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Your AirPods Can Now Identify You to Police. Yes, Really.
The device on your wrist and in your ears was never built to be a tracking beacon. Now it might be one anyway. I need you to sit with this one for a second, because when I first heard about it, I honestly had to read it twice. There is now a technology that can identify you; not your car, not your license plate, you, through the Bluetooth signal coming off your AirPods. Your Apple Watch. Your fitness tracker. The wireless devices sitting on your body right now, quietly broadc
Michael Routhier
Featured Post
Digital Safety
Your iPhone Is Watching, Even When You Tell It Not To.
Your phone knows exactly where you are. It knows how fast you're going. And it's storing all of it, even when you think you turned it off. Have you ever turned off Location Services on your iPhone; done it deliberately, felt good about it, assumed that was that, and then wondered if it actually worked? It didn't. Not completely. And I don't say that to be an alarmist. I say it because this is the conversation we should have been having years ago, and the tech industry has bee
Michael Routhier
Jul 18 min read
The Phone Scam Targeting German Bank Customers Right Now (2026)
Scammers are calling German bank customers right now. They sound real. They know your name. Here's exactly what's happening and what to do. Your phone rings. The number looks legitimate, maybe it even shows your bank's name. A calm, professional voice introduces himself. He's from Deutsche Bank. Or Sparkasse. Or DKB. There's been suspicious activity on your account. He just needs to verify a few details. It will only take a minute. Everything about the call feels real. It isn
Michael Routhier
Jun 156 min read
WhatsApp Is Under EU Investigation Again - Here's What to Do
The EU has been fighting for your data rights for years. Here's how to use the tools they've given you. If you live in Europe and you use WhatsApp, and if you're reading this, there's a very good chance you use it every single day; I need you to read this post carefully. Because what is happening with WhatsApp and the European Union right now is not a story about regulators and tech companies arguing in a Brussels conference room somewhere. It is a story about your conversati
Michael Routhier
Jun 116 min read
They Asked the AI Nicely. It Handed Over the Keys.
They didn't need a weapon. They just needed a chat window and a machine that was designed to be helpful. I want you to read this sentence very carefully. Hackers broke into high-profile Instagram accounts; including the Barack Obama White House account, the Chief Master Sergeant of the US Space Force, and global beauty brand Sephora, not by cracking a password. Not by writing sophisticated malware. Not by exploiting some buried technical vulnerability that took months to find
Michael Routhier
Jun 87 min read
The "Best Tech for Aging Parents" List Is a Lie. Here's What Nobody's Saying.
She doesn't need a "senior-friendly" version. She needs the same tools everyone else gets and someone who actually took the time to show her how to use them. Open any major publication right now and search "tech for aging parents." Go ahead. I'll wait. You'll find lists. Dozens of them. "The 10 Best Gadgets to Help Your Elderly Parent Stay Independent." "Top Smart Home Devices for Seniors in 2026." "The Tech Your Aging Mom Actually Needs." And look. Some of these products are
Michael Routhier
Jun 15 min read
UK Criminals Are Cloning Your Voice to Drain Your Bank Account: Here's How It Works
UK criminals are using AI to clone your voice and your bank can't tell the difference. I want you to stop for a second. Your voice. The one your kids recognize the moment you say hello. The one you've had your entire life. Criminals are now stealing it, in real time, and using it to empty your bank account. This isn't a sci-fi plot. This is happening right now. In the UK. To people exactly like you. It Starts With a Phone Call That Seems Completely Harmless Someone calls. The
Michael Routhier
May 285 min read
WhatsApp's New "Read and Delete" Feature Is Coming, And It's Actually a Big Deal for Your Privacy
WhatsApp is testing a new feature that deletes messages after they've been read, not just after a timer. Here's what you need to know. Okay, this is a good one. WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Meta and used by over two billion people worldwide, is quietly testing a new feature that will delete your messages automatically after the other person has read them. Not after a timer. After they've actually read it. That's a meaningful difference. And if you care about your priv
Michael Routhier
May 264 min read
Kodokushi: The Lonely Death Epidemic Nobody in the West Is Talking About
In Japan, 77,000 people died alone last year; unnoticed for days, weeks, sometimes months. The conditions that caused it are assembling here. I want to start with a word. A Japanese word. Kodokushi. It translates, roughly, to "lonely death." And it means exactly what it sounds like. A person dies, alone, in their home, and nobody notices. Not for days. Sometimes not for weeks. Sometimes not for months. In Japan last year, nearly 77,000 people died that way. 77,000. In over 7,
Michael Routhier
May 208 min read
A Reader Stopped Me Cold. Here's What He Said About Grief, AI, and the Brain Nobody Understands.
Grief is not a problem to be solved. It's something you go through. That distinction is everything. A few weeks ago I published a post about AI resurrection. About the companies building services that let you have conversations with a chatbot trained on the texts, emails, and voicemails of someone who has died. About a man in our community who lost his wife of 44 years and told me quietly, like he was admitting something he wasn't sure he should, that he was thinking about us
Michael Routhier
May 196 min read
The Great Dumbing Down: How Tech Is Making Us Weaker and Calling It Progress
One half of your brain still belongs to you. This post is about keeping it that way. Let me ask you something. When was the last time you were bored? Not "waiting for your coffee" bored. Genuinely, uncomfortably, nothing-to-do bored. No phone in your hand. No podcast in your ears. Nothing to scroll through. Just you and your own thoughts. Can you even remember? I'm not sure I can. I've been thinking about this for a long time, longer than I've been comfortable admitting, and
Michael Routhier
May 186 min read
Your Bank Just Abandoned Your Town. And They Called It Progress.
In towns across rural Ontario, the closed sign in the window isn't just inconvenient. For seniors without transportation or internet access, it's the end of a lifeline. There's a small town in Ontario called Brussels. Population just over a thousand people. About a hundred kilometres north of London. Surrounded by farmland. The kind of town where you know your neighbours and the main street has been there for generations. CIBC just closed its last branch there. Done. Gone. Th
Michael Routhier
May 155 min read
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