Channel your inner detective: Every Facebook photo has an ID number that lets you find exactly who posted it. On your computer, right-click on a photo on Facebook, then hit Open in New Tab. In the new tab, look at the address bar, and copy the middle set of numbers in the URL. Then, type https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= in the address bar and paste in the numbers right after the equal sign. Press Enter and bada-bing.
These apps are the biggest oversharers on your phone
I talk a lot about how most apps default to automatically sharing your data with advertisers and marketing companies. But some apps share your personal info with other people by default.
Yeah, no, thank you. Let’s end this today. Here are the most common app oversharers on your phone and how to get them to stop.
Google Maps and reviews
By default, any reviews you’ve left on Google — even just to give a restaurant five stars — are public and attached to your profile. When someone clicks on any of your reviews, they’ll be able to see all the other ones you’ve left. That’s basically a public record of where you’ve been (and when you hated the curry). No bueno.
Here’s how to turn off this sharing:
- Open the Google Maps app.
- Click your profile picture in the top right.
- Scroll to Settings and click Personal content.
- Under Profile Settings, slide the toggle off next to Show your posts on your profile.
You have an Amazon public profile
Did you know if you have an Amazon account, you have a public profile, too? Most people don’t have a clue this exists. Adding reviews to Amazon helps other shoppers, sure, but every review you’ve written is attached to your public profile.
The easiest fix? Hide your public profile (which, by the way, also shows your wish lists to the world).
- Log in to your Amazon account, hover over Account & Lists, and click on Account.
- Scroll to Ordering and Shopping Preferences and click Your Amazon profile.
- Click the link in the box that says Edit your profile. Click the Edit profile public visibility tab to continue.
- Click Hide all activity on your public profile.
Forums and comments
Most people who post in forums like Reddit or the comment section of websites use their usernames for privacy, not their real names — but usernames aren’t as private as you might think.
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
How to spot an AI-generated image: Tips, tricks and pro tools
Forget trying to spot if a pic of a model was photoshopped. (It was.) Now we can’t even trust if the person we see in a photo or video is real.
Fear not, I’m here to help you navigate the pixelated wilderness. Let’s look at the seven telltale signs an image is AI-generated.
How come it’s OK for Kim K to edit a photo? Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, showed up in a public photo and … what a mess. Eagle-eyed folks pointed out some weirdness in the pic: Strange cuffs, misaligned zippers and twisted fingers. The photo’s metadata revealed it was saved in Photoshop twice. Kate apologized for her bad editing job.
Unlock your iPhone's full potential: 12 must-know tips
Fun fact: When you set up your iPhone, invisible dots create a detailed map of your face so you can open your phone by looking at it. How many dots are used to map a face? Quiz your friends and family over the holidays. The answer is 30,000. Whoa.
Google is doubling down on AI across its services
The artificial intelligence (AI) wars are heating up as Google tries to play catch-up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is now being used by many tech companies to improve their services.
Judging by the mishaps we’ve already seen, the Alphabet company has a long way to go. Google has had AI capability baked into its products for some time (including better translation quality in Google Translate), but generative AI will take things to a new level.
Marked for skepticism: Starting Feb. 12, when you use OpenAI, it will add watermarks to DALL-E 3 images to meet content authenticity standards. The tags will consist of both invisible metadata and a visible symbol. FYI, screenshots delete the metadata. Oops.
Most people make this major mistake: Sharing photos
You meet someone on a dating app, then take the conversation to text messages. Things are going well, and you send a picture of the sunrise one morning. Harmless, right? Boom! You may have just given away your exact location.
Organize your messy photo collection in 6 simple steps
Almost everyone today has a high-powered camera in their pocket and can take photos with reckless abandon. The days of “I wish I had a camera to capture this moment” are over. While it’s great to be able to take as many photos as you want, the drawback quickly becomes clear.
2 new ways your iPhone can be tracked without your consent
Social media is a place where you can say (mostly) what you want, share feelings or post a couple of holiday pics. Often, people like to tag the location of where the photo was taken. Tap or click here for 10 Facebook privacy and security settings you need to change right now.
How to find out where you took a picture
Your digital gallery is a one-way portal to precious moments from the past. Maybe you find a cool picture you forgot about and want to send it to your friends and family. Tap or click here for seven ways to privately share photos.
How location tracking will work to tell you if you’ve been exposed to coronavirus
You’d probably never heard the terms “social distancing” and “flattening the curve” before March. Now, they’re everyday phrases in the fight against the coronavirus.
You can add “contact tracing” to your list of newfound medical terms. This method for slowing down the spread of disease is going high-tech with Apple and Google’s plan to turn your smartphone into a coronavirus tracker.
Free Hollywood-grade video editor is tops and you can't beat the price
Just the equipment can be rather intimidating and the apps expensive and, for some, difficult to learn and use. Still, if they weren’t so pricey, more of us would likely at least give it a shot.