When suitcase becomes suitchase: If you’re smart like me, you put AirTags inside your luggage. Now, Apple’s letting airlines track your lost luggage with you. Through the “Share Item Location” feature, you can give Delta, United and 30 other airlines a live link to your AirTag. Translation: No more awkwardly pointing at a map, saying, “It’s somewhere in Denver.”
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Ask ChatGPT to fact-check: You can have ChatGPT verify info by asking it to search the web. For example, prompt, “Is this factually correct as of today? Search the web to confirm.” It’ll pull recent sources, summarize what it finds and share links so you can compare answers from different sites.
Mirror Android to TV: Sharing your phone screen on a smart TV is easy as long as both are on the same Wi-Fi. On your phone, go to Settings > Connected devices > Smart View, then select your TV name > Full screen > Start now.
💄 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!
Use WhatsApp on your iPad: Yes, it finally works. Download WhatsApp from the App Store, open it and get a QR code. On your phone, go to Settings > Linked devices > Link device and scan the code. Your chats and contacts will sync so you can message or call right from your iPad.
✋ Stop Google Photos auto backup: On Android, you can stop Google Photos from quietly uploading every picture you take. It saves some cloud space and keeps your private (or spicy) photos off the internet. Open Photos, tap your profile icon (top right) > Photos settings > Backup, and toggle it off.
📬 Create a Gmail group email: Tired of adding the same people one by one? Make a contact group instead. In Gmail, click Google apps (top right) > Contacts. Select your people, tap Manage labels (top right) > Create label and name your group. Back in Gmail, compose a message, type the group name in “To,” and everyone’s added automatically. Magic.
Set out-of-office replies in Outlook: Leaving for vacation? Let people know you’re away. Go to Settings (top right) > Accounts > Automatic replies. Select your email, toggle on Turn on automatic replies, choose a start and end date, and type your message. Hit Save at the bottom, and Outlook handles the rest while you relax.
🥰 AI saved her breast: Get this, Brooke Davis, a 40-year-old mom from Cedar Rapids, avoided a mastectomy thanks to an AI tool called TumorSight Viz. It builds a 3D model of breast MRIs, so surgeons can remove only the cancer, not the whole breast. Her doctor used it to plan a lumpectomy. Now she’s cancer-free and “completely normal me.” Amazing.
🍏 Change app icons on iOS 26: Long-press an empty spot on your Home Screen, tap Edit in the top left and hit Customize. At the bottom, choose Dark, Clear or Tinted icons. You can also switch between small and large icons by tapping the two-square button in the top right of the same menu.
Fix a frozen computer screen: If your PC freezes, reset the graphics driver by pressing Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B. You’ll hear a beep, the screen will go black briefly, and the driver will reload. Then press Ctrl + Alt + Delete, open Task Manager and End any unresponsive apps. If all else fails, press the Power button to Restart.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Set up bank alerts for every purchase, so you’ll know right away if someone steals your card. In your banking app, go to Settings > Alerts or Notifications and turn on Text and Email. So smart.
If the broom fits, fly it: Most smart doorbells let you change the tone to something more festive around the holidays. For Halloween, yes, I’m talking about a witch cackle or howl. Open your doorbell app, go into the settings and look for something like “chime tones” or “doorbell theme.” In the Ring app, it’s under Devices > Audio Settings > Chime Tones.
💸 Need tech on a budget? Amazon Renewed sells open-box, pre-owned and refurbished gear from big brands. Think phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, TVs and cameras. Everything’s inspected to look almost new, and you get a 90-day guarantee if it doesn’t work out. Much safer than Facebook Marketplace.
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⭐ Organize websites with bookmark folders: Had enough of scrolling through a messy list of bookmarks? In Chrome, open the page you want to save and click the star icon (top right). Next to Folder, open the dropdown and select Choose another folder. Click New folder, name it something like “Research” and hit Save. Now add more pages to it for quicker access.
🩸 50 cancers, one test: So there’s this new test, Galleri, that might spot more than 50 cancers from a single vial of blood. In a 23,000-person trial, it caught way more cases than normal screenings and even guessed the tumor’s location right 92% of the time. I can’t even guess my dog’s location that well.
OpenAI’s banker army: Apparently OpenAI’s been paying ex-Goldman and JPMorgan folks $150 an hour to teach ChatGPT how to do finance. The AIs are learning IPOs, restructurings and how to make a mean Excel model. They call it Project Mercury. I call it “boring.” Maybe one day soon, the interns will finally get to go home before midnight.
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.
🖥️ Take screenshots on Windows: The Snipping Tool makes grabbing part of your screen easy. Press Windows key + Shift + S to open it. Make sure the camera icon is selected, then pick a snip style like rectangle, freeform or full screen. Click and drag to capture, and your screenshot will pop up in the bottom right or in your Screenshots folder.
