Amazon’s secret 25% discount

May 11, 2024

Amazon’s secret 25% discount: Send your old tech to Amazon through its Trade-in Program, and get a gift card for the value. Bonus: You’ll get an extra 20% off if you’re upgrading to a new Amazon device, like an Echo or Kindle.

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

Tags: Amazon, Amazon Echo, Amazon Kindle, card, device, discount, gift, gift card, old, old tech, program, secret, tech, trade-in program, Upgrading, value

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Create personal automations on your phone

Wanna feel like you’re living in 2075? Start automating your phone tasks, friends. Yep, your phone has a shortcut feature you’re probably not taking advantage of. You can trigger multiple actions at once just by asking Siri or Google Assistant!

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How to get a job as a mystery diner

Any restaurant worth its salt wants to know what it’s doing right and what it’s screwing up. And they’re willing to pay you for that info. But they can’t just judge servers and kitchen staff when they’re on their best behavior. They need someone undercover.

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OpenAI’s getting into porn: They’re seriously talking about letting users create “responsible porn” with ChatGPT and DALL‑E. We’re talking erotica, extreme violence, profanity and the like, all under the banner of “creative freedom.” Remember when OpenAI said it would strive to use AI to “foster greater empathy and respect”?

1,000 Wordle puzzles

Now available to New York Times Games subscribers. I like the comradery of everyone doing the same puzzle each day, but it’s also fun to catch up on older Wordles if you missed them! Pro tip: My favorite opening word is “stare.”

Time-saving tricks using your keyboard

I spend hours and hours (and hours) online every week looking for the latest in tech for my national radio show, podcasts and, of course, newsletter.

I rounded up eight browser keyboard shortcuts I use so you can spend less time clicking around for the right button, too.

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99% of cars

Have toxic air inside the cabin. Blame flame retardants in the seat foam. Heat increases the cancer-causing chems. OK, let’s all park in the shade, cool our cars down before we get in and skip the “recirculate air” feature.

The best players are on the bench: MIT researchers created “smart gloves” that help you play the piano. Using haptic technology, they recorded an actual pianist’s hand movements and then passed those to a student through a glove’s fingertip vibrations. There’s still hope I might be able to play piano one day.

Is LinkedIn the new love connection? Relationship counselors say it gives you a more authentic look into someone’s life, work and social contacts. The real trick is figuring out when to take things offline. But heck, at least you know they have a job.

I’m no lawyer, but …: Docs in a lawsuit against OpenAI show the company destroyed two massive datasets used to train its GPT-3 AI model. The Authors Guild (paywall link) says they likely contained thousands of copyrighted books. Oh, and the “researchers” responsible for creating the datasets no longer work there. How convenient.

If your business accepted Visa and Mastercard between Jan. 1, 2004, and Jan. 25, 2019, you might be eligible for part of a $5.5 billion settlement. It stems from excessive transaction fees, and businesses that have since closed or gone bankrupt can still qualify. File your claim here before May 31. I did.