Techish

HOW TO: Sanitize your germ-riddled Smartphone

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Every time I walk in the house, I set my phone down and wash my hands for two minutes. Then I pick my phone up, pocket it, or respond to a text and go about my life at home. Sound familiar? Now think like an epidemiologist. Where’s the flaw in that system? Hand washing is the best way to prevent the spread of disease, according to the CDC. But that phone has become like a third hand. It goes everywhere with me. I probably touched it a thousand times while I was out. So, failing to wash my phone is an enormous flaw in an otherwise solid infection-prevention scheme. It’s so big a flaw, in fact, that it might be undermining much of my effort. But how do you wash a phone? You can’t ... Read more

Political text messages blowing up your phone? Here’s how to stop them:

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*This story first ran in USA Today.* Set your message notifications to silent, and get ready to ignore a whole bunch of texts. Unless you want a lot of extra reading on your smartphone, that is. Americans are expected to get hit by more than three billion political texts between now and Election Day, and it’s already driving some people (aka, me...) crazy. Here's an unsolicited text -- with an obviously threatening tone -- that my friend Matt received last week: Call and text blocking app RoboKiller put out a new Political Insights Tracker that gives us some pretty keen insight into national data around political text messages and robocalls. What they’ve found is that the sheer ... Read more

HOW TO: Spot, avoid, and report imposter scams

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by Colleen Tressler Consumer Education Specialist, FTC Imposter scams often begin with a call, text message, or email. The scams may vary, but work the same way – a scammer pretends to be someone you trust to convince you to send them money or share personal information. Scammers may ask you to transfer money from your bank, wire money using a company like Western Union or MoneyGram, put money on a gift card, or send cryptocurrency, because they know these types of payments can be hard to reverse. Scammers call, email, or text and claim to be: A family member (or someone acting for them), saying your relative is sick, has been arrested, or is in serious trouble and needs ... Read more

7 ways to keep bored kids from turning into screen zombies

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How’s your pandemic going? If you are anything like the 2,000 parents of school-aged children recently surveyed by Fat Brain Toys, your kids have announced, “I’m bored” an average of six times a day, had five temper tantrums a day, and created six "career-best" messes in the past few months. The result, for many households, is that the kids have turned into “screen zombies.” Because what else are you supposed to do? This hardly seems like the best the time to limit screen time. Also, it’s gotten hard to know anymore how much screen time is too much. School, reading, research, entertainment, and socializing all comes in via screen. This doesn’t change the reality that too much screen time, ... Read more

7 genius ways to turn your old iPhone into an awesome new gadget!

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It’s not you, it’s me. I love you, I’m just not in love with you.  Just because you’re swooning over the newest smartphone doesn’t mean you have to just ditch the old one. I mean, it’s been pressed to your face or cradled in the palm of your hand for a few years now, surely you don’t want to just throw out your old handset like yesterday’s soggy coffee cup.  Here are seven fantastic ways to repurpose that trusty gadget so it can go on faithfully serving you for many years to come. 1. Turn it into a VR headset You don't need a spend a small fortune to dabble in the magical world of virtual reality. If your smartphone is less than five years old, it likely has a decent, high-resolution ... Read more

HOW TO: Use high tech/low stress ways to score amazing Amazon Prime Deals

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After the year we've had, who doesn't need a crazy-awesome online shopping sale right about now?! Here are answers to your top questions -- and amazing insider tips to get everything you want -- minus the stress. BUY NOW OR WAIT?  Buy early this year. The pandemic is still disrupting supply chains — which slows down new shipments of the most sought-after products. Online sales are through the roof, adding strain on delivery networks… and shopping analysts predict more supply shortages in high-demand items like electronics and work-from-home gear come November.  Also — the minute Amazon announced the dates of Prime Day, Walmart, Target, Overstock — and many others — announced sales, ... Read more

Here are all the Amazon Prime Day Deals you need to know about:

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Shhhh, don't tell anyone ... A little birdie over at Amazon sent us a list of Prime Day Deals ahead of time. Check out what to expect, and read Christina's story about how to snag these amazing deals before anyone else! When it comes to incredible deals on amazing products, Prime Day 2020 is expected to deliver in a big way. Retail analysts predict Prime Day will generate a record-breaking $10 billion in ales this year. (That's around 3-billion more than last year's Prime Day.) Watch for deals on Nintendo Switch Titles, Barbie & Hot Wheels toys, iRobot Roomba vacuums, Panasonic Cameras and Premium Beauty brands this Prime Day. These offers could sell out quickly, so it's best to be ... Read more

HOW TO: Clean up your smoky, germy, dusty, or smelly indoor air

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Thousands of people have asked me about portable air purifier recommendations in the past few weeks, but the most urgent inquiry came from one of my own lifelong friends, 49-year old Patrick Bryson. Bryson and his family live in Portland, Oregon, where nearby wildfires created some of the worst air quality in the world. The smoke triggered his allergies and caused his teenage daughter to break out in hives. He had five high-end Molekule air purifiers loaded into a virtual shopping cart, but before he spent thousands of dollars on devices with a couple notably poor reviews online, he wanted my advice. “I really like the two models I’ve reviewed,” I texted back right away. “They’re so much ... Read more

HOW TO: Fix your slow, stuttering, no good, very bad, WiFi once and for all!

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***This story originally appeared in my USA Today Syndicated Column Series Tech Now in September 2020*** You’re cutting out. What was that? I think you’re froz… Another day, another frustrating Wi-Fi woe to deal with as we try to work, go to school –  and keep connected with each other – from home during this pandemic. It’s arguably the biggest personal tech headache in our lives right now, and we’re all trying to manage it without throwing our gadgets out the window. While millions of people might be stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide, until widespread infrastructure and policy changes happen, this might be something super simple and free to fix on your own. Here are some ... Read more

SCAM ALERT! Don’t fall for this “waiting package” phishing scam!

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By Ari Lasarus, Consumer Education Specialist, FTC Phishing scams can be hard to spot. For example, we’ve been hearing about one where people get a text message saying that there’s a package waiting for them, and asking them to click a link to learn more. Sounds innocent enough, right? Unfortunately not. The messages are coming from scammers. In some cases, they’re targeted at college students. In that version, scammers text returning students to say there’s a package waiting for them — sometimes claiming it’s been waiting since last spring, when many students had to go home from campus quickly. Whatever the message is, this rule stays the same: If you get an unexpected ... Read more

AS SEEN ON HLN: Tips for scoring all the gadgets you need for school or work from home

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Laptops are the new T.P. shortage, everyone’s stocking up as supply chain issues and trade tariffs add to months-long delays in meeting meteoric demand due to the pandemic.  My mantra here is GO CHROME AT HOME. You can still find some fabulous Chromebooks that can do everything most students — especially K-8 need —  for a fraction of the cost.  But not all lower-priced Chromebook models are the same — and there’s some buyer-beware advice especially this Holiday weekend.  There are very few in-stock at most big box stores — and the ones you'll see discounted at prices less than $200 — might not last through the end of this year, let alone through the school year.  Go for names you ... Read more

Disaster Tech for Smoke, Hurricanes, and LIFE in 2020

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Fires in California. Unsurvivable hurricane storm surge in Louisiana. Flooding. Tornadoes. The worst hurricane – and worst hurricane season – the U.S. has ever seen. Oh, and there’s also a pandemic in full swing. If you don’t have an emergency plan to help you survive a disaster, you need to look to that STAT. The emergencies are coming faster than the news can hype them. Is this an apocalypse? Global warming? Retribution from the gods? Whatever reasoning you subscribe to, it’s time to gear up. The right gear can make the difference between having water and not, getting rescued and being stranded, knowing what’s coming and being caught unawares. And once the disaster is upon you, it’s ... Read more

HOW TO: Set Up a Safe, Ergonomic School-from-Home Workstation

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In the 1980s and 1990s entire industries went digital when computers hit the scene. People stopped using typewriters, light boards, and pencils and started sitting at computers. It was amazing. And, we all soon learned, it had a dark side: Huge numbers of people – me included – developed crippling injuries from what all now know were computer-related repetitive strain. It took years of lawsuits, permanent injury, research, and suffering before we learned that these injuries, tragedies really, could have been easily prevented. This year, an entire generation of children are making the shift from going to school – full of varied kinetic motion – to remote learning at home – rife with the ... Read more

Back to School At Home? These 10 gadgets help make distance learning less stressful:

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Whether your child’s just starting kindergarten or going back to college — at home — we’re all trying to figure out this unwieldy mess that is the new school year right now. Sure, most school districts will furnish laptops and Wi-Fi hot spots to students to help bridge the digital divide — but many schools still expect families to have their own devices, plus access to the Internet. They also expect parents to navigate the whole online world and become overnight IT pros to manage it all too. I know, it's overwhelming. As a mom and tenured tech-life journalist, I've gone hands-on with hundreds of gadgets and tools these past few months. My main goal? Help ease the stress of being ... Read more

The pandemic’s reshaping back-to-school shopping. Here’s how to take advantage of it:

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Leave it to a pandemic to upend yet another American tradition: Back-to-school shopping. Oh, it’s still happening. It just looks different than say — every mad-dash parent scramble for school supplies over the last century. It comes with a higher price tag and critical shortages too.  With so many students starting this new school year at home, the National Retail Federation (NRF) says spending could top 100-billion dollars. That number breaks all kinds of records as parents and college students ditch the No. 2 pencils and trips to Forever 21 for more pricey supplies like laptops and desks.  On top of it all, there’s a laptop shortage, as supply chain issues and trade tariffs on China ... Read more

HOW TO: Sell your old phone for the most money

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By Jennifer Jolly and Christina X. Wood Remember when your cellphone was brand new and you wanted to show it to everyone? That was a good day! Exciting! Thrilling! And now, however long later this is, you are hankering for an upgrade. The new phones do all sorts of amazing things yours can’t. They charge wirelessly, fold in half, sport super-fast processors, can survive a dunking, and have a camera that’s to die for. Resisting the urge to upgrade our phones is – for many a human living in the year 2020 – a near-constant battle with lust-worthy temptation. Or, as I like to think of it, the never-ending struggle to “keep up with the phone-ses.” Smartphones are now stupidly central to our ... Read more