For more than a decade, one question has loomed over the race to build autonomous vehicles: Are cameras alone enough to safely replace human drivers, or do truly driverless cars need additional, overlapping sensors like lidar and radar to navigate the world reliably? Tesla has bet billions of dollars that artificial intelligence and cameras are sufficient. Nearly every other major autonomous vehicle developer has gone the opposite direction.
Technology
China's vast cyber trafficking network dupes Americans using fake shops
A Chinese network running countless fake online shops has scammed over 800,000 people in the U.S. and Europe, according to The Guardian.
These shops dupe people into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data by touting to offer discounted goods from Dior, Nike, Lacoste, Hugo Boss, Versace, and Prada, as well as many other premium brands.
A woman shopping online (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
How this online scam works
The Chinese network has more than 22,500 fake online shops that are live, according to an international investigation by The Guardian, Die Zeit, and Le Monde. These online shops lure people into giving away their credit card and debit card details, names, phone numbers, email and postal addresses by claiming to offer designer brands at a discount.
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There are two levels of this scam. In the first level, fake payment gateways trick people into entering their credit card information, but they don’t charge them. This lets the scammers steal card details without taking money. In the second level, the criminals set up fake online stores or other platforms where they actually take money from people.
The Chinese network uses expired domains to host its fake shops, which helps them avoid detection by websites or brand owners. The network is reported to have a database of 2.7 million of these orphaned domains and runs tests to check which ones are best to use.
To date, approximately 800,000 people, primarily in the U.S. and Europe, have shared their email addresses, with 476,000 of them also providing their debit and credit card details, including the three-digit security numbers. The first fake shops in this network were established in 2015. Since then, the group may have attempted to steal up to approximately $54.2 million.
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Man shopping online (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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What did affected people say
Many people thought these fake online shops were legit and placed orders, thinking they were getting a great deal. Melanie Brown from Shropshire, England, told The Guardian she was looking for a new handbag and found a leather bag from her favorite German designer, Rundholz, at 50% off on one of these fake online shops. Tempted by the deal, she added it to her cart, along with other designer clothes from Magnolia Pearl, totaling £1,200, which is the equivalent of approximately $1,529for 15 items. However, Brown never received the items.
The Guardian interviewed 19 people from the U.S. and the U.K., revealing these websites were not designed to sell counterfeit goods. Most received nothing, while a few got incorrect items. One German shopper paid for a blazer but got cheap sunglasses. A British customer received a fake Cartier ring instead of a shirt, and another got a non-branded blue jumper instead of the Paul Smith one they ordered.
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What does this online scam mean for your privacy and security
The fake online shop scam doesn’t immediately cause monetary harm to you. As The Guardian reports, “many who tried to shop never lost money. Either their bank blocked the payment or the fake shop itself did not process it.”
However, in all cases, these scammers obtained your data, including your address and card details. This data can be used in many ways. The scammers can use it to steal more money than you’d spend on the online shop. They can impersonate your bank or someone you know to trick you into giving them money. Additionally, they can sell this data to dark web criminals or companies for marketing purposes.
A man working on his laptop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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7 proactive measures to take to protect your data
Online shopping scams can affect anyone and everyone. Here are seven steps you should take to protect your money and your personal data:
1. Invest in personal data removal services: If you ever got scammed through these fake online shops, your data is probably out there online. Personal data removal services can help by scouring the many people search and data broker websites for your data and requesting its removal.
While no service promises to remove all your data from the internet, having a removal service is great if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of removing your information from hundreds of sites continuously over a longer period of time. Check out my top picks for personal data removal services here.
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2. Avoid tech support phone scams: Since the hackers have your name and contact number, they may try to get in touch with you, posing as an employee of a popular tech company. They might say they’re from Apple, Microsoft, Amazon or any other big company. Always verify if the tech support person you’re talking to actually works for the company.
3. Be cautious when shopping online: Only shop on reputable, well-known websites that you trust. Be wary of unfamiliar online stores offering steep discounts on luxury brands. Check the website’s URL and security credentials (look for https:// and a lock icon) before entering payment information. Use credit cards rather than debit cards for online purchases, as credit cards offer better fraud protection.
4. Be wary of mailbox communications: Scammers may also try to scam you through the mail. The fake online shops have access to your address. They may impersonate people or brands you know and use themes that require urgent attention, such as missed deliveries, account suspensions and security alerts.
5. Monitor your accounts and transactions: You should regularly check your online accounts and transactions for suspicious or unauthorized activity. If you notice anything unusual, report it to the service provider or the authorities as soon as possible.
6. Use identity theft protection: Identity theft protection companies can track personal information like your home title, Social Security number, phone number and email address and notify you if it’s used to open an account. They can also assist you in freezing your bank and credit card accounts to prevent further unauthorized use by criminals. See my tips and best picks on how to protect yourself from identity theft.
7. Secure your devices and accounts: Use strong, unique passwords for all your online accounts and enable two-factor authentication whenever possible. Keep your devices updated with the latest security patches and use strong antivirus software.
The best way to protect yourself from clicking malicious links that install malware that may get access to your private information is to have antivirus protection installed on all your devices. This can also alert you of any phishing emails or ransomware scams. Get my picks for the best 2024 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Online scams are a growing problem, and you must stay vigilant. Scammers are trying their best to access your data to sell it to companies or other scammers. Tech giants need to implement more stringent measures to protect you from being scammed. Also, when shopping online, make sure you buy from trusted vendors and double-check before entering any personal information. In addition, be sure to follow the seven steps we outlined above to protect your money and your personal data. You’ll be glad you did.
Do you think online shopping is unsafe? Have you started buying stuff offline due to concerns about privacy and security? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact
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Until now, that argument has largely been left to executives and engineers. New Jersey lawmakers are trying to settle it in state law.
A bill expected to come up for a vote later this year would require companies seeking to operate fully autonomous vehicles in New Jersey to use cameras plus two other sensing technologies, most commonly lidar and radar. If enacted, New Jersey would be the first state to codify such a hardware mandate into law, moving ahead of a nearly identical proposal currently pending action in neighboring New York. The measure would also effectively prevent Tesla’s camera-only Robotaxi system from operating in New Jersey unless the company changed its hardware.
”This is not anti-Tesla,” Democratic state Sen. Andrew Zwicker, the bill’s primary sponsor, told The Verge. “I’m pro-New Jersey safety.”
Zwicker, a physicist who works at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (New Jersey doesn’t restrict legislators from outside jobs), said after riding in a Waymo robotaxi in Phoenix he became convinced autonomous vehicles could transform transportation.
”I was amazed how quickly you get used to it,” he said.
The technology, he argues, could dramatically expand mobility, reduce traffic deaths, and make transportation more accessible. But he believes the technology should roll out cautiously in the nation’s most densely populated state.
”At this point, I don’t think the evidence is sufficient that a single sensor with software can handle situations that humans can,” Zwicker said. “Can we get there? Maybe. But we’re not there yet.”
The proposal would establish a three-year pilot program governing the testing and deployment of fully autonomous vehicles in New Jersey. Companies would have to use multiple sensing technologies, report certain crashes, and receive state authorization before operating fully driverless commercial services. They would also have to complete at least 50,000 miles of supervised testing in New Jersey without a major incident before removing the human safety driver.
While state battles over autonomous vehicles have largely centered on safety performance, oversight, and potential job losses, New Jersey is attempting something different: legislating how the vehicles themselves should be built.
“At this point, I don’t think the evidence is sufficient that a single sensor with software can handle situations that humans can.”
— New Jersey state Sen. Andrew Zwicker
The sensor requirement is by far the bill’s most consequential provision and it would have repercussions beyond Tesla. Elon Musk has long argued that cameras paired with increasingly capable artificial intelligence are the best and most cost effective way to operate autonomous vehicles. Humans navigate the world using vision alone, Musk has said, so sufficiently advanced AI should eventually be able to do the same. Eliminating lidar and radar also dramatically lowers hardware costs, making it easier to build robotaxis cheaply enough to deploy at massive scale.
Musk has even argued that adding more sensors can reduce safety by forcing software to reconcile conflicting information.
”Lidar and radar reduce safety due to sensor contention. If lidars/radars disagree with cameras, which one wins?” he wrote on X last year. “We turned off the radars in Teslas to increase safety. Cameras ftw.”
Most of the rest of the autonomous vehicle industry disagrees. Companies including Waymo and Zoox combine cameras with lidar and radar, arguing that each sensing technology has different strengths and weaknesses. Cameras capture rich visual detail, allowing vehicles to recognize colors, traffic signs, lane markings, and pedestrians, but they can struggle in poor weather, darkness, or glare. Radar performs better in rain and fog and excels at measuring the distance and relative speed of nearby objects. Lidar uses lasers to create detailed three-dimensional maps of a vehicle’s surroundings, making it particularly effective at determining the shape and distance of nearby objects.
Rather than relying on a single sensor, those companies combine the strengths of all three, arguing that redundancy makes autonomous driving safer. Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon electrical and computer engineering professor and autonomous vehicle safety expert, said camera-only systems may eventually become capable enough for fully autonomous driving. But he doesn’t believe they are today.
As Koopman put it, “eyeballs are better than cameras for many reasons” and “human brains are fundamentally more powerful than AI because we understand.” While there are situations where Koopman said camera-only works just fine — clear weather, favorable lighting, and less complex roads — he believes it’s not ready for broad consumer use.
“To run 24/7 across the majority of public roads in New Jersey today, it needs lidar,” he said. “It’s pretty clear that today camera-only technology is not up to the challenge.”
Koopman supports the New Jersey proposal but said he would prefer even stronger safeguards, such as requiring conventional driving controls like steering wheels and pedals so first responders could move disabled vehicles (so no Cybercabs, which don’t have either), and limits on how many AVs can be on the road during the pilot (a potential provision Zwicker said he’s considering).
“It’s pretty clear that today camera-only technology is not up to the challenge.”
— AV expert Philip Koopman
“The difference between 100 cars and 10,000 cars is night and day,” Koopman said. When the scale is small, “There’s just not enough cars for that much weird stuff to happen to them.” He pointed to Waymo, which now operates more than 3,500 commercial robotaxis across 11 US metro areas.
”They never used to have problems with floodwaters and school buses — not because they could do floodwaters and school buses,” Koopman said. “But with 100 cars it just doesn’t happen that often.”
Despite a lot of fanfare, Tesla currently only has a handful of unsupervised Robotaxis on the road, mostly in Texas, according to data from Robotaxi Tracker, suggesting it hasn’t been as easy to scale the camera-only approach as Musk had previously promised. Last year he predicted that Tesla would have hundreds of thousands of fully self-driving Teslas operating by the end of 2026. (Tesla did not respond to requests for comment for this article.)
Many of the bill’s provisions mirror recommendations from SAVE-US, a nonprofit that advocates for stricter autonomous vehicle regulation. Physicist and SAVE-US national campaign director Shua Sanchez said the group formed because Congress has failed to establish national rules while autonomous vehicle companies have expanded into states with dramatically different levels of oversight.
“California has the best safety regulations in the country,” he said. “Texas, Arizona, and Georgia have almost no state oversight.”
Among the organization’s priorities is requiring redundant sensing systems.
“We don’t have a problem with Tesla as a company,” Sanchez said. “We have a problem with camera-only autonomous vehicles.”
Nearly every major stakeholder has sought changes to the bill. Waymo successfully pushed to remove a requirement that safety drivers remain in vehicles throughout the pilot, and Uber argued the state should continue requiring human drivers for most rides, according to Zwicker.
Tesla has been lobbying against the legislation in New Jersey, according to Zwicker, who said company representatives met with lawmakers to argue that advances in artificial intelligence make additional sensor types unnecessary. Zwicker said that while the tech has gotten better, “I’m not convinced yet that they’re ready to go.”
The debate has spilled beyond the state House.
“As written, the legislation imposes restrictions so severely that Tesla’s autonomous vehicle technology couldn’t legally operate in New Jersey,” read a Tesla missive to New Jersey Tesla owners encouraging them to contact lawmakers. “Rather than prioritizing real safety outcomes and performance, the bill specifically bans Tesla from the New Jersey market.”
Zwicker said his office received roughly 4,000 emails within a day. “The messaging wasn’t about the details of the bill,” he said. “It was that Zwicker is trying to take away your Autopilot.”
“Rather than prioritizing real safety outcomes and performance, the bill specifically bans Tesla from the New Jersey market.”
— A Tesla message to NJ owners
Zwicker rejects that characterization. The legislation applies only to fully autonomous vehicles operating under the proposed state pilot program — not driver-assistance systems that require a licensed human driver to remain behind the wheel.
The fight in New Jersey reflects a broader vacuum in autonomous vehicle regulation. Congress has debated national autonomous vehicle legislation for years without passing a comprehensive framework, leaving states to develop their own rules as commercial robotaxi services expand. Robotaxi services already operate in states including California, Texas, Arizona, and Georgia under dramatically different regulatory systems. While California requires extensive testing permits and public reporting, it doesn’t specify which tech the AVs need to get there. Texas has adopted a far lighter-touch approach, which lets automakers self-certify that their autonomous vehicles are ready for the road.
New Jersey’s bill raises the possibility that AV tech there could differ from that of other states. Zwicker says that isn’t his concern.
“The technology doesn’t exist in the Northeast at all,” he said. “The goal is to start now, do it safely, and build public trust.”
Sanchez sees the sensor requirement as a common-sense safeguard rather than a restriction on innovation.
“There are absolutely brilliant people working at Tesla trying to make camera-only autonomy work,” he said. “But they’re trying to do it with one arm tied behind their back.”
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How to use airline miles and points
The Miles Guy explains how to stop wasting points, spot bad redemptions and get more value from travel rewards, in an interview with Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson.
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Airline miles used to feel like a secret travel weapon. You saved them, watched the award chart and then pounced when the right seat opened up.
Now? You may search for a flight and see a price so ridiculous that it makes you want to close the laptop.
That is exactly why I sat down with David Fleming, a travel rewards consultant known online as The Miles Guy. His job is helping travelers squeeze more value out of airline miles, hotel points and credit card rewards without getting fooled into bad redemptions.
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Dynamic pricing can make the same airline seat cost a reasonable number of miles one day and a shocking amount the next. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
And here is the big takeaway: airline miles can still be valuable, but the old tricks no longer work the same way.
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Why airline miles feel harder to use now
Years ago, many airlines used fixed award charts. That made it easier to know what a flight should cost in points. Now, that predictability is mostly gone. “The airlines and their frequent flier programs went to something called dynamic pricing, which basically ties the cost of the ticket to the number of points you use,” Fleming told me during our conversation on the CyberGuy Report podcast.
He gave one eye-popping example. Air France Flying Blue business class from Los Angeles to Paris used to show up for around 67,500 points one way. Now, on some days, that same type of redemption can balloon to an outrageous level. “Some days you’re now seeing them for 700,000 points one way,” Fleming said. “Which is bananas.”
That is the kind of number that should make you pause before clicking “book.” If you want a broader refresher on how travel rewards work, CyberGuy’s guide on how to rack up points and miles for travel is a helpful read at CyberGuy.com.
Flexibility is still your best travel hack
If you have any wiggle room in your schedule, use it before you spend your miles. “The key really is to book your trip around your flights,” Fleming said. “Find the dates that have the best mileage redemptions available, and book those and let that be your guide.”
That may sound annoying if you already picked your vacation dates. However, shifting by a day or two, or flying from a different airport, can save you a huge number of points.
This approach works best when you are traveling alone or with one other person. It gets harder with kids, school schedules, work calendars and family obligations. Still, even a little flexibility can help. The goal is to stop treating every mileage price as a good deal just because it uses points instead of cash.
Book a refundable ticket as a backup
One of my best strategies is to book a refundable cash ticket as insurance while watching for mileage seats. Here is how it works. You book a refundable fare, so you know you can get where you need to go. Then you keep checking for award seats. If a better mileage redemption becomes available, you can cancel the refundable ticket and book with points.
Fleming said that strategy still has value, even though it worked better before dynamic pricing became so common. “If you book a refundable ticket, you know if something does open up, you always can cancel that refundable ticket, get your money back, and book the mileage ticket,” Fleming said.
There is another version of the same idea. If a good mileage ticket doesn’t appear, you can look for a cheaper, nonrefundable cash fare closer to the trip. Then you cancel the refundable ticket and buy the cheaper fare instead. It takes effort, but it gives you options.
Ask about paid upgrades before you board
Paid upgrades can be hit-or-miss. Still, Fleming says asking at the counter or gate can sometimes pay off. “You might have to be a little proactive and ask the gate agent or the person at the ticket counter, ‘Hey, do you have any upgrades available? And if yes, how much are they?’” Fleming said.
He shared the story of a friend who was flying economy on a transatlantic flight. At the counter, the airline offered him a business class upgrade for $140. If he had bought that upgrade online earlier, it would have cost more than $1,200. That will not happen every time. Airlines may have no seats, no deal or no interest in discounting the upgrade. Even so, the question costs nothing. Ask politely at check-in, at the ticket counter or at the gate: “Are there any paid upgrades available, and what would the cost be?” You can always say no.
Know when points are a bad deal
This may be the hardest part for many travelers. Sometimes the smartest move is to keep your miles. Fleming uses a rough benchmark of about 2 cents per point. So, if 100,000 points would cover a ticket that costs about $2,000, that can be a fair deal.
“On average, you might say that a point is worth $0.02,” Fleming said. “I just kind of set the goal at $0.02 a point.” However, if an airline wants 100,000 points for a $500 ticket, you may want to pay cash and keep the points for something better. That is where people get burned. They see “free flight” and forget that points have value. Those points took spending, flying or credit card bonuses to earn. Burning them on a weak redemption can cost you later.
Tracking your loyalty accounts, point balances and expiration dates can help you stop rewards from slipping through the cracks. (iStock)
Compare points before you book
Airline miles and hotel points can both be easy to waste. Before you redeem either one, compare the points or miles price with the cash rate. That helps you see whether you are getting strong value.
One tool CyberGuy has covered before is Awayz. It can help you compare cash prices with award pricing so you can decide when to use points, miles or cash. Its hotel search can be especially helpful if you have rewards spread across programs like Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, Accor, Choice or Wyndham. Awayz can also help you look for award availability and spot better dates. That can save time when you are planning a trip with flexible travel dates.
Still, treat any travel search tool as a starting point. Prices and award availability can change fast. Before you transfer points or book, confirm the final price, taxes, fees, cancellation rules and availability directly with the airline, hotel or loyalty program.
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Track every loyalty account in one place
You cannot use your rewards well if you do not know what you have. Fleming says that starts with keeping your travel accounts organized.
“I created a spreadsheet which basically lists my program, American Airlines, my account number, my password, when the points expire and how many points I have,” Fleming said. “Then you know what you have to work with.”
I use a phone contact called “Travel Profile.” In that contact card, I store airline, hotel and rental car loyalty numbers in alphabetical order. So, when I am checking into a hotel or renting a car, I can quickly find the right number.
Here is how to set one up:
- iPhone: Open the Contacts app > tap the + button > enter Travel Profile as the name > scroll to Notes > type your airline, hotel and rental car loyalty numbers in alphabetical order > tap Done.
- Samsung Galaxy : Open the Contacts app > tap the + button > choose where to save the contact, such as Phone or Google > enter Travel Profile as the name > tap View more if needed > add your loyalty numbers in Notes > tap Save.
One important warning: do not store passwords in this contact card. Use it for loyalty numbers only. Keep account passwords in a secure password manager instead.
The trade-off is that a phone contact will not show your current point balances or expiration dates. That is where a spreadsheet or password manager can help, especially if you have dozens of travel accounts.
Watch expiration dates before points disappear
Some airline miles no longer expire. Fleming noted that United MileagePlus miles and Delta SkyMiles do not expire. However, other programs still have expiration rules. Flying Blue, the loyalty program for Air France and KLM, now uses a single 24-month validity period for miles, with qualifying activity able to extend that date. That means you should check each program before assuming your miles are safe forever.
Also, do not ignore small balances. A few thousand points may not buy a long-haul ticket, but they may help with a hotel night, upgrade or short flight later.
Airline status may not go as far as it used to
I asked Fleming whether airline status still means anything. His answer was blunt. “Unless you have the top tier status, I don’t think so,” Fleming said.
I get it. There was a time when top-level status could feel special, especially when flights were delayed or canceled. You could call a dedicated number, find the right person at the airport and sometimes get real help getting where you needed to go.
That still happens, but it feels less dependable than it used to. Planes are packed, upgrades are harder to clear and airlines often sell premium seats instead of handing them to loyal flyers.
Status can still help with free bags, preferred seats and priority support. However, I would not chase it blindly unless the perks still match how often you fly and what you are spending to get them.
Use travel tech to get ahead of delays
One of my favorite travel apps right now is Flighty. It tracks your aircraft before it becomes your flight, which can give you an early warning when trouble is starting to build.
For example, your plane may still be in another city with several flights to complete before it ever gets to you. If one of those earlier flights gets delayed, Flighty can often show the ripple effect before the airline sends an official alert. Flighty can send real-time alerts for delays, gate changes and cancellations.
You can also track a flight right inside the Messages app on your iPhone. Send yourself, or someone else, the airline name and flight number , such as Delta 1234 or American 456. You can also try the airline code and number, such as DL1234 or AA456. Once the flight number appears underlined, tap it and select Preview Flight. You should see details such as flight status, departure time, arrival time, terminal, gate and baggage claim when available.
One low-tech trick I still swear by is carrying a UK plug adapter. Some airplane outlets get loose from heavy use, especially with standard U.S. plugs. A UK adapter may fit more securely in certain universal airplane outlets, but it will not work on every aircraft or every seat. Also, treat it as an adapter, not a voltage converter, and use it only with chargers that support the power range printed on the charger.
Protect your miles like money
Airline miles and hotel points have real value. That makes them attractive to hackers. A thief who breaks into a loyalty account can drain your miles, book travel or sell access before you notice. Since many people rarely check old airline and hotel accounts, fraud can sit there longer than it should.
CyberGuy has covered how hackers can hijack travel rewards programs and drain miles. To protect yourself, use strong, unique passwords for every travel account and store them in a secure password manager. Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) when available and review your balances often.
You should also keep strong antivirus software on your devices to help block malicious links, phishing pages and other threats that can lead to account theft. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at CyberGuy.com.
Also, consider using a data removal service to reduce how much personal information is floating around online, since scammers can use exposed details to make travel-related phishing messages look more believable. 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.
Finally, be careful with any email claiming your miles are expiring or offering a too-good-to-be-true travel deal. Go directly to the airline or hotel site instead of clicking links in surprise messages.
Asking about paid upgrades at the airport may not always work, but sometimes one polite question can unlock a much better seat for less. (iStock)
Pick travel credit cards carefully
Travel credit cards can still unlock value, but only if the perks match how you actually travel. If you fly one airline often, a co-branded card may help with bags, boarding or award discounts. If you want flexibility, a transferable points card may give you more options across different airlines and hotel partners.
Before you chase a welcome bonus, read the annual fee, spending requirement and redemption rules. A giant bonus can lose its appeal if you have to overspend to earn it. CyberGuy’s best airline credit cards guide at cyberguy.com/ can help you compare travel cards, perks and earning structures before you apply.
Watch the CyberGuy Live replay: Lock Down Your Phone in 30 Minutes
Your phone holds your email, passwords, photos, banking apps and personal data. In this free CyberGuy Live replay, Kurt the CyberGuy walks you step by step through simple phone security fixes you can do at your own pace. You’ll learn how to improve your privacy settings, spot the latest phone scams, use trusted security tools and walk away with a simple checklist to stay protected. Watch the replay and get our checklist here: CyberGuyLive.com
Kurt’s key takeaways
Airline miles are still worth collecting, but you have to be more careful than ever about how you spend them. Dynamic pricing means the same seat can cost a reasonable number of points one day and an outrageous number another day. That is why flexibility, research and patience can make such a big difference. Before you redeem, compare the cash price against the point price. If the value looks weak, save your miles and buy the ticket instead. Also, organize your loyalty accounts now, not when you are standing at a rental car counter or rushing through an airport. A spreadsheet, secure password manager or travel profile in your phone can keep your rewards from becoming a pile of forgotten numbers. And next time you fly, ask about paid upgrades. You may get nothing. Or you may hear a price that makes the whole trip feel like you beat the system. For more of my conversation with David “The Miles Guy” Fleming, you can watch the full podcast episode at CyberGuy.com.
Do you still think airline miles are worth chasing, or have airlines made the rewards game too confusing to trust? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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Amid public backlash over its smart glasses, Meta announced that it will be updating its glasses with a new feature that will disable the camera when it detects that someone has tampered with or destroyed the glasses’ privacy LED light. The update is meant to address modders who have taken actions such as physically drilling into the LED light.
Meta has previously tried to discourage tampering with the LED light. For example, starting with its second generation glasses, blocking the light with tape or other objects will trigger a prompt asking users to uncover the recording light. However, many modders have found various workarounds for that particular measure.
Meta’s VP of wearables Alex Himel told The Verge that the privacy-focused update was on the way a few weeks ago after launching cheaper Meta Glasses without Ray-Ban branding. At the time, Himel acknowledged that the company was aware of increasing misuse alongside wider adoption of the devices.
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