Tag: home

The man who built America’s biggest camera network reportedly hides from it. Can Flock survive?

Flock’s cameras scan more than 20 billion license plates a month, and they’ve found kidnapped kids and closed murder cases. They’ve also tracked police officers’ ex-girlfriends, shown up in a Virginia woman’s front yard uninvited and nearly ended up on 350,000 Ubers. Now, 30-plus cities have pulled the plug, the company is scrambling to add rules and its own CEO reportedly keeps his plates out of the system. Here’s the whole story, plus the free map that shows every camera near you.

Insurers cancel homeowners over aerial photos, sometimes outdated or flat wrong. Here’s how to fight the eye in the sky.

Homeowners are opening nonrenewal letters triggered by photos taken from planes and satellites: moss on the roof, a tarp, yard clutter. One insurer-backed imagery network says its cameras cover about 99% of the U.S. population. Nobody knocks, nobody calls, the letter just arrives. Four moves fight back, starting with demanding the photo.

🛍️ These 10 little things make a big difference

Inside: Your office, bathroom and bag are getting an upgrade. Up to 58% off.

Amazon has five hidden discount sections, up to 70% off, and none of them are on the home page. Here’s where they hide.

Amazon hides five clearance sections you’ll never see on the home page. Resale, Outlet, Haul, Renewed and a coupon page, with markdowns up to 70% off. Here’s how to find them all.

Your smart TV is taking snapshots of everything you watch, then selling the data

Your smart TV has a setting called ACR that’s spying on everything you watch. It’s on by default, and every brand buries it somewhere different in settings. Turn it off and nothing changes except the ads get dumber.

Brinks Home got robbed last month, and ADT before it. Same crew, same phone call.

Two of the biggest names in home security, breached four months apart by the same crooks using the same trick. Not malware. A phone call to an employee. Here’s what they took, and the five rules that keep you out of the follow-up scam.

The free school laptop comes home with a spy inside. Set these house rules tonight.

GoGuardian watches about 27 million students, roughly half of America’s K-12 schools, and it doesn’t clock out at 3 p.m. Gaggle scans essays, emails and chats in about 1,500 districts, and kids have been flagged for song lyrics and a Bible verse. Four house rules protect your family, starting with the postcard talk.

Music reaches people with dementia when almost nothing else can. Here’s how to build the playlist.

A reader named Julie asked how to reach her mom with music. The science is real: The brain’s music regions are among the last dementia touches. One playlist, built from the songs of her mom’s youth, can open a door for a few minutes at a time. Here’s exactly how to make one.

The always-on gadgets quietly draining your power bill, and the $10 fix

Every blinking clock and standby light is on your electric bill. A $10 gadget stops it and doubles as a burglar deterrent while you travel.

This free tool turns your kid’s pencil drawing into a 10-page storybook that reads itself aloud

Google’s free Storybook tool takes one photo of your kid’s pencil drawing and turns it into a 10-page illustrated book, drawn in their own style, that reads itself aloud. Two minutes, no design skills, print it as a PDF keepsake.

The FBI warns that scammers are impersonating its agents to rob victims a second time

Crooks run AI-generated videos of senior FBI officials and copycat versions of ic3.gov, all aimed at people who already lost money once. The bureau issued the alert on July 20. Four rules keep you out of danger.

📚 Be head of the class

Save on headphones, a Chromebook, dorm essentials, plus more smart buys for students, parents and working pros. Up to 44% off.

Your parents’ phone problems aren’t about the phone. They’re about having no one to ask.

A 20-minute setup stops half the panicked calls. A carrier with a real human who answers stops the rest, for your folks and for you.

Five tricks power users type into AI that you don’t. Steal all five.

Same chatbot, same monthly bill, wildly different answers. The gap isn’t intelligence. It’s vocabulary. Here are the five commands that turn a chatbot into a consultant, an editor, a burglar and a tutor.

The people who built social media give their own kids 90 minutes a week

Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, Evan Spiegel, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all ration screens at home. Your kid’s average? 7.5 hours a day.

🚨 Don’t panic. Prep before disaster strikes.

Inside: From power banks to fire blankets, I rounded up 10 emergency essentials every home and car should have. Stock up before you need them.

Your name, address and secrets are being sold for pennies

Data brokers turn your private life into a product. Here’s what they know, who’s buying and how to yank yourself off the shelf.

9 movies that predicted the future

It’s a long holiday weekend, and I’m doing something a little different. I’m queuing up the movies that called it: the ones that predicted the digital world we’re all living in. AI assistants, video calls, screens on everything. Hollywood saw it coming decades ago.  Grab the popcorn, and watch along with me. These flicks were […]

The hidden tab that tells you if your neighbor will ever sell

Everyone uses Zillow to gawk at dream homes. The savvy ones go straight for the boring tabs, where a stranger’s mortgage rate quietly reveals whether they’re a motivated seller or going nowhere. Here’s how to read it, and how to hide yours.

5 Google Flights tricks to score a summer deal (Even if you booked late)

More than a third of summer travelers still haven’t bought their tickets. Good news: Google Flights’ hidden features can land you a deal. Here’s how to use them.