top of page
AI Is Bringing Back the Dead, And We Need to Talk About It
This is what grief actually looks like. Not an algorithm. Not a chatbot. Not a subscription service. This. And that distinction matters more than the tech industry would like you to think. I've been sitting with this one for a while. That's not something I usually say. Most of what I write about, I feel clear on. Scams make me angry. Privacy violations make me frustrated. Bad tech policy makes me want to write to my MP. The emotion is usually straightforward. This one is diff
Michael Routhier
Featured Post
IMF Warns AI Could Hit Your Bank - What It Means for You
The IMF just said something that I think deserves more attention than it's getting. Last week, the International Monetary Fund, the organization that monitors the health of the global financial system, published a warning. Not a speculative one. Not a "this could theoretically happen someday" kind of statement. They used the word inevitable. AI-powered cyberattacks on the global banking system, they said, will happen. The only question is how bad the damage is when they do. I
Michael Routhier
5 hours ago5 min read
Rogers Free iPad Scam: How Canadians Lost $2,300
They called it a free iPad. It cost her $2,300. I want to tell you about two real women, both Canadians, both targeted by the same scam, both left holding a bill for a device they never actually wanted. And I want to tell you about the company that, when they found out what happened, offered a $50 credit and said essentially; not our problem. This is one of the most sophisticated scams currently targeting Canadians. And the reason it works so well is the same reason it's so h
Michael Routhier
1 day ago5 min read
Samsung Galaxy Watch Fainting Prediction - What It Means for You
Your smartwatch just got a whole lot more interesting. Samsung has announced the results of a clinical study showing that the Galaxy Watch can predict fainting up to five minutes before it happens, with 84.6% accuracy. This is a world first. And if you're an adult over 55 who wears a smartwatch, or who has been thinking about getting one, this is worth knowing about. Let me break down what the study actually found, what it doesn't mean yet, and what you can do right now with
Michael Routhier
2 days ago4 min read
How to Report a Scam in Canada - 2026 Complete Guide
You got the call. Now what? Whether it was a fake CRA agent, a Canada Post text, or something that just felt wrong, this post walks you through exactly where to report it and what to do next. Canadians lost over $638 million to fraud in 2024. That's the number the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre officially recorded. And here's the part that should make your jaw drop: that's only what got reported. Most people who get scammed never report it at all. Not because they don't want to.
Michael Routhier
5 days ago8 min read
Apple's $250M Siri Settlement: Here's How to Claim Your Money Before the Deadline
You bought the phone. You trusted the advertising. Turns out the features Apple was selling you weren't ready yet. A court agreed and now there may be money owed to you. Let me tell you something that doesn't happen very often. A trillion-dollar company got caught. Admitted it. And now has to pay. Apple has agreed to a $250 million settlement over a class action lawsuit that accused the company of advertising AI-powered Siri features that, and this is the important part, didn
Michael Routhier
6 days ago4 min read
AI Is Bringing Back the Dead, And We Need to Talk About It
This is what grief actually looks like. Not an algorithm. Not a chatbot. Not a subscription service. This. And that distinction matters more than the tech industry would like you to think. I've been sitting with this one for a while. That's not something I usually say. Most of what I write about, I feel clear on. Scams make me angry. Privacy violations make me frustrated. Bad tech policy makes me want to write to my MP. The emotion is usually straightforward. This one is diff
Michael Routhier
May 57 min read
SIM Swap Scam: How Fraudsters Hijack Your Phone Number
That tiny chip is your phone number. Your bank verification codes. Your two-factor authentication. Your digital identity. And right now, scammers have figured out how to take it, without ever touching your phone. Let me ask you something. When was the last time you thought about your phone number as something that could be stolen? Not your phone. The number itself. The ten digits your bank uses to verify it's really you. The number your two-factor authentication texts go to.
Michael Routhier
May 48 min read
WhatsApp May 2026: What to Turn Off Before It Changes
If this app is on your phone, and for millions of Canadians over 55, it is, something is changing next month. Meta AI is being built into your WhatsApp whether you asked for it or not. Here's what to do about it. If you use WhatsApp, and if you're over 55, there's a good chance you do, and I need you to read this one carefully. Something is changing next month. Not a minor update. Not a new emoji pack. Something that affects what Meta can do with your conversations, your acti
Michael Routhier
May 15 min read
Transcript: Episode 11 - The Tech That Actually Matters, And What Nobody Bothered to Tell You (Part 1 of 2)
Hey, welcome back to Tech 4 Grown-Ups. Today we're starting something a little different, a two-part series. And I want to start with something that genuinely bothers me. So what I want you to do right now is go to Google, go to Google right now and type in elderly tech. Go ahead, I'll wait. Here's what you get when you type that in. And the results are phones with four giant buttons, devices with names that sound like they belong in a hospital ward, tablets designed to look
Michael Routhier
Apr 305 min read
$2.1 Billion Lost to Social Media Scams: Facebook #1
Three days ago, the FTC dropped a report. The FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, the US government's consumer protection agency, publishes data on fraud losses every year. I read every one. And this year's numbers stopped me cold. In 2025, Americans lost $2.1 billion to scams that started on social media. Not email. Not phone calls. Not text messages. Social media. And of all the platforms scammers used to reach their victims, Facebook was number one. By a wide margin. In fac
Michael Routhier
Apr 296 min read
SMS Blasters: The Text Scam That Can Actually Kill You
I'm going to be honest with you today. I'm a little angry writing this one. Not frustrated. Not mildly concerned. Actually angry. Because what I'm about to describe isn't just another scam designed to steal your money or your identity. It's something that can get people killed. And the people doing it are smart enough to know that. Let's talk about SMS blasters. What Is an SMS Blaster? An SMS blaster is a portable device, in some cases, not much larger than a backpack, that e
Michael Routhier
Apr 296 min read
Transcript: Episode 10 - SMS Blasters: The Text Scam That Doesn't Just Steal From You, It Can Get People Killed
I'm going to be honest with you today, I'm a little angry talking about this one. Not frustrated, not mildly concerned, I'm actually angry. Because what I'm about to describe isn't just another scam designed to steal your money or your identity. It's something that can get people killed. And the people doing it are smart enough to know that. Let's talk about SMS blasters. An SMS blaster is a portable device. In some cases, it's not much larger than a backpack. And it mimics a
Michael Routhier
Apr 296 min read
AI Tools for Seniors - What They Can and Can't Do
This is the right energy. Not intimidated. Not impressed. Just thinking carefully, which, it turns out, is the most powerful thing you can do with AI. Let me be honest with you before this post even gets going. Every week I get emails, comments, and messages from people in this community asking some version of the same question: "Michael, should I be using AI? Is it as amazing as everyone keeps saying?" And every week I give the same answer. It depends entirely on who's doing
Michael Routhier
Apr 286 min read
Transcript: Episode 9 - How to Help Your Aging Parents Stay Safe Online - Without It Turning Into a Fight
Hey, welcome back to Tech 4 Grown-Ups. I'm Michael. Today, I want to talk about something a little different. Most of the time on this show, I'm talking directly to you, the person who wants to feel more confident, more safe, more in control of their digital life, and we're going to keep doing that. But today, I want to talk to the other half of this community. That's the adult children, the sons and daughters and grandchildren who are watching a parent or a grandparent navig
Michael Routhier
Apr 287 min read
How to Stop Spam Calls on iPhone and Android for Good
That expression. You know it. You've made it. The call you didn't ask for, from the number you don't recognize, saying something just urgent enough to make your heart rate tick up. We're going to make sure that stops. My phone rang last Tuesday at 9:15 in the morning. Unknown number. Toronto area code. I picked up and heard that unmistakable half-second pause before a recorded voice launched into something about my vehicle warranty expiring. Are you kidding me? If you're nodd
Michael Routhier
Apr 275 min read
75,000 Fake Songs a Day - And Nobody's Stopping It
One hand spent a lifetime developing something real. The other generated 75,000 imitations overnight. Only one of them moved you. A few weeks ago, Deezer, one of the major music streaming platforms, published a report. Buried in it was a number I haven't been able to stop thinking about. 44% of all new music being uploaded to their platform is AI-generated. Not 4%. Not some niche corner of the internet where tech people run experiments. Forty-four percent of all new music on
Michael Routhier
Apr 245 min read
Transcript: Episode 8 - 75,000 Fake Songs a Day, And Nobody's Stopping It
Hey, welcome back to Tech 4 Grown-Ups. I'm Michael, and today I want to talk about music, not in a nostalgic way, not in a things were better back in my day conversation, although honestly, by the time we're done today, you might feel that way a little bit. I want to talk about what's happening right now on the streaming platforms you probably use every single day. Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and I want to talk about what it reveals about us, about creativity, about what we
Michael Routhier
Apr 227 min read
How to Report a Scam or Fraud in Canada (2026 Complete Guide)
It's not a word anyone wants to spell. But knowing what to do next makes all the difference. One of our members reached out to me last week. She's 71, lives outside of Ottawa, sharp as a tack. Got a phone call from someone claiming to be from the CRA, Canada Revenue Agency, telling her she owed back taxes and would be arrested within the hour if she didn't pay immediately by gift card. She didn't fall for it. But she was shaken. And she asked me a question I hear all the time
Michael Routhier
Apr 226 min read
Elderly Tech: The Honest Guide Nobody Bothered to Write
Two people. One laptop. Zero confusion. This is what technology actually looks like when someone takes the time to explain it properly, and when people feel confident enough to lean in. Photo: Pexels / SHVETS Production Can I tell you something that bothers me? Type the words "elderly tech" into Google and here's what you get. Simplified phones with enormous buttons. Devices with names that sound like medical equipment. Products designed to look as much like a Fisher-Price t
Michael Routhier
Apr 217 min read
AI Claims It Has Taste Now. Here's Why That's Telling.
Decades of failure, refinement, and devotion; all held in one hand. No algorithm has ever known what this feels like. That's the whole argument. Last week, one of the most powerful AI companies in the world made an announcement that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI model, released their newest version and claimed it had developed something called taste . Not intelligence. Not speed. Not accuracy. Taste. The ability to loo
Michael Routhier
Apr 206 min read
bottom of page