Synthetic identity fraud

Synthetic identity fraud: That’s when scammers steal a kid’s Social Security number and add bogus names, birth dates and email addresses to create fake personas. They open credit cards, max them out and leave a trail of debt. Have a kid age 13 or younger? Fill out this form to see if they have a credit report. Freeze it if they do.

Tags: cards, email, email addresses, fraud, scammers, security, Social Security, steal


Tech prep kit: What you need in an emergency

A few weeks ago, I asked if y’all would be down with my putting together a tech prep list of emergency items and ideas. I really was surprised at how many of you said, “Yes!” So, without further ado, let’s prep for cyberattacks and outages.

Continue reading

VPNs: How they work and how to choose the best one for you

I’m sure you’ve heard me mention VPNs before on my show. With hackers, thieves and scammers constantly out in full force, ready to steal your money, now’s the time to get on board.

VPN is short for virtual private network. What this means is when doing your banking online, hackers can’t step in the middle and steal your account information and drain your money. A VPN also stops your internet provider from tracking you and lets you unblock websites and bypass filters. You need it on your computer, laptop, tablet and phone.

Continue reading

New way to sit on a plane

Let me know if you try this on a flight because I don’t think I could last long.

Some 60% of Roblox’s 70 million active players are under 16: And those 13 and up can buy a ticket to “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” directly through the game. It includes a special game avatar to lure ‘em in. If your kid uses your card for in-game currency, know they’re being heavily marketed to.

Trivia

What temperature is too hot for an iPhone to work well? In Fahrenheit, is it … 77 degrees, 95 degrees, 113 degrees or 131 degrees?

Find the answer here!

Back-to-school tech: Apps and gadgets to monitor your kid

Parents everywhere are thrilled it’s back-to-school time. How can you keep the kids focused after a screen-filled summer, but also keep them safe? It’s a process, I know. For starters, get my free Kids’ Tech Contract

Continue reading

How much radiation is coming from your smartphone?

It’s a known fact smartphones emit radiation. So, how worried should you be? Health and government experts say there’s no evidence of harm. A cancer surgeon friend of mine says the opposite. I’ll go with what he says and keep my phone away from my head whenever possible.

Continue reading

Stop yelling at Siri

We all know one person who just can’t use Siri in a calm tone. Is it you?

My son's headphones are in Africa?!

My son had his headphones stolen in LA but when we track them, they’re in Cameroon, Africa…

My first job was at Target

If you think about it, I was doing live YouTube reviews in Target back in the day.