A recruiter shoots a text over to you for the best job opportunity ever. Spoiler alert: It’s a trap to steal your identity.
🚘 Car wrap scam: You get a text saying big brands will pay you to wrap your car in advertising. After you fill out an application, a “rep” sends a cashier’s check and tells you to deposit it, then pay a local installer via Cash App. Plot twist: The check’s fake, it bounces later and you’re out thousands. Never stops.
📌 Stickies on Mac: Doing research in Safari and want to save bits as you go? Highlight any text and press Command + Shift + Y to turn it into a sticky note. You can drag it to the side while you work. When you’re done, go to Stickies > File > Export All to Notes. It’ll be saved under Imported Notes.
🗣️ Talk to ChatGPT: Instead of typing, you can have a full-on voice conversation with the bot. Open a New chat, tap the Use voice mode icon, Choose a voice (“Spruce” is good) and hit Done. Start chatting, and when you’re finished, click End. You’ll see the full convo saved as text afterward.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Send your exact location via text: Tap the “i” or “+” in your Messages app and choose “Send My Location.”
💸 Life savings wiped: Think these scams only happen to older adults? A 26-year-old lost over $30,000 after getting a fake text from “Wells Fargo” about a $1,300 charge. He replied no, got a call and scammers convinced him to transfer his money to a new account. Poof, all gone. FYI: Banks will never ask you to move your money to stop fraud.
Copy text with your iPhone camera: Go to Settings > General > Language & Region and turn on Live Text. Then head to Settings > Camera and toggle on Show Detected Text. Open the Camera app, line up the document and tap the Live Text icon. Now grab the text and paste it into Notes.
🖨️ Low on ink? Before you print, change the color to #010101. It looks black, but it’s really 99% gray. In Google Docs, highlight your words, click the text color tool, and pick Add a custom color (+). Type in the number and hit OK. FYI, thin fonts like Courier New or Garamond save even more ink.
Recover copied items: Ever copied a link or some text and wished you could get it back later? On Windows, turn on Clipboard History to save your most recently copied items. Go to Settings > System > Clipboard and toggle it On. Next time you need something, just press Windows key + V to view and paste.
🔔 See old notifications: Swiped an alert away too fast? Turn on Notification history on your Android. Go to Settings > Notifications > Advanced settings > Notification history and toggle it On. Bonus: If a text or DM popped up before it was deleted, you might still catch it here.
Dumb it down: Google just dropped a rare AI tool that doesn’t hallucinate, lie or ask you to eat glue. It’s called Simplify, and it turns complex web text into plain English, right inside the Google app. It’s not a summary, it’s a real-time dumb-down filter. It’s like a CliffNotes for the information overloaded.
Tidy text: Ever copy and paste and get weird fonts? Here’s how to cut the formatting. On a Mac, press Cmd + Option + Shift when you paste. For PC, it’s Ctrl + Shift + V in most apps. Pro tip: If that doesn’t work, first paste into Notepad, then copy that into your document. Neat.
🖥️ Windows is getting AI agents: This is great. Microsoft just announced a new feature that lets you change computer settings just by asking. In Settings, you can type stuff like “my text is too small” or “control my PC with voice,” and the AI will handle it. No more digging through menus. It’s coming to Copilot+ PCs first, with more devices to follow.
🎨 Use your exact brand color: In Google Docs, highlight your text, go to highlight color in the menu and click Add a custom color (+). Then, type your hex code (like #000080 for navy blue) and apply it. Nice.
💬 Wrong number scams: It starts with a random text like “Emily from the gym?” You reply “wrong number.” But instead of leaving you alone, they get friendly, pull on your heartstrings, then pitch an investment scam. Blame AI. It’s now easier to craft messages that feel personal. If you get one, don’t reply. Just block the number.
🚗 Rides for Grandma: This is a great idea! Lyft Silver may be rolling out in your city this week. There’s bigger text in the app for older adults to read, simpler navigation and priority rides with cars that are easy to get in and out of. The best part? Real people answering customer service calls. Open the app > tap You > turn on Lyft Silver to get going.
🔎 Skip the scroll: Need to share a specific spot on a web page? In Google Chrome, highlight the text, right-click your selection and choose Copy Link to Highlight. When someone opens your link, they’ll land right on that exact section.
▶️ Caption that: Subtitles help grab your viewers’ attention, especially when their sound is off. For longer clips, create an SRT file. Open a text editor and write, “00:00:01,000 → 00:00:05,000” (Hours:Minutes:Seconds,Milliseconds). Type your caption below each one and save it with a .srt extension.