Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are hiring a seasonal, on-call “Beach Water Person” based in Kauai, Hawaii, where the family owns a sprawling compound, according to a new job listing on Greenhouse associated with West 10, the Zuckerberg family office.

This is an interesting choice for a job title, because according to the job description, the primary duties of this “Beach Water Person” include serving as a “Beach Lifeguard,” and “Pool Lifeguard.” In other words, being a lifeguard.

The job listing names a few additional duties related to water activities, such as instructing “stand-up paddleboarding (SUP), canoe paddling, snorkeling, and other ocean-based activities.” These, however, come after the water safety duties in the job description.

This position easily could have been called “Pool/Beach Lifeguard,” or simply “Lifeguard.” For the sake of comprehensiveness, “Pool/Beach Lifeguard and Boat Deckhand” would have also worked. Alternatively, the Zuckerbergs could have chosen “Beach/Pool Attendant,” a job title roughly synonymous with lifeguard that could reasonably be interpreted as encompassing extra duties associated with leisure, such as tending to a boat or teaching people how to stand-up paddleboard.

Arguably, any of these options would have provided more clarity than “Beach Water Person,” which does not appear to correspond with a job title anywhere else in the English-speaking world.

WIRED did not immediately hear back from representatives of the Zuckerberg family. Lacking a human to speak with, we decided to ask Meta’s AI chatbot “what is a ‘beach water person’?”

“‘Beach water person’ would just mean someone who loves being in/near the ocean,” the chatbot said. “The word for that is thalassophile—’a person who loves the seas and oceans.’” Ok!

from the bad-ideas-from-terrible-people dept

We’ve talked a lot about how Americans have somehow accepted the fact that our voice networks are now saturated with scammers, fraudsters, and robocallers (no, that’s not something that happens in well run, functionally regulated countries).

I’ve also explained for years how the U.S. government solutions to the problems are usually ineffective because they’re endlessly trying to create rules (or undermine existing ones) to carve out exceptions for big “legitimate corporations,” which routinely engage in the same sleazy behavior as scammers.

Regulatory capture and corruption means that you wind up with a lot of performative solutions that sound good, but don’t fix anything. And some of the progress we had made on robocalls is being undermined by the Trump administration’s brutal assault on the federal regulatory state, something that still, somehow, isn’t getting enough public and press attention.

Now the Trump administration is cooking up a new “fix” that once again isn’t likely to fix the robocall problem (because our consumer protection regulators don’t function and the Trump administration doesn’t actually care about the subject anyway), but is likely to introduce all manner of new privacy and surveillance headaches. If it’s even implemented.

In late April, the Trump FCC announced it was considering the development of new “Know Your Customer” rules requiring that the buyer of any new phone present a government ID, a physical address, a full legal name, and an existing phone number at the point of sale. This has raised eyebrows both among activists and telecom industry lawyers, albeit for understandably different reasons.

A Trump FCC press release frames this new layer as a big fix for robocalls:

“We must bring meaningful robocall relief to consumers. The FCC is attacking the problem of illegal robocalls at every point in the call path in order to help consumers and restore trust in America’s voice networks. These proposals set the stage for significant advancement toward those goals by aiming to get providers to take accountability and step up their game in our shared battle against illegal robocalls.”

Telecom lawyers are nervous because the rules propose a $2,500 penalty, per call, per carrier, in a country that sees around 4.2 billion robocalls per month. So yeah, in a theoretical country where we actually had functioning consumer protections this would be quite a shift.

But accountability requires consumer protection enforcement, and this is Brendan Carr. A guy who generally doesn’t believe in holding major corporations accountable for literally anything. And who believes in defanging the federal regulatory state. It’s once again this interesting intersection between the Trump administration’s claims, and their very unsubtle effort to lobotomize government.

Which is to say I’m not even sure this proposal passes, much less sees any enforcement. And if it does pass, and does get enforced, it likely won’t actually help stop robocalls, because that would require a government willing to be tough on the biggest telecom giants which have historically not done enough to police fraud on their networks (at points because they were profiting from the fraud).

So what is Brendan Carr actually thinking? Like all dutiful autocrats, he’s thinking about his administration’s own power, and he’s thinking about surveillance.

There are, of course, numerous instances where you might want legal but covert ownership of a cell phone (a refugee seeking government punishment, a domestic abuse victim fleeing an abusive relationship, a journalist trying to protect a source identity, an activist planning a demonstration). Reclaim the Net is particularly concerned on the restrictions impacting the prepaid cell phone market:

“The real privacy stakes sit in the proposal’s section on prepaid service. Right now, you can pay cash for a prepaid phone and SIM card without showing identification. Journalists use prepaid phones to protect sources, domestic violence survivors use them to avoid being traced, and whistleblowers, activists, or anyone with a reason to separate phone activity from legal identity relies on this.”

So yeah, if Brendan Carr, a censorial autocratic zealot with a history of disdain for corporate accountability and consumer protection, is suddenly pitching you a quick and easy solution for a complicated consumer-facing issue, you should probably raise a skeptical eyebrow. Especially if you’re a journalist.

Filed Under: brendan carr, fcc, identification, know your customer, prepaid, privacy, robocalls, scams, surveillance, wireless

Most email marketers aren’t failing because their product is weak or their copy is bad. They’re failing because they’re sending the same message to everyone and calling it an email marketing campaign. With inboxes receiving an estimated 376 billion emails a day in 2025, generic blasts don’t just underperform; they get ignored.

The good news is that email still delivers a higher return than any other digital marketing channel, averaging $36 to $42 for every dollar spent, according to data from Litmus and HubSpot. The gap between average and high-performing campaigns comes down to a handful of tactical decisions. Here’s what separates them.

1. Segment your list — and keep those segments fresh

Solar will become the largest source of power in the next decade, surpassing coal, oil and natural gas, according to a new report from BloombergNEF. The tectonic shift will occur alongside a historic rise in the use of energy driven by AI and the electrification of entire industries.

“Solar is winning the race,” Matthias Kimmel, head of energy economics at BloombergNEF, told TechCrunch.

BloombergNEF expects the shift to happen on economic grounds alone — solar is simply too cheap to ignore. Pakistan, for example, has added 25 gigawatts of solar power in the last two years after natural gas prices spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The transition could be even swifter if countries take more aggressive measures to curb their carbon emissions.

The power handoff comes as investors are viewing energy as one of the biggest opportunities for growth in recent decades. Data centers have been at the center of the obsession, and BloombergNEF’s data reinforces the scale of the opportunity. The energy consultancy expects data centers to drive an additional 1 terawatt of utility-scale solar, 400 gigawatts of solar, 370 gigawatts of natural gas, and 110 gigawatts of coal. 

But because of gas and coal’s ability to operate 24/7, BloombergNEF expects those fossil fuels to provide 51% of incremental generation for data centers by 2050. Put simply, tech companies and data center developers will have an outsized influence over which energy sources remain viable by mid-century.

Those forecasts aren’t ironclad, though. Other technologies have been vying for a piece of the data center market, including long-duration energy storage, geothermal, and nuclear. Big batteries received a boost from Google, which has included $1 billion worth of 100-hour batteries from Form Energy in a recent data center project. And both geothermal and nuclear power show promise following the blockbuster IPOs of both Fervo Energy and X-energy this month.

Competition from photovoltaics will be stiff, though. Solar panels have spread dramatically in recent years, spurred by declining costs that show no sign of stopping. By 2035, prices are expected to drop another 30%, outcompeting coal and natural gas. By 2050, solar panels are expected to generate more than twice as much electricity as natural gas.

Solar’s falling costs can be attributed to two causes: One is China’s industrial policy, which has favored the technology, subsidizing manufacturers and flooding the market. The other is mass manufacturing, which has helped wring costs out of solar at a remarkable pace.

Generally, “costs fall with every doubling of of installed capacity,” Kimmel said. “In the case of solar, it has gone even faster than that.”

Solar’s abundance is starting to push grid-scale batteries down the same path. In Spain and Italy, standalone solar farms are no longer profitable because a surplus of solar power has driven down daytime electricity prices, Kimmel said. In response, developers have started building so-called hybrid renewable power plants, which pair solar panels with batteries to take advantage of higher evening prices.

The current state of the battery market is akin to where solar was in 2020, BloombergNEF said. Last year, 112 gigawatts of grid-scale batteries were installed worldwide. By 2035, the company expects that figure to nearly triple. Companies from Redwood Materials to Ford have launched energy storage businesses to capitalize on the trend.

The missing piece in this report was the Iran War, which started when BloombergNEF was too far along in the process to make any major changes. The team did test the effects of two scenarios on various countries’ dependence on energy imports. 

Under the economic transition scenario, in which decarbonization is driven largely by dollars and cents rather than regulations, every country would reduce its reliance on foreign energy, including oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia. Under a net-zero scenario, which sees regulations driving deeper decarbonization, every country would be able to virtually eliminate its reliance on energy imports.

“The transition, which in many ways is cost efficient, is actually good for energy independence,” Kimmel said.

Compare Our Top Pick Action Cameras

The B-Roll

All those cheap cameras on Amazon: Readers often ask, why spend $400 on a GoPro when they can get a camera with 4K video for $100? It’s a fair question, and the answer comes down to software, primarily image stabilization. Action cameras are designed to be strapped to helmets or clipped to your chest while you skydive, rock climb, and race through the city on a scooter. Without stabilization, the results are something even your closest friends won’t sit through. So yes, you’ll get 4K footage with the cheaper cams, but it’ll be footage no one wants to see. In our view, you’re better off spending another $100 for an older GoPro (Hero 11 or 12) on sale.

Best Accessories to Trick Out Your Camera

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

Once you have an action camera, you’re good to go for most use cases. GoPro, Insta360, and DJI all provide helmet mounts and other ways to stick your camera where you want it. But there are some nice extras that can make getting that shot you’re dreaming of even easier. Here are a few:

A good microSD card: You may get an SD card with your camera. Insta360’s SD cards are pretty good actually, but I tend to use SanDisk’s Extreme cards because they’re fast and, as a bonus, waterproof. You can pick up a 512-GB card for around $70. I also like Samsung’s Pro Plus microSD cards, which are a little faster in my tests. You can grab a 256-GB for around $96. DJI has some specific recommendations for microSD cards to use with the Action 6. Of their list the one I recommend is the Lexar Professional Silver Plus ($24).

GoPro Media Mod for $79: GoPro’s sound is OK out of the box, but if you want higher-quality audio, this is where you start. Not because the Media Mod produces great sound—it’s better than the camera, but still not great. What it offers is a microphone jack. Plug in a high-quality microphone and you’ll finally have awesome sound. (Not recommended while skydiving.)

Handlebar/seatpost/pole mount for $40: This is my favorite mount for mountain biking, but it’ll also work on ski poles and any other round object you want to clamp it to.

Motorcycle accessory bundle for $50: If you ride, this mount for Insta360 cameras (Ace Pro, X5, etc.) is a must-have. It’s one of the most secure clamps I’ve ever used, almost as good as a bench vice.

Yallsame tripod mount for $10: Action cameras offer many ways to mount them, but one that’s curiously missing is the traditional quarter-inch tripod screw mount. The GoPro Hero 13 has one, but this three-pack of adapters solves the problem for the others.

Polarizer and ND filters: If you shoot around water, through glass, or in any other high-glare situation, a polarizing filter will help cut that glare. Neutral density (ND) filters hold back light to let you shoot at a wider aperture in bright light, helping to increase the amount of motion blur. Both are great additions to your action camera kit. If you have the Hero 13 Black you can get the new GoPro ND filter Four-Pack ($90), which automatically adjusts the camera settings when attached. This is huge since getting the shutter speed right with ND filters can take some trial and error. The GoPro ND filters handle all that for you. If you don’t have a HEro 13, I’ve tested and like DJI’s ND filter set for the Action 6 ($79). For older GoPros, I like Freewell’s polarizing and ND filters ($20). I suggest starting with an 8-stop ND or combo ND and polarizing filter.

Floaty for $35: Another one for the water shooters, but well worth the money since it’ll keep your GoPro from ending up at the bottom of the sea. I haven’t tried it, but here’s one for the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 ($20), and at the time of updating the Action 6 is so new there doesn’t see to be a case. I can confirm that the older case will work, but the buttons don’t quite line up and it’s a pain to use. Hopefully DJI will get out an updated version soon.

Selfie stick for $25: I’ve tested a lot of selfie sticks and they’re almost all fine, but I keep grabbing this Insta360 version when I head out the door. It’s lightweight, small enough to fit at the bottom of my bag, and it’s affordable. If you want to go big, this Insta360 Extended Edition Selfie Stick ($100) can imitate a low-flying drone, perfect for use in national parks and other places where drones are forbidden.

There is a particular kind of frustration that comes with owning a speaker that sounds genuinely brilliant indoors but cannot follow you outside without the quality falling off a cliff the moment you unplug it.

Most portable speakers solve the portability problem by quietly compromising on the thing that made you want a good speaker in the first place, leaving you with something that is fine for a garden or a weekend away but never quite sounds like it means it.