Techish

Mind your digital manners: 7 surprising deadly (or at least discourteous) digital sins in 2021

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***THIS STORY ORIGINALLY RAN IN USA Today*** It’s 2021, and by now most of us know it’s rude to talk on our cellphones in a public restroom, restaurant or at the checkout counter. We understand that texting and walking can be hazardous to your health – though it sure makes for hilarious GIFs (pronounced JIF, btw) and viral videos. We even totally get that WRITING IN ALL CAPS is the digital version of yelling. What about all the new rules on digital engagement? There are thousands of unspoken social norms most of us at least try to follow every day, but when it comes to our online world, it's tough to keep up. Here are seven – if not deadly, then at least discourteous – digital sins you ... 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

This new tech is revolutionizing how we buy and sell homes!

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***See more of this article and video @ USA Today*** https://youtu.be/nNHSiaB0KD0 The first time my husband and I made an offer on a home in the spring of 2018, we agonized over it for days. The house itself was tiny – a two-bedroom, one bathroom, 1,000 square foot little postage stamp of an abode – but the yard was big by San Francisco Bay Area standards and we saw potential. The home was listed for $699,000. We made our offer: more than $200,000 over the asking price. (You read that right. And yes, it is totally crazy. And totally common where we live.) We crafted the perfect letter to the kind widower selling his lifetime home (a practice that's now discouraged because it can lead to ... 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

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

AS SEEN ON TV: Great deals on back-to-school gadgets

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Here are even more (!) of the best gadgets, bargains, and tech tools to save time, money, and stress during this "anything but ordinary" back-to-school season and beyond: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE The Galaxy Tab S7 FE (Fan Edition) brings fan-favorite features and 5G connectivity to power your productivity and play. A large 12.4-inch display enables users to take their entertainment, creativity and multi-tasking to the next level —all at an affordable price. Packed with key features including a S Pen, a Multi-Active Window (where you can open up to three apps at once!), Book Cover Keyboard and a long-lasting battery to keep you powered up. Price: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE Wi-Fi ... Read more

TECHLIST: Best Back to College Gadgets and Gear To Keep Them Safe and Healthy

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***THIS STORY ORIGINALLY AIRED/RAN IN USA TODAY*** https://youtu.be/BZ4KN72SH2o My daughter is one of the millions of American college students heading back to campus in person this fall. She was a freshman when COVID-19 hit and shut the world down, cutting short her first year living with two other young women in a cramped 10-by-20 dorm room decorated with string lights, Polaroid snapshots, and the occasional half-empty pizza box or two. When she heads back this year, it's to an apartment near campus as a junior, a full 18-months since she last set foot inside a lecture hall. While I would send her back in a full biohazard bubble suit if I could, here are the tech tools and gadgets we ... Read more

TECHLIST: Ease back-to-school stress with high-tech masks, alarm clocks, math apps, more

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***THIS ARTICLE AND VIDEO ORIGINALLY RAN/AIRED IN USATODAY*** https://youtu.be/E2qsnJWoZw8 In what’s shaping up as one of the most anxiety-inducing back-to-school seasons yet, the buzz among parents everywhere has shifted from Number 2 pencils to N95 masks. With so many unknowns around the coronavirus and the delta variant still ahead — many parents are turning to new tech tools to help ease mounting worries. Online searches for “best kids masks for school” rocketed up some 250% in the past few weeks according to Google Trends. In addition to personal protective gear, parents are doubling down on devices such as Chromebooks and smart wearables, along with e-learning tools and ... Read more

Tech broke my brain, then a two week digital detox fixed it. (Mostly)

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**This story originally ran in USAToday**   Panic. FOMO. Relief. That pretty much sums up the wave of emotions I experienced in the first five minutes after realizing I couldn’t get a reliable cell or WiFi signal for nearly two weeks straight during my recent adventures in Alaska. I hadn’t planned to take a two-week break from all my gadgets and screens, or really even take any time off from work at all when I traveled home to the Kenai Peninsula – where I grew up and most of my family still lives. I make this journey home almost every summer – and every summer – I experience some glitch in the whole modern tech experience. Until recently, my parents' internet service was dial-up ... 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

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

Amazon Prime Day scams ramp up, here’s how to protect yourself:

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Check Point Research (CPR) sent us an email this morning, saying they've spotted an increase in malicious activity in the run-up to Amazon Prime Day 2021, one of the largest online shopping events of the year. This year's event, slated to occur on June 21-22, promises millions of deals and special offers to Amazon’s 150-million-plus Prime subscribers around the world. CPR says of particular concern is that nearly 80% of domains containing the word “Amazon” are potentially dangerous. CPR also reports that cybercriminals are impersonating the Amazon brand ahead of the annual shopping event in order to trick people into credential theft of their email addresses, payment details and passwords, ... 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

Amazon Sidewalk shares your Internet connection with neighbors. Here’s how to turn it off.

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Amazon is using our Ring doorbells and Echo smart speakers, among other smart home devices, to make a new kind of wireless network called Sidewalk. It automatically shares a slice of your home network with your neighbors’ devices, unless you OPT out of that function. Not everyone loves that idea. Nor do "all the people" like the idea of Amazon opting everyone "in." On Tuesday, June 8th, Amazon switched Sidewalk on — for everyone. If you don't love the idea of sharing your personal WiFi with everyone else around you, you have to opt-out of this new feature. We show you how below. But first, why, what, and WTF? Here's what it does: Sidewalk is a low-power, low-bandwidth, ... 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

USA TODAY: Robocalls making you crazy? Here are 5 ways to stop them on your smartphone:

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***** THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN IN USA TODAY***** Remember back in the day when your phone rang, and you would answer it? Robocallers have ruined that. Now we stare suspiciously at every call and send unknown numbers, even when it looks local, straight to voicemail. And for good reason! So far, in 2021, scammers have made 22 billion calls nationwide. That's roughly 67 calls to every man, woman, and child in America. Answering calls from an unknown number invites a scammer – and in many cases, actual criminals – into your life. Here are the five most straightforward ways to block robocalls and eventually get them to – mostly, hopefully, fingers crossed – stop calling us for ... Read more