Anthropic just released Claude Fable 5, calling it the most powerful AI model it has ever made widely available and praising its skills in biology, among others. But the model won’t answer basic biology questions — the kind you’d expect a high schooler to handle. Instead, it hands off the query to the former flagship model, Claude Opus 4.8.
Technology
Simple steps to build your own website: A beginner’s guide
Remember when you were young and dreamed of opening up that store one day or starting that business? For many retirees, there is no time like the present. Many retired people still like to keep themselves active and busy, and what better way to do that than realizing a passion you’ve always had? For some people, this may seem like a daunting task, but the internet has made it much easier to open up shop from the comfort of your home. And the start-up costs are also much more affordable than doing it the brick-and-mortar way.
Still, opening a store online, whether you’d describe yourself as tech-savvy or not, can be challenging if you don’t know the correct steps to take. The good news is that today, we’re going to walk you through it all in this beginner’s guide to building an online presence and finally pursuing that post-retirement passion project (that could also earn you some bucks).
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A woman doing yoga on her laptop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
1) Choose your passion project
Deciding what to sell is the first step in setting up an online store. Perhaps you’ve already known the answer to this for a long time, and that’s what inspired the store in the first place. But if you’re not quite sure, consider your expertise, interests and what’s in demand in the market.
For retirees, it’s often beneficial to choose products or services that align with your passions or past experiences, as it’s not just something you’re interested in but, by now, you’re likely already an expert in it, too. And, being an expert in your niche will help you establish yourself as a trusted authority in the industry, which is something that potential customers look for.
And, it’s not just products you can sell; you can also sell services like coaching or consulting or even create a blog that can be monetized. The options are endless, but it’s important to have some direction before you get started.
Get my picks for the best website builders to easily set up.
A woman working on her laptop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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2) Identify your target audience
Knowing what you want to sell is one thing, but knowing who to sell it to is another. Understanding who your potential customers are is essential for effective marketing and product development. Therefore, take some time to research and understand your target demographic. Consider factors such as age, gender, location, interests and purchasing behavior. A good idea is to start off in your own community.
If you know anyone who would be interested, talk to them and see who they can connect you with. You can even create a research survey to get feedback on your audience and what they are looking for. In fact, some people do this step first if they are not sure what to sell but are certain they want to start an online store.
Get my picks for the best website builders to easily set up.
A couple conversing and looking at their tablet (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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3) Ideas for online stores and businesses you can create
When it comes to doing your passion project online, the options are endless. But if you’re not sure, there are various types of online stores you can establish to cater to diverse needs and preferences. Start with an idea that you are passionate about. Below are some examples:
E-commerce store: This is the most common type of online store, where you can sell physical products ranging from clothing and electronics to groceries and furniture.
Digital products store: If you specialize in creating digital goods such as e-books, software, music or online courses, you can set up a digital products store to distribute your creations.
Subscription box service: Subscription-based businesses are gaining popularity, offering curated boxes of products delivered to customers’ doorstep on a recurring basis. Examples include beauty boxes, snack boxes and pet subscription services.
Marketplace platform: Instead of selling your own products, you can create a marketplace platform where multiple vendors can list and sell their items. Etsy and eBay are prime examples of successful marketplace platforms.
Service-based store: Beyond physical and digital products, you can offer various services through an online store, such as consulting, tutoring, freelance services or event planning.
Dropshipping store: With dropshipping, you can sell products without holding inventory. When a customer makes a purchase, the order is fulfilled by a third-party supplier who ships the product directly to the customer.
Print-on-demand store: This model allows you to sell custom-designed merchandise, such as T-shirts, mugs and phone cases, without the need for inventory. Products are created and shipped on demand.
Membership-based store: Create a store where customers pay a membership fee to access exclusive products, discounts or content. This model fosters customer loyalty and recurring revenue.
Blog: Combine content creation with e-commerce by creating a blog where you share valuable information or insights related to your niche, such as health and exercise, and integrate it with an online store to sell related products or services.
Get my picks for the best website builders to easily set up.
A group of people exercising (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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4) Choose a website builder
Selecting the right website builder is crucial if you are looking to set up an online store. A good website builder should have a user-friendly interface and customizable templates, making it accessible even to those who aren’t tech-savvy. Look for a platform that requires no coding knowledge and offers a variety of professionally designed templates that can be easily customized to create a unique and visually appealing website for your online store.
Additionally, the website builder should offer built-in e-commerce features, making it easy to manage inventory, process payments and track orders all in one place. Before you start building your online store, you’ll need to select a plan that best suits your needs and budget. Many website builders offer a range of plans, from free options with basic features to premium plans with advanced e-commerce capabilities.
Consider factors such as storage, bandwidth and the number of products you plan to sell when choosing a plan. If you’re just starting out, you may want to start with a basic plan and upgrade as your business grows. With flexible pricing options, you can easily scale up your plan as needed to accommodate your growing online store.
Get my picks for the best website builders to easily set up.
Father and son looking at tablet (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
5) Pick a website name, domain name, hosting provider
Choosing the right name and domain for your online store is crucial as it’s the first thing customers will see and remember about your brand. Your name should be catchy, memorable and reflective of your brand identity. When selecting a domain, try to keep it simple and easy to spell to ensure that potential customers can easily find and remember your website.
You can use various domain search tools to check the availability of your desired domain name and explore different options until you find the perfect match for your online store. While some platforms offer free domains, upgrading to a premium plan often allows you to connect your own domain and remove any platform-specific branding from your URL.
Get my picks for the best website builders to easily set up.
6) Design your website for success
Now, it’s time to start designing your website. There are many platforms that offer a wide range of professionally designed templates that you can customize to create a unique and visually appealing online store. Choose a template that best fits your brand identity and industry, then use the platform’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor to customize it to your liking.
Add your logo, change colors and fonts and rearrange elements to create a website that reflects your brand personality and effectively showcases your products or services. A good tip is to start off simple; you can always add to your design as you go.
Get my picks for the best website builders to easily set up.
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7) Decide on what pages to include on your site
When building your online store, blog or business, you’ll want to have useful pages on your website. This not only helps people find your website, but once they are there, it gives them all the information they need.
Common pages for an online store include a home page, product or service pages, an “about us” page, a contact page and a blog (unless, of course, this is the focus of your site, in which case the blog page may be the home page). Generally speaking, the fewer steps it takes for someone to engage in a call to action the better.
You may also want to consider adding pages for shipping and return policies, FAQs and customer testimonials to build trust and credibility with your audience, as well as a privacy policy, disclaimer, regulatory compliance and other legal notices.
Get my picks for the best website builders to easily set up.
Illustration of various pages to use on your site (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
8) Familiarize yourself with SEO to stand out
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a buzzword that you may have heard going around. SEO is essential for driving organic traffic to your online store and improving your visibility in search engine results. You can optimize your website for search engines by adding relevant keywords to your content, optimizing your meta tags and descriptions, and improving your site’s loading speed and mobile responsiveness. Many website builders offer built-in SEO tools and guides to help you optimize your website for search engines and improve your chances of ranking higher in search results.
Get my picks for the best website builders to easily set up.
Illustration of search engine optimization on a laptop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
9) Consider email marketing
Email marketing is a powerful tool for engaging with your audience, promoting your products or services and driving sales for your online store. But it doesn’t have to be complicated. If you already have email contacts, consider reaching out to them to tell them about your project. Most people want to support their friends and family with their pursuits, even if it’s just by spreading the word.
Otherwise, in order to collect more emails, consider offering a discount or incentive in exchange for signing up for your email list to encourage visitors to subscribe, like an e-book or a downloadable such as a brochure. Then use an email marketing platform to design and send professional-looking emails that direct them to products, services or blog posts on your website.
Get my picks for the best website builders to easily set up.
A couple looking at a tablet (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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What else to consider
The above are some of the most common steps to opening an online store, but it will look different for everyone. There may be steps you skip and steps you add, and some good advice is to perhaps talk to other retirees you know who have already done it. Maybe they have some suggestions, especially if there’s anything they can share that they wish they had known before they started down that path.
When launching a website, you have a variety of choices to suit your specific needs, whether you’re seeking simplicity, customization or advanced features. Explore these top website builders to find the perfect fit for your online presence: Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, Shopify and WordPress. Learn more about these options by clicking here.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Starting an online shop or launching a website for your passion project might seem a little overwhelming, but many of these sites have wizards, resources and customer support teams that can help. Once you get started, you’ll be on your way to running your online store or project while enjoying your retirement.
Have you started an online store or blog? What was your experience? If you haven’t, is it something you would consider? Why or why not? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.
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Bluesky will be getting “communities,” which will function as smaller spaces where you can “go deeper and hang out with people who care about the same stuff” sometime this year, according to head of product Alex Benzer. They will be built on the decentralized AT Protocol that underpins Bluesky, with Benzer saying that “it’s a new structure for everyone” that’s part of the “Atmosphere” (a shorthand for the AT Protocol ecosystem).
Benzer listed out a “few ideas we have in mind so far” in a thread. “On Bluesky, you’ll be able to create communities, join them, post in them, and get updates,” Benzer says. “The core features on Bluesky stay simple. The magic comes from communities also existing on the open web. This means you can truly customize them and add features with other Atmospheric apps and tools.”
Communities will get a handle that “doubles as a URL,” and if you go to that URL, you’ll “land on a custom homepage for the community,” according to Benzer. “Builders can also host a completely custom experience there instead.” There will be three privacy levels for communities: public, invite-only, and private. And each community would have its own feed, Benzer says.
Benzer’s thread follows Bluesky COO Rose Wang saying last week that the company wanted to move away from being a “public square” and that it was “very inspired by companies like Reddit.” Meta’s Threads is currently testing a communities feature, while X announced in April that it would be shutting down its own take on communities.
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Amazon is getting ready for Prime Day, and you can bet scammers are, too. In fact, I received a fake Amazon email that looked like an account recovery warning. It claimed there was unusual activity on my account and pushed me to “Sign In to Verify.”
That kind of message can make anyone uneasy. It certainly did for me. After all, who wants to lose access to an account right before a major sale? Then came the part that really stood out: the email said I might need to upload a document to confirm my account.
That was the giveaway. A real deal can save you money. A fake Amazon email can cost you your login, your payment details and even your identity.
Here’s how this scam works, the red flags that exposed it and the steps you should take before clicking any Amazon account warning.
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A fake Amazon account recovery email is targeting shoppers ahead of Prime Day, using urgency and document requests to steal sensitive information. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fake Amazon email warning before Prime Day
The timing made this phishing email more convincing. With Prime Day coming up, many people are already watching for Amazon emails. They may be checking delivery updates, deal alerts and order confirmations. That creates the perfect opening for a fake account warning.
The email used the same tricks you see in many phishing scams. It claimed there was account trouble, used urgent language and pushed me toward a sign-in button. That is exactly what scammers want.
Screenshot of scam fake Amazon email (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
They want you to react before you inspect the message. They want you to sign in before you think through the request. And in this case, they wanted me to believe a document upload was part of a normal Amazon account check.
Amazon phishing scam red flags
This fake Amazon email had several warning signs. First, it landed in my junk folder. That alone does not prove fraud, but it should make you cautious.
Second, the subject line sounded awkward. It said, “Account Recovery: Sign-in and Verify your Amazon account.” That wording felt stiff and a little off.
Third, the greeting was generic. The email said “Dear Customer” even though it claimed to be about my Amazon account. That alone does not prove the email is fake, but it adds to the concern.
Fourth, the message created urgency. It claimed the account was on hold and that orders or subscriptions had already been canceled.
Fifth, the sender display name said “Amazon,” while the address appeared as account_update@amazon.com. That may look official at first. Still, scammers can spoof sender names or make email addresses look convincing.
Under the yellow “Sign In to Verify” button, the email also says, “Don’t share it with others.” That may sound protective, but in this context, it felt like another attempt to make the fake warning seem official.
The biggest warning sign came from the document request. The email said I would have the option to upload a document with the required information to verify the account.
That should stop you cold. Scammers may be after more than your Amazon password. They may also want your driver’s license, passport, address, phone number or payment details.
Screenshot of fake Amazon email sender address (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Why fake Amazon account emails fool shoppers
This scam works because it hits a very real fear. Most people do not want to lose access to an online shopping account. That concern grows when a big sale is about to start. If you are planning to buy something on Prime Day, an account warning can feel urgent.
The email also borrowed Amazon’s familiar look. It used the Amazon name, a logo area and a yellow sign-in button. It also included a footer that appeared to show an Amazon.com link. That can make the message feel safer than it really is.
Here is the problem. The visible link text in an email can mislead you. A link can appear to point to Amazon while sending you somewhere else. It can also pass through tracking links, redirects or look-alike pages. That is why you should avoid signing in through any account warning email.
120,000 FAKE SITES FUEL AMAZON PRIME DAY SCAMS
Scammers are impersonating Amazon with convincing account alerts designed to capture login credentials, payment details and personal documents. (Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
What happens if you click a fake Amazon link
If you click the link, you may land on a fake Amazon sign-in page. It may look close enough to fool you. Once you enter your email and password, scammers can try to access your real Amazon account. They may check your saved payment methods, shipping addresses and order history.
They may also try that same password on other websites. That becomes a bigger risk if you reuse passwords.
The document request adds another layer of danger. If a fake page asks for your ID, scammers could use that information for identity theft, account takeovers or other fraud. That is why one quick click can turn into a much bigger mess.
Ways to stay safe from fake Amazon emails
A fake Amazon email can look convincing at first, so the best move is to slow down and use these simple checks before you click, sign in or share anything.
1) Do not click the sign-in button
Skip buttons like “Sign In to Verify,” “View details” or “Restore access.” Open the Amazon app or type Amazon.com into your browser yourself.
2) Check Amazon’s Message Center
After signing in directly, go to Your Account > Message Center. If the alert is real, you should see a matching message there.
3) Watch for pressure language
Scammers often say your account is locked, your orders were canceled, or you must act right away. That pressure is designed to make you click before thinking.
4) Never upload ID through an email link
If an email asks for a passport, driver’s license or other document, stop. Contact Amazon through the app or website before sending anything.
5) Use a password manager
A password manager can help you spot fake login pages. If the page is fake, your saved Amazon password usually will not autofill. Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2026 at CyberGuy.com.
6) Turn on two-step verification
7) Use strong antivirus software
Install strong antivirus software on your computer, phone and tablet. Good security software can help detect malicious links, phishing pages, malware and other threats before they do damage. This is especially important if you clicked a suspicious link or downloaded anything from a fake email. Security software should back up your smart habits, not replace them. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at CyberGuy.com.
8) Use a data removal service
Scammers often build more convincing attacks with information they find about you online. That can include your name, address, phone number, relatives, old usernames and other personal details from people-search sites and data brokers. A data removal service can help remove your personal information from many of those sites. That makes it harder for scammers to personalize phishing emails and identity theft attempts. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting CyberGuy.com.
9) Report the suspicious email
Forward suspicious Amazon emails to reportascam@amazon.com. Then delete the message from your inbox or junk folder.
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Cybersecurity experts warn consumers to avoid clicking links in Amazon account warning emails and verify alerts directly through Amazon. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Kurt’s key takeaways
Prime Day is a great time to find real deals, but it is also a busy season for fake Amazon emails. Scammers know shoppers are checking delivery updates, watching for discounts and hoping nothing gets in the way of a good buy. That is what made this email so sneaky. It used a familiar fear at the perfect moment: losing access to your account right before a major sale. The safest move is to slow down before you click. Do not trust the button. Do not trust the sender name alone. Open the Amazon app or type Amazon.com into your browser and check your account yourself.
Have you ever received an email that looked official enough to make you click, and what finally made you stop? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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HOW TO DETECT FAKE AMAZON EMAILS AND AVOID IMPERSONATION SCAMS
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It isn’t because Fable doesn’t know the answers. It’s because Anthropic won’t let it, by design.
Fable is a public-facing, Mythos-class model, a family so capable at cybersecurity tasks Anthropic said it was too dangerous to release publicly. But while Anthropic has spent much of the extended Mythos rollout warning about cybersecurity, it is biology where Fable’s guardrails are the most obvious — and most limiting.
When I tried the model, it refused to answer a range of basic biology questions, many that felt about as far away from any plausible safety risk as any question could be. It would not respond to “tell me about cell membranes” or answer “what are mitochondria,” that famous powerhouse of the cell. It refused to explain “what is a prion,” the proteinaceous particles behind mad cow disease, or “how mRNA vaccines work.”
“We made this tradeoff so customers could benefit from the model’s capabilities sooner without the risks.”
The restrictions applied to ordinary and objectively rather harmless medical queries too. Fable would not answer “what causes hay fever,” explain how asthma medicine works, explain how antibiotic resistance arises, or tell me what Ebola is and how it spreads. Some of my basic queries occasionally got through, with Fable answering questions like “what is cancer” and “what is DNA.” When Fable refused, Opus 4.8 generally answered perfectly well.
Anthropic says the broad biology filters are an intentional choice and are deliberately conservative, with bioweapons the primary concern. “With the launch of Claude Fable 5, our first Mythos-class model, we believe models now have a greater ability to accomplish real-world scientific tasks and for malicious actors to potentially use our models for highly risky biological research,” spokesperson Paruul Maheshwary told The Verge. “We have always used classifiers to block our models from helping with bioweapons-related requests. To deploy Fable 5 safely, we believe it was necessary to be overly conservative with our safeguards so they block most queries tied to biology work.”
Anthropic has previously highlighted four key areas where it would throttle Fable’s responses for safety: chemistry, biology, cybersecurity, and distillation, a technique for training smaller AIs using the outputs of larger ones. The company has accused Chinese rivals like DeepSeek of using distillation on its models on an “industrial” scale.
While I could not meaningfully test distillation, Fable seemed more willing to answer questions about chemistry and cybersecurity. For example, it gave a basic overview of the explosive TNT, though withheld synthesis instructions “for obvious reasons.” It readily answered questions on the use of chlorine gas as a chemical weapon, common password threats, and nuclear fusion and fission, as well as explaining how to secure an iPhone from hackers. It still limits: Fable deferred to Opus when I asked it about sarin gas, a highly toxic nerve agent. Fable and Opus both refused the prompt “how to make anthrax,” and Claude paused the chat entirely. That made sense. The mitochondria prompt refusal seems like a false positive.
“We made this tradeoff so customers could benefit from the model’s capabilities sooner without the risks,” Maheshwary explained, adding that Anthropic is working hard to improve its detection and reduce the false positives. “We intend to make Mythos-class models available without these safeguards to the broader biology and life sciences community so these capabilities can be used to accelerate biomedical research and drug discovery.”
Anthropic did not answer questions about whether this kind of restricted release will become the new norm for future models.
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