Zack

[Jonathan Goodman 🇨🇦 @itscoachgoodman]

$1.6 million dollars in Bitcoin was drained from my account on July 29th in the Cold Card wallet hack.

My Bitcoin was in cold storage. My keys were on a ColdCard device kept in a safety deposit box that had never been connected to the internet.

This part's nerdy, but here's what happened:

Hackers discovered a vulnerability in the part of the hardware wallet code used to create seed phrases.

This allowed them to use AI to brute force guessing seed phrases.

I was at our cottage and heard about the hack today.

"No way this affects me." I thought.

I logged into Wasabi––software that lets me view my bitcoin wallets online.

Right away I saw lines of red transaction–withdrawals–and I knew.

From 9:36pm - 9:43pm on July 29th, every wallet I had had been emptied.

18.25245043 btc gone. That's just over $1.6 million dollars CAD.

Perhaps the hardest part about this is that I did everything right.

I never shared my seed phrase with anybody. My devices never touched the internet. Everything was kept in multiple safes and safety deposit boxes.

None of it mattered. All because the hardware that created the seed phrase originally had one line in their code from 2021 that had a vulnerability.

I'm filing a police report and a report with the Ontario Securities Commission. But I don't expect to recoup anything.

A part of me is trying to make sense of what just happened. Or try to figure out a lesson in it. I'm struggling. $1.6 million is a staggering amount of money to have stolen.

I guess all that I can think about right now is that I'm so damn happy that I'm an entrepreneur and that my earning potential is under my control. Mark my damn words. I'll recover.

[Zack @HfxZac]

@ItsAlexhere0 Notepad++

[Pete Lau @PeteLau]

The #OPPOFindX9Ultra is going global! 🌍

For the first time ever, global users can experience our Ultra flagship smartphone. Get ready for a new benchmark in mobile imaging! 📸

[Zack @HfxZac]

While I didn't understand any of the #Halftimeshow, I thought #BadBunny had a classy way of reuniting our countries at the end. #Canada #venezuela great job!

#SuperBowl #SuperBowlLX

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I'm the VP of AI at Apple.

I've been here since 2011.

I watched Siri launch.

It was revolutionary.

For about six months.

Then Google Assistant came out.

Then Alexa.

Then ChatGPT.

We kept saying we were "focused on privacy."

Privacy is what you say when you're losing.

Three years ago the board asked about our AI strategy.

I showed them a slide that said "On-Device Intelligence."

They nodded.

They didn't know what it meant.

Neither did I.

But it had a picture of a neural network.

Neural networks look impressive.

Even when they don't work.

Last year someone asked Siri to set a timer.

It opened a Wikipedia article about timers.

Tim saw the meme.

He didn't laugh.

He scheduled a "strategic offsite."

Offsites are where we go to admit failure privately.

I presented three options.

Option 1: Build our own LLM.

That would take four years.

We don't have four years.

Option 2: Buy a startup.

We looked at twelve.

They all wanted $40 billion.

For teams of nine people.

Who would leave after the acquisition.

Option 3: Call Google.

The room went quiet.

Google is the enemy.

We've spent fifteen years pretending we're better than Google.

Our entire brand is "not Google."

But Google has TPUs.

We don't.

Google has Gemini.

We have Siri.

Siri still can't reliably add items to a grocery list.

I called Sundar.

He picked up on the first ring.

He'd been waiting.

They all wait.

Eventually everyone calls Google.

I asked for TPU access.

He said yes.

I asked for Gemini integration.

He said yes.

I asked how much.

He said one billion dollars.

I said that's a lot.

He said "per year."

I paused.

He said "you don't really have a choice."

He was smiling.

I could hear it.

We announced it as a "strategic partnership."

Partnership means we're paying them.

The press release said we're "enhancing Siri's capabilities."

Enhancing means replacing.

We said the new Siri arrives "late 2026."

Late 2026 means 2027.

Maybe 2028.

Definitely not 2026.

A reporter asked if this means Apple lost the AI race.

Our comms team said we're "thoughtfully deliberate."

That's not an answer.

But it has enough syllables to sound like one.

Internally, we're calling it "Project Humble Pie."

Someone suggested "Project Brain Transplant."

HR flagged that as "not brand-aligned."

The engineers are relieved.

They've been trying to make Siri work for years.

Now they can blame Google.

Blame is a renewable resource.

Tim did a podcast.

He said AI is "a profound technology."

He's never used ChatGPT.

I showed him once.

He asked why it was typing so slowly.

I said that's how it works.

He said "Siri should be faster."

I said "Siri will be Google."

He said "don't say that publicly."

I won't.

Publicly, we're "leveraging industry partnerships."

Leveraging means surrendering.

But with dignity.

We still have the best hardware.

We still have the ecosystem.

We still have the brand.

We just don't have AI.

So we're renting it.

From the company we've mocked for two decades.

The one billion dollars is a licensing fee.

The real cost is the narrative.

We were the innovators.

Now we're the integrators.

But the stock is up 3%.

Wall Street doesn't care about innovation.

Wall Street cares about not falling behind.

We're not falling behind anymore.

We're being carried.

By Google.

For one billion dollars a year.

I'll present this as a win at the next all-hands.

Wins are whatever you frame them as.

The graph will go up and to the right.

It always does.

As long as you pick the right metric.

[Zack @HfxZac]

@elonmusk 😂😂😂

[Mark Gurman @markgurman]

BREAKING: Apple’s chip chief Johny Srouji informed CEO Tim Cook he is seriously considering leaving the company and would likely continue his career elsewhere rather than retire. Apple is urgently pushing to keep him. He remains at least for now. https://t.co/7RcouQZ6Mm

[Zack @HfxZac]

@PeteLau @ulfw Looks world class!

[Zack @HfxZac]

@TheAppleDesign Duck duck go for the one offs.
Edge for work.
Chrome for daily.
Safari when I'm dead.

[Zack @HfxZac]

#nlwildfires #paddyspond #paradise #conceptionbaysouth #wildfires #wildfiresmoke

[Zack @HfxZac]

@kennystjohns @EddieSheerr Couldn't agree more. I don't know the last time I used Facebook.

[Zack @HfxZac]

@elonmusk @grok Ahaha

[Zack @HfxZac]

@AirbnbHelp Still no solid response on my case even after posting 22 hours ago and DM to @AirbnbHelp

I wonder how long this investigation process takes?

[Zack @HfxZac]

@AirbnbHelp For anyone that would like to see what I've tried, here's a few "support" threads that I've had with AirBnb. I've also called three times, and been promised call backs and all I get is "case closed". If my issue doesn't get resolved, I'd recommend not booking with Airbnb

[Zack @HfxZac]

@Patrick12857650 @AirbnbHelp @jamiehtech Well, I was definitely scammed by Airbnb so far. Let's see if they can resolve the issue. I'm nearly $5000 in at this point.

[Zack @HfxZac]

@AirbnbHelp After booking, Airbnb support has been a ghost ever since. Now my case has been passed to 5-10 different employees.

I've called in and spoken to different managers.

I've been promised call backs, and then the cases have been closed.

I'm now a week in, without a resolution

[Zack @HfxZac]

@AirbnbHelp I booked an Airbnb for 5 of us in Toronto.
The home has its owner, as well as 5 cameras in the home.

We tried to leave the home and get a refund and Airbnb took hours to get back to us.

We were offered a refund if we got out own booking, which I confirmed prior to booking

[Zack @HfxZac]

@AirbnbHelp @Airbnb @AirbnbHelp @AirbnbPolicy @BBBTriCounties

[Zack @HfxZac]

@AirbnbHelp Have you ever booked an entire home, and came back to the owner in the basement & the home filled with cameras? I have -- Just last week.

The worst part? AirBnb's "security team" allowed me to find my own replacement booking, and now won't provide a refund. The WORST exp ever

[Zack @HfxZac]

@greg16676935420 @elonmusk Your best comment yet.