Cheap ways to make your old tech better

Reading this on a 6-year-old iPhone 11? It’s well past the average smartphone lifespan of 2.5 years … and I’m impressed you’ve hung onto it this long. Btw, Apple typically provides iOS updates for five to six years after a model’s release. 

Upgrading your laptop or smartphone is inevitable. But wait before you throw out that clunky computer. Even when a piece of tech starts showing its age, you can give it a new lease on life.

Make room for vacation photos

Most modern phones don’t have memory card slots. Expand your cloud storage to offload photos, videos and other files to free up space. Use the option built to work with your phone.

Pro tip: If you and the family all use iPhones, share an iCloud+ account to save some money. I do this with Barry and Ian.

Playing the oldies

Want to get Spotify or Apple Music streaming around the house? You don’t have to invest in a set of pricey wireless speakers if you’re still rocking the older wired kind.

Add a Bluetooth adapter (like this Esinkin model), and those old speakers can play anything right from your phone or computer.

Wi-Fi from anywhere

Blast internet dead zones with a Wi-Fi extender like the Netgear EX6400. Way cheaper than buying a whole new router or mesh system, so if you’re having connectivity issues, it’s a good place to start.

Increase your TV’s IQ

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🖥️ Windows 11 update: Microsoft dropped an optional update packed with 38 changes. What’s new? Live captions and real-time translation for over 44 languages on Copilot+ PCs with AMD and Intel CPUs, plus a fix for random blue screen crashes. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Check for Updates > Download and install.

10 years

When Bill Gates says AI will replace most human jobs. Let that sink in. He thinks only jobs like coding, energy and biology will stick around. I don’t see being a Digital Goddess on that list. What about your career? Are you nervous? Let me know at the end when you rate the newsletter. Leave your email, so I can get in touch. 

30

Age of the world’s oldest cat, Millie. To celebrate three decades, her owner Leslie got a cake made with Millie’s face on it, complete with 30 candles. The secret to her long life? Lots of treats, cuddles on the sofa and Buxton water. Let’s purr-ty!

🐣 Not a practical yolk: Ever seen a chicken hatch from an open egg? A Japanese student actually pulled it off, and the video’s racking up thousands of upvotes on Reddit. The clip shows him cutting the egg open and injecting things into the embryo. After 21 days, a chick pops out. Strange but amazing. 

Microsoft Copilot’s getting smarter: Better late than never, I suppose. Look for two new deep reasoning agents in April. Researcher can dig through multiple sources and pull insights from third-party tools like Salesforce, while Analyst can turn messy data into clean spreadsheets. 

$207 million

Sale price for the infamous Napster. Yep, the same one that let people pirate music before getting shut down. Its new owner wants to turn it into a virtual 3D space where fans can attend concerts and listen to music together. I’m glad I don’t have my money wrapped up in this!

🚀 The Fram2 mission: I’m sure you’ll see news about this on March 31. Astronauts are going to orbit both the North and South Poles for the first time ever. The crew will fly in a SpaceX Dragon capsule and spend up to five days in space. Oh, and they’ll be taking the first-ever X-ray of a human body off-planet. 

🛒 AI add to cart: Amazon is testing “Interests AI,” so you can chat to find things instead of typing in the search bar. Check if you have it by opening the Amazon app > Me tab (person icon) and tapping Interests. Of course, that data will help train Alexa+ with generative AI. Never stops.

🎭 IRL dubbing: Imagine watching (and understanding!) a play in a foreign language. An off-Broadway theater in NYC is doing it with live AI translations for its longest-running play, Perfect Crime. Scan a QR code, pick from 60 languages and listen with your headphones. The cost to the theater? About $100 per hour. Something to consider if you’re live streaming a church service or something similar.

Trust your gut: Amelia Mandeville-Marinaro had just given birth when her husband, Pete, received a call from their “bank.” Yikes, their money was in danger, and they had to move it immediately. Amelia shared on TikTok (3.2 million views) that alarm bells were going off in her head the whole time. So many scammers out there. You gotta be on your toes!

🚨 It’s not from Apple: There’s a phishing text going around that claims your Apple ID was used to approve a transaction, usually with a dollar amount included. Don’t click the link or call the number. Real Apple account alerts come through iOS push notifications or official emails, never texts.

2 hours 

Into an Air France flight, the plane made a U-turn back to Paris. A passenger boarded the plane with his phone but somehow couldn’t find it anywhere during the flight. Phone batteries can start a fire, so airlines don’t take chances. My guess: He flushed it. That’s something we never said in the ’80s … “I lost my phone.”

$70

Total price of a $20 order on DoorDash. It’s not just delivery fees and tips. DoorDash now lets you split your bill into four payments with Klarna. Miss a payment? That’s a $7 late fee and maybe overdraft charges from your bank. The other day, I ordered DoorDash and got this message, “Jesus is on his way.” I thought, “He sure is!”

🎖️ The Army’s getting new gear: Wow, some troops carry over 80 pounds of equipment, including five separate radios. To lighten the load, they’re developing new tech like the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, goggles that combine night vision, navigation, targeting and heat sensing all in one. Because I can … What rank are all cats in the army? Corpurrrrrral. (Nice one!)

📺 Crystal clear binge: Got a Netflix Premium subscription? Look for HDR10+ on some shows and movies for a crisper, less muddy picture. Go to the Menu > Get Help > Video and hit HDR On. If you don’t see it, your device may not support it. Sorry.

Less than 50%

Of #ADHD TikTok videos talk about the real symptoms. Some overestimate how common ADHD is (33.8% vs. the actual 3% to 7%), and only 4% of the top 100 make it clear not everyone has the same symptoms. Go to your doc for a diagnosis, not the internet.

LinkedIn influencers? It’s not just for jobs anymore. People are sharing personal stories mixed with career advice, and it’s making them famous. Take April Little (paywall link). She wrote about layoffs, went viral and now has 260,000 followers and $150,000 in brand deals. A little shameless self-promotion: Share this with your friends on LinkedIn and tell ’em to sign up for my newsletter at GetKim.com. TY!

iPad cracks the case: London police just solved a six-year-old case after finding an iPad in the bottom of the Thames River. It led the forensics team to Amazon and eBay purchases used in an attempted murder plot. Three clowns are behind bars, pointing fingers at who threw the iPad in the water thinking it would be gone for good. Meanwhile, a ton of permanent facial recognition cameras just went up in London.

Dumb and dumber: Police are looking for four kids caught on camera following a bonehead viral TikTok trend. These troublemakers threw themselves against random garage doors to rack up likes and views. Homeowners are stuck paying thousands to fix the damage. Make sure your outside cams are working.