An IT director from 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 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.
Why you need a second phone number
I have a second number on my phone. You should, too.
Your main number? Keep that locked down for the important stuff — your bank, doctor’s office and family. But when you’re ordering takeout, signing up for a one-time deal or making an online purchase, why give out your real number?
That’s where a second number comes in. It keeps your personal line free from spam, telemarketers and who-knows-who selling your info.
Why have one?
🔹 For privacy – Meeting new people? Selling something online? A second number keeps strangers from having your real one. It’s especially useful for dating apps or marketplace transactions.
🔹 For work-life balance – Some people reserve an extra number just for business calls or VIP contacts. This way, when you turn it off, work stays at work.
How do you get a second number?
You don’t need a second phone to get a second number. Here are the easiest ways to set one up:
📱 App-based services – Virtual phone number apps are affordable, easy to manage and don’t require a separate SIM card.
- Google Voice – Free with a Google account. You get a U.S. number, and calls can go straight to voicemail when you activate Do Not Disturb. Works internationally for Wi-Fi calling to U.S. numbers.
- Burner – Lets you create and swap numbers as needed. Plans start at $10/month, and you can manage multiple lines. It’s mobile only.
- Hushed – Purchase temporary or long-term numbers. Plans start at around $7/month for pay-as-you-go or $5/month for unlimited talk and text. Available on mobile only.
📡 Carrier add-ons – Verizon, for example, lets you add an extra number to your existing plan for around $10/month.
What do I use? Google Voice.
Gold grifters: The people behind a massive new scam operation
Jingming Pan on Unsplash
Yash Shah never thought he’d end up in jail. By his own account, he was just a “normal person” trying to make ends meet. Pick up a package, drop it off. Easy money.
But that “easy money” landed him in a detention center, facing charges for his alleged role in one of the fastest-growing criminal operations in America, which racked up $126 million in losses last year alone. I’m talking about gold bar scams.
Teach Alexa your voice: I had Barry do this because she only understood me. In the Alexa app, go to More > Settings > Your Profile & Family > Your Profile > Add Your Voice. Ahem, Alexa likes me better.
♥️ Kindness goes viral: I love this. Lisa Aamot and her family are very close with their elderly neighbors, Fred and Evy. Recently, Lisa recorded her 4-year-old daughter, Sutton, walking to their house to borrow some maple syrup. Surprisingly, Fred, who’s usually relaxing in his chair, answered the door. The video has touched over 4 million hearts on TikTok.
$11.99
Monthly price for Amazon Music Unlimited after the latest $1 hike. The Family Plan went up $3 to $19.99 a month, or $199 a year. Sick of paying an arm and a leg for subscriptions? No kidding, the first time I logged into Rocket Money, it saved me $360.
📵 Kids glued to their phones? Pick a day or time for the whole family to unplug and spend time together. Download my kids’ tech contract for them to sign and hang it on the fridge as a reminder.
📱TikTok’s parental controls: In a total PR move and after seven years in the U.S., the app is rolling out Family Pairing tools. You can block access at certain times and check who’s following your teens. There’s a new “Time Away” feature to set a schedule and a “wind down” option for bedtime. Why now? It’s looking at a sale or ban next month, silly.
Tech-free zones: A friend of mine started making “screen-free areas” in their house, like the kitchen and dining table. Genius. The kids get a break from screens, their eyes get a rest, and family time actually feels like family time again.
Picture in picture: You’re at your sister’s house and she’s bringing out the old family photos. There’s a better solution than scanning them or taking a crappy photo of them. PhotoScan by Google Photos is free and gives you a high-res digital copy without that weird glare.
🍸 Shaken, not stirred: The Broccoli family has produced every James Bond film since 1962. In 2022, they sold the rights to Amazon for $8.5 billion (as part of the MGM acquisition). After years of power struggles, Amazon now has creative control and hopefully we’ll see a new James Bond soon. Speaking of … Where do James Bond actors go when they die? 00Heaven. (So good!)
📺 Did Netflix cross a line? If you’ve seen “American Murder: Gabby Petito,” you heard Gabby reading her journals and texts. The filmmakers actually used AI to clone the murder victim’s voice. They say her family approved, but some are calling it “monstrous” to tell her story this way. What do you think?
📅 Who needs to go where? A shared Google Calendar is a smart way to keep track of everything you, your spouse and the kids have going on. Just click the + (plus icon) under Other calendars at the bottom left. Choose Create new calendar and fill in the details. Then, hit the three dots next to your new calendar and select Settings and sharing. Scroll until you see Share with specific people. Add your family’s email addresses and click Send when you’re all set.
📖 Storytime: Create a shared e-book library for your whole family to enjoy. On Kindle, head to Menu > Settings > Household & Family Library > Add a New Person > Add Adult or Child (click here for parental controls info). Hit Next, tap Done and you’re all set.
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New font, who dis? Change your Kindle’s font to match your book’s vibe. Look for the toolbar (top of the screen) and hit the Aa icon. Select Font > Font Family and pick the style you want.
👨👩👧👦 Chosen family: This number surprised me: About 27% of folks are estranged from their families. So sad. Enter the 11,000-member Facebook group Surrogate Grandparents USA. Donna Skora, a retired paralegal in Florida, started it in 2015. Folks can post ads or respond to others’ requests for surrogate grandparents. It’s helped people like Karen Tautges Malinak, a goat farmer in Minnesota who’s lost touch with her daughters.
Swatting spree: You’re sitting at home when the SWAT team rushes in, convinced someone inside just committed murder and has explosives set up. A 23-year-old in Wisconsin, along with another guy, hacked into the family’s Ring camera and called the cops with that story. Once police arrived, they livestreamed it all. One of them is already serving 17 years in prison. If you have a Ring camera, turn on 2FA.
🚨 A new AI-based hoax: Don’t fall for a news video claiming you’re wanted for a crime. These videos look real, complete with legitimate branding like CNN logos, on-screen text describing the incident with your name and an AI newsreader reporting it. The scammers threaten to share it with your friends and family unless you pay up.
Keep calm and robot on: This is something. OpenAI’s new Operator AI agent is like having a real personal assistant. Prompt it with something like, “Find me a family-friendly campsite at Joshua Tree this weekend,” and it’ll look up options, select dates, check pricing and even book it for you if you give the OK. Right now, it’s only available with ChatGPT Pro accounts ($200 per month). I’m going to try it next week when I have a spare moment.
30%
Increase for the Microsoft 365 family subscription, up to $130 a year. The personal (individual) subscription is getting bumped up to $100 annually. You can blame the snazzy new AI tools for the increase. Just because I care, here are seven free Word options to use instead.