Less mess, more yum

😋 Here’s your shortcut to faster meals and easier prep.

👩‍🍳 My kitchen faves: From the breadmaker I use to the nontoxic cookware, check them out here.

Never lose your friends again

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Separated in the crowd? Drop a pin in Google Maps and share your live location. Here’s how.

🤖 You’ve got a friend in me: AI leaders like Musk, Zuckerberg and Microsoft are pushing bots as personalized friends (paywall link) to combat loneliness, but more importantly, for user engagement and data tracking. AI companions are constantly being tweaked with just enough bias to keep you loyal, as seen with Musk’s Grok being “retrained” after backlash for leaning too liberal. 

6 hours

Per day with family. That’s part of a scientific formula for the perfect day (paywall link). You should also spend two hours with friends, two hours exercising and one hour eating and drinking. Work? Keep it under six hours, and screen time under one. It might not be realistic, but hey, life’s supposed to be about balance, right?

🔴 Go live, privately: Instagram lets you livestream just to your close friends instead of all your followers. Tap the + button, choose Live, then select Share with Close Friends and start broadcasting. You can add up to three pals. Want to tweak your list? Head to More (three lines) > Settings > Who can see your content > Close Friends.

Prep and pour under $50

Must-have, helpful stuff at great prices? Yes, please.

  • Keep your leftovers fresh with glass containers (15% off). I ditched plastic ones.
  • A portable oven (58% off) is perfect for picnics and road trips.
  • A countertop ice maker (29% off) is essential.
  • An electric wine opener ($30) makes happy hour happier.
  • Easter’s almost here! Replace your bottles with new gel food coloring set (5% off).

🐱 For your furry friends: Snag a water and pet feeder combo ($30) or a stainless steel fountain (13% off) for a nice spring upgrade.

🧬 CRISPR takes on chromosomes: You’re gonna want to pass this one on. I sent this news to a few friends. Japanese scientists say they’ve successfully used CRISPR to remove the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome in lab-grown cells. It’s a major leap. Imagine if this was even possible!

💸 Avoid PayPal fees: Transferring money to friends or family? Pick Sending to a friend instead of Goods and Services to skip the fee. It works if you’re using a linked bank account or PayPal balance. FYI: There’s no buyer protection, so only use it with people you trust.

Deal with bullies: Your kid will run into rude or mean people online, especially in games or group chats. Show them how to mute or block the person. On Discord, they just need to right-click the bully’s name or profile and hit Block. Let them know it’s private and their other friends won’t know.

Thank-you texts are in: Millennials are making a habit of sending warm, heartfelt messages after hanging out with friends. Something like, “Had such a great time, so nice to see you!” Polite? Nope, just easing post-hangout anxiety about whether everyone had a good time. 

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: On Facebook, go to Settings > Privacy > “Who can look you up?” and lock it down to friends only.

🎶 Rockin’ votes: Planning a road trip? YouTube now lets your friends add and vote on songs in shared playlists. Here’s how to create one. Then, click the three-dot menu > Collaborate > toggle on Collaborators can add songs and videos. Hit Share to send the link to your pals. No arguing over who gets to DJ.

Solo Words With Friends: WWF (the puzzle game, not the pandas or wrestling) added a new solo game called Letter Lock. Slide letters up and down columns to make words and unlock more columns. It’s part puzzle, part productivity trap, and 100% designed to eat your break time.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: UWB = Ultra-Wideband. This tech powers super-precise location like AirTags knowing exactly which couch cushion your keys are under. Use that to impress your family and friends.

🍿 Sup, movie buffs: Wanna dish about your favorite films? Say hello to Letterboxd. It’s like Goodreads but for cinephiles. This free site lets you rate, review, keep a diary of your watch list, and even follow friends to see what they’re loving (or hate-watching). 

🛜 Cord-cutting: Not what you think. Since 2023, at least 11 undersea cables have gone dark from suspected Russian sabotage (paywall link). China’s linked to incidents near Taiwan, too. Both say “not me.” Over 95% of the world’s data travels via 500+ of these lines. Without them? We’d be back to the dial-up era. We’re one cable cut away from faxing memes to your friends.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Teens on Facebook? Meta’s on it: From the “What took you so long?” department. New teen accounts come with parental controls baked in, no setup fuss. Meta says you’ll get eyes on screen time, friends lists and they can’t message strangers or tweak privacy settings without your say-so. Yea, right. Just like when we didn’t use fake IDs.

Oh, this quote: Remember when Roblox’s CEO basically said, “If you can’t watch your kids, don’t let them play Roblox.” That was a PR disaster. So Roblox now lets parents block specific friends from their kid’s account. Basically the digital version of “I don’t like that kid, he’s a bad influence.” 

Calling fellow tricksters: I love a prank. Hit my list of April Fools’ tech tricks to make your friends and family laugh, groan and say, “How the heck did you do that?” Love the super slo-o-o-w Alexa.

About time: If your teen is using the AI chat app Character.AI, turn on  Parental Insights to get a weekly report showing how much time they spend on it, which bots they talk to and for how long. This comes after a heartbreaking case where a Florida mom said her 14-year-old son took his own life after forming a bond with a chatbot on the app. Bottom line: These AI friends aren’t always harmless.