Cavemen love rock music: Have a teen? Know that TikTok viral videos are telling teens to do absolutely nothing to their face. No products, not even water. The idea? Let the skin barrier heal naturally. But dermatologists say it leads to acne, clogged pores and infections. Cavemen also didn’t have mirrors. Just saying. Can a joke about dinosaurs make you laugh? You bet jurassic can.
Hidden folders: The secret hoarders of your phone
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You deleted that weird photo of your ex’s mom from your vacation three summers ago … or did you? Hidden folders on your phone are holding your “deleted” pictures and videos hostage, quietly clogging your storage and embarrassing you long past their expiration date.
Time to go folder spelunking and clear out these digital cobwebs.
📷 Android: The archive and trash trap
If you use Google Photos (and most Android users do, plus a lot of iPhone folks, too), you have two sneaky folders: Archive and Trash.
- Archive is where you stash photos you don’t want cluttering your main feed but still want to keep.
- Trash is where deleted photos go to hang out for 30 to 60 days before they’re permanently erased.
How to check them:
- Open Google Photos. Tap Collections at the bottom.
- Tap Archive to see hidden photos. Tap Trash to see what’s waiting to disappear (or secretly stick around).
👉 Pro tip: If you accidentally deleted something important, you can still recover it from Trash, but only if you catch it before the auto-delete timer runs out.
📱 iPhone: Recently deleted isn’t deleted
Think you’ve cleared that shameful live photo of you fake laughing at brunch? Nope. Apple’s got it chilling in the Recently Deleted album, sipping a mimosa while taking up your storage for 30 days before vanishing for good.
How to check it:
- Open your Photos app.
- Scroll down to Utilities and tap Recently Deleted.
The $55K FaceTime car scam
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Sarah’s $55,000 lesson: The online car dealership that wasn’t
Even smart shoppers can get taken; here’s how to make sure you don’t.
Sarah from Salt Lake City did everything right, or so she thought. She was looking for a used car online and found what looked like a legitimate dealership.
$550 billion
That’s how much analysts say Google can get for YouTube if forced to sell it. Now the top streaming platform by viewership, YouTube is worth more than Disney, and all it took was 20 years of cat videos and Minecraft speedruns. Fun fact: The YouTube founder sold it to Google for $1.65 billion in 2006.
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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TikTok’s got a pulse: TikTok just dropped its “AI Alive” feature, which animates photos into surreal little videos with sound, motion and vibes. Your beach pic now sighs wistfully, your group selfie smiles mid-scroll. It’ll be labeled AI-generated. Here’s to hoping it can also animate my will to fold laundry.
Fake AI video generators: Hackers have a new trick: websites that promise to turn your images into videos. But once you upload a file, they send back a ZIP named something like “VideoDreamMachineAI.mp4.exe.” The twist? It’s actually malware that steals your personal info. Watch out for them in Facebook groups especially.
🔞 Sick social media trend: Awful accounts are using AI filters to make the women in overly sexual TikTok and IG gym videos look as if they have Down syndrome. They’re adding captions like “Syndrome is down but your d is up.” Why? It goes viral, and they try to redirect people to adult sites. And yes, the original clips are stolen.
Scammers are deepfaking finance pros: They’re posting videos impersonating experts like Abby Joseph Cohen, promising to make you rich fast. All you have to do? Join their WhatsApp group for “undervalued” stock tips. Please don’t. Anytime a complete stranger promises you wealth or love and wants to use WhatsApp for a conversation, that is a major scam red flag.
▶️ Love it or list it: YouTube playlists save your favorite videos in one place. In the app, open a video and scroll sideways through the action menu. That’s the bar below the video but above the comments. Tap Save > New playlist, name it, set the visibility and hit Create. Head over to my channel and try it.
🦉 Don’t be such a dodo: New tech trend. Bird-watchers are trading iPhones for new binoculars that are waterproof and come with a mount. That way, you can snap photos and videos while you watch. No more “I swear it was right there!” moments. Check them out on Amazon ($130).
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👔 Pro at video: Want your LinkedIn videos to pop? Keep ads to 15-30 seconds and bigger topics under two minutes. Formats like 9:16 (vertical) or 1:1 (square) look the best on phones and do better. To upload, open the app and tap Start a post (top right) > Add Media (picture frame icon) > pick your video and hit Post.
🗣️ YouTube wants to dub every video: AI tools will soon translate any video into any language (paywall link). It’ll use the creator’s own voice and sync their lips to match. The AI behind this is trained on current videos … and you agreed to it years ago. If you’re a creator, congrats, you’re multilingual now.
⏩ Time flies: Time-lapse videos can make a simple sunset look magical. On your iPhone or Android, open the Camera app and select Time-lapse mode. Tap Record to start, and press it again when you’re done. FYI, 30 minutes of real time is about 10 seconds of video. Give it a shot tonight.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: On YouTube, press “1” to jump to 10% or “5” for the halfway point. Use number keys to navigate videos quickly.
Better than email: Need to transfer photos, videos and docs from your Android phone to a Windows PC? Forget email. Use Google Share. It’s free and it works great!