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More and more location-sharing apps have been caught selling your data to third parties. Here’s how to use the stuff built into your phone already.
I’ll never forget when my son, Ian, asked me where in Los Angeles I lived. I told him I couldn’t remember — it was 30 years ago, and I lived there for maybe six months. A few minutes later, he called and had the address. It was available for free to anyone on the internet […]
Stay ahead of bad weather with these top-rated apps and sites.
I’ll tell you how to access it, plus I’ll share some wild Haul deals.
I’ll walk through how it happened and what you can do to secure your info.
Booking a rental property for your next vacation? There’s a scam for that!
Breaking news and tips
Quick tech cleanup: Do this every 3 months
When was the last time you cleaned up your digital life? It’s not fun, but just a few minutes of physical and digital decluttering can work wonders. It boosts productivity, clears mental clutter and leaves you feeling like you’ve done something great. Ready? Let’s do this!
📲 Start with your phone
Quick fix: Look through your apps and delete any you’re not using anymore. If it’s been months, you’re not going to use it. While you’re at it, move apps you want to spend less time using from your phone’s home screen.
On iPhone: Swipe left to get past all your app screens and open the App Library. To delete an app, touch and hold the app’s icon > Delete App, then tap Delete to confirm.
On Android: Open the Google Play Store app, and tap your profile icon. Tap Manage apps & devices > Manage. Select the name of the app you want to delete, then tap Uninstall.
If you have more time: Tackle your photo collection or contacts. Do whichever is the messiest or most aggravating. Neither task is particularly pleasant, but you’ll feel enough satisfaction when you’re done to make up for that. Put in a good podcast (ahem, mine!) and get it done.
Bonus points: Sanitize your phone. You take it to the bathroom with you. Enough said.
📺 Tackle the TV
Quick fix: Dust! Too much junk in all those vents and ports can reduce your TV’s life, so give it a good wipe-down. Clean the back with your vacuum’s brush attachment or an air blower (on sale!). Be prepared to vacuum or sweep up all the dust after you’re done.
Bonus points: Clean the screen. Dust with a microfiber rag first, then very lightly buff away fingerprints. I take the easy route with TV wipes, but a rag with electronics cleaner works, too. It’s easy to use too much pressure standing directly in front of the TV cleaning, so go from the side for a lighter touch.
If you have more time: I once signed up for a free trial of an add-on channel to watch a movie I couldn’t find anywhere else. You can guess what happened. I never watched the movie, but I did pay for six months of Sundance. Time to take inventory of your streaming apps. I use the Rocket Money app* to do it for me.
💻 Finish up with your computer
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All bright and shiny
☀️ Hello, sunshine! Let’s brighten your day with a few little upgrades.
- I don’t like dark hallways and stairwells. These night-lights look nice and cost less than $10 for eight. Click the extra coupon!
- Guys and gals, bags under your eyes make you look older. Swipe on some gentle under-eye cream (44% off).
- Now, use some redness-banishing eye drops (8% off) so you’ll look like you got a great night’s sleep!
- Do you floss every day? Uh-huh, sure. A water flosser (40% off) is easier and keeps your teeth sparkling.
- White taper candles with no smell ($15 for 20) are my go-to for dinnertime.
Just in case you need it: A bestselling ice and snow scraper to toss in the car. Stay safe!
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
You can count on me: The next time you need to do a simple calculation, type it directly into your browser’s address bar and hit Enter. You can do the same with the search bar in Windows or Mac’s Spotlight Search.
❤️ A father’s love: An IT director in Toronto called corporate life quits after doctors told him his son had an ultra-rare neurodegenerative disease with no cure. They said his boy would be paralyzed from the waist down by age 10 and quadriplegic by 20. Dad liquidated his savings and teamed up with researchers working on a promising gene therapy. Years later, his son received the treatment and can now stand up. So wonderful.
Face control on Chromebooks
This is incredible: Google’s new AI feature lets people control Chromebooks using only head and mouth movements. It’ll allow folks with motor impairments to move a cursor, select options and write type emails via text-to-speech. See it in action. So cool.
Can you read cursive?
If so, the National Archives wants your help! They need volunteers to transcribe 300 million historical items.
✈️ Aisle be waiting at the airport: You can now pay for a JetBlue flight using Venmo. They’re the first airline to offer it, and I bet others will follow. Why the change? JetBlue’s in the red, reporting hundreds of millions in losses. Reminder, if you’re booking secret travel, all your purchases on Venmo are public unless you take these steps.
$620,000
The new max pay for Walmart’s regional store managers. Quite the raise from last year’s $570,000 cap. That’s thanks to bigger bonuses and stock grants. Even on the lower end of the pay spectrum, you’re looking at $420,000, a boost from $320,000. Now, that’s if you snag your full bonus, but it, too, is also rising from 90% of base pay to 100%.
Delete your name from the internet
One guy found his private info online and became a target for romance scams. Only one thing worked to remove it. Plus, Venmo for flights, Comcast’s $70 sports streaming plan, and #StickNation — yes, picking up sticks is a trend!
📵 Phones and showers don’t mix: It’s a recipe for black mold. All that steam is a breeding ground for spores inside your case. Plus, it messes with your phone’s internal components — even waterproof ones. If you need your shower karaoke time, use a Bluetooth speaker. I found one that’s 20% off ($40).
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
Dear Kim: Thomas wrote in to ask me for the “best VPN that doesn’t slow down my Wi-Fi connection.” Hey, that’s ExpressVPN! Most of the time, I forget it’s turned on, which is high praise, really! Some VPNs slow you down to a crawl. Use my link for an extra four months free.
Your smart assistant is listening
Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant — they’re always listening, even when you think they’re not.
Fountain of youth: Retro Biosciences is developing a set of proteins that could turn back the clock on human skin cells. Their goal? To add 10 years to your life. Their work is powered by ChatGPT GPT-4b micro, an AI model created by OpenAI. They didn’t sign a big deal, but OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has already invested $180 million of his own money into Retro Biosciences.
How this wildfire victim reunited with his dog
‘Can you tape that?’ Phrases tech has killed off
I’m sure you remember this: “You hang up first.” “No, you hang up first.” Not quite as romantic when you fumble for the “End call” button on your iPhone, eh? As times change and our tech changes, so, too, do the phrases we use.
🥵 It’s all over social media: Heating pads, space heaters and electric fireplaces are leaving people with toasted skin syndrome caused by too much heat exposure. It looks like a lacey spotted rash and could take months or years to go away, if ever. Have it? See your doctor ASAP.
5 cool ways to use your home network (beyond getting online)
When you connect your gadgets to the same Wi-Fi network, you’re not just getting them online; you’re building a system so they can communicate with each other. You don’t need to be a tech wizard — just follow the steps below:
Tina Turner – Hot for You Baby
🎶 You’re simply the best: Tina Turner passed away in 2023, but a new song has been released with the 40th-anniversary edition of “Private Dancer.” The “lost” tune, “Hot for You Baby,” was cut from the original tracklist. Critics say it’s meh, but I think it’s classic Tina Turner and those amazing legs of hers! Take a listen and see what you think.
11 years
Added to your life just by doing chores. Every time you do yard work, take the stairs or vacuum up dust bunnies, you’re boosting your metabolism and increasing your life expectancy. Tell your kids this next time they “forget” to clean their rooms.
Big promises, no results: There are some big opinions on Meta ditching its fact-checking program, but here’s the joke: It didn’t work in the first place. An analysis found only 14% of posts pushing foreign enemy state narratives were flagged as false on Meta. The new plan of action? Community notes … because that’s totally working out for X.