I think we’re going through some sort of reverse cycle in the world.

I was talking to a highschool teacher yesterday who was roughly the same age as me and we were talking about Gen Z’s and they’re weirdness with applying for jobs and the “needs” they have within the job before they start.  

I won’t bore you with the particulars but it got me thinking of the younger Gen Alpha and how they don’t seem to have this same sense of entitlement. If anything, they kinda seem like the millennial generation but waaaaaaaaay more connected via technology - if that’s even possible.

The point is, there’s still hope.

While you’re wondering what’s wrong with these people as you see social posts about 20 something’s doing what 20 something’s do, right around the corner is this other generation that just seems much more grounded and less crazy.

And lowkey, it feels like there’s this glimmer of a shift taking place with our world - people making it a point to touch grass again.

Many issues ago (where does the time even go) I covered dumb phones and I said something along the lines of, stay tuned for more. Well here is your more:

This week in Japan, Sega announced the Emojam, a “dumb pager” that only allows you to send emojis to people. The device works over wifi and for you to be able to page with someone, you have to physically connect the device to their device to start.

The device is only available in Japan at the moment, so all you people going to Japan like it’s going out of style, please pick one up for me - they’re just over ¥7000.

The dumb movement is a real thing and I for one hope it continues. Give me an AI powered pin or something to feed me info from apps and for the rest just lemme use a dumb phone or communicate to people through expressions - who needs words these days anyway?

…as you read this weekly newsletter…

This week's issue is a 3 minute read:

🥊 Fights galore

🛻 Cybertruck woes

👵 AI granny vs scammers

A Fight Fan’s Dream Weekend

If you have Netflix (honestly just use someone’s password if you don’t - password sharing still works) today you get to watch Mike Tyson come back to the ring one final time to fight none other than….Jake Paul.

For those of you who have no clue who Jake Paul is, firstly, I want to congratulate you. You’re one step closer to living in the dumb movement (see above).

Secondly, he’s a YouTuber turned boxer who has made a name for himself boxing either fighters who have recognizable names but are well past their prime or social media stars with large followings. In either scenario, he’s able to promote a fight that makes him millions of dollars so you can’t knock the hustle.

Meanwhile, you all know who Mike Tyson is.

To put things in perspective, when Jake Paul was born in 1997, Mike Tyson was a 30 year old champion with a record of 45-2, 39 KO’s.

SO it’s obvious this fight is strictly for the money. However, what’s really crazy to me is how much coverage ESPN is giving this fight.

If you’ve watched Jake Paul’s fights in the past then you already know to set your expectations really low on it being anything close to entertaining.

But it’s Mike Tyson so how can you not pay attention?

ALSO…

The Baddest Man on the Planet, Jon Jones, fights Saturday night after making us wait well over a year to see him defend the heavyweight belt in the UFC.

To be honest, if you were to ask me which fight you should watch, it’s both. But if you were to ask me which fight will actually be enjoyable to watch, it’s always going to be Jon Jones.

So You Want a Cybertruck…

Nothing’s worse than getting a new car and then having to deal with a recall within months or even weeks of owning it.

Oh wait, actually, getting 6 recalls in a year is pretty worse.

This week Tesla issued a recall for faulty metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors or MOSFET…say that 5 times fast…bringing the grand total of recalls for someone who received a Cybertruck basically when they first came out to 6.

Within this particular recall, basically the MOSFET screws up, loses torque, and the car stops accelerating out of nowhere, although drivers receive a notification on screen to pull over - so there’s that.

Honestly though, for such a hyped car that starts at $138K CAD, to have this many recalls in a short period of time is enough to want to trade it in, at least in my opinion.

I had a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee and within a couple weeks the seat belt ding dong wouldn’t stop even when my seatbelt was clicked in - you can only imagine how annoying it is to be driving and all you hear is DING…DING…DING. That car went immediately from being something I really really wanted to me not ever wanting to purchase a North American car ever again.

So I hope you love your Cybertruck enough to keep dealing with recalls.

Just Get AI Grandma to Talk to Them

I will admit, I pick up quite frequently when I know a scammer is calling. It’s like this fun little game I play with them to see how long it takes before they realize that I already know they’re trying to scam me.

They always say they’re from one of two major telecom’s in Canada: Bell or Rogers, and each time they say this, I say that I’m already a customer and that they should have my information already. BuT nO sIr, I aM fRoM tHe PrOmOtIoNs DePaRtMeNt, which means they don’t actually have my information.

“So how do you have my telephone number then?”

“I have a list”

“Where did the list come from”

“We are just given a list to call people”

“Okay so you should already have my information then”

…and then the conversation goes in circles for another 10 seconds before they just hang up on me.

If you’re in the UK, you soon may not even have to worry about picking up the phone to talk to a scammer. O2 created an AI powered agent to field any and all calls you direct it to. Right now they’re testing it on phone numbers more susceptible to scam calls.

A phone call comes in and then it proceeds to have the conversation with the scammer, while shielding you from the nonsense.

The goal of the AI agent is to keep the scammers on the phone for as long as possible limiting them from being able to call someone else in the meantime. In some cases the AI was able to keep the scammer on the phone for 40 minutes. I mean, I know these scammers are dumb but how do you not know you’re talking to an AI generated voice after 5-10 minutes, let alone 40??

We all could use an AI powered Granny alter ego 😉