Now, back to a human actually writing this column.
Android phone users, don’t freak out if your phone restarts just because you didn’t use it for a few days. There is a new update to Google Play Services (their “store” service) rolling out that will reboot your phone if you leave it locked for three days, the goal to make it harder to extract data from your phone.
Email phishing is getting even more subtle with domain names using some of those international characters that have a dot above a letter, like “?” or “?”, which on many screens looks just like dirt that hasn’t been cleaned off. I just saw one and actually the first warning was a link to a bit.ly URL shortened site for what should have been a direct link to the site (which had that typo ? in the URL.) I guess I have to keep my screen cleaned.
And, just a reminder, the FBI will not call you out of the blue to “help you” recover from a financial scam. Just remember that federal, state, and local law enforcement don’t ask for money to help you.
Reverse searching phone numbers is a great way to check whether it is truly for the company you are told to reach out to for help. But, you can also reverse search images with increasing success to geo locating photos with ChatGPT’s o3 model (release mid-April.) It works best if there are known landmarks or street signs in the background. Just be careful uploading photos with sensitive or personal information. Try it at <https://chatgpt.com/>, you will have to make an account there to access this feature.
Wrong number texts like “Hello! I hope you had a good day.” “Are you able to work?” and just “Hello” can often be the start of something like a romance for money scam. It may feel hard to just ignore those unknown texts, don’t engage at all, just delete them and report them as junk. You can also forward them to 7726 (SPAM) to report them to your cell provider. Replying STOP just lets them know you have an active and read number. I have been getting many showing interest in land that I “own” trying to just engage me, deleting and reporting them as junk makes me feel better, until I get the next one from a different number with a different pitch.
Recall may be coming to your high-end PC this summer. It is Microsoft Windows’s AI feature to record your active screen every few seconds and store it encrypted on your computer with the goal being that you can later search video and audio to flesh out things like meeting notes and tasks, or clarify your memory of something you did weeks before. There are methods to restrict what is being recorded and you would have to opt-in for this feature anyway. Actually, most of us with current PCs won’t have the hardware to get this feature, only PCs with Copilot+ will have the required integrated neural processing unit.
For some science presented through dance, look at Science’s Dance Your Ph.D. contest winners at <https://www.science.org/content/article/winner-2025-dance-your-ph-d-contest