Parenting hack: Ever tried calming a baby in the car? A California dad took a close-up photo of Mom’s face, turned it into a large cutout and slapped it on the back seat. Now, the little one giggles at her favorite person from the backseat. Adorable video here.
42% of web traffic
Is generated by bots. And 65% of those are for shady stuff like spying on competition, hoarding inventory and making lookalike phishing sites. There are no laws to protect businesses or consumers against the bot army.
Dress for the slide, not the ride: Harley-Davidson’s 2024 Road Glide and Street Glide bikes are the first to get Skyline OS, a new touchscreen infotainment system. It’s replacing the traditional analog gauges with a 12.3-inch touch display that includes turn-by-turn navigation, Apple CarPlay and voice-command compatibility.
53% of kids under 12
Remember ads they’ve seen on YouTube better than ads watched on any other platform. That’s two times better than TV ads! Even crazier, 60% of teens watch the full ads on YouTube instead of skipping. You can thank Google’s world-class ad targeting.
Apple clones? Samsung’s latest gadgets just leaked online. That includes the Galaxy Watch Ultra, Galaxy Watch 7, Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. The Ultra smartwatch has a new, very Apple-like band. And the Galaxy Buds are looking a lot more like AirPods, too.
Don’t be a boob: A woman was caught on Google Maps pulling up her tanktop just as the Google Street View van snapped photos. Google employees have since pixelated the X-rated picture, but that hasn’t stopped it from going viral.
🚨 To be continued: Google says Samsung and other Android devices are now vulnerable to the same security risk behind June’s Pixel zero-day warning. It’s so bad that they aren’t even saying what the exploit is (code for “We don’t want bad guys to find out”). I’ll let you know when they release a patch to fix it.
Time to pay up: Netflix is phasing out its cheapest ad-free plan. If you’re on it, you’ll get a notification saying your last day to watch is July 13 unless you upgrade. Options: $6.99 ad-supported, $15.49 ad-free or $22.99 ad-free 4K premium.
⚠️ It can happen anywhere: An Australian IT pro was caught running “evil twin” Wi-Fi attacks on flights and airports. He set up phony Wi-Fi networks to trick victims into logging in, and then he snagged their usernames and passwords for whatever they did. Pro tip: Always ask the flight staff for the real Wi-Fi network name.
$32,000 to move
To the region of Tuscany in central Italy. That is, as long as you’re willing to live in a town with fewer than 5,000 people. Tuscan officials started a $3 million fund to combat a shrinking population in the countryside. Apply on their site by July 27. Buona fortuna!