Techish

Plugged-In Families: How to Create Healthier Tech Habits

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Today's kids are totally connected — to surfing, scrolling, snapping, gaming and ‘gramming. According to new Pew Reseach, 95% of teens have access to a smartphone and 45% say they are online 'almost constantly.’  Stats like those give way to rising concern over the addictiveness of constantly checking for social media updates, watching videos and playing games. Some studies tie extended screen time to distraction in classrooms, symptoms of ADHA, sleep deprivation and depression. But what we’ve learned as digital parenting evolves is that the challenge is less about how much screen time our kids have and more about the quality of time they spend online. Research also shows that when you ... Read more

Facebook & Instagram add tools to curb screen addiction: I tried them with my teen.

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This story originally ran in an edited version in USA Today on 8.1.18 If we’ve learned anything from our wired world of late, it’s that we’re all pretty much addicted to our screens and we’re also fairly powerless to do anything about it. Okay, that’s a little dramatic, but it’s pretty close to the truth when you consider that it’s engineered to grab your attention, keep you hooked, and make you crave more. 2.5 billion people now use at least one of Facebook’s apps. As of the latest studies, approximately two-thirds of adults in the United States are active Facebook users, and of those people, three-quarters of them check the social network every day, according to a recent report from ... Read more

Back to School Gadgets: As Seen on Good Day New York

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Here are some fun gadgets to tech kids out: 1.   Go-To Safety Gadget: Relay - For Ages 6-11: (starting at $99, plus $6.99 monthly data charge) This is a screen-less, water-resistant device that works like a walkie-talkie and puts you in direct contact with your child, but with the connection of a smartphone. You can connect to your child’s Relay whenever you want from either an app on your smartphone or from another Relay device, and they can contact you by pressing the large button in the middle of the gadget. The Relay uses 4G LTE connectivity so you can check on them, and talk with them, whenever you want – from anywhere you want. 2. Nokia “Candy Bar” 3310 3G Phone ($60) Iconic – and ... Read more

A Wearable Mosquito Repellent That Doesn’t Suck?

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I hate mosquitoes so much that I would happily bathe in DEET if it truly makes them leave me alone. Hopefully, a new wearable called Bandito can keep those little suckers at bay, without slathering yourself in toxic chemicals. Chicago-based company Guarden launched the $29 wrist-worn device on Indiegogo, where's it's raised more than 200-million dollars so far, which is some 836% of its original goal. According to the company, you just slap the Bandito on your wrist, and it uses a cocktail of  Citronella, Peppermint, and Lemongrass scents that mosquitoes hate AND emits a sonic sound that is like nails on a chalkboard to teeny-tiny-mosquito ears. (Do ... Read more

How to keep in touch with kids too young to own a smartphone

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https://vimeo.com/277168596 Let’s face it, parents, most of us lose our kids at least once or twice while they’re growing up. Sometimes they just get a little too good at hide-and-seek, as my then-four-year-old daughter did for a few heart-stopping moments inside a department store several years ago. Or maybe they just aren’t where we expect them to be — even for a minute or two — and it’s absolutely terrifying. Apps on smartphones like Life360 and even Find My Friends work great to help track down teens and older kids mature enough to manage the responsibility of owning a smartphone. But what about for younger ones? What’s the best way to keep a watchful eye — that isn’t a ... Read more

Here’s how Apple’s iOS 12 wants to make it much easier to control your family’s screen time

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Policing how much time your family spends on their digital devices is a huge part of being a parent these days. Kids love to lose themselves in their smartphone and tablet screens, and setting vague limits or trusting them to put their phones down at bedtime doesn't always work out the way we'd like it to. There are a number of different apps that help parents monitor how much time their kids are spending on their phones, but Apple just one-upped all of them by baking those features right into the next version of iOS. iOS 12 includes a couple of super handy new features including Activity Reports and App Limits. You can find both in the new Screen Time app, and they're designed to help ... Read more

Does a 6-year-old need a smartphone? Incredibly survey reveals 20% of parents say yes!

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Just how young is too young to have a smartphone? That's a question lots and lots of parents struggle with, so tech buy-back site Decluttr decided to find out. The company conducted a survey of over 1,000 parents in the U.S. and asked them about their kids' technology habits, and you might be surprised with how many youngsters are walking around with smartphones of their very own. According to Decluttr's data, a whopping 20% of kids between the ages of 1 and 6 have their own smartphone. That's one out of every five kids below the age of seven. On top of that, almost one-third of those youngsters have a smartphone that cost their parents over $100. So, what exactly does a 6-year-old ... Read more

5 old gadgets you never use that are worth big bucks (so sell ’em now!)

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Are you sitting on a junky-gadget goldmine? Most everyone has some spare gadgets laying around on a shelf, in a drawer, or stuck in a box in the closet. We never give them any thought because, I mean really, who would ever want them? In the age of edge-to-edge smartphone screens and streaming music, that dusty tech is basically trash. Except that it isn't. Old-school electronics have a huge secondary market, and you might be sitting on an absolute gold mine of retro gadgets that you never even knew were collectible. Here's a handful of the most desirable pieces of old tech. Video Game Systems Of all the different kinds of home electronics, video game consoles hold their value better ... Read more

JENN’S LIST: Best Gadgets of Spring 2018

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Spring has sprung, and now that the last remnants of winter have melted away it's time start 2018 for real. We're only four months into the year, but there are already some awesome new gadget trends starting to emerge. Oculus Go ($199) Oculus got off to a bit of a slow start with the Rift virtual reality headset, but it's hoping to make up a whole lot of ground with the all-new Oculus Go, a wireless VR gadget that you can take anywhere. It's an entirely standalone VR experience, meaning no messy wires and you don't need a pricey computer to attach it to, and at $199 it's a whole lot cheaper than most of the other virtual reality headsets out there. Developers have already been ... 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

HOW TO: Spring Clean Your Social Media Like a Pro

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A dirty, unkempt, constantly cluttered house takes a toll on your health — according to dozens of scientific studies and experts. And just like piles of junk don’t do your physical or mental health any favors, neither does a messy social media life. “Most of us are both addicted to social media and fatigued by it at the same time,” says Amy Jo Martin, a best-selling author named the third most powerful woman on Twitter. “It's important to reset our habits and patterns around social media.” Considering that most of us will spend more than five years of our lives scanning social media, it’s as important a place as any these days to do some serious Spring cleaning. Here’s how to deep clean, ... Read more

Here’s every privacy related update Facebook’s made so far – in one place: 

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Here's a look at all of Facebook's recent privacy changes and updates, in one place, with working links. We will continue to update this list and Facebook rolls out more changes. Updated their terms of service to be easier to understand https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/terms-and-data-policy/ Turned off data access for unused apps https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/03/cracking-down-on-platform-abuse/ Restricted Facebook login data for apps https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/03/cracking-down-on-platform-abuse/ Made data settings and tools easier to find (privacy shortcuts) ... Read more

HOW TO: Find out right now if your data was shared with Cambridge Analytica

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Want to see if your Facebook data was shared with Cambridge Analytica? Find out via a dedicated link. Facebook posted a new link to its Help Center today to let all 2.2 million people who use the social site know whether they've been breached. Here's what it says when I open the page: You might also get a notification that looks like the image on the left or right below: NOW WHAT? No matter what -- be sure to go through all the 3rd party apps you've signed into using Facebook. On a desktop: Click the question mark in the upper right corner and go down to Privacy Checkup From there, scroll down to Apps to review everything connected to your account. Edit who sees ... Read more

HOW TO: File your taxes faster, get last minute-help and track your refunds

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The April 17 tax deadline is looming. As the mad dash to file draws nears, there is some new technology to help make this potentially stressful task incredibly simple — yes, even for those filing last minute. Here's a look at some options: Free filing If you made less than $66,000 in 2017 and have a simple return, the government makes it easy to file online, for free. The Internal Revenue Service's "Free File" preparation and filing software guides you through the process. You can sign your return electronically and track the progress of your refund, all for no cost. According to the IRS, 70% of all taxpayers — about 100 million people — are eligible to file using the Free File ... Read more