If you’re looking to enjoy the weather and throw a steak on the grill this weekend, tonight looks like it’s going to be your best bet. I’m a big fan of Alton Brown, and while I’ve seen him throw a steak on top of a charcoal tower, until yesterday I’d never seen him put one IN a charcoal tower. Definitely need to try this one out. And while you’re waiting 10 minutes for that steak to cook, you can scroll down to find out about outdoor saunas, power hackers, some Cleveland real estate, and more. Enjoy!
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Spyware
According to UK intelligence, 100 countries are in possession of spyware that would (does?) allow them to break into users phones. That’s more than 50% of all countries, and while many claim to only use these tools against criminals, one would wonder… Also mentioned is the fact that these type of tools that have been developed for governments can and do get leaked. That sounds similar to what just happened with Anthropic’s Mythos AI model, usage of which was supposed to be limited to 12 major companies. Until smart people figured out where the model was located.
Saunas
I know that at least a handful of my readers are fans of the Schvitz, here in Cleveland. I’ve never been, although I’ve been invited a few times. Now, it looks like the Schvitz may have some downtown competition,in the form of a new outdoor sauna. And in case you’re interested in the usual facts from the article, this will be the only outdoor sauna within 800 miles of Cleveland (I guess they’re big in Wisconsin and Minnesota). Sounds like an interesting idea that will get a lot of interest from locals. I hope it comes together! (apologies if this article ends up behind a paywall.Crain’s tells me I can gift articles, but I’ve had mixed response as to whether that actually works).
Claude
I don’t know much about Claude, and as a matter of fact I just downloaded it prior to writing this sentence. I’m going to see if I can automate some of the work involved in putting this newsletter together, just for kicks.
Earlier this week, I saw an article about all of the apps to which Claude can connect, including Audible, Uber Eats, and Spotify. I don’t know enough to tell you why that’s important, but it seemed interesting. And to that end, I also found a list of one person’s 21 favorite Claude connectors.
Real Estate
A 15,000SF Kirtland home built in 1929 and on a mile long driveway has just hit the market for $6.25M. Doesn’t say whether it comes furnished, but I’d have to think there’s another couple mil to account for if it doesn’t.
If that’s out of your budget, there’s a similar age house (slightly smaller at 10,000SF) on North Park in Cleveland Heights that just came on the market for $1.5M. That seems like a legit deal!
Power Hackers
During a prospect meeting yesterday, a question was posed to us about electrical power and the need for redundancy. The company in question noted that they don’t have a generator, but are occasionally hit by outages, putting their production capabilities at risk.
Interesting, then, that this article about electricity hackers came through my inbox this morning. Knowing that businesses depend on ‘uptime’, some hackers are now just cutting off DC power to users rather than trying to hack into a system and encrypt files and folders. Suggestion is that electricity should be considered a cyber issue.
Last Names
Here’s a list of seven relatively common last names which stem from insults. One of these names is represented on the Ashton team. First person to respond to me with that person’s name (first and last, so I know you didn’t make a 1:7 guess) gets some Ashton swag.
And the first person to respond via email that shows your last name as being one of these seven will also get some Ashton swag.
Nancy's Nuggets
Aside from a few weeks back, when Nancy took over and put together her own edition of this publication, she’s been pretty quiet. Until today. Nancy’s Nuggets are back!
First, we have airlines being accused of price gouging based on user’s browser history, and then we have some NYC real estate (in case the CLE real estate above wasn’t enough for you), if you have $45M to spare. This penthouse on Central Park used to belong to Sting, for you fans of the Police.
And finally, while Nancy didn’t send me this one, I thought of her when I read it; she recently updated our thermostats and the fan setting, so maybe somebody else will benefit from this as well.
I’ll leave you this week with a variety of completely random things that I came across this week, including competitive rochambeau, Pope hats in Chicago, and a baseball line drive that never hit the ground, but was still ruled a single.
Have a great weekend!
Abbey