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Protect your docs and photos from fire

Here’s a real-time map of where fires are burning. I pray you and your loved ones are safe. Whether or not you live in California, it’s a good reminder to get your important stuff put into safe storage. I did this last year.

This floor safe ($398) protects your valuables from fire and water. It bolts down, too, so thieves can’t grab it and zip outta there.
For a more affordable and portable option, check out this $64 safety box.
This document bag can handle temps up to 5,200 degrees.
A document folder (18% off) is small, easy to carry and easy to tuck away. Plus, it’s under $15 right now!
This fireproof hanger bag (29% off) hides your valuables under your clothes while keeping them safe from disaster.

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

👋 Bye-bye: Remove the background from a photo in your iPhone’s Files app. Go to Photos and tap Select on the right. Choose the photo you want to move and press Share > Save to Files to import. Then, open Files > Quick Actions > Remove Background to make a new copy of your pic.

Easily delete duplicate photos on your phone

Open/download audio

Give your phone the fresh start it deserves by ditching those duplicate pics. Follow these simple tips to clear the clutter fast — I’ve got you covered!

Assume any photo you post can be traced: This tech is something else. GeoSpy analyzes every single pixel, background object, shadow and landmark in your photos to identify the exact spot it was taken. Within seconds, they can pass that along to the government, police or anyone else willing to pay. The old way of tracking using the photo’s metadata is over.

410 megapixels

What Canon managed to cram into a 35mm full-frame sensor. For perspective, it has a 24K resolution, 198 times sharper than HD. And no, it’s not coming to the consumer market anytime soon. It’s going to be used for surveillance so photos can be enlarged without losing their detail.

This makes cents: If you’re looking to make some extra cash, this might be for you. Instacart is rolling out a new side gig where you can make money by just taking photos of products on store shelves. This way, brands see what’s selling and how their products look to customers. The pay? Around $12 for 10 minutes of work (paywall link). I made $15 taking pics of store shelves at Costco while writing about the TaskRabbit app years ago. Too bad I walked out with 50 boxes of animal crackers and a kayak.

Have an iPhone? Store for-your-eyes-only pics in the Notes app. Open the pic in the Photos app, tap the share icon and select Notes. Open the note you want to protect, tap the three-dot icon in the upper right, then choose Lock.

👁️📢 No snooping: If you have sensitive pics like your driver’s license on your phone, set up a locked folder in Google Photos. Open the Google Photos app > Utilities > Set up Locked Folder. Follow the on-screen directions to finish up.

😡 Another AI porn scandal: This time, it’s targeting teenage girls at a private school in Pennsylvania. One mom says her 14-year-old daughter cried hysterically when she found fake nude photos of herself circulating amongst her peers. The alleged perpetrators, two boys, saved her photos off social media, altered them with AI, and then shared them on Discord.

Not a movie set: The other day, Ben Affleck came home to a huge military Hummer parked outside and a visit from police and FBI. They were investigating whether someone at his home or in the area launched a hobby drone that damaged a plane fighting the Pacific Palisades fire last week. By looking at the photos, and keeping in mind Ben survived J.Lo, I’d say he’s officially unshakeable.

🚫 This went tits-up: People who moved from TikTok to RedNote are thoroughly confused by censorship issues. One man asked why he couldn’t post photos of his abs, only to be told his nipples are sexually suggestive. ICYMI: RedNote is owned by China. If you downloaded the app, remove it.

🖼️ AI image remixing tool: Google’s Whisk lets you create prompts with images instead of words. Open Whisk and drop in three photos for your subject, scene and style. Roll the dice (upper-right corner), and you’ll have your creation. If it’s not right, hover over your image and click Refine (upper-left corner) to edit it. Let me know what you create!

How does everyone get their IG posts so fancy? I’ve gotcha! Add text to photos by tapping the text button, or throw in stickers via the gallery. For Reels, you’ve got the text, animations and effects buttons.

💔 Me love you long time: Nearly a decade ago, a handsome U.S. Marine discovered his photos were being used in a multibillion-dollar romance scam. Hundreds of women have been conned out of their money, and it’s still happening today. The worst part? Victims contact his wife to warn her he’s up to no good. Here’s the full story I wrote for The Daily Mail, with all the juicy details.

Just horrifying: It’s no secret predators go after kids online, but I never thought I’d read whackjob parents are welcoming this (paywall link; Warning: This story contains very disturbing items). The New York Times spent a year investigating girl influencers and parents who encourage them to take sexualized photos and develop relationships with adult men to make money. This is child abuse. CPS should be all over this.

📁 Use a Mac? Batch-rename your files in Finder. This is handy for organizing photos or documents where consistent naming is important. Select all the files you want to rename, right-click and choose Rename [number] Items. A window will pop up, offering options to replace text, add text or completely format the names. Done!

📸 Saving memories: A North Carolina woman is using Instagram to reunite families with photographs lost during Hurricane Helene. Taylor Schenker has collected hundreds of photos from the debris and shares them on her page, Photos from Helene. Folks can reach out to claim them or have them mailed back. Only about 15% have been returned. Spread the word if you can.

You need to try this: Another day, another AI amazement. Google’s new AI tool Whisk cuts out the hard part of image generation. Instead of coming up with the perfect prompt, drag and drop photos to remix a fresh pic. There’s a dice icon that mixes and matches with other AI images, too. Give it a whirl.

🤖 Team Android: If you have pics like your driver’s license on your phone, set up a locked folder in Google Photos. Open the Google Photos app > Utilities > Set up Locked Folder. Follow the on-screen directions to finish up.

🍎 Secret spot to hide pics: On an iPhone, use the Notes app. Open the pic in your Photos app, tap the share icon and select Add to Quick Note. Then, go into the note you want to protect, tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner, and choose Lock.