Technology’s growing ability to endanger our lives

Don’t you think that ChatGPT knows you a little bit too well? And that uploading your ID just to use social media is just a bit much?

Our staff gadget reviewer, Konstancija Gasaitytė, has tried some weird and wonderful things over the years she's been with us. From crazy expensive AI gyms to weirdly cute tattoo makers, she's seen a lot. As the trend continues, many new gadgets are incorporating AI.

Last week, we published a review of the Comulytic Note Pro, an AI-powered voice recorder that can record conversations, transcribe them, and provide summaries, overviews, and notes of what was said. It recognizes 113(!) languages.

🤷 Companies keep trying to come up with new, cool devices, but since smartphones already include most truly useful functions, it's become a difficult task.

But at least it’s nice to own something physical, right? Alas, even that might soon come to an end. With processing power prices rising, you might soon be unable to afford a decent computer, and instead, need to subscribe to computing power online.

As Neil C. Hughes puts it, your computer quietly stops being yours.

Nothing you produce is really yours. I shall call it digital kolkhoz.

TikTok has recently been warned that it is in breach of Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and could be fined. The European Commission told the platform to remove its addictive design elements, such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications.

Curious what others think about this story? Contribute your thoughts to the debate below.

Social media is pressing hard on our addiction centers. No surprise here, too, but being more aware of it brings us one step closer to actually tackling the problem.

But the scariest aspect of technology, of course, is that exposing our digital lives also endangers our physical safety.

Hackers are claiming a link between a series of high‑profile crypto-related kidnappings, extortions in France, and a data breach of the crypto tax platform Waltio. Three recent kidnappings netted criminals $9.3 million, $3.8 million, and $4 million.

The Rich Also Cry.

But is it safer to attempt to become a crypto millionaire than an Alchemist millionaire? One man in China went viral after posting how he extracts gold from old SIM cards. While realistically it is possible to extract 1g of gold out of 1,000 SIM cards, this “Alchemist” trend, naturally, has soon become just another trap for the gullible.