May 28, 2025
People are glued on YouTube, watching planes land at LAX

People are glued on YouTube, watching planes land at LAX

Move over, cat videos and cooking hacks, there’s a new YouTube obsession, and it’s planes landing at LAX. No, really. I thought you’d find it interesting that a channel called Airline Videos Live is racking up millions of views pointing a camera at the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.  It’s exactly what it sounds […]

May 27, 2025
Meetings now come with surveillance

Meetings now come with surveillance

It doesn’t bother me anymore, but it used to. Maybe it’s happened to you. You’re in a Zoom call, wearing pajama bottoms, and someone casually says, “Oh, my AI assistant is taking notes of everything everyone is saying.” Wait, what?! There’s a digital stenographer silently documenting every sigh, awkward pause and half-baked idea you mutter? […]

May 26, 2025
Honor their service: How to get official military records

Honor their service: How to get official military records

If you’ve ever lost someone who served, or even just want to understand your family better, listen to this. I was poking around online, and I found my dad’s actual WWII draft card application. His name, his handwriting, his signature, where he lived. It was all there. I didn’t expect to get so emotional, but […]

May 22, 2025
Location tracking: Your unsolicited life memoir

Location tracking: Your unsolicited life memoir

Think you’re off the grid? Think again. Your phone is basically a chatty little informant. While you were living your life, grabbing coffee, sneaking off for that totally relaxing solo cabin trip, it was logging every move like a nosy aunt with a snooping addiction.  It’s all tucked inside a setting most people have never […]

May 20, 2025
Hackers want you to make this mistake

Hackers want you to make this mistake

If you’re about to take a flight, pause for one hot second before you slide your phone into that shiny airport USB port. Both the FBI and FTC are waving red flags: Public charging stations can be straight-up hacker bait.  The scam has a name, juice jacking, and no, it’s not a new energy drink. […]

May 16, 2025
10 true tech stories you can stream right now

10 true tech stories you can stream right now

I’m way more into movies based on true stories. Real people, real drama, that’s my kind of thing. You can keep the wizards and aliens. Give me a story where something unbelievable actually happened.  I put together this list for you as proof that tech isn’t just lines of code or shiny gadgets. It’s ambition, […]

May 15, 2025
Scam in the skies

Scam in the skies

I am hearing more and more reports about a certain travel scam that is not making the tech sites or mainstream news.  A “travel agent” or travel site selling fake plane tickets. You pay real cash for a flight that doesn’t actually exist, like booking a table at a restaurant that burned down in 2006.  […]

May 14, 2025
This is worse than spam calls

This is worse than spam calls

Most people have never heard of companies like Mobilewalla or Gravy Analytics, but they know you.  The FTC just clamped down on these two for secretly vacuuming up people’s real-time location data without consent. Not just estimated neighborhoods or passing GPS flickers.  We’re talking exact coordinates, tied to your phone’s unique ID, showing where you […]

May 13, 2025
Who’s watching your phone?

Who’s watching your phone?

I’ve been hearing lately from more and more people who believe they’re being watched or listened to through their phones. Whether it’s an ex, a snooping spouse or someone with too much time and too little ethics, digital stalking is real and it’s sneaky.  If your gut is telling you something’s off, don’t brush it […]

May 11, 2025
The photos you forgot you took, and where to find them

The photos you forgot you took, and where to find them

The other day, I was digging through a drawer (you know the one: cables, old remotes, mystery chargers … where old gadgets go to die), and I came across an old SD card. No label. Just a little piece of forgotten tech from another time. Curious, I popped it into my computer. After a few […]

May 10, 2025
Reset your social media algorithms

Reset your social media algorithms

Ever scroll through Instagram or Facebook and wonder, Why am I still seeing goat yoga videos and political or family drama from 2009? Our social media feeds are Frankenstein monsters built from everything we’ve clicked on, liked, hovered over or even winced at for half a second.  Good news: You can hit the big, shiny […]

May 7, 2025
Hidden folders: The secret hoarders of your phone

Hidden folders: The secret hoarders of your phone

You deleted that weird photo of your ex’s mom from your vacation three summers ago … or did you? Hidden folders on your phone are holding your “deleted” pictures and videos hostage, quietly clogging your storage and embarrassing you long past their expiration date.  Time to go folder spelunking and clear out these digital cobwebs.  […]

May 4, 2025
Your phone has a death date

Your phone has a death date

Your phone is dying as you’re reading this. Many people don’t realize that, like milk, condoms or your favorite hot sauce that’s been in the fridge since 2018, your phone has an expiration date.   Here are the average lifespans for some of today’s most popular phone brands and makes: To be clear: These are averages. […]

May 3, 2025
Digital self-destruction for fun and paranoia

Digital self-destruction for fun and paranoia

How to make any USB drive self-destruct  “Kim, I’m paranoid about losing my USB drive. Is there any way to make it so if someone steals it, they can’t see or open anything?” — Dave in Denver Dave, losing a USB drive isn’t just annoying. It’s the secret nightmare of anyone who’s ever stored files […]

May 2, 2025
Tech we thought was the future

Tech we thought was the future

It’s Friday, and I’m feeling a little nostalgic. Let’s take a fun walk down memory lane back when our gadgets were clunky, slow and somehow magical. Remember when flipping your phone shut made you feel like a movie star? Or hearing the sound of a modem? Good times. Take a look at this list and […]

May 1, 2025
Grandma got played, but not by bingo

Grandma got played, but not by bingo

Let me tell you a true story that’ll shake you and hopefully protect someone you love from heartbreak or a well-rehearsed scam call. It happened to a 90-year-old grandmother in Nashville. She picked up the phone because that’s what she’s always done. On the other end was a young woman, her voice trembling, the connection […]

April 29, 2025
How the Vatican is locking down the conclave

How the Vatican is locking down the conclave

You think keeping a secret in today’s world is tough? Try running one of the most important elections on the planet while dodging drones, AI surveillance and a smartphone in every pocket. When Pope Francis passed away, the Vatican went into immediate lockdown mode to protect the conclave, the centuries-old process where cardinals vote to […]

April 28, 2025
AI isn’t optional anymore

AI isn’t optional anymore

Just last year, I had an IT pro on my team with over 20 years of experience. Smart guy. Talented. But when it came to AI, he dug in his heels. “It’s a fad,” he told me. “In two years, people will go back to Google and search the web. They won’t trust AI.”  Yeah, […]

April 26, 2025
Wi-Fi slow? It’s probably this

Wi-Fi slow? It’s probably this

You pay for high-speed internet, but your current connection is slower than your mom who took nine months to come up with a good joke. Something’s off, and no, it’s not Mercury in retrograde (this time).  Enter: DNS. 🧠 Wait, what’s DNS? DNS stands for Domain Name System. It’s like your computer’s address book. When […]

April 16, 2025
Romance scam victim faces 29 years in prison

Romance scam victim faces 29 years in prison

Jean lives in the Midwest. She’s smart. She’s done well for herself. The kind of woman you’d think could spot a scam a mile away. Btw, that’s not her picture. It’s what I envision her looking like after talking to her. But this fraud blindsided her, and four years later, it’s still haunting her. It […]