Filling your home with smart gadgets comes with plenty of risks — your TV might watch you, an angry partner or roommate might spy on you, or they might rob you of mental acuity, for example. These are big, scary threats that you probably think about, then forget about, every [Keep reading]
(NOTE: Before going on, I want to thank all of you for the kindness you’ve expressed after the passing of my trusty journalism sidekick, Rusty I’ve been pretty distracted the past couple of weeks, so thanks for your patience. I’m back in the saddle now. PS: We raised $1,700 for [Keep reading]
I lost my managing editor, Rusty, this week when he got promoted. Best boss I ever had. Let’s be clear, he was a very involved manager. I didn’t book a lunch, take a story assignment, go to bed, or even walk across the apartment without consulting him first. He had [Keep reading]
More than a decade ago, I started writing a column on everyday consumer frustrations called The Red Tape Chronicles — my mailbag overflowed with rage. Piled high in my inbox every day were missives about mysterious late fees, overcharges, surprise interest rate hikes, and really all manner of sleazy, sneaky [Keep reading]
“You can’t understand it, but it’ll make you money” is the oldest line in the financial industry charlatan’s handbook. That’s bad enough. But add technology mumbo jumbo to the conversation and you’ve got a recipe for obfuscation and consumer harm — you’ve got “FinTech” — well, you’ve got cryptocurrency. That [Keep reading]
North Carolina recently joined a growing list of states – more than 20 now — that have banned social media app TikTok from government-issued devices. Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order after two state legislators threatened to pass a law enacting such a ban. Duke University professor Ken Rogerson, [Keep reading]
“We have said so many times, if we’d only known, if we’d only known, if we’d only known. Then countless lives could have been saved.” — Loren Adair, whose mom was killed by Billy Chemirmir Today, I’m letting you know that the final episode of our four-part series on serial [Keep reading]
“Mother had gone to lunch that week with her friends and she said…I may need to move. These people are dying around me. I didn’t realize it was not a joke.” Dozens of older Americans were murdered — in the end, the victims might really number into the hundreds — [Keep reading]
No one knows when an investment bubble will burst, but in retrospect, there’s often a single event that comes to symbolize the beginning of the end — as the Lehman Brothers implosion is now forever intertwined with the collapse of the housing bubble and the Great Recession. It’s understandable that [Keep reading]
Dianna Tannery: “I was more… horrified just knowing that… that she didn’t die peacefully in her sleep. That her last few minutes was struggling and trying to breathe. So I think about that every night.” Loren Adair: “My brother and I both started having nightmares. I would have visions of [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan