized Starlink Mini satellite antenna for $599. Monthly service is $150 with speeds over 100 Mbps. No, it’s not cheap, and you’re capped at 50GB per month, with extra data usage setting you back $1 for each gigabyte. FYI: Streaming a two-hour movie in 1080p eats 5GB to 8GB. But heck yeah, you have the internet wherever the path leads.

Tags: data, data usage, internet, movie, service, streaming

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Best dashcams for 2024

Fourth of July is right around the corner, and we’re in for record-breaking holiday traffic. Some 71 million people are expected to travel over 50 miles during the week — the most on record.

I don’t mean to be a downer, but record-setting travel also means record-setting accidents, crashes and road rage. And being a defensive driver isn’t the only way to protect yourself on the road.

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Ask Kim: 'Help! My brother-in-law is spying on us'

“Dear Kim,

“My brother-in-law has our family cottage wired with a Ring security system. He is not to be trusted as he has been unfaithful to his wife and she has filed for divorce. My family is very suspicious that we are being watched or listened to all the time.

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Chipmaker Nvidia just passed Microsoft and Apple to become the world’s most valuable company, hitting a cool $3.34 trillion in worth. Crazy, right? For today’s trivia, what Big Tech company is sitting at No. 4? Is it … A.) Meta, B.) Amazon or C.) Alphabet?

Find the answer here! →

300,000-year-old face

Of our oldest human ancestor, revealed. A graphics expert 3D-scanned a skull to create a realistic render. Found in Morocco, the remains proved humans evolved 100,000 years earlier than we thought. Check out the pic of the handsome fellow here.

900% increase

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% …?

126 bird species

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.

12 years

Spent on our phones. Yikes. The average person spends about five hours a day scrollin’ — exactly what app developers want. That’s one reason flip phone sales are up 15,369% in the past year among Gen Z and younger millennials. Time to dust off the old pink Razr …

38% of millennials and Gen Z

Love travel agents. Turns out, planning a trip takes a lot of work. After nearing extinction, travel agents are making an unexpected comeback. Only 12% of Gen X and 2% of baby boomers felt the same. I hear you: “I need six months of vacation twice a year.”

This week in 1997, a group of hackers cracked code written in Data Encryption Standard, which was designed to be impenetrable. Oops. How long did it take the hackers to crack? Was it … A.) Five days, B.) Five weeks, C.) Five months or D.) Five years?

Find the answer here! →

$100,000 set aside

By Minnesota lawmakers to buy Dorothy’s stolen ruby slippers. They could go for 100 times that at auction. The shoes were stolen in 2005 while on loan from their owner to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (her hometown). After being recovered in 2018, they’ll be back up for sale at the end of the year.