Cleanup crew

  • Keep a pocket-sized phone screen cleaner (20% off) handy. It’s got a cloth built into the bottle.
  • Put down that gas station squeegee. Pick up a windshield cleaner with a swivel head (25% off).
  • Did water marks ruin your wooden coffee table? This remover cloth under $8 will make it look new.
  • While you’re at it, snag a set of eight coasters (10% off) for any hot or cold drink.
  • Oh this is so handy. Stop your glasses from slipping off your face with a silicone sleeve ($7).

🍨 Oh my. Did you see Ninja has a new ice cream maker that makes soft serve, too? Help, I just gained 10 pounds typing that!

📺 Wait, what was I watching? Roku has you covered. Go to the Home Screen, hit What to Watch and scroll to Continue Watching. Your shows are waiting to pick up where you left off.

Are we getting a new iPhone?

Open/download audio

Goodbye home button, tiny screen, and Lightning cable. Apple is set to unveil a brand-new iPhone SE with USB-C and a more powerful processor.

Offline Nights: The hot new thing with 20 and 30-somethings addicted to their tech. Pay for a ticket, drop your phone in a deposit box and spend a few hours talking to real people, not staring at a screen. What will they think of next?!

40%

Of parents judge other families based on their screen-time rules. About a third stop their kids from hanging out with friends who have different rules. Why? No one wants to be labeled as the parent of an “iPad kid” or blamed for causing “brain rot.”

📖 Make your Kindle feel like a real book: Love this little change. Go to Settings > Screen and brightness > Show covers on lock screen

🔋 Make your laptop battery last longer: Windows 11 has a Dynamic Refresh Rate option that adjusts how often your screen updates for simple tasks. Go to Settings > System > Display > Advanced Display > Choose a refresh rate > Dynamic.

📱 Less clutter, more focus: Too many apps on your home screen make it way too easy to get distracted. Clear them out! On iPhone: Press and hold the app > Remove App > Remove from Home Screen. On Android: Long-press the app > Remove. You can find them later in your App Menu or Library

2 years old

When 40% of kiddos have their own tablet. Nearly 1 in 4 have a cellphone by the time they turn 8. Average screen time? Too much at 2.5 hours a day.

👀 All the better to see you with: Your iPhone uses the camera to detect if you’re looking at it. That’s why your notifications are quieter, your phone auto-unlocks and your brightness doesn’t dim when you’re looking at the screen. Don’t like it? Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Turn off Attention Aware Features.

🐌 Sloooow down: On your Mac, adjust how fast your cursor whips around the screen. Hit the Apple menu  > System Settings > Mouse or Trackpad Select Click Point & Click, then drag the Tracking speed slider to your liking.

This is important: Global myopia rates have tripled since 1990, increasing the risk of cataracts, glaucoma, and blindness (paywall link). The culprit? Too much screen time. Reminder: Every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away for 20 seconds to protect your eyes. I like puns about eyes, the cornea the better.

I own a real green screen: The YouTube Shorts AI, Veo 2, whips up clips with just a few words. Like OpenAI’s Sora, type what you want and the AI does the rest. You can specify a style, lens or cinematic effect. Want to try it yourself? Open YouTube, go to Shorts camera > Green Screen > and type your prompt.

Share apps on your iPhone and iPad: Yay, finally! Apple made it so you can move all your apps, songs and movies to one account. Make sure you’re logged into your main iCloud account. Now, under your secondary ID, go to Settings > [your name] > Media & Purchases > View Account. Tap Migrate Purchases and follow the steps on your screen. Once you see Purchases Have Been Migrated, sign in with your main account. Btw, don’t buy an iPad right now.

Get some space: I’m always surprised when I see someone’s iPhone home screen covered in icons. It’s easy to sort them into folders. Press on an app icon until it starts to jiggle. Now, move it on top of another one that you’d like to pair it with. Bam, folder. Name it whatever you want.

Dress for the job you want: Famous actor John Lithgow took that literally and sent a naked photo of himself to the director of his new film, “Jimpa.” The 79-year-old actor wanted to prove he was game for full-frontal scenes. He’s been nude on stage and screen before and says he likes hanging out.

At least 10 of you will yell, “Heck yeah!” On Windows, hold down the Windows key + Shift + S to activate the Snip & Sketch tool. Select a specific area of your screen to capture as a screenshot. On a Mac, the comparable keyboard shortcut for taking screenshots is Cmd + Shift + 4.

On an iPhone: Open Control Center, then tap the Add Controls (+) button > Recognize Music. Next time you want to know what a song is, swipe down from the top of your screen and hit Recognize Music.

So embarrassing: You don’t want your coworker asking why you googled “Can my plants hear me crying?” Lock your Mac’s screen quickly with Ctrl + Cmd + Q (Windows key + L in Windows). Be smart about cybersecurity and get in the habit of doing this every time you walk away.

😶 Secret button in your Windows 10 and 11 taskbar: Clicking it will minimize everything you have open. It’s located in the bottom right corner of your screen, past the time and notification icon — a tiny sliver. Click it again to bring your stuff back. Good one!