💸 Where’s your money going? Subscriptions sneak up on you. … One month it’s a free trial, the next it’s draining your bank account. I use the Rocket Money app to keep tabs on everything I’m paying for. It even cancels unwanted subscriptions with just a tap. Smart, simple and seriously helpful.
Get paid to prove you’re human (don’t)
ChatGPT
Would you let someone scan your eyeball in exchange for some free cryptocurrency?
Yes, your actual eyeball. This isn’t an audition for Season 4 of Black Mirror. It’s the premise behind OpenAI founder Sam Altman’s new project called World.
Before you roll your eyes, let me break it down for you.
What’s the deal?
Sam Altman brought AI into everyone’s lives with ChatGPT. The same AI that’s shaking up everything from copywriting to customer service to coding.
It’s the tech threatening to replace humans in countless jobs. It’s powering deepfakes that can fool your eyes and ears.
And now? Altman wants to be the one to prove you’re human.
The irony writes itself.
Altman’s new company, World, just launched in the U.S. after rolling out across several countries.
Here’s the pitch
One of their futuristic devices called an Orb scans your iris. This biometric ID is meant to verify that you’re a real person, not a bot, something that’s becoming harder to prove online.
They say this tech could be used to log into websites, access services, use dating apps and even vote without handing over your name, email or phone number. Just your eyeball.
3 ways to instantly look smarter on video calls
ChatGPT
Have you ever joined a Zoom call and thought, “Why do I look like a vampire who doesn’t know where the camera is?” Since it’s the start of a new week, here are easy tricks to make you look brighter, smarter and significantly less like you’re broadcasting from a cave.
Lock up your library: Want to keep your guilty pleasure reads private? Add a passcode to your Kindle. From the home screen, tap the three dots (top-right corner), then go to All Settings > Device Options > Device Passcode to set it up. Because not every book is meant to be shared.
🤐 Siri, zip it: Here’s how to stop Siri from talking out of nowhere. Head to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri. Under Siri Requests, toggle off Allow Siri When Locked, so she won’t activate when you don’t want her to. To silence her completely, open Talk & Type to Siri and tap Off.
Cut the bloatware: Tired of those preinstalled apps you never asked for? You can’t always remove them, but you can disable them. Just go to Settings > Apps > App Name > Disable. They’ll stop running, updating or draining your battery in the background.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Use Shift + click to select multiple browser tabs and move or close them all at once.
🔎 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.
Watchful gestures: Get around the YouTube app faster with these tricks. Swipe up in the video player for full-screen mode, then swipe down when you’re ready to exit. Head over to my YouTube channel and give it a try (I know, shameless plug).
👥 Walk down memory lane: Just open the Facebook app, go to a friend’s profile, tap the three dots (on the right) then select See friendship. You’ll see all the posts and photos you’re in together plus any networks you share. Try it with your best buddies.
Tape over your webcam? Hackers can hijack your webcam, spy on you and use the footage for blackmail. But tape leaves a sticky mess. Grab a webcam cover. This two-pack ($7) fits most laptops and tablets. Pro tip: You can’t always trust that little green light to tell you if your camera is on or off.
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🖥️ Rest your eyes: Switching to dark mode can help reduce glare. On a Mac, click the Apple menu > System Settings > Appearance > choose Dark. For Windows, open the Start menu > Settings > Personalization > Colors > Choose your mode > and select Dark.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Google yourself and add “site:facebook.com” or “site:linkedin.com” to see what strangers can find about you.
🛒 Attention shoppers: It might be worth signing up for the Amazon Visa. You get 3% back on Amazon purchases and lots more. Plus, there’s a bunch of travel perks and a $150 gift card if you’re approved. My rule of thumb: Only use it if you can pay it off in full each month.
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Pet against the machine: Got a smart vacuum? Set it to clean after your dog or cat’s most active times, like post-breakfast zoomies. Open the app and find the Schedule tab to customize it. If your vacuum has smart mapping, you can tell it to clean the rooms where your furry friend spends the most time.
🥴 “What’d you say?” If you find yourself asking this more and more, it’s time to make a change. Forget the hearing aids your grandpa wore; today’s tech is so much better. These hearing aids have two tiny processors that analyze the sound around you to make conversations crystal clear. Incredible.
Did your face train AI? Big tech used billions of photos from public websites to train their AI bots. Check if one of your images is in the mix by heading to Have I Been Trained? Click the Check the Registry tab, and upload a photo of yourself. I tried it, and yep, I’m there.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Want a distraction-free YouTube? Add -nocookie to the URL to skip tracking cookies. Whoa. That was a good one!