I don’t need a snowblower: At least, not in Phoenix. Seeing ads for crap you’re not into is annoying. On Facebook, filter your advertising topics by going to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Account Center > Ad Preferences > Customize ads. Easy.
🧠 Pick your personality: ChatGPT dropped a new feature on the web app that lets you change how it talks to you. Want sarcasm? Choose “Cynic.” Prefer nerdy enthusiasm? Go with “Sage.” To try it out, click your Profile icon, select Customize ChatGPT and choose your vibe under Personality.
📄 Let Gemini read your Docs: You can now listen to your Docs and even customize the voice and playback speed. Just go to Tools > Audio > Listen to this tab. FYI: It only works for English documents on desktop and is limited to Workspace business, enterprise, education, AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.
Customize Windows 11 Start menu: Under Pinned apps, right-click anything you don’t need (like Disney+) and select Unpin from Start. To add an app, right-click its shortcut and choose Pin to Start. You can also drag apps to arrange them in any order you want or group them together.
Customize your Gmail inbox: By default, Gmail shows 1–50 conversations per page. The alternative? Go to Settings (top right) > See all settings > General > Maximum page size. Now pick between 10 and 100, scroll down and hit Save Changes.
🍏 Fix your Mac display: Screen looking too dark, too bright or just a bit off? Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Displays. Under Color profile, click Customize, then hit the + to launch Display Calibrator Assistant. You’ll be guided through adjustments like gamma and white point.
Edit your iPad Mail app menu: Want different options at the top of your emails? Tap the menu button in the top right corner and select Customize Toolbar. Drag functions down to remove them, or drag new ones up (like Mute sender). FYI: You can rearrange the icons from here, too.
📸 Fix the iPhone Photos app: Yep, the redesigned iOS 18 layout kinda stinks, but you can clean it up. Open the Photos app, scroll to the bottom and tap Customize & Reorder. Untick what you don’t need, then drag the rest into whatever order you want. Nice.
Resize iPhone apps: Want your Home Screen icons bigger or smaller? Long-press anywhere on the Home Screen, tap Edit (top left), then hit Customize. When the menu pops up, pick Small for compact icons or Large for bigger ones. FYI: The Large setting will hide the app names.
🔊 Customize Windows audio: You can control the volume of individual apps right from your task bar. Just right-click the volume icon and select Open Volume mixer. Slide it down for something like System Sounds, and bump it up for Spotify. FYI: The Device slider changes overall volume, but app levels stay put.
Pet against the machine: Got a smart vacuum? Set it to clean after your dog or cat’s most active times, like post-breakfast zoomies. Open the app and find the Schedule tab to customize it. If your vacuum has smart mapping, you can tell it to clean the rooms where your furry friend spends the most time.
📺 Make your own Netflix? Vimeo just launched a new tool that lets you build your own subscription-based streaming service (no coding required). Because clearly, what the internet needs is one more subscription service. You can offer tiered memberships, stream live events, sell merch and customize the whole thing. They say it’s to give us more control and cash instead of relying on the algorithm, but remember, Vimeo’s still taking their cut.
Don’t like how ChatGPT “talks”? Custom personalities are coming soon. Traits include “Chatty,” “Skeptical” and “Forward-thinking.” Some already have these options available under “Customize ChatGPT.” I don’t yet, but you might!