Techish

Is Amazon Prime Day worth it? And, how do you snag the best sales?

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Amazon Prime Day is almost here. It starts at 12 AM PT on Monday, June 21, and concludes at 11:59 PM PT on Tuesday, June 22.  In 2015, Amazon launched Prime Day to commemorate its 20th anniversary. Typical of the site’s penchant for taking over the world, Prime Day has taken just six years to rival what was previously the only day of the year – Black Friday – when people went insane over a sale. I never thought there was a deal worth braving an angry crowd for, so Black Friday never held much appeal for me. But is Prime Day worth it? Given that you don’t have to get up at dawn, wait in line, or get into fisticuffs to participate, it’s pretty easy to say that that Prime Day is worth it. ... Read more

Can your kids sue you for oversharing on social media?

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If you are like 82% of parents in America, you have posted photos or videos of your kids to social media, a blog, or other places online. This might seem completely natural and innocent when you are doing it. There’s even a name for it — sharenting — and everyone else does it too, right? Your kids are cute, funny, and a big part of what you do every day. Why not share photos of them? Because your kids are humans with a moral — if not legal — right to privacy, they won’t always be children, and you are probably doing it wrong. “Kids at ages ten, eleven, and twelve, often have a digital coming of age,” explains Stephen Balkam, Founder and CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute.  “And ... Read more

Five Super Easy Ways to Tell if That Link is Legit or a Scam

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You got an email – or a text – from your bank, Fedex, the IRS, or someone you tend to pay attention to when they send emails. So, wondering where your shipment is or attempting to resolve a financial issue, you click on the link in that message, log into your account, and … oops. You just fell for a phishing attack. A scammer has your login credentials. Phishing is a clever scam designed to trick you into giving important login credentials to a thief who wants to use those credentials to rob you. It is the most common form of internet crime, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, with 241,342 known victims in 2020. This type of scam is most often done via email but is ... Read more

Tech That Makes Driving—for You and Your Kids—Safer

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The first time I drove a car with an advanced driver assistance system, I was humbled. It was a Volvo and I was test driving it in horrendous traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area. I turned on "adaptive cruise control," which keeps the car moving at a set speed while braking to prevent collisions. I also used "lane keep," where the car actually steers itself to stay in the lane. The traffic was stop-and-go but I didn't care because the car was handling it well—until traffic suddenly started moving, that is. My car sped up, trying to find the speed I'd set, at the very moment someone cut me off. My driver's reflexes kicked in and I hit the brakes. But by the time I did, the Volvo had ... Read more

Do you have a digital will? You should, here’s why:

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Every year, Facebook sends me a reminder to wish my sister a happy birthday. Sometimes, it tries to lure me back to Facebook by saying my sister hasn’t heard from me in a while. My sister is dead. But there is nothing I can do to stop these reminders. She didn’t tell anyone her Facebook password before she died. In fact, Facebook is just one element of her digital life that reaches out, like a ghost, pretending she is still with us. Most of her online life is completely lost to us and we will likely never find it. There might be bank accounts we don’t know about, online friends who are wondering why she never writes, photo collections, and email accounts full of people we don’t know. No ... Read more

Ten Apps That Put Money in Your Pocket

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How often do you pay full price when you shop because finding a deal is too time-consuming? Do you shop online and leave the "discount code" section of the checkout interview blank because you don't have a code? And how much cash do you get back when you shop? If you aren't bragging right now about the deals you get, the fun you have watching the price drop in your shopping cart, or the hundreds of dollars you net in cashback rewards, you are leaving money out there that could be yours. You don't have to devote your weekends to coupon clipping or schooling up on savvy shopping tips for this. You just need to download an app or two and let it do the work for you. People are claiming ... Read more

These are the safety gadgets women need right now!

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When Sarah Everard was abducted and killed while walking home at night, the women of social media (and London, where she lived) exploded in anger. Authorities responded by telling women not to walk alone or go out at night and every woman felt the frustration of being told that attacks by men are our fault. We have all been there, heart pounding, clutching our keys, with the knowledge that, probably, keys will do nothing to stop anyone who is determined. What happened to Sarah is what we all fear every day. Let’s face it, talking on the phone, holding your keys, wearing sensible shoes, and avoiding walking at night are not that helpful—as self-protection goes. And if bad men in the world ... Read more

10 Online/Cyber Scams You Need to Know About Right Now!

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A plague is terrorizing the nation. No. Not that one. A cyber plague! The cyber plague is a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic, but its target is your wealth and identity, not your health. For scammers, the pandemic is a perfect storm of opportunity. Entire workforces went from working on company networks – protected by security pros – to working from home. People are home, constantly online, already scared, and often slipping into debt. Then came stimulus checks. Next came vaccines. And then more stimulus checks. It has been a rough year for law-abiding citizens. But it has been a gold rush for scammers, hackers, and cybercriminals. Scammers reach you through any means available to ... Read more

HOW TO: Make Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri into Your Personal Assistant

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If you watched any science fiction when you were a kid, you probably expected that, by now, you would have a robot assistant and appliances to do all the work for you. You know what? If you have a computer, an Amazon Echo or Google Home, and a cell phone, you do have a personal assistant, and it will do a lot of the work for you. This is when you need it, too, right? After a year of working from home while trying to manage kids and be a homeschool teacher, you need some help. Here are seven tips for making the technology you already have -- do your work for you. 1.      Use Reminders How can you focus on your own work if you need to remind your kids to go to class, get someone to ... Read more

This gear is as good as the expensive stuff but is a fraction of the price!

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If you live on a normal person’s budget, a phone that costs $1000, a pair of easy-to-lose headphones, or a speaker you can take to the beach might seem completely out of the question. But you don’t have to pay as much money as you think for the tech you love. All you have to do is separate fashion and marketing from specs and features and buy the technology you really want, not the name brand you think you want. Honestly? You don’t even have to do that because I did it for you. If you're hankering for AirPods, a new smartphone, smartwatch, or smarter-home, I totally get it. Money is tight, but we still all want all the things. And there is a secret in the gadget world that I’m about to ... Read more

Ten tech-ish tips you’ll wish you knew about yesterday!

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Are you sure you know everything your phone, computer, and apps can do? I’ll be you don’t. Because they all change so fast that no single human can keep up. Here are ten useful tech tips that will do everything from search Google better to turn your phone into a scanner. 1.      Find your stimulus check online Is there a second economic stimulus payment? Should you have gotten it? Has it gone awry? When will I get it? The answers to these questions – and many more -- are a click away. Just go to irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment. You can read up on what the government is doing and how it’s going or just get right to the point and click that big, “Get My Payment” button. Then click ... Read more

Pandemic Taxes

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What a year! Everything was terrible. Things will be so much better in 2021 (we hope)! But first? Taxes! Oh, yay. (Sigh.) Taxes are never fun. But this year — in addition to the usual dread — there is a lot to think about that none of us has had to consider before. But don’t put it off. There might be money in this endeavor for you. Even if you collected unemployment, there are opportunities here.  “Over 40 million people were unemployed and received expanded unemployment benefits under the CARES Act,” explains Lisa Greene-Lewis, TurboTax CPA and tax expert. Even though you may not have had taxes withheld and are not entitled to a refund, you still have to file. “And you may be eligible ... Read more

Ten Tips to Keep You Sane and Productive While Working from Home

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I have been working from home since my daughter was born. This week, she turned 22. So I’ve had plenty of time to explore all the delights and dangers of working where I live. If you, like 42 percent of U.S. workers right now, are working from home, you have probably already experienced the productivity boost that comes with eliminating your commute, in-office interruptions and meetings. But you are about to — if you haven’t already — run into the anxiety, irritability, and complete failure to get anything done that comes next in this adventure. The reason for the upcoming mood plummet, according the WHO, is that working from home has eliminated every built-in trigger that helped you gear ... Read more

Smart Fitness at CES

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With many gyms closed or limited during the pandemic, many of us turned to at-home workouts, either on our own or with the help of online classes from Alomoves, Peloton Fitness (with or without fancy equipment), The Daily Burn or through apps like Seven. In fact, at-home fitness has become such a trend while we are all on lockdown, fitness equipment sales — everything from resistance bands to kettlebells to bikes — increased by 500 percent and led to massive shortages. It’s no wonder that CES was full of fitness innovations. And if this year’s virtual CES is any indicator, getting fitness out of gyms and into our homes and daily lives is the wave of the future. Online Health Clubs With ... Read more

The CES tech you have to see to believe (trust me, it’s a must-look)!

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CES is full of serious solutions to real-world problems. Probably. I didn’t look for those. I haunted the virtual aisles of the Consumer Electronics Show looking for weird. And why not? It’s been a strange year. As a culture, our taste for strange has grown exponentially since the last CES. And you know what? I found it.  Amid the folding laptops, bending phone screens, driverless cars, flying cars, and drones that will -- sooner than anyone expected -- deliver our packages right to our doors, I found the products that made me say, “Seriously?” And then, “Okay, I want that.” From a bandaid that will make men first shave, down there, and then be better in bed to a pair of glasses that ... Read more

HOW TO: Help senior friends and family set up their new tech

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All that tech you wrapped and put under the tree seemed like such a terrific idea when you were shopping. A Roku! A new phone! A sweet new laptop! You killed the gift-giving. But now that the presents are opened and everyone is playing with their toys, you are starting to feel like the new guy on the tech support helpline. Answering the first question from Papa was fun. Helping Nana get her new tablet set up was rewarding. But the millionth question? You are seriously considering charging by the minute. Maybe the gift you forgot was an unlimited subscription to online tech support for everyone born before 1993? Because you know what? That’s a thing. Teaching people to use technology when ... Read more