💥 The $1B Bitcoin blunder you need to see to believe

Hey there, {{first_name | friend}}. Happy Wednesday and gobble, gobble, Thanksgiving is 50 days away. 🦃 Ever feel like you need a nap after reading an article on your phone? You’re not just being dramatic (for once). Studies show our eyes blink less on screens, our minds wander more, and yep, we read slower. It’s not you, it’s the phone. 

👀 So how much do screens slow down our eyeballs? Is it: A) 5%, B) 10%, C) 20% or D) Wait, are they actually faster? The answer’s at the end, no peeking. 

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Picture this: It’s 2013. A guy named James Howells from Newport, Wales, is cleaning up his office and accidentally throws out an old hard drive. No big deal, right?

Wrong.

Stored on that hard drive were the digital keys to 8,000 Bitcoins. Back then, Bitcoin was worth around $130 each, a solid chunk of change. But today? One Bitcoin is worth about $122,000, which means James accidentally trashed almost $1 billion. With a “B.”

James’ Bitcoin passkey is buried somewhere under 110,000 tons of garbage in the city dump. For more than a decade, he’s begged officials to let him search. 

He offered to foot the entire bill, buy the landfill, use high-tech, robot-assisted excavation tools and split the recovered Bitcoin with the city. He even lined up investors and engineers. But the city said no. Again and again. Too messy, too expensive, too risky.

So now, he’s doing something completely wild.

James just launched a new cryptocurrency called Ceiniog Coin (that’s “penny” in Welsh). 

Here’s how it works: The 8,000 Bitcoins James lost are still technically tied to his crypto wallet. They’re frozen in time. No one can access them without the key on that hard drive. 

So James is offering Ceiniog as a kind of tribute meme coin, tied to the legend of the missing landfill billion. Buyers of the coin are essentially investing in his story.

Think of it like this. A kid loses a super rare Pokémon card, but he somehow believes it’s still part of his collection. Then he makes new Pokémon cards based on that one and sells them to anyone who believes the card is real. That’s Ceiniog in a nutshell.

Do I think it’s a solid investment? Nope. Unless that hard drive rises from the landfill like a phoenix, it’s a clever marketing stunt. If you see it advertised online, pass. 

At the very least, this story is proof you should always double-check the trash before you take it to the curb. I’m investing in stocks. Beef, chicken and vegetables. I hope to become a bouillonaire. I think it’s a souper idea. (Sorry about all that.)

Turn that creativity into cash! Here’s how to launch your own T-shirt business from home, no design skills required. Plus, the rise of fileless viruses, falling Starlink satellites and ChatGPT’s new shopping feature.

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🧡 Taylor’s bad blood with AI bots: After the pop star hyped an elaborate “orange door” puzzle in her Life of a Showgirl release, Swifties learned the visuals were AI-generated and not handcrafted clues. Now she’s down a million Instagram followers and up a million think pieces on “authenticity.” Don’t be sad. The Life of a Showgirl has already sold over 3 million copies in the U.S. In just the first two days, its songs racked up more than 300 million official on-demand streams and counting. I think she’s gonna be OK.

Discord hacked: Ever reach out to Discord support? One of their customer service vendors got hacked, leaking names, emails, billing info and even some ID and passport scans. The main app’s safe, but the help desk not so much. The hacker even tried to ransom the stolen data. Discord says the main platform and passwords are safe. So a reminder: Even when you trust the service, the companies they work with can still put your data at risk.

🎛️ ChatGPT’s got apps: You can summon Spotify, Zillow or Canva inside ChatGPT, no tab-hopping required. Make playlists, design posts or house-hunt mid-convo. Expedia, DoorDash and Uber are next. It’s all fun and games until $1,000 worth of Taco Bell shows up at your door. Update is rolling out now. 

Make AI dad go away: Zelda Williams slammed fans for sending AI-generated clips of her late father, Robin Williams, calling them “disgusting, over-processed hotdogs” of human art. She said he’d never want his voice or face used that way, and I get it. Let him rest, folks. Chill out on the deepfake Sora 2 celeb videos. 

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📎 PDF = Pretty Deceptive File: Think PDFs are safe because they’re “just documents”? Nope. A new tool kit called MatrixPDF lets hackers secretly bake malicious code, fake overlays or phishing traps into what look like normal, trusted PDFs. Paired with AI tools like SpamGPT, that same file you thought was harmless could be weaponized and distributed at scale. Most security filters don’t flag anything until after you click, so staying cautious is more important than ever. 

🎚️ Turn it down: Ever had a Hulu or Netflix ad jump-scare scream at you mid-binge? Starting 2026, your stream won’t double as a hearing test. California just passed SB 576, a new law that forces services like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube to keep commercial volume in check. Ads must match the level of whatever you were watching. It started because one guy’s baby kept waking up, and now, we all get quieter commercials. Bless that tired parent.

Think you know tech? These misbeliefs about batteries, cameras and the dark web could cost you more than you realize.

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📱 Save data on Facebook: Watching videos eats up your mobile plan fast. You can cut usage by up to 40% by lowering video quality. Just tap the three-dot menu (top right) > Settings & privacy > Settings > Media > toggle on Data Saver. While you’re there, set Autoplay in Feed and Stories to Wi-Fi only.

Print for free at libraries: Why drop cash on a printer you’ll use twice a year? Many local libraries let you print 10-20 pages a day for free. Search libraries.org to find one near you, then call to confirm. Perfect for last-minute forms or that “oops” school project.

🍏 Take calls on your iPad: You don’t always need to grab your iPhone to answer. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Apps > Phone > Calls on Other Devices and toggle Allow Calls on Other Devices. Make sure both devices use the same Apple ID, then select your iPad. Remember to keep them nearby and on the same Wi-Fi.

💬 Hide your WhatsApp status: Planning a surprise and don’t want everyone to know? When creating a status, tap Updates > Add status. In the bottom left, where it says Status (Contacts), choose My contacts except. Pick who shouldn’t see it, hit Done and your secret’s safe.

Chinese engineers unveiled an EV that can violently eject its battery mid-fire like a giant flaming Pop-Tart blasting out of the car. 

The system, demoed by China’s Vehicle Collision Repair Technical and Research Center, throws the burning pack 20 feet away to prevent explosions. Impressive? Sure. 

But picture this: You’re running from a burning car and suddenly get bodychecked by a flying slab of molten lithium. Fire hazard solved … by creating a high-speed battery projectile. What could possibly go wrong?

The answer: C) 20%. Your brain processes words differently without the tactile cues of a physical page. Add in eyestrain and constant digital distractions, and it’s no wonder paperbacks still reign supreme for deep reading. Need to speed up your screen reading? Try dark mode or distraction blockers, and give those eyeballs a break. Blink like you mean it! 👀💨

Speaking of, here’s a joke to use on your spouse: “Haven’t you finished that Kindle yet? You’ve been reading it for months!”

🎉 Today is the last Amazon Prime Big Deal Day! 

This is the #1 tech newsletter in the United States. Tomorrow, AI voice scams are draining bank accounts and faking family emergencies. I’ve got the play-by-play, and the defense plan.

🌍 Big world. Bigger you. Go show ’em. — Kim

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Photo credit(s): Bing, Yicai via X

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