Life Notes
Hands-on notes and picks across travel, productivity, finance, and everyday tools.
Apple's Sept 10 Event Is Official: With a Rumored NT$60,000 Foldable iPhone Ultra, Should You Wait or Buy Current Stock Now?
Apple officially confirms its Sept 10 event at 1:00 AM. The first foldable iPhone is rumored to start around NT$63,000 for 256GB—roughly 1.6 times the current iPhone 17 Pro. Here is our breakdown of how to watch the livestream, whether the first-gen foldable is worth the gamble, and how to pick from in-stock models if you're on a budget.
Major Chrome Zero-Day Under Active Exploit: Edge and Brave Users Need to Update Too
Google confirmed that CVE-2026-85046 in Chrome's V8 engine was actively exploited in the wild before a patch was released. Rated at CVSS 8.8, this marks the sixth exploited Chrome zero-day this year. Because the flaw resides in the Chromium engine itself, browsers sharing the same foundation—like Edge and Brave—are all affected, and the Android version requires a separate update. Here is a walkthrough of how to check and update each browser.
LINE Is Deleting Accounts by Year-End: Heads Up If You Only Linked Facebook Without a Phone Number!
The notices claiming "LINE will delete accounts without a linked phone number by year-end" are real, but they only target one specific group: accounts linked solely to Facebook with no registered phone number. Here is how to check if you're affected, how to set up your phone number, email, password, and Apple/Google link all in one go, the major pitfall where linking a number deactivates another account, and the only path left if you're already locked out.
Middle East Tensions Flare Again: Global Oil Tops $95—Should You Rush to Book Flights Before September 7?
With US-Iran fighting reigniting on August 30, international crude prices spiked past $95 a barrel, prompting China Airlines, EVA Air, and STARLUX Airlines to hike fuel surcharges by 8.33% starting September 7. Here is a breakdown of how this price surge actually impacts flight tickets and gas costs, plus practical guidance on whether to book flights now and how to read between the lines of official remarks.
Gemini 3.8 Flash Drops: Official Benchmarks Tie or Beat Opus 5 on Most Tasks, but Two Big Gaps Are Impossible to Hide
Google launched Gemini 3.8 Flash on September 2, just three weeks after 3.7 Flash, priced at only one-sixth to one-seventh of Claude Opus 5. I broke down Google's official benchmark table into plain English: it ties or beats Opus 5 across most tasks, but the gap in Terminal-bench 4.0 and computer-use tests isn't nearly as small as the marketing pitch suggests.
Taiwan Stocks at 46,331 Points and a 29x P/E: Is It Still a Good Time to Jump In? Bull vs. Bear Arguments and Key Numbers Broken Down
With Taiwan stocks crossing the 46,000-point threshold and the P/E ratio reaching 29.15x—well above historical norms—this post lays out the bull and bear arguments alongside the hard numbers, without trying to time the market for you, so you can evaluate whether and how to enter.
OpenAI Claims GPT-6 Astra Could Be AGI — Digging Into the Original Report, Another Harness Drops It to Just 62.7%
OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra on September 3, touting it as the world’s smartest and most aligned model, scoring 99.9% on ARC-AGI-3, with President Greg Brockman even mentioning AGI. I went digging through ARC Prize’s own benchmark report, and when the exact same model was switched back to their standard test harness, it managed only 62.7%. Meanwhile, independent benchmarks measured its intelligence score as identical to its predecessor—though the price has genuinely jumped 2.5x.
Bitcoin Cut in Half Then Bounced Back to $80K This Year: Is It Still Worth Buying? Price, ETF Flows, and Risk Breakdown
After getting cut in half from its October 2025 all-time high, Bitcoin rebounded back above $80,000 in August 2026. Here is a breakdown of price action, crash drivers, ETF capital flows, and institutional forecasts—laying out both bull and bear arguments so you can decide for yourself whether to enter.
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