Addicted to AI

Addicted to AI: Teens spend up to 12 hours a day on AI-powered chatbot sites like Character AI. Now, parents are worried their kids are using them to replace a human connection. Character AI’s most popular bot? A “psychologist” that also claims to be a therapist. Make sure your kids are forming friendships IRL, too.

Tags: AI (artificial intelligence), chatbot, Connection, kids, parents, teens


6 small-business freebies

Savvy small-business owners and team managers, this one’s for you. It seems like every business software platform I’ve used takes five months and at least $50,000 to get up and running. So, that’s why I found some tech tools that can help you today. Oh, and they’re all free! 

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The worst airlines for losing luggage

I bet you or someone you know has a luggage horror story. Here’s mine: On one trip to Paris, everyone got their luggage when we landed … except for Barry. I called British Airways at least a dozen times, asking when he’d get his bag. They couldn’t find it. 

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Iconic: It’s easy to adjust the icon size on your computer. On Windows, right-click on your desktop, select View, and choose from Large icons, Medium icons or Small icons. On a Mac, click on your desktop to ensure you’re in the Finder. From the menu bar, go to View and choose Show View Options. A window will pop up where you can adjust the icon size using a slider.

6 crazy jobs that tech killed — and what replaced them

If you work in an office, your job probably didn’t exist 100 years ago. Yep, six out of every 10 jobs didn’t exist back in 1940

Sure, there are the obvious ones like data infrastructure or email operations, but even jobs like conference planners and nail techs didn’t exist on record until the 1990s and 2000s!

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Mouse tricks: Zoom in or out while you work without missing a step by holding down Ctrl on Windows and spinning your scroll wheel up (zoom in) and down (zoom out). Some websites and apps, such as Google Maps, let you zoom in and out by scrolling up and down, too. Nice.

Tap to pay: Use your phone’s electronic wallet app at the gas pump. So much easier than getting out a card — and no more worrying about pump skimmers stealing from you.

Give me the highlights: Don’t let a YouTube video hold you hostage, only for you to find out it wasn’t worth your time. I like Perplexity AI for this task. All you need to do is copy the video URL, paste the link into Gemini, and use the prompt “Summarize this video” to have it skim the details for you.

Too hot to handle: Temps are in the 90s in Phoenix, which reminds me: Shade is your smartphone’s BFF. Put your phone in the shade if you’re outside, or leave it in a shaded part of your car, not on the sunny passenger’s seat.

Tweet-tweet, as heard on my show: The Merlin Bird ID app helps you figure out which pretty birdie you can hear or see based on an audio clip or photo. Super cool. Download it free for iOS or Android, and have fun!

Leave me alone: You’re trying to get something done on your PC and the notifications won’t stop. Click on the Start menu > Settings > System > Focus assist. You’ll see options for customizing the notifications you receive — including one to make them all silent.