August 21, 2026

A data center three states away just raised your electric bill. Here’s how the trick works and 4 ways to fight back.

You buy electricity from a regional market, and data centers are hitting every one. A power plant auction in the East hit a record $16.4 billion, and families in seven states paid $4.3 billion to connect data centers to the grid. Bills jumped 7.1% last year, double inflation. Four fixes inside.

July 15, 2026

Your carrier deletes voicemails automatically. Save the ones that matter tonight.

Your carrier isn’t a filing cabinet. AT&T keeps basic voicemail 14 days, T-Mobile says deleted messages “cannot be retrieved” and Verizon won’t take the blame even for ones you saved. Here’s how to turn a loved one’s message into a file you own forever, in a minute or so.

February 22, 2026

How to eat out for free (legally) with this under-the-radar side hustle

Americans spend nearly $4,000 a year dining out. Mystery dining lets you eat at restaurants for free in exchange for honest feedback. Here’s how to get started and which companies are legit.

August 21, 2025

No translator, no problem

I’ll never forget the time I was in Paris, sitting at a café, staring down at a menu I couldn’t read. Out came Google Translate on my phone, and suddenly I thought, Wow the future is here. Fast-forward to this fall, and that “future” looks downright primitive compared to what Apple and Google are about […]

August 5, 2025

That photo might be an AI fake, here’s how to tell

Did Prince William and Prince Harry make up? Not even close. But thanks to Bing’s AI image generator, they practically skipped through a meadow hand in hand like it’s the finale of a very weird British rom-com reboot. No Daddy intervention, therapist or overpriced raspberry jam required.  To get around Bing’s copyright controls, I didn’t […]