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The Bastl Kalimba is a wild synth that thinks it’s a thumb piano

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The Bastl Kalimba is a wild synth that thinks it’s a thumb piano

Make no mistake, the Bastl Kalimba is a synthesizer, you just play it like a kalimba. Its tines don’t really make much sound. There is an internal mic that you can blend in for a little acoustic spice, but it’s mostly driven by the synth engine that combines physical modeling and FM. The tines are actually touch and velocity-sensitive triggers. And, while it can sound somewhat like a real kalimba, it’s a lot more sonically versatile and offers features you can only find on a synth.

Beyond the synth sounds that range from pluck to pads, there are also built-in effects covering basic spatial effects like delay and reverb, as well as distortion, bit crushing, and even tape emulation. There’s also a multi-mode high- and low-pass filter, a simple arpeggiator.

More interesting, though, are the looper and touch points that add unique effects. The looper has time-stretching features, can be reversed, and rerecorded through the effects for destructive processing. A series of touchpads on the front enable note glides and alter the timbre using effects that Bastl calls Soil and Wind. Those effects unlock the Kalimba’s accelerometer for further timbral manipulation. There are also two programmable touch points on the top that can be assigned to almost any parameter, from simple pitch bends to the size of the reverb.

Bastl is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for the first batch of Kalimbas. Normally, this is where you get the caveats about crowdfunded products. But Bastl Instruments is a well-established company with a long track record of delivering oddball music gear at scale. The company called it “one of the most challenging” products it has ever created, and it spent more than three years in development, so it’s possible that Bastl is gauging interest before committing to mass production. We’ve reached out to Bastl for comment and will update if we hear back.

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Drone delivers 2 pizzas in minutes

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Drone delivers 2 pizzas in minutes

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Want two large pizzas and drinks at your door in just over four minutes? That is now possible, as long as you live in the right place.

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Flytrex has partnered with Little Caesars to roll out a new kind of delivery. Instead of a driver, your order arrives by drone, still hot and fresh from the oven.

There is one catch. The service is currently live in Wylie, Texas. If you are not there, you will have to wait a bit longer. Still, this gives a clear look at where food delivery is heading.

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ROBOTS ARE TAKING OVER UBER EATS DELIVERIES. IS YOUR CITY NEXT?

A Flytrex drone carries a Little Caesars order through the air, showing how pizza can now be delivered straight from the sky. (Flytrex)

How Flytrex drone delivery works step by step

The process feels familiar at first, then quickly shifts into something very different. You open the Flytrex app and check if your home falls within the four-mile delivery zone. If it does, you build your order just like you normally would, choosing up to two large 16-inch pizzas along with sides and drinks, as long as everything stays under the 8.8-pound limit.

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Once you place the order, it goes straight into Little Caesars’ system. This is the first time a drone delivery platform connects directly to a restaurant’s point of sale, which speeds things up behind the scenes. The store prepares your food as usual. Instead of handing it to a driver, the order is picked up outside through what Flytrex calls remote pickup. The drone collects it curbside and takes off.

From there, everything is automated. The drone flies to your home, usually in about four and a half minutes. When it arrives, it hovers above your yard and lowers the food down on a wire. There is no landing and no face-to-face handoff.

Sky2 drone features that make pizza delivery possible

The system works because of the new Sky2 drone, which was designed to handle full meals instead of small packages. It can carry a full family-sized order in one trip, including two large pizzas, sides and drinks. That alone sets it apart from earlier delivery drones that could only handle lighter orders.

The drone uses an octocopter design with eight motors, which gives it redundancy in flight. If one motor has an issue, the others can keep it stable. It also runs on a dual battery system for added reliability.

Navigation relies on satellite positioning with real-time corrections, allowing it to move with a high level of precision. Its onboard AI continuously monitors the flight to keep everything running safely from takeoff to delivery. The range is designed to cover nearby suburban neighborhoods, which helps keep delivery times fast and food fresh.

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DELIVERY ROBOT AUTONOMOUSLY LIFTS, TRANSPORTS HEAVY CARGO

A Little Caesars order is secured for drone pickup, replacing the need for a traditional delivery driver. (Flytrex)

Why faster pizza delivery could change habits

Speed is what makes this stand out. A delivery that takes just minutes changes how people think about ordering food.

For anyone who prefers picking up pizza to keep it hot, this starts to remove that tradeoff. You can get the same freshness without leaving your house. That alone could push more people to order in rather than drive.

It also removes traffic delays and long delivery routes. The drone flies directly from the restaurant to your home, which cuts out many of the usual slowdowns.

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“Flytrex is laser-focused on making on-demand food delivery by drone a reality for everyday families,” Amit Regev said. “A big part of advancing this market is making sure people can get the food they actually want, when they want it. Until now, drones simply weren’t capable of delivering a full family meal. The Sky2 changes that.”

ALEXA+ LETS YOU ORDER FOOD LIKE A REAL CONVERSATION

The drone travels across a suburban neighborhood, covering short distances in just minutes to keep food hot. (Flytrex)

Where drone food delivery is available now

Right now, this service is limited. Wylie, Texas, is the first place where you can order two full pizzas by drone through this partnership.

That said, Flytrex isn’t starting from scratch. The company has already completed more than 200,000 deliveries across the United States, including ongoing operations in North Carolina, where residents place more than 1,000 orders each month.

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Drone delivery is also expanding in other parts of the world and in select U.S. markets. Companies like Wing, Amazon, GrubHub and Manna, and Manna are all pushing into new areas, which suggests this will not stay limited for long.

The delivery is lowered safely to the ground by wire, completing the drop-off without the drone ever landing. (Flytrex)

What this means for you

Even if this isn’t available where you live yet, it is moving in that direction.  Faster delivery could become the new expectation, especially for short distances. Food may arrive hotter and more consistently since it avoids traffic and long wait times.

Ordering could also feel easier as systems connect directly with restaurants, reducing delays between checkout and preparation. At the same time, you may start to notice more drones overhead. That raises questions about noise, safety and how often these flights will happen in residential areas.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

Drone delivery has been discussed for years, yet this feels like a turning point. The ability to deliver a full meal removes one of the biggest barriers that held the idea back. This rollout shows how quickly things can shift once the technology matches everyday needs. It may not be in your neighborhood yet, though the pace of expansion suggests it will not stay that way for long. Little Caesars’ VP of innovation, Trish Heusel, summed it up this way. “Partnering with Flytrex to bring full family meals by drone delivery is a major leap forward and a clear example of how we’re pushing the boundaries of convenience, speed and accessibility in our category.” For now, the future depends on where you live.

Would you order pizza more often if it showed up hot at your door in under five minutes without a driver? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.

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Ashnymph’s Childhood EP is an exhilarating dance goth debut.

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Ashnymph’s Childhood EP is an exhilarating dance goth debut.

I’ve got to thank my oldest friend and concert buddy, Tim, for turning me on to this one. Ashnymph is a London band that blends post-punk melodies with Krautrock rhythms and industrial grime. Their debut EP, Childhood, drifts between dreamy vocals buried in layers of reverb and four-on-the-floor dancefloor pounding. It’s a thrilling opening salvo from a band that feels on the cusp of a major breakthrough.

Childhood opens with an ambient recording of someone walking down a hall (I think), and some swirling synth noise before the first song, “Island in the Sky” kicks off properly with a motorik beat and bass throb. The thin, digitally manipulated vocals and robotic groove punctuated with bursts of noise, but the big chords of the chorus bring to mind Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s “Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll.”

“Saltspreader,” the band’s first single, is next. It launches with a deep metallic grind splattered by clanking percussion and drum hits, before a soft synth arpeggio brings some melody to the party. In the back half, there are deeply chorused vocals that ooze ‘80s goth, driving guitar, and a disco stomp. Despite its slow build, it’s clear why the band chose this as their first single. It’s dark, dancey, and an absolute earworm.

“After Glow” leans even further into ‘80 fetishism, recalling Depeche Mode and early Ministry, before Al Jourgensen discovered guitars. “47” marries industrial beats with chipmunk vocals and off-kilter guitars in the vein of No Wave acts like Swans. But the last-minute switch to a half-time groove removes the more abrasive layers, letting the beauty of the guitar melody shine through while ethereal vocals float over the top.

The last track, “Mr. Invisible,” is possibly the most experimental of the bunch. It’s more explicitly electronic than the rest, relying on heavily manipulated samples, indecipherable vocals, and a relentless bass thump for the first chunk. Eventually, clearer vocal melodies and circular guitar lines play off the polyrhythmic synths. The whole thing is disorienting, dizzying, and exhilarating. It ends somewhat abruptly on a lopsided guitar groove and an echoed vocal, leaving me wanting more. So much more.

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Why last year’s breach is this year’s identity fraud

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Why last year’s breach is this year’s identity fraud

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Identity fraud is rising in the United States, but the timing does not always line up with the breach behind it. Consumers lost $27.3 billion to traditional identity fraud in 2025, according to Javelin Strategy & Research’s 2026 Identity Fraud Study. That followed a sharp 19% jump in 2024, when losses reached $27.2 billion.

FTC identity theft reports also climbed in 2025. Reports through the first nine months of the year had already topped the full-year total for 2024. The FTC received more than 1.1 million identity theft reports in 2024, according to the agency’s Consumer Sentinel data.

The problem is that breach notices are becoming a regular part of life, even though the risks can last long after the notice arrives. The Identity Theft Resource Center logged a record 3,322 U.S. data compromises in 2025. In a separate consumer survey, the ITRC found that 80% of consumers received at least one breach notice in the previous 12 months. Among those consumers, 88% experienced at least one negative consequence afterward, including account takeover attempts.

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5 MYTHS ABOUT IDENTITY THEFT THAT PUT YOUR DATA AT RISK

Data from old breaches can resurface months or even years later, giving criminals new ways to target consumers. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

 

Why old breach data can turn into new fraud

Stolen identity records often take time to turn into fraud. After a major breach, the data can move through criminal markets in stages. It may be sold to brokers, combined with information from earlier leaks and resold to fraud rings that build more complete identity profiles.

That means a Social Security number stolen in 2024 may not be used to open a fraudulent credit line or file a fake tax return until 2026 or later. By then, the free credit monitoring offered after the breach may have expired. The breach itself may also be long gone from the headlines.

Major breaches that could fuel future identity fraud

UnitedHealth confirmed in January 2025 that about 190 million people were affected by the Change Healthcare breach. The incident exposed personal and health information, making it the largest known healthcare data breach in U.S. history. Affected consumers were offered two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection. The enrollment deadline was Aug. 26, 2025.

National Public Data, a background-check broker, was tied to a massive breach in 2024. Up to 2.9 billion records were reportedly exposed, though not all were unique or verified. The exposed information reportedly included Social Security numbers, addresses and relatives’ information.

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AT&T disclosed in July 2024 that hackers stole call and text records tied to about 109 million customer accounts. The stolen data included details about calls and texts, such as the numbers contacted and the timing of those communications, but not the content of the calls or messages. The incident involved data stored on a third-party cloud platform and was part of a wider Snowflake-linked campaign that also affected other companies.

HOSPICE FRAUD USES STOLEN IDENTITIES FOR FAKE PATIENTS

Stolen personal information can be combined with other leaked records to create more complete identity profiles. (Kury “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

What thieves do with stolen identity data

Stolen identity data can feed several types of fraud. Some of these scams take months or years to show up on a credit report, tax filing or insurance record.

Synthetic identity fraud

Criminals combine a real Social Security number with a fake name and date of birth. They use that profile to open new credit lines, build trust and drain the accounts later.

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Tax refund fraud

Thieves use stolen Social Security numbers to file fake tax returns in someone else’s name. Victims often find out only when their real return gets rejected.

Medical identity theft

Criminals use stolen personal or health insurance information to submit insurance claims for care the victim never received. Some victims do not notice until they get a bill, hit an insurance limit or see a collections notice.

New-account fraud

Thieves open credit cards, auto loans or utility accounts using stolen identities. Victims may discover it only after checking their credit report.

Account takeover

Criminals use stolen usernames and passwords to break into your existing email, shopping, banking or financial accounts. They often use automated tools to test that same login information across multiple websites.

WHY A CREDIT FREEZE ISN’T THE END OF IDENTITY THEFT

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Ongoing monitoring can help catch suspicious activity after free breach protection ends. (Kury “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Why one-time protection isn’t enough

After a breach, you are often told to freeze your credit, accept the free monitoring offer and watch your statements. Each step can help, but each one has limits. Free credit monitoring offered after a breach usually lasts one or two years. That can expire around the time stolen data starts to show up in new fraud attempts.

A credit freeze can block new accounts from being opened in your name. However, it will not stop every type of fraud. It does not prevent someone from filing a fake tax return with your Social Security number. It also does not stop fraudulent medical bills or takeover attempts on your existing accounts.

One-time dark web scans have limits, too. They show where your data appears at one point in time. They don’t tell you where it may show up next. Once a Social Security number is in criminal markets, it can keep circulating.

Steps to protect yourself after a breach

If your information was exposed in a breach, these steps can help you lower your risk and catch suspicious activity sooner.

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1) Freeze your credit

A credit freeze can help stop criminals from opening new credit cards, loans or other accounts in your name. You need to place a freeze with each of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can temporarily lift the freeze when you need to apply for credit.

2) Change reused passwords

If you used the same password on more than one account, change it right away. Criminals often test stolen usernames and passwords across many websites. A password manager can help you create strong, unique passwords for every account.

3) Turn on multifactor authentication

4) Watch your financial and medical accounts

Review bank statements, credit card charges, insurance claims and explanation of benefits statements. Look for accounts, charges, claims or services you do not recognize. Medical identity theft can be easy to miss until a bill or collections notice arrives.

5) Check your credit reports

Review your credit reports for new accounts or hard inquiries you do not recognize. You can check your reports for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. If you spot something suspicious, report it quickly and follow the dispute process with the credit bureau.

What to do after free monitoring expires

Paid identity theft protection services monitor your personal data on an ongoing basis. The goal is to shorten the time between when stolen data gets used and when you notice something is wrong.

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Look for a service that monitors all three major credit bureaus, scans the dark web and alerts you to suspicious changes tied to your identity. Some services also monitor data broker sites, identity verification activity, home title records and financial accounts.

Three-bureau credit alerts can help catch new-account fraud. Dark web and data broker monitoring can help spot repackaged records. Account-change alerts can help flag takeover attempts. No service can undo the original breach, but ongoing monitoring can give you a better chance of catching suspicious activity early.

See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at CyberGuy.com.

Kurt’s key takeaways

A breach notice can feel like yesterday’s problem once the headlines fade and the free monitoring runs out. But stolen personal data does not expire. Criminals can hold onto it, mix it with other leaked records and use it long after you have stopped thinking about the original breach. That is why identity protection needs to last longer than the breach notice. Freezing your credit, using strong passwords, turning on multifactor authentication and watching your accounts all help. But identity fraud is often a long game. The sooner you spot suspicious activity, the faster you can act before the damage spreads.

Should companies have to provide identity protection for as long as stolen data can be used against you? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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