đ Itâs not you; itâs me: Apple iOS 18 will now summarize your texts. A guy is going viral on X after receiving this summarization following an argument in a bar with his girlfriend: “No longer in a relationship; wants belongings from the apartment.” Hey, at least it didnât beat around the bush.
Tags: AI (artificial intelligence), Apple iOS 18, X (Twitter)
Smart speakers tell you the weather, play music, answer trivia questions, help you prank your spouse (more on that at the end), and they just might save your life one day, too.
Make sure you know these commands to get help in an emergency by heart. Be a pal and tell your friends and family members about them, too.
Iâm a cheapskate. There, I said it. I go digging for ways to save money in my tech life, and Iâm happy to pass them along to you, too.
1. Use a tool to find coupons: Searching online leads to codes that donât work or, worse, malware-infected sites. I like Honey. It runs in the background to look for deals on what youâre already buying. CamelCamelCamel will alert you if thereâs a price drop on something youâre eyeing on Amazon.
Zoomâs post-pandemic Hail Mary: Now that many folks are back in the office, Zoom wants to stay relevant. Their new AI Companion 2.0 has an avatar that can talk for you and adds a panel in all your meetings with notes about previous convos, plus related emails, calendar items and uploads. If it works, it sounds pretty sweet.
đź Be kind, but no need to rewind: If youâre tired of your old VHS tapes gathering dust (and your kids asking what they are), youâve got options. Digitize the tapes with a dedicated converter or bring them to your local Walmart, Costco or Walgreens to get it done for around $20 a tape.
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Keep your battery level over 0%: Letting your phone die does more than leave you without a way to play Wordle. It can also degrade your battery over time. Keep a portable charger on hand and power up before you hit 0%.
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Cool new Google search trick: Open your camera, point it at something (like a tree), ask a question (e.g., âWhat fruit is this?â) and Google Lens will find the answer. To use it, opt into AI Overviews here. Yeah, theyâre desperate to keep up with OpenAI.
đą Gloom and doomscrolling: In case you didnât know, doomscrolling is when you get caught in a cycle of viewing negative posts on social media. You can set time limits for certain apps, but those are easy to bypass. I have a phone-addicted friend who has her husband hide her phone after 8 p.m. Weird but it works!
Enter your âPa$$word!â: Iâve done this for years â abbreviate a sentence into a password. So, âI ate three peanut butter sandwiches today!â could become âI83pbsammies2day!â Whatever you do, just promise me you wonât use â123456â or âpassword1.â
đ´ Enable this on your Apple Watch: Sleep apnea is seriously dangerous, and the Series 9, Series 10 and Ultra 2 can spot the signs. Open the Health app on your iPhone, search for “breathing disturbances,” then tap Set up. Follow the directions on screen and youâre good to go.
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When you get stuck in Reply All hell: Instead of muting every single email that comes through, mute the entire thread. In Gmail, for example, look at the toolbar at the top of the email. Click the three dots, then Mute. Ah, sweet silence.
