Techish

Are your bad manners on email, text, and social media pissing people off?

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So much socializing happens virtually these days – via text, email, chat, social media, and phone – that using these tools badly might be pissing people off. Those late-night texts, the rude comment you left on someone’s social media post, the text shortcut you are using wrong, even the angle of your camera in a Zoom call might be doing your reputation in your social world more harm than you know. “Technology makes communication so easy, immediate, and convenient — available anywhere, from airline seats to toilet seats — that it unfortunately also makes it just as easy and immediate to be unintentionally rude,” reads Emily Post's Manners in a Digital World: Living Well Online by Daniel ... Read more

How to get a disposable email address and phone number (and why you’ll want to)

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You know that moment when you want to claim that discount for giving up your email address but aren’t sure you want to subscribe to whatever SPAM that site plans to send you? Or when you want to send an email to someone but wish you could do it without giving them your email address? There is an easy solution to both of those dilemmas and many more: Get a burner email address. Or maybe you want to give out your phone number to that hottie you just met but fear you'll end up with a stalker if that goes south? Or maybe you are selling on Craigslist and don't want that random couch buyer to be able to call you later. A disposable phone number, one you can shut off at any time without losing ... Read more

Are we facing an epidemic of repetitive stain injuries?

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When I started working at PC World in the 90s, the art department had recently made the transformation to working on computers and every art person I met was wearing wrist braces. The editorial department had made this transition a few years before and our most prolific writer had just had experimental carpal tunnel surgery and an editor had quit to go on disability because the pain, numbness, and weakness in her hands was crippling. That editor was unable to lift her own child and never regained full use of her hands. Less than a year later, my hands hurt constantly. This was happening in newsrooms all over the world and was being called the Carpal Tunnel Epidemic. Time magazine ran a ... Read more

7 Great Masks for to Go Back to School

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New backpack? Check. Number two pencils, composition books, and scientific calculator? Got it. Supply of face masks because the delta variant has brought back mask mandates and parents are terrified? Oops. It seems like just weeks ago that we were tossing our masks and running free and vaccinated in the streets. (Because it was, literally, last week.) But mask mandates are back in many states and the CDC “recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.” Whatever your current situation, you probably need to add masks to your back-to-school shopping list because, as the delta variant surges, school ... Read more

All the new smartphones are coming – here’s when to upgrade

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With new phone season upon us – Apple's likely announcing new iPhones on September 13th and Samsung has been tempting us all with new phones for months — many people are asking the annual question: Should I buy a new phone? In order to help you answer this question, I have broken down the traits of various phone-buying personalities. I believe that it is the buyer that matters more than the specs, when it comes to all technology purchases. If you are someone who wants the latest high-end phone, you don't want to hear about replacing batteries on a junk-drawer clunker. But if you like to get the last drop of use out of your investment, you might want to know when you will run out of ... Read more

Are your smart home devices spying on you?

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As we approach – or pass – the dates of some of the dystopian futures predicted in the science fiction I read as a child, I’m looking around my home wondering if any of it came true. Are robots replacing humans? Are we living on spaceships? Do we have flying cars and replicants? Mostly, the answer is no. But there is one fantasy future that gives me pause: Terry Gilliam’s Brazil predicts a world where bureaucracies know everything about us and make life-altering decisions based on that data. In this fever-dream film, the bureaucracies make terrible mistakes and citizens are helpless to correct them. I frown at my smart TV, Amazon Echo, Google Assistant, and Siri and think, “Well, that’s ... Read more

9 Apps That Improve Your Habits and Outlook

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Life is full of bad news and stress at the moment and most of that bad news and stress get into your brain through that rectangular oracle you keep in your pocket. You don't have to be bossed around by that phone, though. Instead of doom scrolling and getting angry and depressed, use a different app. Instead of opening Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, open an app that calms, instructs, informs, and makes your day — and your life and health — go more smoothly and with intention. It's a small change that can make a world of difference. Here are nine apps that will help change your outlook, improve your habits, and inch you towards health and happiness. 1.      Food Monster Free with ... Read more

If you are a social media influencer, this scam is coming for you

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When you go fishing, you put bait on the hook, right? You choose that bait  – and the water you drop it into – based on the kind of fish you are hoping to catch. The same is true when you are the fish (phish) and scammers are choosing a bait to put on their hook to catch you. You might not think of yourself as the kind of fish that’s likely to get caught. You are too smart to fall for romance scams, tech support scams, or that Nigerian letter thing. You are tech-savvy, a social media influencer, and a digital native. But if you swim in the waters of the internet, you are a phish and there is a scammer out there baiting a hook designed for you. What would you pay, to have your ... Read more

Are you addicted to technology?

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“Tiktok, Snapchat, and games like Candy crush are social engineering people to get addicted and stay addicted,” Jennifer lamented to me over text. “Can you show people — like my 21-year nephew who didn’t look up from his smartphone all day in the middle of Denali National Park — how he's been hoodwinked into this behavior and how his brain is helpless against it?” Social media, games, and much of the technology we use daily is engineered to make us like it and keep using it, as obsessively as possible. There are a lot of stories that detail how much effort tech companies go to when they build games, tools, and networks to make sure this is true. They are in the business of selling ... Read more

How to get your tech to read that book out loud for you

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Have you ever been deep into a book and had to put it down to go somewhere? What if you could get in your car, put on your sneakers, or close your eyes and fire up that book – right where you left off – and have your phone read aloud while you get where you need to go, get some things done, or just lie in a tub with a damp cloth over your your eyes? Sound good? You don't have to buy anything, probably. You can do this from your phone, your Kindle, or your Amazon Echo. Here’s how. Use Amazon's Whispersync The easiest, slickest, and most enjoyable way to have a book read aloud is to use Amazon’s Whispersync. You have to own both the Kindle version and the Audible version of the book ... Read more

Are apps charging your credit card and you don’t know it?

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Over a year ago, I signed up for a free trial for online fitness site NEOU. I canceled my account before the trial was up, but the company charged my credit card $50 anyway, signing me up for the annual plan at the new member’s price. I noticed the charge, complained, and they quickly refunded my money. A year later, though, the company charged me again. Again, I complained, and again, I got an apology and a full refund. I write about technology, so I probably sign up for more free trials than most people and systematically cancel them. But, still, I am frequently hit with unwanted charges to my credit card. This happens so often that I wondered if free trials are a scam designed to ... Read more

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