Techish

RECODE: What’s all this fuss about “digital detox” — and does it really work?

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This article appears on Recode.net: I'm sharing it here with you because it's a topic I've researched and written extensively about - and think it's incredibly valuable to have all of these resources in one place. If you haven't visited Recode.net recently - be sign up for their newsletter - and get the most important news from all over the news world delivered directly to your inbox! Too much tech can be bad for you. Here’s what happens when people are left to fighting their own devices. By Shirin Ghaffary Jan 28, 2019 I knew I had lost control when a good friend confronted me over coffee. In the 30 minutes we had been chatting, I had checked my phone about 11 times. I wasn’t ... Read more

HOW TO: Not get ripped off on Black Friday and Cyber Monday “Deals”

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TIPS TO MAKE SURE YOU NEVER OVERPAY: 1. SPOT THE REAL DEAL What’s actually good deal this time of year versus a bunch of hype? Small appliances — like instant pots — and smart home gadgets. Also, good deals: some HDTVs, video games, and game consoles also see aggressive pricing during Black Friday, or the days before and after it. 2. BROWSING BASICS Add a browser extension to your internet search engine — Safari, Firefox, Chrome — and let them scour the web faster than any human ever could for discounts, coupons, and deals to make sure you get the best prices — for real. Browser extensions: InvisibleHand, PriceBlink, The Camelizer, Honey 3. PRICE ALERTS Some sellers ... Read more

5 Ways to Make Your Old iPhone Feel Like New Again

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Apple’s newest phones are out, more expensive than ever, and selling like crazy to early buyers eager to get their hands on the latest, greatest handset. Yes, even if they had to camp out for a week or sell a kidney to do it. But what about those of us who love the phone we have and want it to keep working like new? Smartphones are famous for working great for a year, then sputtering out right about the time the latest launch. Some people think it’s a conspiracy by the phone makers, but experts say you really just have to know how to keep them running right. “There are very simple steps that you can take to make it new again,” says Matt Zieminski, lead tech engineer at Puls, a company ... Read more

HOW TO: Check If Your Facebook Account Was Breached (And better secure it for the future either way…)

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Reposted from: The Wall Street Journal: It’s time to check up on your Facebook settings again but this time, it’s more about security than privacy: The company announced Friday the discovery of a security vulnerability that may have affected nearly 50 million accounts. Attackers were able to steal the digital keys—also known as access tokens—that keep people logged in because of an issue with Facebook’s “view as” feature. This tool, now disabled, let people see what their profile page looks like to others. Facebook Inc. said it has yet to determine whether anyone’s information was misused or accessed, but the company reset the access tokens for the 50 million people affected—plus ... Read more

How (and when) to get the most money for your old iPhone:

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It doesn’t matter if you have a still-shiny-new iPhone X or an ancient iPhone 5s — if you’re planning an upgrade to the latest and greatest as soon as Apple unveils them this week — you likely want to score the most money for it as humanly possible. There are a ton of ways now to get cash for your old iPhone. The sooner you sell it before Apple announces new phones on September 12th, the more money you’ll make. You’ll also get about 30% more money on average going through a buy-back site such as Gazelle and Nextworth, than from a wireless carrier’s trade-in program. Those two sites specifically also let you lock in a sales price, then hang onto to your old phone for a few weeks ... Read more

Alexa can tell you when the next big concert’s coming to town

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"Alexa, are there any good concerts coming to town?" "The Foo Fighters will be performing at the SAP Center in San Jose on September 12th. Would you like to buy tickets?" Alexa just got a new skill — telling you when concerts are coming to your area — even including the venue and dates. This is a new skill and even though she got it right for me the first time, others are saying she's a little behind. Gearbrain wrote last week that Alexa told them about a Foo Fighters concert on July 17th at Madison Square Garden in New York — more than seven weeks ago. Still, you can teach an old AI new tricks, and this is another one that might come in really handy (or hands-free...). What do you ... Read more

This awesome browser extension will tell you if you’re looking at a fake photo

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It spreads like a bad flu. One person shares a shocking photo on Facebook, with a news-ish-enough looking headline and before you know it, people are talking about two-headed sharks. (The photo below? FAKE.) Intentionally misleading news stories, and even fake images, make people believe all kinds of crazy things. I've fallen for a few of them for a few seconds on Facebook for sure, and I know I'm not alone. Now, a handy browser extension is here to help you figure out what's real and what's not. It's kind of like a lie-detector test for fakes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osPL8b-nTeg It's called SurfSafe and it's super easy to use: Install the browser extension on ... Read more

HOW TO: Hack back to school routine-rage with Alexa!

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For busy parents, back to school means back to juggling schedules, long school supply lists, and competing priorities. Luckily, Amazon's Alexa can help parents get back into the routine during that back to school transition. Here are few things to try:  ●      Stay stocked on back to school essentials and last-minute household items with Dash Buttons for things Ziplocs and Bounty. Click the button when you’re running low, and the product will be delivered right to your front door. ●      Don’t forget about that upcoming field trip, permission slip, or fundraiser. Just say “Alexa, remind me that I’m chaperoning a field trip next Monday at 8 am.” ●      Set a custom Routine for you and ... Read more

BACK TO SCHOOL: Helpful Tech-Life Hacks for Busy Families

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It’s been more than twenty years since I’ve gone to school, and yet every August without fail, I have classic back-to-school anxiety dreams: There’s a big test and I forgot to study. I can’t remember my locker combination. I’m in gym class — naked. Sound familiar? Turns out back to school season can be just as stressful for parents as it is for some students. A slew of recent surveys show parents are increasingly anxious about back to school shopping costs, getting kids ready and out the door on time, screen-time, busy schedules, homework, and bedtime, among many other nagging concerns. While new technology might be to blame for some of the stress — like kids playing Fortnite when ... Read more

HOW TO: Take smartphone photos that pop!

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People will take more than 1.3 trillion digital photos this year — according to industry analyst site InfoTrends — and we’ll take nearly all of them on our smartphones… where they’ll likely live until we run out of room on our phones. But using a smartphone as your default camera comes with a whole host of specific problems. Here's how to fix some of the most common smartphone photography missteps. 1. Out of focus The fix: Tap the screen where you want it to focus That’s right. Tap a face or landmark and wait until it becomes really crisp and sharply into focus. This works the same whether you’re on an iPhone or Android. Even if you think your phone's auto-focus feature is doing the ... Read more

Here are some of the best deals for Amazon Prime Day 2018 so far

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Don't you just LOVE when you get better deals than anyone else? Here's the latest scoop, and we'll keep updating this list as we're able to confirm these ahead of the big day - which starts July 16th! For more on the do's and don'ts of one of the biggest deal-scoring days of the year - read this next! Amazon Echo  Amazon's Alexa-enabled smart speakers and hubs are some of the company's most popular gadgets, and they're going to get big price cuts for Prime Day. Here are the low prices you can look forward to: Echo - $69.99 (normally $99.99) Echo Dot - $24.99 (normally $49.99) Echo Plus - $109.99 (normally $149.99) Echo Show - $129.99 (normally $229.99) These are some of ... Read more

How to dramatically increase the chances of finding your smartphone again if you ever lose it

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We may not like to admit it, but our smartphones are our one-stop communication hub for our entire lives. Having your phone die on you in the middle of the day is a scary thing, but straight up losing it is practically a tragedy. With summer day trips and all the awesome outdoor activities that come along with warm weather, your chances of misplacing your phone rise in a big way, but there's something you can do to up the chances of recovering it if you find yourself phone-less. Keeping your phone locked and secured with a passcode, fingerprint, or facial recognition help deter thieves, but it also makes it much harder for someone to return your phone to you if you ever lose it. How will ... Read more

These easy DIY iPhone battery tricks will keep you powered up so much longer!

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Battery drain issues never seem to go away. You get a new smartphone, it seems awesome for a little while, and then before you know it you’re back to barely making it through the day before it sputters to a stop. It’s an issue I’ve had with my last three iPhones, and I’ve gone to Apple for help many times. I did the typical troubleshooting — updated my phone, tweaked location settings and notifications, didn’t expose it to extreme ambient temperatures, and made sure my Wi-Fi was connected whenever possible — but none of the typical tricks fixed it. I was still dead in the water by two in the afternoon. IS “BATTERYGATE” TO BLAME? The drama surrounding Apple’s iPhone battery woes can ... Read more

YES! There is a way to stop those annoying robocalls!

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My smartphone rings. It’s a number I don’t recognize. I ignore it and the caller leaves a message, “You will be taken under custody by the local cops,” says a robotic sounding female voice. “There are four serious allegations pressed on your name at this moment...” They leave a phone number to call back — or else. I know right away that it’s a scam, likely one of a half dozen calls I’ll get today. And it’s not even noon yet. This kind of frustrating little scenario played out more than three billion times in the month of March alone, according to the YouMail Robocall Index, at a cost of more than $9.5 billion annually to people who fall victim to phone scams. A new Harris Poll for ... Read more