What do you say when you answer the phone? “Hello,” of course—and that’s thanks to Thomas Edison. His rival, Alexander Graham Bell, thought phones should be answered with something different. Was it A.) “Ahoy,” B.) “All right,” C.) “Howdy” or D.) “Salutations?”
The answer: A.) “Ahoy” was Alexander Graham Bell’s preferred opening line when answering the phone, and he used it his entire life.
Powering my cellphone? A lithium-ion battery. E-bike? Lithium-ion. Same goes for my iPad, MacBook, electric toothbrush, portable battery pack. I could go on.
The same goes for your tech. As it starts to warm up, we need to talk about safety. Fires from our little gadgets can get out of control quickly.
Smoke and mirrors: The fourth bitcoin “halving” just slashed mining rewards in half — from 6.25 to 3.125 per block. Translation: Bitcoin will become 50% harder to find. This is the oldest marketing trick in the book. As it gets rarer, it becomes more valuable, and more people buy in at that increased price … until they stop buying altogether and it all crashes. Remember: The intrinsic value of bitcoin is exactly zero.
In the first quarter of 2024, bringing the platform’s global total to 270 million. Netflix execs are stopping sharing subscriber numbers. My guess: They’re reaching saturation, and soon, there’ll be nowhere for these numbers to go but down.
Start saving up now: Laptop tech has been stagnant for years, but the times, they are a-changin’. Computer makers are using chips that allow laptops to run large-scale AI models directly on the device. You’ll get better performance, tighter security and less reliance on the cloud (paywall link) — but expect laptop prices to skyrocket.
No phones in schools: That’s the goal, but parents want 24/7 access to their kiddos. Colorado’s Brush School District (paywall link) thinks it has the solution: Keep phones out of sight, and only use them with a teacher’s approval. And if the kids get caught, they have their phones taken away for the remainder of the school day. Share this one with a teacher.
Just days away: The House just passed the TikTok sell-or-ban bill again, but with a twist: It was bundled with urgent foreign aid bills supporting Ukraine and Israel, plus humanitarian support for Gaza. Next stop? The Senate, and, if it passes there, to President Biden’s desk for approval.
I love you just the weigh you are: Folks on social media are pushing Ozempic but hush-hush about its nasty side effects. Karen Evans (paywall link), for instance, never mentioned that severe vomiting made her quit the drug. Get this: Health influencers with under 100,000 followers are making $10,000 and up promoting Ozempic. Influences with over a million followers? They’re making $50,000 to $125,000 per post.
Toyota recall: Over 55,000 Prius and Prius HEV models (2023 and 2024) have a scary flaw — water can short-circuit rear door latches, causing the doors to open while driving or in a crash. Have one? Turn on the “auto-lock feature” when shifting out of park. Toyota says a fix is coming soon, so contact your dealership.
🏀 Banned baller: Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter received a lifetime NBA ban for sports betting. The league started investigating after the Raptors’ March 20 game, in which Porter played for just three minutes and then left, saying he felt “sick.” It was all part of an $80,000 prop bet that he’d underperform.
