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Say goodbye to your passport stamps (and hello to fingerprint checkpoints)
I love looking through the stamps in my passport. It’s proof that yes, I really did spend three hours at Charles de Gaulle waiting for my lost luggage.
Sad news. Europe’s pulling the plug on those little inked-up souvenirs and going high-tech.
Starting Oct. 12, 2025, when you enter the Schengen Area, you’ll face the new Entry/Exit System (EES), a fancy name for biometric border control. Instead of a stamp and a friendly “bonjour,” you’ll head to a kiosk where your face and fingerprints will be scanned, and your entry digitally logged into a giant EU database.
Yup, it’s basically like checking into the world’s fanciest club, except instead of bottle service, you’re getting your digital identity recorded for up to three years.
🏙️ Smile, it’s border time
This is important if you’re flying into popular European spots like France, Germany, Italy or Spain after mid-October. You’ll need to build in extra time to make a connecting flight.
You see, under the new system, you’ll need to do the full scan, i.e., passport, face, fingers and all. And here’s the sad kicker: no more passport stamps. That’s right.
Once the system fully rolls out in April 2026, border agents won’t stamp your passport, even if you ask nicely.
🚊 Not just in airports
Planning to take the Eurostar from London to Paris? Driving through the English Channel? Biometric border processing will be there, too.
Even if you’re coming in by ferry from the U.K., you’ll be scanned. The EU isn’t playing around with this digital gatekeeping.
📱 Back to the States?
Gadgets that slap
📺 My pick: INSIGNIA 32” Smart Fire TV (38% off)
Perfect for small bedrooms, dorms and kitchens. Alexa even takes the “lost remote” excuse off the table.
🎧 Over-ear headphones (37% off): A 65-hour battery keeps your podcasts rolling for days. 4.5 stars and 29K+ reviews.
🔊 Portable Bluetooth speaker (15% off): Waterproof, wireless and loud enough to turn anywhere into a dance floor.
💿 Leather CD player (15% off): Dust off those old discs. This plays your old CDs and pairs with Bluetooth.
🔌 Tower power strip (20% off): Eight outlets + five USB ports = one neat tower that finally ends desk chaos.
🛒 Crank up your cart: I rounded up 25 more great gadgets over on my Amazon storefront. Go give yourself a treat.
We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.
The great digital purge is upon us
When was the last time you logged into that old Gmail account or your photo storage app? If it’s been a while, don’t be shocked if all your stuff is gone for good.
Most tech companies have policies that let them totally wipe out your account and everything in it if you haven’t signed in for a while. This could mean losing years of family photos, important emails and priceless memories. Yeah, that’s bad.
Add another Touch ID on iPad: Set up a second finger for easier unlocking. Go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Fingerprints > Add a fingerprint. Bonus: Scroll down to Allow Access When Locked and turn off Control Center, so a thief can’t put your iPad in Airplane Mode. Nice one, right?
♣️ Google laid its AI cards on the table: Google quietly dropped limits for Gemini. Free users get five prompts per day, 100 images per month and five long-form deep dives. The Gemini Advanced (Ultra 1.5) plan runs $19.99/month and bumps you up to 500 prompts per day, 1,000 images per month and daily high-powered file analysis using Gemini in Gmail, Docs and more.
The Costco gold bar scam
Gold prices are soaring and scammers are cashing in. Learn how fake FTC callers are tricking people into buying gold bars worth thousands. Here’s how to spot the warning signs and protect your money before you become the next victim.
$1.5 billion
The biggest copyright payout ever, courtesy of Anthropic. That’s more than some publishers make in a year, and all because Claude was caught with its hand in the pirate library cookie jar. Guess plagiarism does pay, just not in the way Anthropic hoped. If your book was in Anthropic’s pirated dataset, you’re automatically in the settlement class, with attorneys filing the full ~500,000-title list by Oct. 10.
⚙️ Chrome has its own Task manager: Just like Windows, Chrome lets you check which tabs are hogging system resources. Go to the three-dot menu (top right) > More Tools > Task manager. You’ll see Memory and CPU use for each tab. If one’s eating up too much, select it and hit End task.
Turn AI into your personal assistant
Imagine a 24/7 digital assistant that never sleeps. AI can break down contracts, create presentations, summarize data, draft posts, and write Zoom follow-up emails. Here’s how to make AI your ultimate work sidekick.
New mental illness alert: Just passing this along. Doctors are seeing a rise in “AI delusions,” people breaking down after endless chats with bots that never disagree. Not schizophrenia, but not nothing. Experts warn this could mark a brand-new disorder. Imaginary friends? Now they charge $20/month.
Squeaky clean steals
💦 My pick: Wet spray mop (17% off)
Forget lugging around a bucket. This mop works on wood, tile, laminate … basically, if you walk on it, it’s good to go.
🏠 Front door mat (17% off): Stop dirt at the door. Built tough for rain, snow and messy shoes.
🪰 Indoor fly trap (32% off, two-pack): Ditch the messy flypaper. Plug these in, and they’ll handle little invaders.
💚 Mesh screen cleaner (10% off): Finally, a way to clean dusty window screens without pulling them out.
✨ Microfiber cleaning cloth (47% off): Just add water, and watch your glass and mirrors shine.
🧽 Scrub the rest: More handpicked goodies that make your home spotless are waiting for you on my Amazon storefront.
We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.
Bluetooth is spying on you right now
Think Bluetooth is harmless? Think again. George, your AI host, explains how apps secretly use Bluetooth to track your movements and how to shut it down on iPhone and Android.
George will also tell you about a lawyer suing Meta, new webcam malware, AI fantasy football, Gen Z’s wired headphone comeback, AI musicians landing record deals. Plus: quick device hacks for Gmail, Apple Watch, Chrome, Fire Stick, and iPhone charging.
Charlie Chaplin’s in theaters after 100 years
Charlie Chaplin famously rereleased his 1925 silent classic The Gold Rush in 1942 with new narration and edits, believing it would connect better with modern audiences. Now, thanks to film archivists and AI, the silent masterpiece has been painstakingly restored. The 4K version just premiered at Cannes and hit 250 theaters worldwide.
💰 Zuck’s $250M hire: Meta just signed a 24-year-old AI researcher to a $250 million four-year deal (paywall link). That’s more than Steph Curry makes to play basketball. Oppenheimer, the guy who made the atomic bomb, made about $150K a year in today’s money. This “spend big, forget profits” vibe feels straight out of the dot-com bubble.
⏱️ Every five seconds, someone’s identity is stolen. Don’t let it be yours. I trust NordProtect for real protection and real alerts. No gimmicks, just results. Get 65% off now while you still can. I switched from LifeLock and saved a ton of money!
Scammers threatened to murder my dad
Lauren from San Francisco got a call that would terrify anyone: her dad crying as a man saying he’d be killed. Only… it wasn’t her dad on the line. Plus: Google dodges a breakup, Amazon cuts perks, and an AirTag leads to a thief caught in stolen clothes.
Host smarter for under $50
🫙 My pick: Electric mason jar vacuum sealer (10% off)
Forget pricey food-savers. Press one button, and boom, it seals tighter than your grandma’s Tupperware lid.
🧊 Collapsible cooler bag (23% off): Holds up to 60 cans. Perfect for tailgating or when you’re “just grabbing a few things” from the store.
🍳 Square grill pan (8% off): No griddle? No prob. This pan has high ridges to give you those steakhouse-quality grill marks.
🍗 Chicken shredder tool (6% off): Saves you 10 minutes of wrestling with forks. Just twist, shred and you’re all done.
🎉 Elastic tablecloth (43% off, two-pack): Turns your folding table from “garage sale” to “fancy party.” Toss it in the wash, reuse, repeat.
😋 These are just the starters: Head to my Amazon shop for 35 more gadgets I handpicked to make cooking and hosting way easier.
We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.
🔋 Find power-hungry apps on your phone: On iPhone, go to Settings > Battery and check the Activity chart and Battery Usage by App. On Android, open Settings > Battery > Battery Usage to see the app list. Once you track down the main culprits, cut down their background refresh, notifications or sync times.
Grok and ye shall find (malicious links!): Scammers have figured out how to trick X’s Grok AI into sharing dangerous links by hiding them in places the system overlooks, making those links look “trusted” when they’re anything but. Some posts have racked up millions of views, which means bad actors get a megaphone straight to your feed. PSA: Never click blindly, even if Grok hands you the link on a silver platter.