One quarantine benefit is that I’ve been spending a lot of time with my son, Ian. We walk daily to get in our 10,000 steps and just talk. Yesterday, he pulled up a vid (his generation says “vid,” not “video”) and I busted out laughing.

It’s a port-a-potty and a scooter. Proof-test: My mom and Barry laughed, too. Tap or click here to watch a truly clever funny prank.

In other news, it was a busy week for Google. For one, the tech giant made a couple of changes to the way Google Search works, now highlighting the information (it thinks) you’ll find most relevant on a webpage.

Google also rolled out video chapters to make it easier to find what you’re looking for on YouTube, and, for GSuite users, Google+ is back from the dead — sort of. We’ve got all the details on those changes here. But it’s not all good news.

Whose data is it anyway?

Last week, Arizona’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Google, and I’m sure the reason won’t come as a surprise. The lawsuit accuses Google of collecting location data and other info about its users, even when they thought they’d opted out.

I know, who would’ve thought? The lawsuit says Google is in violation of Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act. Below are a couple of fun excerpts:

“This case concerns Google’s widespread and systematic use of deceptive and unfair business practices to obtain information about the location of its users, including its users in Arizona, which Google then exploits to power its lucrative advertising business …”

“Arizona's investigation has revealed that Google's deceptive and unfair conduct extends well beyond its false Location History disclosure. Indeed, such acts and practices pervade Google's seemingly relentless drive to collect as much user location information as possible and make it exceedingly hard for users to understand what is going on with their location information, let alone opt out of this morass.”

Of course, Google says it’s done nothing wrong and is looking forward “to setting the record straight.” If you haven’t perused a good lawsuit in a while, here it is in its entirety.

But wait, there’s more!

A proposed class-action lawsuit filed earlier this week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California also revolves around user data and privacy. It accuses Google of tracking users even when their browsers are set to private, like when using Incognito Mode within the company’s own Chrome browser.

This lawsuit is seeking big bucks — $5 billion — from Google and its parent company, Alphabet. If it actually goes class-action, the suit could involve millions of Google users who could be eligible for $5,000 each. Don’t get too excited — the big word there is “could.”

Google says it’s innocent in this case, too, blaming websites you visit for collecting your data. Deflection at its finest.

💁‍♀️ When’s the last time you checked if you’re eligible for any class-action lawsuit payouts? Click this link, scroll down to “How to find class-action lawsuits you can benefit from,” and visit Consumer Action’s Class-action Database. You’re welcome.

Not quite done with the lawsuits

I know, this is getting crazy. There was another big lawsuit of note filed this week against the Internet Archive’s Open Library.

A brief history to bring you up to speed: A digital library that’s been around for nearly 15 years, Open Library lets users “borrow” e-books that have been scanned from physical copies. That part is important, because scanning books instead of obtaining the actual digital copies allows this library to circumvent having to worry about tedious licensing agreements with publishers.

In March, the service launched a National Emergency Library, which got rid of waitlists and made 1.3 million e-books available to download. Instead of the standard practice of loaning out one e-book to one user at a time, users could download whatever book was on the list with no restrictions.

That was the final straw for publishers. This week, Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House and Wiley banded together to sue the Internet Archive Open Library for copyright violations, basically calling the whole thing large-scale theft.

The Internet Archive calls the lawsuit “disappointing.”

💁‍♀️ Want to see what a website looked years and years ago or even last month? Wow, my hair was BIG in the ’90s. Click here to check out the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Fun times!

The COVID-19 pandemic has obviously been life-altering in big ways and small. Take online shopping, which was already huge before March. The coronavirus has changed shopping as we know it in ways that will continue long after the pandemic ends.

Salesforce Research surveyed 3,500 consumers about changes in their shopping behavior, and the numbers in the U.S. were particularly interesting.

One question asked what tech, practices and habits will be more quickly adopted because of the pandemic. On the list, you find things like autonomous vehicles, video conferencing and online learning.

But it’s the top three that are most interesting. The research says 2020 will vastly accelerate the adoption of:

The research found there’s even less in-store shopping than before and a stronger preference for e-commerce that’s expected to continue. And it’s not just about the usual stuff you buy on Amazon or other online retailers. Here’s another fun stat from the research:

That includes 57% of baby boomers. Check out more of these interactive stats here.

💁‍♀️ For all of you new to online shopping, try my secret weapon, Honey. Honey sponsors my radio show, but I’m only sharing this with you here because I love using this browser extension to save money. A couple clicks to install and then Honey does all the work to find you great coupon codes so you save big bucks. Get it at JoinHoney.com/Kim.

Last weekend, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully carried two astronauts to the International Space Station. What you might have missed is that there was actually a third passenger on the trip: A toy dinosaur named Tremor that sat next to the astronauts on their journey.

Both astronauts have sons interested in dinosaurs. They rounded up all of their dino toys and voted on their favorite to send on the trip. Tremor won. And the apatosaurus was there for a reason — to serve as a zero-gravity indicator. Once the dinosaur starts to float, the strapped-in astronauts know gravity is gone.

Bright dinosaurs clad with sequins tend to attract attention, and enough people noticed Tremor that they started looking for their own. Now, the $5 dinosaur from Ty’s Flippables collection is sold out just about everywhere.

You can find knockoffs of Tremor on Amazon and other sites, but instead of $5, you’ll be paying $20 or more. Guess they figure you’ll pay “astronomical” prices for a literal “skyrocketing” dinosaur toy.

💁‍♀️ And that’s not the only way some Amazon sellers are trying to get you to spend more. Check out the latest trick sellers are using to get around Amazon’s rules about price-gouging.

I don’t recognize that constellation

Days later, there was a second Falcon 9 launch, this time to put additional SpaceX Starlink satellites into orbit. These satellites are set to form a constellation that provides high-speed internet around the world, particularly in underserved areas.

On Wednesday, SpaceX put another 60 satellites into low orbit, bringing the current number up to 480. That sounds like a lot, right? Nope. SpaceX already has permission to launch a total of 12,000, but when all is said and done, that number could be closer to 42,000.

Amazon and Google have their own plans for internet satellites, too. It’s no surprise, because there’s going to be billions of dollars to be made in satellite internet — and there’s a lot of space to work with.

Forget about the Big Dipper. One day, all you’ll see are constellations of twinkling satellites that look like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook.

💁‍♀️ Since none of that trendy space internet is here yet, you’re stuck with your crappy service for a little longer. Lucky for you, there are easy ways to speed up your internet connection now.