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7 quick tech fixes that’ll make you feel like a genius

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It’s Saturday, which means two things:

Your to-do list is calling.
You’re already avoiding it by checking your email. I see you.

So let’s channel that procrastination energy into productivity. I’m talking about the satisfying kind where you fix stuff in under a minute and feel wildly accomplished.

Here are tech issues you can squash today. No tools, tech support or curse words required.

1. Fix your smart TV

Screen flickering? Wonky colors? Do this: Unplug the TV from the wall, then press and hold the TV’s physical power button (not the remote!) for 60 full seconds. Plug it back in. Magic. Yes, you’ve seen this before. It worked for so many of you, it’s here by popular demand.

2. Fix a laggy Fire Stick

Menus crawling like it’s 1997? Hold the Select and Play/Pause buttons together for five seconds. This soft reset won’t erase anything, it just shakes off the digital cobwebs.

3. Fix a Bluetooth device that won’t pair

Unpair it, toggle Bluetooth off and on. Still moody? Go nuclear: Tap “Forget This Device” in settings, restart both gadgets and re-pair. Think of it as couples therapy for your tech.

4. Fix slow internet (without calling your provider)

Unplug your modem and router for 60 seconds. Dust the vents while you’re at it. Plug the modem in first, wait, then the router. You dodged 40 minutes of elevator music.

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You asked how a smart ring sent a guy to the ER. Here’s the full story.

@ZONEofTECH via X

Recently here in The Current, I mentioned a YouTuber who ended up in the ER because of a smart ring. A bunch of you left me comments asking the same thing: “How does that even happen?”

Let me explain, because this wasn’t the guy’s fault. It was a complete tech failure.

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Tech too good to scroll past

Get more gigabytes for your buck.

🖥️ HP desktop tower (40% off): A powerful PC at a laptop price. Perfect for juggling your business, games and all those tabs you have open.

Portable SSD (23% off): Fits in your pocket but transfers data up to 2000MB/s. Translation: eats 8K video and giant files for breakfast.

⏰ Sunrise alarm clock (24% off): Wake up rested, not rattled. Dual alarms, soothing sounds and a light that looks out of a sci-fi movie.

Running armband (10% off): Strap this on, zip up your gear, and boom, no more tangled earbuds or phones smacking your thigh mid-run.

🔋 Portable power bank (24% off): Four outputs let you juice up your phone, tablet, laptop, with room for that friend who “forgot” their charger.

👩‍💻 Thinking of upgrading? I rounded up the best laptops and desktops worth your clicks, all on my Amazon page.

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

Real fake videos

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AI is blurring the line between real and fake faster than ever. From OpenAI’s Sora 2 video generator to a lost billion in Bitcoin and Taylor Swift’s AI-fueled backlash

🔄 The hacker becomes the hackee: If you’ve ever thought, “I’ll just grab the cracked version” of a software or video game, surprise, you’re the product. Check Point found thousands of YouTube “free software” videos that sneak malware into your PC. Some hit hundreds of thousands of views. That’s crazy. Turns out that you can actually fool all the people all the time. Remember, if it’s free and asks you to disable antivirus, it’s a setup.

💄 Google Meet’s AI makeup is rolling out: You can now add virtual makeup during video calls, with 12 options to choose from like eyeliner, lipstick, blush and more. Go to Backgrounds and effects > Appearance > Makeup to try it out. The best part? The filter moves with your face, so it won’t slide off when you sip your coffee. I tried it and looked marvelous!

Sora 2: The AI video tool that’s already out of control

Hawking - @DrClownPhD on X, JFK - @dailysopranosofficial on TikTok, Mr. Rogers and Tupac - @itsthegthang and @euphanasiamusic on Instagram

I have to tell you about Sora 2. It’s OpenAI’s new video-generating app that’s both mind-blowing and terrifying.

It’s the first tool from any AI company that lets you give it a prompt, and in literally seconds, you get a full-blown, AI-generated video up to a minute long. The results aren’t perfect, but they’re close. Like Hollywood close.

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Share videos with Google Drive: It’s an easy way to send large files to a client or friend. Open your browser, sign in to Google Drive and click + New > File Upload. Choose your video and wait for it to finish uploading. Then open it, hit Share, select Anyone with the link, copy the link and send it off.

🪞 You’re watching a robot: I was watching this British TV excerpt, thinking it was just your typical classic British TV, but it turns out the “host” was AI. You’ve gotta watch the video (it’s short) with a jaw-dropping reveal. I saw it and literally said, “Wait, what?” out loud. Go see it before the bots start getting bookings on morning shows.

📄 Convert YouTube videos to text: If you’d rather read a tutorial than watch it, YouTube makes it easy. Open the video, expand the description and tap Show transcript. In the new sidebar, hit the three-dot menu and select Toggle timestamps to clean it up. Then highlight, copy and paste the text wherever you need it. Amazing.

🤓 OMG DIY VR: Get this, a YouTuber just made his own virtual reality headset for $150. Normally, a good one runs anywhere from $300 for Meta’s base model to nearly $1,000 for the fancy PC rigs. Check out the video. This guy 3D-printed the shell, grabbed some screens off AliExpress, tossed in an Arduino sensor, and boom, homemade VR that actually works.

🎮 It’s not just a phase, Mom: That whole “video games are for kids” thing? Turns out the average gamer is 41, and they’re playing to relax, connect with others and keep their minds sharp. Nearly half are women. And yes, phones count, mobile is the top platform. Get this, nearly half of U.S. parents say gaming helps their relationship with their kids. I used to play Need for Speed with my son. At one point, I yelled, “Ian, punch it, the cops are right behind us!” Then I sat back and thought, “Yep, definitely not getting Parent of the Year for this one.”

📱 Save data on Facebook: Watching videos eats up your mobile plan fast. You can cut usage by up to 40% by lowering video quality. Just tap the three-dot menu (top right) > Settings & privacy > Settings > Media > toggle on Data Saver. While you’re there, set Autoplay in Feed and Stories to Wi-Fi only.

🤖 Don’t get caught in a Roomba doomba: iRobot founder Rodney Brooks (aka the Roomba guy) says stay 10 feet back from humanoid bots. Why? If one tips, it’s a 150-pound steel giraffe doing a trust fall. Also, video-only training won’t teach them real dexterity. Don’t let yourself become a YouTube tutorial with bones.

💾 You’ve got no mail: Goodbye forever, dial-up. AOL finally shut down this week when traffic is up 20%. The AOL brand will live on with Italy’s Bending Spoons, who are buying it from Yahoo for $1.4B because it still pulls in ad money and subscription cash. And to honor AOL’s modem sounds, a nod to my geeky readers. Watch this video about how one guy literally daisy-chained 12 dial-up modems into a 668kbps Frankenline. Incredible.

Are baby monitors really safe from hackers?

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I talk to Adam from Boston, a new dad who wants to buy a video baby monitor but also wants to make sure he’s the only one watching it. Then, how Cracker Barrel went from the fastest-growing chain to dead last because of fake outrage. Plus, the future of driving isn’t touch screens, the government’s $42 billion internet money pit, and an influencer who almost lost his finger to his smart ring.

Did MrBeast finally go too far?

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Viral thrills or reckless danger? MrBeast’s latest video is both literally and figuratively sparking outrage. Then, Google admits it caved to daily White House pressure to censor opinions. Plus, kids aren’t passing notes in the hallway anymore, instead, they’re using Google Docs.

Share YouTube videos from a time stamp: On desktop, pause the video where you want it to start. Right-click and select Copy video URL at current time. Or copy the top link from your browser and add &t=2m30s to the end (swap in your own time) to go straight to that moment.

☎️ Don’t touch the button: Listen, if a YouTube video tells you hackers are about to raid your Apple Pay unless you “Protect Now,” don’t fall for it by clicking. That just dumps you into some scammy “cleaner” app you’ll never need. And those pop-ups screaming, “Congrats, you won a Mac”? Yeah, no, you just won malware. Save your clicks, save your bank account.

🔥 Clout-chasing or a cautionary tale? YouTuber MrBeast’s latest viral stunt has people talking for all the wrong reasons. In a video that’s racked up millions of views, he ties a man to a chair inside a flaming building, part of a $500,000 “death trap” challenge. MrBeast insists everything was done safely with pros on set. But when did lighting someone on fire become family-friendly entertainment? What your kids watch isn’t just harmless fun. It’s content engineered for attention at any cost. If your teen says, “It’s just a MrBeast video,” you might want to take a closer look.