from JPT Group | September 2025 | Vol. 18 No. 9
It’s Criminal
Please note: This article was prepared long before the Charlie Kirk shooting.
With crime very much in the news these days, the Tearsheet thought we might take a look at how crime and technology have begun to overlap in areas such as digital forensics and surveillance.
According to the National Institute of Justice, digital forensics has become crucial in solving crimes. From cyber offenses to traditional crimes with digital elements, such as fraud or harassment, the ability to extract data from computers, smartphones and online accounts allows investigators to trace criminal activities with greater precision.
Surveillance technology, such as security cameras, drones and facial recognition software, has expanded significantly the capabilities of law enforcement agencies. These tools provide real-time monitoring and have become critical in gathering evidence. The bad news is that their use raises significant privacy and civil liberties concerns.
On the one hand, prosecutors now rely on digital evidence to build stronger cases against defendants while defense attorneys must develop strategies to challenge the authenticity and admissibility of such evidence. How that evidence is gathered plays a major role in many trials – criminal and civil.
With the proliferation of editing technology – not to mention AI – the ability to manipulate digital assets far exceeds clear and present danger. As all of it proceeds at lightning speed, the Federal Rules of Evidence in the United States struggles mightily to keep pace.
Although it varies greatly depending on the jurisdiction, one major benefit to all parties is the willingness of many courts to allow proceedings to be held online with attorneys – prosecutors as well as defense attorneys – judges, defendants and all litigants to participate remotely via Zoom-like technology. Even the Supreme Court of the United States has livestreamed its oral arguments since 2010. Conversely, proceedings involving access to sensitive records like those in divorce, child custody, or some criminal cases is typically restricted.
The days of Perry Mason have been relegated to late-night TV and YouTube.
“Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off.”
— Bill Veeck, American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter
BUSINESS UPDATE
IKEA Is Opening Mini-Stores in Best Buys
For the first time since its 1943 debut, Swedish furniture giant IKEA will let shoppers buy its products somewhere other than its own stores or online. IKEA is stepping out of its massive blue-box comfort zone to experiment in 10 stores in Florida and Texas this fall — specifically, inside Best Buy locations. Starting this fall, small IKEA shops (think 1,000 square feet, not 300,000) will open in 10 Best Buy stores across Florida and Texas.
— Fast Company
Weather You Like it or Not
If it’s not snow and ice in the winter, it’s heat and humidity (and sometimes tornadoes) in the summer… and everything else in between. It’s the weather. It’s something we live with on a daily basis.
Thanks to the National Weather Service (NWS), we have a pretty good idea of what our days will be like (sometimes)… but not always.
The Washington Post looked into the NWS and made some interesting discoveries. According to the Post, allowing for duration and location, “overall, short-term forecasts are highly reliable.” The Post claims that five-day forecasts for temperature are correct (within three degrees) about 90 percent of the time.
Precipitation (rain and snow) forecasts are harder to predict accurately, especially beyond three days. Due to their inherent volatility, severe weather can be predicted much more reliably only on a short-term basis. A far cry from when the earliest 19th Century weather reports were classified only as “probabilities” and the agency prohibited using the word “tornado” in its reports until 1938 to minimize “inciting panic.” Poor Dorothy.
In the final analysis, the NWS has improved considerably since its inception as part of the U.S. Signal Service in 1870. Widespread use of satellites, radar and ground-based weather stations have vastly improved the NWS’s data gathering capabilities. And it’s that data from which weather forecasts are produced.
“Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it.”
— Mark Twain, an American writer, humorist and essayist
KEEPERS
The high cost of living (and renting) in New York City is often a topic of conversation. And for good reason. According to the Morning Brew, Manhattan’s residential rental vacancy rate stood at 2.45 percent in July — which is near all-time low levels — while the median rent stands at an all-time high of $4,700 per month. And that’s the median. Yet, commentators bemoan the housing shortage in the Big Apple.
But wait! Real estate developers to the rescue! Bloomberg reports that, in the last four quarters, real estate developers have filed 28 permits for 99-unit buildings, more than double the number from the previous 16 years combined. Why 99 and not 100 (or 100+)? Well, a new NYC rule requires developers to pay workers higher wages for buildings with 100 apartment units or more. So, they’re constructing apartments with exactly 99 units. And those aren’t bottles of beer on the wall.
Feeling lucky? Seven (7) is the world’s favorite number.
— QI
Loose lips… A majority of employees have shared sensitive company information with a language learning model (LLM) like ChatGPT or CoPilot.
— SecurityInfoWatch
Ironic, isn’t it. Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural marvel “Fallingwater” is going to require $7 million in renovations due to “leaking.”
— Washington Post
Phony feeling. A 19-year-old Chinese college student has become paralyzed due in part to prolonged time spent looking down at his phone.
— odditycentral.com
The King and AI. A humanoid robot has painted a portrait of the UK’s King Charles.
— skynews.com
Seeing red. Redhead Days in Tilburg, Netherlands is an annual festival recognizing thousands of redheads from 80 countries from around the world.
— AP News
In hot water. Jacuzzi was originally a brand name of hot tubs. Today it is used to describe any hot tub.
— Mental Floss
Not very effective. At 18.6 percent, one of the books that go unfinished most often is “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”
— Goodreads
You say tomato, I say… More than 20,000 tourists trekked to Buñol, Spain recently for the 80th “Tomatina” festival where participants throw 120 tons of tomatoes at each other.
— Morning Brew
The Month of September
Month of the Month
We share your concern. September is Histiocytosis Awareness and Craniofacial Acceptance Month. At the risk of clouding the issue, it’s also National Mushroom Month. Actually, we just wanted to throw some light on World Candle Month.
Take note. Today – September 15 – is International Dot Day as well as National 8-Track Tape Day. Not to reverse a trend, but it’s also National Day of The Cowgirl.
Question of the Month
According to the American Kennel Club, what are the top five most popular dog breeds in the U.S.?
Point of reference: The top five haven’t changed since 2022.
Quote of the Month
“What are we to do about an invention (the internet) whose end result is that starving people in China are looking up things on marthastewart.com?”
— Douglas Coupland, Canadian novelist, designer and visual artist
Get a Headstart
If you have ever thought about including a newsletter in your marketing communications toolkit, before you begin, download our free digital booklet – Getting Started with Your Newsletter – to get some basic questions answered as well as a little inspiration to nudge you forward. Be sure to check out “Something Special” at the end. Download your copy.
A Gridiron MBA?
Maybe that’s not possible, but there is much you can learn about business from football in the book, Hard Hitting Lessons. The subtitle says it all, “Some not-so-obvious business lessons learned from playing football.”
Get your copy here!
