A Google Form, a calendar invite, a “Google Security” call, an AI Overview phone number. Four scams wear Google’s logo, friend, but the company insists it will never call you about security
Custom Instructions, Memory and Temporary Chat are already in your ChatGPT app. Here’s the 60-second setup for each, the instructions to paste and the privacy catch on incognito chats.
Turn it up, now it’s blasting, turn it down, have to rewind, “what did she SAY?” A survey found over half of Americans keep subtitles on, mostly because the audio is muddled. The real culprits: razor-thin TVs with speakers firing at the wall, theater sound mixes crammed into your living room and streaming compression.
ChatGPT will find open tables, book them and even join a Yelp waitlist without you leaving the chat. Here’s how to do it, the prompt that gets the best results and the catch about cancellations.
Zillow is a connected app on both Gemini and ChatGPT, so you can find listings and schedule tours just by asking. Here’s the 60-second setup, the prompt to try first and the privacy catch.
Your smart TV has a setting called ACR that’s spying on everything you watch. It’s on by default, and every brand buries it somewhere different in settings. Turn it off and nothing changes except the ads get dumber.
Inside: A $10 surge protector, a pocket laser measure, touchless trash can and more clever finds that won’t end up in your junk drawer.
The average household pays $69 a month for streaming, and 73% are fed up with the price hikes. Nielsen says free services like The Roku Channel beat some paid giants, and Tubi alone has 300,000 free titles. Cancel your least-watched app for 30 days and try one of these instead.
Krisp strips barking dogs, traffic and coffee shop noise out of your calls in real time, using AI that runs entirely on your device. Works with Zoom, Teams, Meet and Slack. Free tier covers about an hour of noise-free calls a day.
A 20-minute setup stops half the panicked calls. A carrier with a real human who answers stops the rest, for your folks and for you.
New FTC data reveals scams starting on social media cost Americans $2.1 billion last year, and Facebook tops the list. Losses have exploded eightfold since 2020. Here are the exact settings that cut scammers off.
Nearly every AI charges the same $20 a month, but the free versions are better than you think. Here’s when paying is worth it and when it’s cash walking out the door.
Fireworks are free. Those three streaming services you forgot you’re paying for are not. Here’s how to hunt down and cancel every sneaky recurring charge in under 15 minutes.
Inside: Summer upgrades, cooling gadgets and vacation gear are all marked down. Up to 57% off.
If you keep “running into” the same person or your gut says you’re being followed, you might be carrying a $30 tracker without knowing it. Here’s how to find it, what your phone misses and what to do before you touch it.
A company you’ve never heard of knows what time your phone went to sleep last night, your real-time medical worries and your exact income. Here’s how it sells your life for pennies, and how to stop it.
Stalkerware hides in plain sight, feeding your texts, calls and location to a partner, ex or relative. Here are the warning signs and how to check without putting yourself at risk.
Before you pay the Geek Squad $100 or panic-buy a laptop you don’t need, let AI read your computer’s own health report. Works on Windows and Mac. And it never touches your files.
That CPAP machine? It tells your insurance company whether you used it enough. And it’s not the only device in your house keeping score. Here’s what’s phoning home while you sleep and what you can do about it.
Every major video platform has AI built in to record, transcribe and summarize your meetings. Here’s what to check and what actually matters.
