videos Archives

Hold the phone

📞 Don’t hang up. Here are cool tools to keep your phone in place.

Bump your tunes with a speaker & phone stand combo (48% off).
Take underwater photos with these waterproof pouches (5% off).
Long flight? Clip this phone holder ($17) to your tray table.
Shoot smooth videos and pics with a gimbal tripod (20% off).
This bike mount (38% off) locks down your phone while you ride.

📱 Pop this on: PopSockets’ new magnetic Kick-Out Grip ($40) can finally stand upright. You take video calls or scroll on social media, all hands-free. Plus, it comes with an adapter for Android folks. So wonderful!

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👑 Long live the king: Streaming officially beat both cable AND broadcast TV in May. The twist? Boomers sealed the deal, now bingeing reruns on YouTube, Pluto and Tubi like digital cowboys. The old networks are just looped SVU marathons now. Even Gunsmoke is streaming. It’s the Cord-Cutting End Times. Grandpa ditched CNN for cat videos in 4K.

$50,000

That’s how much a 20-year-old makes monthly on TikTok Shop. Grayson Finks treats TikTok like a 9-to-5, but with better lighting and fewer naggy coworkers in 10 videos a day. She’s made more than $3 million in revenue, with 176,000 followers.

Keep YouTube videos private: Uploading something for work or family? Set the video to Unlisted, so it won’t show up in search, recommendations or on your channel. Only people with the link can watch. Just go to Profile (top right) > YouTube Studio > Content, then under Visibility, choose Unlisted and hit Save.

ICE sightings on Ring: I thought this was interesting. In Los Angeles, people are using Amazon’s Neighbors app to warn each other about possible ICE raids. They’re sharing photos and videos showing where agents were spotted and what vehicles they were driving, plus tagging posts with ice cube emojis.

Meta’s next smart glasses: Meta and Oakley have a new pair dropping Friday, made for athletes this time. No specs yet, but they’ll probably work like the Meta Ray-Bans. Think photos, videos, music, calls and AI that describes what you’re looking at. Oh, and the camera might sit in the center of the frame. Wow.

🛡️ Protect your kids on YouTube: Restricted Mode filters out videos flagged as mature (drugs, alcohol … stuff you don’t want them seeing). Click their Profile (top right) > scroll to Restricted Mode > toggle Activate Restricted Mode. Then hit Lock Restricted Mode on this browser. Bonus: It also hides comments.

📚 Keep their brains busy: Want your kids to stay sharp in math or science this summer? Check out Khan Academy. Free lessons include short videos, practice exercises and hints. There’s even an AI tutor they can chat with when they’re stuck (it’s $4/month). Pro tip: Track their progress with a parent account.

Facebook on mute: Whether you’re sneaking a scroll at work or just want things silenced, it’s easy to stop videos from auto-playing with sound. On your phone, go to Menu > Settings & privacy > Settings > Media and toggle Videos Start with Sound off. Ah, much better.

🎤 Going viral: “Pretty Little Baby” is everywhere on TikTok, with over 17 million videos using the song Connie Francis sang in 1962. Now 87 years young, Connie made her first TikTok to thank her fans. Go ahead, listen to the song and remember, “You can ask the flowers, I sit for hours, Tellin’ all the bluebirds, the bill and coo birds, Pretty little baby, I’m so in love with you!”

Lies, but with filters: Misinformation is mutating harder than Chernobyl deer. AI-made photos, videos and text are now scary good, blurring reality at scale. Nobody knows what’s real … except that picture of aliens in the White House your uncle reposted, saying he told you so.

🎞️ Compress videos: Is your 10-minute clip 2GB? Use HandBrake to shrink the size. Drag and drop the file, pick a save location, choose a preset like Very Fast 1080p30 and click Start Encode. Be sure to check out this tutorial.

📺 Rated B for bogus: That $7.99/month YouTube Premium Lite plan is about to get a lot less ad-free. Starting June 30, you’ll see ads on Shorts, music videos and while browsing or searching. It’s all part of the push to get folks on full Premium for $13.99/month with no ads or background play.

Gemini is watching: Google’s Gemini AI can now watch videos you dump in Drive and give you notes like a nerdy intern who doesn’t sleep. It’ll spit out meeting takeaways or product updates, but only if the captions are on. Congrats, even your AI thinks your all-hands meeting was boring.

🚨 Don’t fall for it: Scammers are posting AI videos on TikTok promising free versions of Microsoft Office and Spotify. All you had to do? Run a short line of code. Plot twist: It installed malware that could steal your passwords and credit card info. And with no links involved, it was harder to detect.

Better iPhone videos: Head to Settings > Camera > Record Video and pick 4K at 60 fps. Then go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose High Efficiency. For better framing, go to Camera > Composition and turn on Grid and Level. Your shots will look way better.

🐾 Paw-prepared: Pet parents, the free Pet First Aid app (iOS, Android) from the American Red Cross could be a lifesaver. Get step-by-step instructions, how-to videos and images to guide you through over 25 common pet emergencies. There are even quizzes to test your know-how.

Have a YouTube channel? The algorithm might not know who to show your videos to. Give it a nudge by adding channel tags. Click your profile picture > YouTube Studio > Settings > Channel, fill in your Keywords (like “travel”) and hit Save. It’s a small step toward building your audience.

🎶 Rockin’ votes: Planning a road trip? YouTube now lets your friends add and vote on songs in shared playlists. Here’s how to create one. Then, click the three-dot menu > Collaborate > toggle on Collaborators can add songs and videos. Hit Share to send the link to your pals. No arguing over who gets to DJ.

🐶 Streaming that wags: Want dog or cat videos on a loop? If you have a Roku device (now 28% off), check out their lineup of free channels for pet and animal lovers. Sure, there are ads, but free is still free. Perfect background noise for you or your furry friend.

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