Stop losing your car at the mall: Open the Google Maps app, tap the blue dot that shows your location, then select Save parking.
6 ways tech can solve life's little annoyances
Minor tech annoyances can seem small at the moment. But in the grand scheme of things, they can cause stress and wasted time. If you don’t want tech issues to have a significant impact, cut them off with these tech life hacks.
They can even help you when you’re away from your computer. Read on for a few easy ways to make your life easier.
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1. Stop missing important emails
Most email providers let you turn on alerts. This way, you know immediately whenever an email comes in. You may read this and think, “I get too many emails. If I turned on alerts, my phone would constantly blow up!”
Hold on a second. You can turn on alerts for specific email addresses. This way, you’ll never miss an email from an important contact.
Using Gmail as an example, here’s how to use this feature:
Follow these steps on your iPhone, iPad or Android:
- First, open the Gmail app.
- Tap Menu > Settings.
- Select your account.
- Then, tap Email notifications > High priority only.
2. Stop forgetting what you need at the store
Always forgetting that one thing at the store? Have your phone remind you to pick it up when you walk through the door. Make a shopping list in the notes section of the Reminders app on your iPhone. Here’s how:
For iPhone:
FBI warns about new text scam
Fake parking ticket and toll texts are tricking people into paying. Don’t fall for it. Here’s how to spot the scam.
Pay-to-park warfare: A viral site let San Franciscans dodge parking tickets by showing where enforcement officers were in real time. The leaderboard showed one officer writing 192 tickets in a single day, over $20K in fines! The city patched the data feed within hours, killing the tool, after 50,000 people tried it.
$800 million
The estimated value of unsold Cybertrucks collecting dust on Tesla lots. With over 10,000 cars sitting in dealer inventory, the stainless-steel behemoth is shaping up to be less “futuristic tank” and more “Elon’s very expensive parking lot decor.” Turns out the PS1-looking fever dream isn’t exactly America’s sweetheart.
Find your receipts on iPhone: If you take photos of receipts or tickets, your iPhone automatically organizes them, so you can find them later. Open the Photos app, then tap Collections > Utilities > Receipts. Or use the search icon (the little magnifying glass) and type something like “parking receipt.” No more endless scrolling.
📞 What’s your emergency? America’s 911 centers are so short-staffed they’re outsourcing some calls to a robot. A startup named Aurelian (because of course) raised $14M to let AI handle non-emergencies like parking rage and stolen fanny packs. It’s live in over a dozen cities and counting.
Touch screen terror: Volkswagen ditched real steering wheel buttons for chic haptic ones. Now, they’re getting sued because people say the buttons are too sensitive, like “crash your car while parking” sensitive, accelerating unintentionally after accidental brushes. VW quietly switched back to real buttons but not before several garages and hands got wrecked.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Never scan a QR code in a public place without checking the sticker. Scammers slap fake QR code stickers on menus, parking meters or fliers. If it looks like a label, don’t trust it.
🗻 Double rescue on Mount Fuji: A 27-year-old had to be saved twice in just four days trying to scale the mountain. Yep, twice. First, he lost his crampons (those spiky things for walking on ice) and couldn’t climb down. Rescuers got him back to the parking lot. There, he realized he did not have his phone. So he hiked back up to find his phone and got altitude sickness. Maybe just take the L next time, dude.
$74,000
That’s how much a guy has made renting out his yard. His secret? An app called Neighbor, which connects people who need parking or storage with folks who have extra space. He has about 21 spots for things like RVs, boats and buses, renting for anywhere between $90 and $200 a month. BRB, measuring my driveway.