photo Archives

Tech that rescues your family lore

Kim Komando via Remini

That’s my dad in the photo. I used a tool called Remini (more about it below) to sharpen and enhance the image. Pretty amazing, right? The original is on the left, and the clearer, AI-upgraded version is on the right.

I bet you probably have boxes (or albums or old hard drives) full of family photos, some faded, some scratched and some that never made it past black and white. But here’s the thing, they’re priceless. They’re time machines. And right now, they’re just degrading.

That’s where tech comes in, and the tools out there now are incredible. You can bring your old photos back to life with just a few taps. I’m talking full color, restored detail, even animation.

Here are my favorites. PSA: You’ll find both free and paid plans.

🧙‍♂️ Deep Nostalgia

This one gives me chills (in a good way). Upload a portrait, say your grandfather in uniform, your great-grandmother as a child, and it animates the photo. They blink, smile and move gently like they’re in a video.

It’s eerie. It’s beautiful. And it’s something you’ll want to share with your family.

🔗 myheritage.com/deep-nostalgia.

✨ Remini

This AI app sharpens old, blurry or grainy photos with stunning results. It works wonders on faces, smoothing out noise, brightening eyes and making even out-of-focus shots look camera-ready.

🔗 https://app.remini.ai

🌈 Colorize

Continue reading →

These tech tips will make you too powerful

ChatGPT

When you’re the tech-savvy friend, it’s basically your job to fix everything that plugs in. Who saves the saviors? Me! Now, depending on your OS, model, updates and general tech karma, your screen might not match mine exactly. Don’t panic, just keep moving forward. You’ve got this!

Continue reading →

I found your next favorite gadgets

🧠 Upgrading your tech game shouldn’t melt your brain (or your wallet).

🔌 Running out of ports? Plug in a five-in-one USB-C hub (50% off). Whoa, 4.6 stars and 185,000+ reviews!

🖼️ Memories on a loop: Printing pics? Send ’em straight to this digital photo frame (14% off).

🐶 Fetch this steal: Keep tabs on your doggo 24/7 and fling treats with a 360° dog camera (56% off).

📱 Hands-free & wireless: This phone stand & speaker combo (25% off) is perfect for video calls with the family.

🎧 No quits: Play all the time with this wireless gaming headset (15% off). Up to 100 hours of battery life.

⚡ More power-ups: Tap this secret link for more tech deals. My Amazon storefront is packed with the best sales.

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

🧑‍🎨 Neat trick for iPhone photos: If it’s a Live Photo, you can turn it into a cool long-exposure shot, like an artsy view of a river flowing by or a busy city street that seems to be moving. Open your Photos app and look for a picture with a Live label in the top left corner. Tap on it and choose Long Exposure from the menu. Let your iPhone work its magic.

Make a Father’s Day card with AI

Open/download audio

Ditch the cheesy store cards. Use ChatGPT to turn your favorite photo into a custom keepsake.

💔 Tinder swindler alert: A Portland woman lost over $40,000 after falling for a scammer she met on the app. They talked for a week before he asked for money, saying he had no family to help, sealing the con with a fake photo of himself in a hospital bed. Tinder’s basically a financial thriller with worse dialogue than a Lifetime movie.

$1 million

A rare photo of Abraham Lincoln might sell for that at auction. The pic was made between 1895 and 1900 using an original negative from 1860. Bidding starts at $250,000 and kicks off today at 10 a.m. ET. I’ll never forget when I told my son to get off his Xbox and said, “When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he used to walk 10 miles every day to get to school.” Ian responded, “Really? Well, when he was your age, he was president.” Kids.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Set a custom wallpaper on your Echo Show: Use the Alexa app > Devices > Echo Show > Photo Display > Family pics > Stock art.

Resize Quick Notes on iPad: Need more space to read or jot something down? When a Quick Note is open, pinch outward with two fingers (just like zooming in on a photo) to make it bigger. To shrink it again, pinch inward. You can also drag it to any corner and keep working in your app.

Lost and found: Accidentally deleted a photo or video on your Mac? Don’t panic. Open your Photos app and click Recently Deleted in the sidebar. Find your lost file and hit Recover. You have 30 days to get it back. Btw, if you never looked there, do it now.

Taking a group shot? Don’t just snap one photo (someone’s always blinking or looking away). Hold down your phone’s camera button to use Burst mode, which takes a bunch of pics in seconds. This gives you a better chance of capturing everyone at their best. Neat.

Unblur that photo: AI image upscalers can sharpen your fuzzy pics, but they’re not all reliable or safe. DGB.LOL is a collection of tools that keeps your uploads private and deletes them from its servers after 24 hours. It’s free, too. Score.

From crayon to canvas: Bring your child’s sketch to life with a little AI magic. Just upload a pic to ChatGPT (or your favorite bot), and say, “This is a photo of my child’s drawing of a [describe it]. Turn it into a digital illustration in a [watercolor, cartoon, etc.] style.” Boom, instant keepsake.

How to make AI headshots

Open/download audio

70 percent of hiring pros reject candidates over a bad photo. With AI tools, you can whip up a pro pic in minutes.

$30 million

What the photo calorie app Cal AI is raking in annually. And get this: It was built by a high schooler who was rejected by 15 of the 18 colleges he applied to. Zach Yadegari had a 4.0 GPA and a 34 ACT score (top 5%). Zach’s rejection letters aged like yogurt, but his bank account is aging like wine.

Can you guess this bird call?

Open/download audio

This free app can name birds just from their song or a quick photo. Birdwatchers, you’re gonna want this.

A snap decision: Remember when Snapchat dog ear and cat filters were the rage? One mom used those filters for every baby photo of her daughter. Now the girl is 8 asking for baby pics showing her face and there are none. Such a shame.

Want better photo composition? Turn on the grid. It splits your screen into nine parts. Line up subjects where the lines meet for more balanced, pro-looking shots. iPhones: Go to Settings > Camera > Grid (toggle it on). For Android: Open Camera > Settings > Grid (or Grid Lines).

Remember this word: NUDIFY

Open/download audio

New apps let you undress anyone in a photo. This disturbing trend is spreading fast, and everyone need to know.

How to hide photos of your ex on iPhone and Android

Open/download audio

Your ex is gone, but your phone’s photo app didn’t get the memo. Here’s how to stop that.