daily story pitches
Note: I’ve had a couple of issues uploading files to the Dropbox. If you don’t see the scripts one day, click the link below to download a PDF directly from my site. It is password protected, let me know if you need it.
Click here for scripts
Thursday, October 6th
If there is one thing we all share, it’s the annoyance of daily Robo calls. More than a decade after getting your first smartphone and after years of apps, carriers, and the FCC fighting them, and we get more and more of them. But new stats show Robo calls actually declined in September. Is something working? I’m talking to an expert who works to stop robocalls every day to find out.
Wednesday, October 5th
How to find every horror movie on Netflix. You can always scroll through the listings on Netflix but you’re missing movies you didn’t know are available. I’m going to show secret codes that most people don’t know about to help you see everything available Netflix. Plus, an app that searches for horror movies (and everything else) on the streaming services you subscribe to.
Tuesday, October 4th
Update: I’m holding off on the Netflix story to do a follow up to yesterdays story instead.
Yesterday we talked about scams when selling items online. I had some viewers email asking about scams to watch out for while buying things on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace as well as whether using Venmo and Zelle is safe. I’m taking a look at what to watch out for.
Monday, October 3rd
Anatomy of a Facebook marketplace scam. Marketplace can be a great place to buy and sell items but it’s also ripe for scams. I’m putting a couple things for sale to show you how scam artists try to take sellers’ money and what to watch out for.
Friday, September 30th
The app of the day, “Zello”. An emergency app you and your family should install before an emergency situation. Zello allows people to send messages and audio to emergency agencies even when cell towers are down. It is also used by volunteers to send help. I’m looking at the app and how a volunteer group that formed after hurricane Irma use it to help people out of state.
Thursday, September 29th
Tech and emergencies. When the power and cell towers go down these tech gadgets and apps can help you stay connected. Power can go out anywhere and for many reasons. It’s good to have these tools in your emergency kit. An app to stay connected even when towers go down, an app to show people exactly where you are, portable batteries and a hand crank weather radio.
Wednesday, September 28th
With another Amazon Prime Day around the corner I started wondering if an Amazon Prime membership is still worth the money. These prime days gives members a chance to save money on special deals. But for the right to get those deals you have to pay $139 a year. Millions of people subscribe. Is it worth it? I’m crunching the numbers to find out (hint, for many shoppers it isn’t)
Tuesday, September 27th
Everything you need to know about Amazon’s 2nd Prime Day. F-r the first time amazon will have two shopping events it invented. Set for October 11th-12th, Prime Day comes a little over a month before Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I’ve found a few details about the sale, what you can expect to be on sale and how other retailers will counter.
Monday, September 26th
Totally free TV. We’re spending A Lot of money on streaming subscriptions like Netflix, Prime, Disney, etc. What if you cut them all out? If you unsubscribe to everything, what can you watch? I’m looking at the free TV options and what type of movies and shows you will have. Some of these free TV options you may not know about.
Friday, September 23rd
The App of the Day: PhotoRoom. If you’re looking to create new profile pictures, make photos pop, or selling something on Marketplace, Pinterest, or a shopping site, this is an app that belongs on your phone. PhotoRoom is the best photo editing app I’ve run across.
Thursday, September 22nd
Removing yourself from google search results. Google just released a tool that allows people to request removing their personal information from websites. Your mailing address, phone number, signature and more can be removed if you ask. Google also gives people the option of removing their house on street view. I’m showing how to do all of that.
Wednesday, September 21st
What to do with your old worthless phone? Millions of older version and cracked smartphones are sitting in drawers or being tossed in the trash, isn’t there something you can use them for? Yes. Today I’m looking (Offering) some ideas for what to do with those worthless devices.
Tuesday, September 20th
It’s new phone season, so what do you do with your old phone? Trade it or sell it? That depends on what you’ve got of course. I’m looking at what you can expect to get for your old devices on Craigslist, Marketplace, and your carrier and what you should do if you’re buying a used phone.
Monday, September 19th
Ever been away from your computer and need something on it? Maybe you work remotely and forget to bring a hard drive or flash drive with an important file. This tool called Chrome Remote Desktop is a solution. It allows someone to control their home computer from their smartphone from anywhere in the world.
(Note, this story originally ran in July 2021. I have a volunteering project that’s taking me out of the mix all day today. I didn’t get a story finished ahead of time this weekend)
Friday, September 16th
The app of the day, Widgetsmith. This app jumps to the top of the App Store after the release of iOS 16. It allows users to further customize their phone screen to make it look just the way you want it to look. (Like an android phone some might say). It is pretty cool all the things you can do with it.
Thursday, September 15th
All about emoji. New emoji came to phones this week though you may not have noticed. I’m looking at what’s new, what they mean, the most used and most most used incorrectly emoji in the texting world. Plus, a little trick you can use if you don’t know how to use the right emoji.
Wednesday. September 14th
Teaching young children how to dial 911 on a locked smartphone. A new report suggests over 80% of kindergartners do not know how to call 911 on their own. Part of the problem (that most haven’t thought about) is if mom or dad need immediate help, their phone is probably locked and a young child can’t unlock it. Alexa can’t call 911 unless it’s connected to a landline phone. So how can they call for help? I’m looking at what every parent needs to do before it’s too late.
Tuesday, September 13th
iOS 16, what’s so good about it? The new iPhone operating system is one of the biggest design updates yet and will totally transform the way your iPhone looks.Today I’m looking at a few of the biggest changes and how you can customize your Home Screen and make your phone look different from everyone else’s.
Monday September 12th
Should you upgrade to iOS 16? The new iPhone operating system gets released today, Do you really want it and what’s new? Should you wait and for how long? Also, you may need to get your phone ready before downloading. I’m going to explain.
Friday, September 9th
The app of the day: not boring. Yes a lot of apps are boring but this suite of smartphone apps promises to not be that. This app is actually 4, habit tracker, weather, timer and a calculator. Why? What makes them so special that someone will pay $15? They’re pretty. So cool looking you may want them.
Thursday, September 8th
Apple safety check. iPhone users soon will have an easier way to prevent people from following you, seeing your data, and apps from storing your information. A new safety feature in iOS 16 will protect people who are in danger from past relationships in particular. iOS 16 will be available in 4 days, I’m showing how to use safety check and who should use it.
Wednesday, September 7th
Apple introduces a new iPhone today. I have a dental procedure today so I won’t be able to watch it. I am doing a piece today on how to make the iPhone you have now feel like a brand new device. Make it faster, clean out apps you don’t need and other ways to spruce it up. I think it’ll be a nice companion piece to any story you have about the apple announcement
Tuesday, September 6th
Could you use some help with your internet bill? The federal government just announced it is extending (or re-naming) the Broadband Benefits program that helps qualified families with the cost of their internet. And many people who think they wouldn’t qualify actually do. I’m looking at what’s available, who can apply and how.
Monday, September 5th
I’m doing a story on how to quickly call for help on a smartphone. The disappearance of a kindergarten teacher in Memphis has many people thinking of their own safety and the safety of their family. Smartphones have a safety feature that most people don’t know about that gives you a way to call 9-1-1 and show police and others where you are even if you’re moving. It’s a good story to put after any updates on the search for the school teacher.
Friday, September 2nd
The app of the day. Speed reading. I hear people all the time say they’d like to read more but they have no time. I went looking for an app that teaches speed reading. This app claims to train your brain to read only enough of each paragraph and still comprehend what’s happening.
Thursday, September 1st
Stopping spoilers. Sometimes you don’t want to know the score. Maybe you can’t watch your favorite team’s game until later. You recorded a football game or are waiting to watch a TV series and you don’t want to accidentally see a spoiler on social media. Can you block it? Maybe. I’m looking at a couple of options to prevent seeing a score or plot-line until you want to know what happened.
Wednesday, August 31st
Get your TV ready for football season. Most people get a new TV, take it out of the box, plug it in, and start watching. But if you’re watching football or any other sport, your television is not showing you the best picture. Changing the settings is confusing. I’m showing a few quick and easy tricks to get the highest quality picture before kickoff.
Tuesday, August 30th
An urgent warning from the FBI about a surge in cyber attacks. Nearly a million people reported being the victim of a cyber attack in 2021, losing a total of $6.9 BILLION. today I’m looking at how these attacks are carried out, what to watch for, and how to protect yourself.
Monday, August 29th
It’s football time! College football week one is here. I’m looking at tech gadgets for tailgate or backyard parties. Things to make your football party the talk of the games. Portable (and loud speakers), portable power to run a TV, fridge, and phones and laptops.
Friday, August 26th
The app of the day: ‘Scholly’. August is the prime time for high school students to look for and apply for college scholarships. I’ve mentioned Scholly before but there’s a whole new crop of soon-to-be-graduates. ‘Scholly’ makes it easy to find scholarships no one applies for. Some are a little odd but they can pay for books or classes if you know how to find them. Many students have found hundreds of thousands of scholarships
Thursday, August 25th
Get ready for a huge increase in student loan scams. Robo calls, emails, and texts about student loan relief have always been a problem. After the decision by the government to forgive some college debt this week, brace yourselves for even more scams. I’m looking at the scams and what to look for.
Wednesday, August 24th
Zombies! Free apps you may have downloaded and forgotten about could be acting like Zombies, attacking your privacy and even eating your phone’s battery life. Remember that cool app you downloaded a few months ago that showed which disney character you look like? Is it still running? I’ll talk about how these free apps can haunt you
Tuesday, August 23rd
The return of Movie Pass. One of the most exciting as well as disappointing entertainment businesses is trying a comeback. Movie Pass was a theater subscription service a few years ago. In case you don’t remember, $10 a month to watch one movie a day at a theater. The unsustainable business model didn’t work. Now former movie Pass subscribers are receiving emails announcing another run.
Monday, August 22
Subscription overload. A new survey suggests consumers spend $133 per month on subscriptions that they don’t even know about! Whether it’s smartphone apps, streaming services, shopping discount plans, or some other digital subscription, many people have totally forgotten about them. We’ll take a look at what’s going on and show how to find out what you’re spending money on every month.
Friday, August 19th
The app of the Day: FCC speed test. The government is working to improve broadband internet across the country and the best way to do that is by hearing from you. FCC Speedtest allows you to test your cellular and home internet speeds and send the results to the FCC. It’s also a good way to make sure you’re getting the speeds you’re paying for.
Thursday, August 18th
How certain are you that you’re getting the fastest internet in your home? Internet speeds can be drastically different from one street to the next. Even one house from the next. How do you know if you’re better off with one company or another? Is cable your best option? Are there other choices? I’m going to show how to answer all of your questions.
Wednesday, August 17th
Apps every student and teacher should use. Whether you’re going back to school or just want to be more productive, there are apps to help stay organized, work with teams, and have perfect grammar. Today I’m looking at several apps that will help college students this semester and make it easier for anyone to collaborate with other team projects.
Tuesday, August 16th
What is and why do you need a virtual private network? You’ve likely heard about VPN’s and how they can protect you online from the bad guys, but there are other benefits to having your own VPN. I’m looking at what it is and why you need one.
Monday, August 15th
Off to college gadgets (that you’ll want too). Lots of college students are headed off to campus this week. The car is packed but you didn’t think of ms small enough to fit in a glove box. But you may want to get 2 of them because they’re incredibly useful for anyone.
Friday, August 12th
The App of The Day: Firefox Focus. If you worry about Google tracking your every move online or if you find yourself getting distracted by a bunch of open browser tabs, you` should take a look at Firefox Focus. This browser app for iPhones and Android devices limits what you and the internet can do. It blocks trackers, pop-ups, and helps you to focus on what you should be doing.
Thursday, August 11th
Sextortion and young boys. Maybe you think it’s young girls who fall for sextortion scams, but a new report finds it is young boys, age 12-15 who are the most frequent victims. I’m looking at how these sextortion scams generally work and the conversation you might want to have with your child (or spouse).
Wednesday, August 10th
How the iPhone’s new undo-send text messages will put some people in danger. iOS 16 comes with the ability to send a text and then delete, unsend, or edit the same text. While it is useful if you accidentally send a text to the wrong person or have second thoughts, family court attorneys fear it may put victims of abuse in danger. Maybe one parent sends a threatening message that is read by the the other. Then parent #1 deletes the text so there is no evidence of what they said. I’m taking to a family court attorney who explains.
Tuesday, August 9th
How to keep a cloned Facebook account from sending requests and messages to all of your friends. We see more posts saying “my FB has been hacked, do not accept…” than we s we back-to-school photos of the kids. Yes, you may have made some mistakes that make it easier for the bad guys to clone or hack your account. Let’s take a look at what you’re doing wrong.
Monday, August 8th
How some people are disrupting air travel using The iPhone’s “Airdrop” feature. Several times in recent months people have sent photos to random strangers on airplanes. Sometimes it’s been a kid playing a prank but at least a few times creeps have sent graphic porn images to people on the plane. How does this happen and how can you prevent it from happening to you?
Friday, August 5th
The app of the day “Mathway”. If you hated homework as a kid, you’ll hate it even more when the kids bring it home. Helping children with math and science homework is challenging if you don’t remember what you once learned. Mathway is an app with all the right answers. Take a photo of the problem and it walks students through the process of the solution.
Thursday, August 4th
Can an an iPad replace a laptop? Apple says it can. I’m looking at some of the pros and cons of making an iPad your primary device. What do you need to make an iPad comparable to a laptop and will you save money by going with the iPad?
Wednesday, August 3rd
The first few weeks of college can be hard, especially for new students adjusting to life away from home. I’m looking at a couple of gadgets and a couple of apps that can help students stay organized and cut out some of the distractions in their dorm or apartment.
Tuesday, August 2nd
Off to college gadgets. Parents may worry about their student’s safety when they’re on campus. But they probably don’t think about keeping their kids safe online. I’m looking at whether it’s a good idea for students to set up their own WiFi network and why they should. And one critical thing anyone living in a dorm or apartment need to use.
Monday, August 1st
Off to college and career gadgets. Lots of back-to-school sales right now for students furnishing dorm rooms and apartments. Whether you are sending someone off to college or redesigning your own home office, I’m looking at gadgets that can help you avoid distractions and dress up any work space.
Friday, July 29th
The App of the Day: “Uptime”. Do you immediately look at your phone when you have 5 minutes of downtime? How much time do you spend doom-scrolling TikTok and instagram when you’re waiting on something? Instead of wasting time, why not use that time to learn something? ‘Uptime’ is an app that gives you just the important parts of books, Ted Talks and blog posts. Is there a book you’ve wanted to read but just can’t find the time? This is an app you didn’t know you need.
Thursday, July 28th
Hold off (if you can) on buying a new phone. This is actually the worst time of year for buying a new device or a computer. You may have to buy one to replace a broken phone, but waiting just a month or so will save you some money. I’ll explain why and when new and less expensive phones are just around the corner.
Wednesday, July 27th
Make money from your space. Temporarily renting out your space can earn a little spending money. It isn’t Airbnb but several apps let you rent out your pool, driveway, and a fenced-in yard an hour at a time. I’m looking at 3 apps that successfully help homeowners doing something they never thought about doing.
Tuesday, July 26th
Woah. This is an app that can change the lives of most parents. I was going to do this as an app of the day but every parent I’ve spoken to are blown away by Brickit. This app uses your smartphone camera to scan thousands of Legos and will show the user everything they can make with the bricks they have. So, it’s magic. And super impressive.
Monday, July 25th
Story change. If you use Facebook on a phone, this could be the best thing you hear and see all day. If Facebook’s algorithm doesn’t work for you and you tire of seeing posts from people and pages you really don’t care about, Facebook rolled out a major change so you can control what you see. Even the latest posts from all of your Facebook friends. Even those you’ve forgotten about.
Friday, July 22nd
The app of the day: scannable. Do you have a lot of assorted papers cluttering your desk? Do you find yourself saving bank statements, warranty papers, and receipts in a file cabinet, Scannable is exactly what you need. This app from Evernote easily scans any paper and saves it in a virtual file cabinet. Plus, each word is searchable. Great for students and teachers too.
Thursday, June 21st
Facebook for teachers. Elementary, middle and high schools start soon. Even today, teachers haven’t figured out a good way to consistently share things and send notes home to parents. Facebook makes sense. Im looking at hoe teachers can use Facebook safely. And other Facebook resources for teachers.
Wednesday, June 20th
When most of us search for something we “Google” it, but a growing number of Generation Xers are using TikTok and Instagram for search. Google reports around 40% of Gen X don’t use Google at all. Instagram just introduced a search feature to capitalize on it. How is it different and why might it be better? We’re taking a look.
Tuesday, July 19th
Netflix password sharing. This one may be a little tricky because whatever anORnouncement Netflix makes is going to come after early evening newscasts. I’ll make it work for the package but you may need to change the intro if you run it later. Netflix is in trouble, losing millions of customers. So it’s cracking down on password sharing. It’s going to track where people use your Netflix account and if they’re not in the same house, you’ll be charged extra. I’ll break it down.
Monday, July 18th
How to save at least $100 in one month. Summertime is a perfect time to put some of your TV subscriptions on pause. Netflix is $10 or more, streaming TV is about $75, Hulu, Apple TV, Disney, etc etc etc. the good thing about these services is you can cancel or put them on pause for a month or more. And you can still find plenty to watch. I’m looking at how much you can save and what you can watch for free in the meantime.
Friday, July 15th
The app of the day: Night Sky. Those photos from outer space might have some people looking skyward. Night Sky won’t get you anywhere near those photos but it does help you find out what’s up there. One of the first apps to use AR, Night Sky has a new look and more features.
Thursday, July 14th
Billions of dollars in merchandise is in transit following amazon prime day and the summer sales from other retailers. Today I’m looking at the options for returning what you bought but no longer want, and what to do with all of those empty boxes.
Wednesday, July 13th
What can you do if your amazon order doesn’t arrive on time? You pay $139 a year for Amazon Prime, maybe for the 2-day free delivery, most of the time Amazon delivers it right on time, but during Prime days with millions of orders being processed, delays can happen. If you know where to go, who to talk to and what to say, you might get a free month of Prime or an amazon gift card. I’ll show you exactly what you can do.
Tuesday, July 12th
Prime Day shopping, delivery and porch pirates. Delivery drivers will be busy the rest of the week dropping off packages ordered during prime days. Incidents haven’t dropped. It hasn’t gotten easier for police to nab thieves in the act, and shoppers still face losing their items. I’ m taking a look at how to protect your orders and report stolen deliveries.
Monday, July 11th
Why are TVs so cheap? Everything costs more these days, except TVs. Huge televisions are on sale for ridiculously low prices. On Prime Days they’re even cheaper. A 50″ 4K UHD is under $275. How is that even possible? I’ll explain why TV manufacturers now make more money after the sale and what you can do about making a smart TV dumb.
Friday, July 8th
The App of the Day: Keepa. There are a lot of shopping apps to help find the lowest price on Prime Day and Keepa is one of them. It tracks prices, sends alerts when the price drops, and shows you the lowest price ever on items you’re looking for. Does it work? Do you need it? I’ll find out.
Thursday, July 7th
Fake reviews online. With Amazon Prime Day and all of the other retailers making next week one of the top shopping weeks of the year, fake reviews are being posted everywhere. Amazon has cracked down on fake reviews but they’re still present. How can you spot fake positive and fake negative reviews?
Wednesday, July 6th
Story Change: I mistakenly thought prime day is this Tuesday when it’s actually the 12th. I’ll do the prime day preps next week. Today I’m looking at a serious issue with WiFi routers. A bug allows hackers to remotely access your router and control most everything you do when connected to the internet at home. The fix is simple and you should really do it right away.
What you should know to get ready for Amazon Prime Day. Prime Day begins Tuesday but while Amazon invented this busy shopping holiday, other retailers are offering similar deals. I’m looking at where to look for deals that give amazon a run for its money.
Tuesday, July 5th
Protecting your devices from water damage. I know I did something on a week ago about keeping devices safe. Today’s story focuses on water damage. Does the rice trick work? What products protect smartphones for a day at the beach, lake or pool? And how long can a smartphone sit in water before it’s dead?
Monday, July 4th
Planning a vacation for later this year? here is possibly the very best way to find deals on hotels, flights and things to do. Google Travel pulls in everything you want to check before booking any kind of trip. (fyi, this is a repeat of a story I did last summer but still applies to booking trips today)
Friday, July 1st
The app of the day: TV Guide. The problem with streaming is finding out what’s coming on regular TV. If you use YouTubeTV or Hulu you know what I’m talking about. You can only see to tomorrow’s TV listings if you scroll far down. The same company that printed TV Guide has an app that displays TV listings for weeks in the future. It’s a must-have if you watch live TV.
Thursday, June 30th
How has the iPhone changed the world. The iPhone was introduced 15 years ago this week. It’s hard for most of us to comprehend what life was like before the “internet connector” that fits in your pocket. I’m taking a look at some of the things the iPhone replaced and how it will change in the near future.
Wednesday, June 29th
Cracking down on smishing. Authorities in the UK raided a group allegedly responsible for a massive smishing organization accused of sending over 10,000 smishing texts per day. What is smishing and why do people fall for the scam? What to look for.
Tuesday, June 28th
Hitting the road for the long July 4th holiday weekend? Got kids in the car? You might want to know about a few things to keep them entertained in the backseat. Whether they are toddlers or teens these ideas will make the trip easier on everyone. From saving data when they watch a movie on a device, to staying connected to just adding a funny voice to your map app.
Monday, June 27th
The most dangerous day of the year for smartphones. Historically, more smartphones bite the dust on the 4th of July than any other day of the year. I’m visiting a smartphone repair shop to find out what’s happening and what happens when water gets into your phone.
Friday, June 24th
The App of the Day: IFTTT. The iPhone and iPad have “Shortcuts” but every phone has IFTTT which stands for If This, Then That. The original shortcut app. Imagine having the lights in your home blinking when a storm warning is issued. Set your phone’s wallpaper every morning with NASA’s photo of the day. Turn your lights on when you pull into your driveway. IFTTT is a one-stop for business, personal, and home automation. And it’s easy to get started.
Thursday, June 23rd
The best iPhone/iPad shortcuts. Yesterday I explained what the Shortcut app is and what it can do. Today I’m looking at some of the best Shortcuts that can help you save time and be more productive.
Wednesday, June 22nd
Apple iPhone shortcuts. I received several emails after our story on a couple of iPhone shortcuts from viewers who didn’t know anything about them. Today and tomorrow I’m looking at Shortcuts. Today I’ll introduce them with an explainer and tomorrow I’ll show some of the most useful shortcuts and how to set them up.
Tuesday, June 21st
Rolling blackouts are fairly common during the summer, at least in many areas of the country. It’s never been easier to get power to devices even when power is knocked out. I’m looking at a couple of electric generators that every household should have just in case. One has a large solar panel if you need (or want) to live off the grid. How do These things work and what can they power? If your area rarely has blackouts you can change the intro to talk about how they can be useful while camping or tailgating.
Monday, June 20th
I’m having a fairly serious problem this morning with a tooth a nd having trouble speaking. I will be leaving for the dentist soon. I still have a story for you but it will need to be a repeat from last summer. You are charging your phone all wrong in the car. Nearly everyone I speak to says they use one of the USB connections in their car to charge their phone as they drive but it never really charges. I’m going to explain why that is and the best way to put your phone on charge in the car by using the cigarette lighter. And why you should never use a cheap charging cable.
Friday, June 18th
The app of the day: Hooked. So you don’t have time to sit down and read a book? I get it. But this app breaks down books into bite-sized pieces of books into chat messages. All through the day you get a snippet of the book you want to read. It’s pretty clever.
Thursday, June 17th
The new Facebook is coming and it’s going to be a lot more like TikTok. A report by The Verge reveals an internal FB memo and interview that says the new Facebook is moving away from content between friends to short videos from accounts you do not follow. Discovery (like the For You on TikTok) will be front and center. I’ll hit some of the biggest changes and what you can expect.
Wednesday, June 16th
How to find safe free WiFi on the road. I noticed someone commented on a FB post that they were in search of a business with free WiFi in a city they were visiting. Rather than going from one place to the other to find out, check Facebook. I’m showing you where to find a Facebook feature to not only find businesses offering free WiFi, but the name and password.
Tuesday, June 15th
Summer and smartphones. The heat can permanently damage a smartphone. Letting it get too hot (which can easily happen if you leave your phone in a hot car for a little while) damages the battery and affects its lifespan. But there are a few things you should do and absolutely not do if your phone gets too hot. Plus, I’m looking at a cool way to eject water from a phone if you get it too close to the pool.
Monday, June 14th
You can store your auto insurance card on your phone. To be clear, the digital insurance card must be included in your auto insurance app, not Apple Wallet. That doesn’t mean you should. I’m looking at the problem of only having a digital copy of your insurance card (you may have to give your unlocked phone to police) and how to make sure the person you’re handing your phone to can only see what you want them to see.
Friday, June 10th
The App of the Day: Google Keep. Android users know all about this note taking app, but iPhone owners aren’t aware it is available as an app to them. I’m looking at Google Keep, all the things you can do with it, and why it may be a better option to take down and share notes and tasks.
Thursday, June 9th
Father’s Day gifts for the dad who works at his computer most of the day. I get more feedback on gadget gift ideas than almost everything else. Today I’m looking at gadgets for the dad who works from home. An all-in-one webcam, light and microphone, a wireless keyboard and a desktop glass white board (one of the coolest things I’ve seen)
Wednesday, June 8th
Giving high gas prices the Bird. I’m looking at electric bikes (eBikes) and how more people are buying them to combat the need of filling up a car with gas every few days. The Bird, from the makers of the Bird scooter, has a new eBike. I’ve taken it for several spins over the past few weeks to see how eBikes perform and who needs one.
Tuesday, June 7th
Apps to save money at the pump and the grocery store. With prices everywhere rising I’m looking at a few apps to help you find the lowest price on things you buy every week. Gas and groceries. GasBuddy, Flipp, and GetUpside. How they work and how much you might be able to save.
Monday, June 6th
Apple’s announcement and reveals. Today Apple will unveil iOS 16 and some new computers. IOS 16 affects every iPhone user and we’ll also see new OS for Apple Watches and iPads. I’m going to watch this afternoon and wrap up the most interesting things that’ll change how our phones and devices work and why, if you’re still using an older iPhone, it’s time to upgrade.
Friday, June 3rd
The App of the Day: Matched. So you and your spouse or partner sit down to watch a movie. “What about this one?”, “Nah”, “This?”, “Seen it”. And on you go for an hour. Matched is a movie suggestion app where two people can see what’s playing on Netflix, etc and when they sit down they can see if they have any matches. Pretty cool app that can save a ton of time on movie nights at home.
Thursday, June 2nd
Father’s Day gift ideas for dad and grandad. I’ve rounded up a few more tech gadgets that might be of interest to dads of all ages and gifts that can be delivered anywhere. For the granddad who’s slightly hard-of-hearing, I’ve found a TV sound bar that limits the background special effects so he can hear what the actors are saying. That and a few more gift ideas.
Wednesday, June 1st
Headed out on the water? This app might save your life. I’ve mentioned the app “What 3 Words” before as a way to help find hikers who get lost in the woods. It’s also the best, maybe the only way, to find people who are on the water. I’ve tested out how it works when someone is out on the lake in the middle of nowhere and asking for help.
Tuesday, May 31st
If you own any phone or computer you need to update. Just about every operating system has issued critical updates and you probably wouldn’t suspect it. Google Chrome, iOS, Firefox, Windows, and Zoom are among the programs that need to be updated ASAP as hackers are already using them to attack computers and phones. I’ll have a rundown.
Monday, May 30th
Why do shooters post their plans on social media and nothing happens until after the incident? “Monitor their social media” is often mentioned as a solution to stop mass shootings before they happen. I’m looking at why this is impossible in most cases and what you should do if you see something suspicious and worth checking out.
Friday, May 27th
The App of the Day: RunPee. I’ve been waiting on the Top Gun sequel to do this story. Have you ever needed to go to the restroom during a movie but didn’t want to miss something important? Sure, we all have. RunPee is a clever smartphone app that tells you the best time to make a quick trip to the bathroom so you don’t miss something important to the movie storyline. When a slow moment is about to happen, the app will vibrate your phone so you can make a dash for the restroom. Not only that, it will fill you in on what you missed.
Thursday, May 26th
Father’s Day Gadget Gift Ideas: Memorial Day weekend is a great time to place orders for certain Father’s Day gadgets. There are sales online and in stores for summer backyard tech products. I’m rounding up gift ideas that you can probably find on sale the next few days. Two grilling gadgets, a movie projector for the backyard and a huge portable battery to keep anything powered for camping and tailgates.
Wednesday, May 25th
How to help families and the city of Uvalde, TX. GoFundMe has set up a hub for donations to help agencies and individual families. I’ll have information on how to donate and how to make sure you’re not donating to a scam.
Tuesday, May 24th
Memorial Day weekend is this week which means many pools will reopen for the summer and mattress sales! For whatever reason, Memorial Day is big for mattresses. I’m looking at some techie sleep gadgets, mattresses and toppers. How they work and do they work.
Monday, May 23rd
Exercise in VR. The Oculus Quest VR from Meta (Facebook) is known for its video games but more and more people are discovering you can get a really good workout using fitness apps. I’m putting one (and a couple of friends) to the test to see how well it works, if it’s better than going to the gym and if it might be the answer to getting a great workout at home.
Friday, May 20th
The App of the Day: “Taste”. This smartphone app has nothing to do with eating but watching. How many times do you spend too much time browsing all of the shows and movies you can watch on streaming services? Taste is a new app that shows you what’s playing and what you might like depending on your taste in movies. It uses a Tinder-like swipe to put movies you want to watch in a folder for later. Taste suggests movies you may like based on other users with similar tastes. How does it do?
Thursday, May 19th
Why you should lie like a dog on the internet. Kids and old people sometimes lie when someone asks for their age. Old people want to be young, young people want to be old enough. I’m making the case that everyone, young and old, should lie about their age on the internet, especially on social media. The reason? It keeps the bad guys from stealing your identity.
Wednesday, May 18th
Gifts for grads and dads. It may not be too late to find a cool gift for graduates and it’s definitely not too early to shop for Father’s Day. I’m looking at some really cool gadgets for a dorm room, apartment or the office.
Tuesday, May 17th
Travel gadgets. Lots of people are planning a summer vacation for the first time in over 2 years. It’s hard to believe how much of traveling has changed during that time. I’m looking at a few gadgets you should take on your next trip. From battery chargers to charging cables to a pocket-sized tripod to take better vacation photos and videos.
Monday, May 16th
What is Twitch? Lots of people heard of this app/social network/livestream service over the weekend when a shooter walked into a supermarket in Buffalo, streaming the awful attack on innocent people. What is this thing called Twitch? Who uses it? What do they do there? I’m looking at things every parent must be asking themselves right now.
Friday, May 13th
The App of the Day: Six pack in 30 Days. Is it too late to get in shape for pool season? Not according to this app. Six Pack in 30 Days claims it’s the answer to getting rid of belly fat and ready for the beach or pool. Does it really work? That depends.
Thursday, May 12th
It’s the app everyone is using. NewProfilePic is the #1 app in the app stores. I’m sure you’ve seen it, but the app creates a cartoonish photo from one in your camera roll that you can use as a profile photo. Is it safe? Multiple reports (and lots of Facebook posts) claim it sends your personal information to Russia. That it steals data. That it steals money. Is that true? Should you download and use like all your friends are doing? I’m taking a closer look at where it comes from and what you need to know.
Wednesday, May 11th
Use QR Codes to get your guests online in a flash. If you own an Airbnb or just have overnight guests staying at your house, they’re going to want to get on your home WiFi network. Rather than writing it down, or dictating all of those numbers and letters, I’m showing how to create a QR code to get them connected using just their smartphone camera.
Tuesday, May 10th
Will we still use passwords in the future? Apple, Google and Microsoft say they’re working on other ways for us to log into accounts. But that isn’t happening anytime soon. Passwords are hard. Which is why 85% of people admit using the same password for multiple accounts. I’m offering a solution. An easy way to set impossible to guess passwords that you can remember. For every account.
Monday, May 9th
How much is your collection worth? I suppose many of us have collected something at some point. Baseball cards? Barbie dolls? Beanie Babies? If you’ve got a collection of anything you’ve probably asked “How much is it worth?” You can do a ton of research online and ask experts, or you can try this little smartphone trick to help you put a value on your valuables.
Friday, May 6th
The App of the Day “Deepstash”. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could open a social network and see only things that matter to you? “Deepstash” is not a social network but anytime you open the app you’ll find bite-sized knowledge. This app curates interesting articles and inspirational blog posts to make life a little more interesting. Ideas, life-hacks, motivational messages, and super interesting facts from some of the world’s best thinkers.
Thursday, May 5th
You’re using your smartphone camera all wrong. Well, maybe not wrong, but you’re probably not using it to its full potential. There are some really cool things you can do with your smartphone camera. I’m showing a few things you probably didn’t know you can do and they’re things you’ll want to try for yourself.
Wednesday, May 4th
IPhone messaging tricks. EVERYBODY sends text messages but if you have an iPhone you can send iMessages. I’m looking at some texting tricks to impress your friends, plus one iPhone magic trick that’ll blow your mind.
Tuesday, May 3rd
Is this the coolest iPhone trick ever? It is if you use your phone to take down notes. The scan-copy feature is relatively new and most people still don’t know about it. You may have discovered you can scan text with your camera and put it in messages or tweets. But if I you use scan-copy in the Notes app, it opens up a whole world of possibilities. I’m showing how it works.
Monday, May 2nd
When is the best time to charge your smartphone? Most everyone places their phone on charge just before they go to bed. Apple and Samsung say that’s not a great idea. It’s because of “battery trickle”. I’m looking at this phenomenon (sorta) to explain how to charge your phone instead.
Friday, April 29th
The App of the Day “Picture This”. Home and Garden centers are packed now with people getting plants for their yard. When you go outside and start maintaining your flower beds have you ever looked at a plant and wondered if it’s a weed? “Picture This” will tell you simply by uploading a picture so you’ll know if you should feed it, or weed it.
Thursday, April 28th
More Mother’s Day tech gift ideas. As I started rounding up tech gadgets for mom yesterday I ran out of time to include several others, so I’m showing a few more things to consider. Mother’s Day is a week from Sunday.
Wednesday, April 27th
A not-too-soon look at tech gift ideas for Mother’s Day. A few years ago you might not have thought about giving mom or grandma a tech gadget. That’s no longer the case. Mom’s love gadgets if you give her one that makes her life easier. I’ve rounded up a few Mother’s Day gadgets you probably didn’t know about.
Tuesday, April 26th
Elon Musk’s Twitter. Now what? The billionaire loves Twitter so what changes might we see now that he’s in charge. I’m looking at some of the most likely things he’ll change and what Twitter might look like in the next several months. Will it be better? Worse? Or will anything really change?
Monday, April 25th
YouTube’s birthday and never before seen videos. It seems that YouTube has been around forever but it actually just turned 17 years old. It is the 2nd most visited website. There are over 800 million videos and 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Everyone knows about the popular videos, I’m going to show you how find YouTube videos no one has ever watched before.
Friday, April 22nd
The App of the Day BeReal. This is a new social media app that jumped to the top of the App Store charts recently. Instagram is great but wouldn’t it be better to see what your friends are up to without filters? Insta is filled with well-staged pics of people at their best. BeReal shows photos of friends being real. Every day you get one notification to take a photo of what they’re doing at that moment. No filters. It takes 2 photos (front and back cameras) and posts them to your feed. Pretty darn cool. Here’s my feed for an example: https://bere.al/whatthetech I have one friend.
Thursday, April 21st
Netflix and the future of streaming. After complaining of the high cost of cable and satellite TV, prices for most all of the streaming services have gone up significantly over the past couple of years. If you subscribe to multiple services (including a live TV service like YouTube TV and Hulu), you’re paying close to what you paid for cable. I’m taking a look at the price increases and how to save money.
Wednesday, April 20th
Earth Day is Friday and while most of the push is about paper and plastic, I’m looking at tech. What do you do with a computer that no longer works? Millions of tons of old tech is tossed into landfills and polluting the earth with the elements inside. What can we do to keep computers out of landfills? I’m looking at how to recycle those machines and keeping them working longer. And answering the age old question: is it better to turn off a computer or leave it on?
Tuesday, April 19th
A Facebook trick you’ll want to use today. By now most people know they can make some posts viewable by only friends or public. What if you only want a specific group of friends to see your posts? Plenty of Facebook users do not know about “Friend’s Lists” or how and when to use it. I’ll give a few examples of when this comes in handy and how to set it up.
Monday, April 18th
What regular people can do about the possibility of a Russian cyber attack? Cyber experts are even more insistent that the Russians will attempt a cyber attack in response to U.S. sanctions and as Putin becomes more and more desperate. 60 Minutes Sunday night suggest an attack is imminent. What can the average American do to prepare or prevent it? I’m looking at a few things anyone can do to protect themselves.
Friday, April 15th
The App of the Day “Cleanup” Clean Storage”. Have you ever looked through the camera roll to find multiple pictures of the same thing. usually because someone taking the photo will say “okay, I’m going to take a few”. iCloud backups are often cluttered with the multiple pictures of the same thing. Have you ever needed to clean up your photo storage? “Cleanup”makes it pretty darn easy, searching through all of your photos to find the ones that can be deleted with a simple swipe.
Thursday, April 14th
How many old smartphones or tablets do you have just sitting there? If it’s one of the latest models you can trade it in, you can possibly sell it. But what if it isn’t worth anything? I’m looking at a few things you can do with old devices that you’ve never thought about before.
Wednesday, April 13th
TV antennas and why every TV should have one. I’ve talked to 2 different families in the past 2 weeks who did not know an old antenna can pick up local TV stations. My daughter and her roommates only have Netflix and Hulu and when bad weather passed through the other night they had no access to local weather reports. I’m going to look at this old technology and what lies you’ll find when you go to order one.
Tuesday, April 12th
The other day I heard a mom say “we don’t allow our children to use TikTok. I removed the app from their phone”. As their kids might say “nice try”. Many of the apps parents restrict from their child’s phone is accessible as long as they have the internet. It might be obvious to some, but apparently not to everyone.
Monday, April 11th
What’s the best age to give your child a smartphone? A national community of parents decided it’s the 8th grade. So what do you do if you hold off on giving your kid a phone w hen all of their friends have one? This group has a genius solution: the parents of groups of friends make the pledge so the kid doesn’t say “all my friends have a smartphone!”. I’m interviewing the founder of “Wait Until 8th”.
Friday, April 8th
The App of the Day: Feedly. What if you could pick up a magazine filled only with things you’re interested in? Feedly is a feed-reader app that grabs blog posts and web content you decide you want to see. It will change how you browse the internet. And it’s free.
Thursday, April 7th
5 ways to make room on your phone for vacation photos and video. Most everyone uses a phone as their go-to camera and most everyone takes a ton of photos on vacation. One of the worst feelings is to open the camera to take a once-in-a-lifetime photo of the kids only to see your phone doesn’t have the space. I’m looking at a few things to do BEFORE leaving for a vacation to make sure you’ve got all the room for photos you want to take.
Wednesday, April 6th
What’s a Huggy Wuggy and why are police and parents worried? This is a cartoon monster that’s gone viral in recent days on TikTok, YouTube, Roblox, and YouTube Kids. Apparently, according to police reports, teachers and parents, very young children are enthralled with the monster and it’s taken a scary turn. I’m interviewing a mom with what she found out is going around the kids’ playground and why police say parents should be aware.
Tuesday, April 5th
Emergency SOS. This is an iPhone and Android feature that allows you to call 9-1-1 even with the phone in your pocket. It also sounds and alarm and will contact someone you choose and send them your exact location. Sometimes I assume people know how to use this and you may know about this one already. But every single day a story I did about the Emergency SOS feature 4 years ago gets comments on the YouTube video. The feature has changed with new iPhones and Android devices. I’ll explain what it does and how to set it up. And what to do if you call 9-1-1 on accident.
Monday, April 4th
Accessing your accounts, when you’re RIP. Morbid thought maybe but have you ever wondered what happens to your Facebook, Google and Apple data when you die? You keep your passwords and passcode secret. I’m looking at what Apple, Facebook and Google have set up to allow someone to preserve your information if something happens to you.
Friday, April 1st
The App of the Day: SnakeSnap. T-hisssss is an app you will wish you never get to use. It’s a snake identifier. If you see a snake in the yard and you don’t know if it’s poisonous or what it is, snap a photo and upload it to SnakeSnap and the app will identify it for you. This way you’ll know if you need to get away. Just kidding, you always should get away from a snake.
Thursday, March 31st
Help for teenagers just a text away. Crisis Text Line is a free, non-profit counseling agency. They’ve found teenagers might not seek out help by actually talking to a counselor, but they will exchange text messages. Crisis Text Line has volunteer counselors standing by to message teenagers who reach out by texting the number 741741. Almost immediately, a licensed counselor responds and helps walk the teenager through whatever they’re dealing with.
Wednesday, March 30th
Critical Google Chrome update. This has a short shelf-life. Google has issued an important update to Chrome to repair a flaw that enables hackers access to web browsers Chrome and Microsoft Edge. It’s a “Zero Day” vulnerability, meaning you should update your browsers immediately. This should be a short package, about 1:10
Tuesday, March 29th
Backup! Backup! Backup! Can you imagine sitting down at your computer one day and finding out you just lost all of your files? All of your music, your photos, and anything stored only on a computer hard drive. Thursday is World Backup Day. A reminder that all computer users should back up their data and their computers. It’s more important than ever as ransomware can quickly hijack and encrypt anything you have on your computer hard drives. Here are the best options to keep everything safe.
Monday, March 28th
how to see everything you’re getting in the mail each morning. The USPS takes photos of your mail every day and will email those photos to you so you know what’s being delivered. The Postal Service and the Secret Service is urging residents to sign up for safety.
Friday, March 25th
The App of the Day: GetUpside. This is a popular app to help save money at the gas pump. The company behind the app makes deals with gas stations to offer users a discount. Sometimes the discount can be 25-cents off a gallon. Sounds great. But does it really work and how much do you save?
Thursday, March 24th
Spring clean your computer. Got your clutter-begone groove going? I’m taking a look at sprucing up your computer desktop. If you’ve got icons galore on your screen there are a few things you can do to better organize that digital workspace and make it easier to find what you need when you need it.
Wednesday, March 23rd
Spring cleaning your smartphone. I’m not talking about wiping down your screen but clearing out storage. There are a few tweaks you can make that you probably don’t know about. I’m looking at some spring cleaning tips only the pros know.
Tuesday, March 22nd
An imminent cyber attack? President Biden warned Americans Monday that intelligence has uncovered information that Russia may unleash a cyber attack on the U.S. What could that look like? How can we prepare? I’m interviewing a worldwide cyber-security expert to ask those questions and a look back at what Russia has already done for clues as to their game plan.
Monday, March 21st
someone, I don’t know who, but someone watching tonight needs to hear this. It is way too easy to delete photos from your iCloud without realizing what you’ve done. iPhone users are happy that their photos are saved to the iCloud automatically. But at some point, they go to delete photos from just the phone and lose all of those memories forever. Many people, when they run low of space on their phone, will delete photos and videos thinking they are saved in the cloud. It also happens when you share your iCloud with family members and your kids go to delete photos from their phones and delete the ones you want to save. This happens a lot, especially in the summer when people take more photos on vacation and run out of storage on their devices. So, this is a “don’t let this happen to you” story and the one thing you need to do before deleting photos from an iPhone.
Friday, March 18th
App of the Day: Foap. how to earn money doing what you’re probably doing every day. Foap is an app where many large companies and small businesses go to license photographs for marketing campaigns and websites. You take an incredible picture with your phone, upload it to Foap and if you’re photo is chosen, those companies will pay to use it. it’s a great way to earn some extra money with that high quality camera in your hands.
Thursday, March 17th
Strange text messages are arriving on smartphones across the country. You may have gotten one, appearing to come from a young woman asking why you haven’t called. Or, a text from a very friendly person who accidentally sent their text to the wrong number. What’s going on and why robocalls may be a scammer’s 2nd choice.
Wednesday, March 16th
Why buy your own domain? Google finally launched its Google Domains out of beta (after 7 years). Why is this important? It’s a new and easy way to buy your name as a www. Why? A domain is literally one-of-a-kind online real estate. I’m making the case of why it’s wise to buy your name as a domain and why they make great gifts. Also, how to do it and what to do with a domain once you own it.
Tuesday, March 15th
Checking for hidden cameras in vacation rentals. You know that feeling that someone’s watching you? Finding hidden cameras in vacation rentals is not easy. Cameras are hidden in phone chargers, smoke detectors and some are small enough you can put it anywhere and never be seen. If you’re staying at an AirBnb, VRBO listing or somewhere else this summer I’ll show you what to watch for and how to spot hidden cameras.
Monday, March 14th
If you have a PC, stop what you’re doing and update your computer. Microsoft has released a new update that is critical to protect your machine and anything on it. Most people who do not have “automatic updates” turned on, neglect installing updates but Microsoft says this one should be done ASAP. One flaw allows hackers to control your computer remotely.
Friday, March 11th
The App of the Day: alarm clocks. When the clock springs forward each year millions of people have trouble with their own body clock. If you’re only using the stock alarm clock app on your phone and still having trouble falling asleep and waking up on time, these sleep/alarm clock apps may be for you.
Thursday, March 10th
Disabling an AirTag. Now that I have fully freaked out my friend Jessica by tracking her every movement with the AirTag, we’ll both show you how to disable the tag and what to do next. Can you see who it belongs to? How do you find it once you get notified that an AirTag is following you?
Wednesday, March 9th
Apple AirTags and its stalking problem. These quarter-size devices are designed to track purses, keys, backpacks and similar items. Similar to Tile Trackers they use other devices to ping your phone when it’s located. Safety concerns emerged as soon as the AirTags hit the market with worries they could be used by stalkers. This is a two part look at how they work and what to do if you get a notification that someone is tracking you.
Tuesday, March 8th
The Evil Twin. This is a computer hack that’s easy for the bad guys to carry out and most people will never know they’ve been hit. Your on vacation, coffee shop, airport or anywhere you log onto a public WiFi network. But a hacker sets it up using the same or similar name of the official (safe) provided network. So you log into the “Guest” network but a hacker is secretly gathering all of the information it can get off your computer or phone. It’s an old trick but lots of people unknowingly fall for it.
Monday, March 7th
Online surveys. Can you really make money? All of the questions you may have if you’re thinking of trying online surveys to earn some extra cash. How many questions do you have to answer? What are the questions about? Is there a difference between survey companies and how do they pay? I’m trying a couple of these out to see what you think.
Friday, March 4th
The App of the Day: Gas Buddy. As gas prices soar, who wouldn’t like a little help finding the best per gallon price near you? Gas Buddy is one of the oldest crowdsourcing apps still alive today. Does it work? And how?
Thursday, March 3rd
Picture the type of person who has been scammed online. You probably imagined someone older. While seniors are often targets of the cyber con artists, millennials are actually getting victimized more than any other age group. Certain scams are more successful for certain to work on certain age groups. I’m looking at scams targeting 11 year olds all the way up to people in their 90s.
Wednesday, March 2nd
What the tech world is doing in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So far, dozens of popular apps, services and tech companies are banning Russians from using their tech. I’m compiling a list of those bans. Makes one wonder what life for us would be like if these companies did the same thing some day on the United States.
Tuesday, March 1st
I’m still getting a lot of questions from last week’s stories about Facebook profiles being cloned. It does seem to be happening more often. I want to go a bit deeper and explain how, if a con-man decided to target you, what they can find from your Facebook profile. Even if they’re not on Facebook themselves. It’s plenty.
Monday, February 28th
WTF is an NFT? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. (That won’t be in the tease). You can’t go an entire day without hearing something about these odd-sounding non-fungible tokens. What’s the best way to understand what an NFT is and why you should care? I’m looking at an even stranger NFT object in an effort to explain.
Friday, February 25th
The App of the Day: help for Ukraine. Many people would like to help the people of Ukraine or agencies that help citizens there. I’m looking at a couple of apps to make donations to Ukrainian Human Resource agencies.
Thursday, February 24th
I kind of backed myself into a corner to pay off on the follow up to Y238K bug and what’s being done to fix it. I’m going to try to cover two major topics. The Y238K bug and the threat of Russia attacking the U.S.with cyber-warfare. To cover them both the package will probably be close to 1:50.
Wednesday, February 23rd
It’s the end of the world as computers know it. Remember Y2K? There is another computer bug threatening to shut down computers around the world. When early computers were developed they were given only so many seconds they could count. 2 billion plus seconds and then everything would start counting backwards. If something isn’t fixed, computers will not be able to see past January 18th, 2038. Is it a big deal? I’m talking to the pre-eminent computer guru in the world to e plain what could happen in just 16 years. I’m planning to continue the story on Thursday-as a 2-parter.
Tuesday, February 22
Your Facebook profile may be an easy target for scammers. There are a few things you do to make your Facebook account vulnerable to being cloned. And what to do if someone dies clone or “hack” your account? I’m going to answer those questions. If your on Facebook this affects myou.
Monday, February 21st
What to do if someone “hacks”your Facebook account. It happens to your friends and you’ve probably gotten friend requests from people you are already friends with, or strange messages. How does it happen? And what to do to protect your account and information. This affects 100% of our viewers. At least 100% of the Facebook users.
Friday, February 18th
The App of the Day “Beem”. so this app may blow your mind. Beem uses augmented reality to beem yourself into someone else’s living room. Record a video message and send it. The person receiving the video will see you standing in their own home. It’s as close to a hologram as anything I’ve seen. So far. It’s a fun app that you may be shooting teases with soon. kidding. not really.
Thursday, February 17th
Everything’s coming up Wordle. The popularity of the online word guessing game has spawned at least a dozen other online games. Worldle, Absurdle, Lewdle, Sweardle, Dordle. If you play Wordle but need more than one puzzle a day, I’m taking a look at other ways to spend time and your brain a workout.
Wednesday, February 16th
The best way to book a vacation online. Lots of folks are planning a vacation for this summer. Have you ever wondered which service is best? Travelocity? Booking.com? Kayak? Expedia? I’m going to compare the travel sites to see if one is better than the rest.
Tuesday, February 15th
Everything you need to know about Facebook’s changing facial recognition feature. The state of Texas is suing Meta (Facebook) over its use of facial recognition tools I won’t go into the lawsuit but I am going to explain we’re used. I’ll have a timeline of when Facebook started using it, how it worked and when it abruptly ended. Are you still identifiable to anyone on and off Facebook?
Monday, February 14th
Alexa man not be able to read your mind but she may not need to. Alexa devices know plenty about you. So does amazon. While the Alexa Super Bowl ad was funny, you may not think it’s all that amusing when you see what amazon hears and knows. I’ll show you where to see the data amazon has and how to delete it.
Friday, February 11th
The App of the Day: Reelgood. Having all those streaming subscriptions is great but how many times do you spend half the night looking for something to watch? Every night right? If you subscribe to Netflix, prime, Hulu, Disney, etc, you spend an awful lot of time opening different apps to browse. Reelgood puts all listings in one place to easily search through everything that’s available.It’ll change the way you search and browse.
Thursday, February 10th
Bad romance. Valentine’s Day is Monday so let’s take a look at scams that rip more people off than just about any other. Romance. The FBI reports hundreds of millions of dollars are lost each year to victims falling for fake love I’m looking at the most common scams and who falls for them. You may be surprised.
Wednesday, February 9th
Safe internet week. It’s a concern of every parent, keeping kids safe online. It’s harder than ever now that many kids are armed with smartphones. There are a few things parents should know to better protect their kids from strangers and from getting access to pornographic material.
Tuesday, February 8th
How safe are QR Codes? You see them everywhere. Restaurants and retailers use these magic codes so customers can see menus, download apps and even pay for things. The FBI is warning people that cyber criminals are creating malicious QR codes to trick people. Stealing money and information. I’m taking a look at what’s happening and if there is a way to make sure the QR is taking you where you want to go.
Monday, February 7th
Amazon Prime just raised its annual membership cost by $20. Is it a good deal? Clearly things have charged since the early days. Most everywhere will match Amazon’s prices and the big retailers even offer free shipping. So is it time to think twice about the $140 membership? I’ll take a look at the math.
Friday, February 4thThe App of the Day. Uptime. Note. I am still sick and sound terrible. This is an app of the day that first ran last April. This app of the day is for anyone who wants to learn something new or have something to talk about, but not enough time to read an entire book. Uptime “hacks” books, documentaries, articles and ideas from some of the best minds in the world. You choose topics you’re interested in and Uptime will show a selection of work to kind of “cliff notes” of the highlights. In 5 minutes, you’ll learn something and have a conversation starter in your head.
Thursday, February 3rd
Note: I’m sick and sound terrible. I am offering a story from one year ago about how and why this really is the best time of year to buy a TV. Super Bowl TV sales are even better than Black Friday sales. I take a look at a few good practices when it comes to finding the best deal and choosing the right set.
Wednesday, February 2nd
How would you like to get free stuff from amazon? Amazon vine voices. If you research products on amazon by reading the reviews, you’ve probably seen some reviews or reviewers marked by “Vine Voices”. What is that? These reviewers are hand-selected by Amazon. And, get this, they often receive free products to review. I’ll explain how this program works and how you can be part of it to get free items just for your opinion.
Tuesday, February 1st
If you subscribe to a music service you’ve probably thought about switching. Even if it isn’t about the Spotify/Joe Rogan/Neil Young stuff, we’ve all looked at sweetheart offers and think about moving our subscriptions. It isn’t easy. these services tend to keep subscribers by making it impossible to move the playlists you’ve created. I’m taking a look at the problem and possible solutions. The hard way to do it (creating playlists one song at a time, apps, and a guy in Kenya who’ll do it for you. Yep, I’m interviewing a software engineer in Kenya who’ll move your music for $29.
Monday, January 31st
Best music services. With Neil Young and Joni Mitchell leaving Spotify over the Joe Rogan podcast, what happens if more popular artists decide to do the same thing? Spotify is the largest streaming music platform but clearly some users are looking at what else is out there. What are the others like? I’m comparing Spotify, Amazon, Apple and YouTube music to help you decide
Friday, January 28th.
The App of the Day: Letterboxed. We’ve all stared at the menus on Netflix, Hulu etc wondering what to watch. What’s good? What are my friends watching. Letterboxed has become very popular in the past few months. Kind of like “Good Reads” but for movies and shows. Follow people with the same tastes as you to see what they’re watching and read reviews from regular people. It also shows you.where you can watch it. Handy for folks who are always looking for something new to watch. Btw, for planning purposes, I’m going to make it a priority to keep app of the day stories at around 1:15
Thursday, January 27th
The biggest lie on the internet. I’d bet money everyone seeing this story has done it hundreds of times. “I Have Read the Terms of Service”. No one has time to read those terms but if you did, you’d see a lot of things you might never agree to. Thankfully, someone else reads them for you. I’ll show you where to look and some surprising things you let these sites do with your information.
Wednesday, January 26th
Stock market tech. The roller coaster stock market has many people thinking they should buy stocks and bitcoin. I’ve been asked several times about apps to help get started. So I’m taking a look at stock trading and crypto investing apps that offer safe ways to invest and gain insight from people who’ve been in the market for a long time.
Tuesday, January 25th
bHow much internet do you need? Providers are offering big deals on internet. What is your need for speed? 100 megabytes per second? 1000? The price difference is significant. You want enough for what you need but you shouldn’t pay more for speeds you’ll never use. I’m going to break it down to what you’ll need to watch TV, play games or send an email.
Monday, January 24th
5G and home internet. The big cellular carriers have launched home internet that is received through the air. No routers, no wires, and the cost is much lower than cable and fiber internet. But does it work? I’m putting Verizon’s home internet to the test. It may be a great option for some. But not for others.
Friday, January 21st
The app of the day: MileIQ. For those who use their car for work, this app keeps track of your miles automatically to help you get every penny you can write off for taxes. Did you know for every mile you can deduct 58.5 cents on this year’s taxes. This app can save you money
Thursday, January 20th
Do you really need a 5G phone? You can’t avoid the hype of 5G. TV commercials in every break, news headlines, and your kids probably mention it every now and then. Do you necessarily need a 5G phone? What’s it for? They say it’s fast, but is the difference worth the extra money? I’m going to answer some of the most basic questions about this new network.
Wednesday, January 19th
The “best advice you ever received” on Facebook is wrong. Maybe you have seen the shared post about changing your voicemail if you’re ever lost so people calling will know your location. Is this really sound advice? What should you do instead?
Tuesday, January 18th
5G and airports. Verizon and AT&T are scheduled to turn on their 5G high speed data towers tomorrow. They were actually to be turned on earlier but the FAA says, the networks may affect airplanes approaching airports. I’m talking with an expert who will explain what is happening on what it means to you the next time you fly.
Monday, January 17th
Have your internet speeds at home gotten slower since Christmas? It’s quite common for Wi-Fi speeds to get slower right after the holidays. It may not have anything to do with your provider. It’s all the new devices that are now connected to your router. I’ll explain along with a couple of things you can do to speed things up.
Friday, January 14th
The app of the day: Wordle. No, not necessarily an app but it’s the game lots of people are playing. You may have seen friends sharing their results of green boxes on Facebook. I’m looking at what it is, how to play and how to make it an app on your phone.
Thursday, January 13th
Let’s have a go at looking at things smartphones made extinct. This week the iPhone turned 15 years old. Since then, many of the electronics we used to buy are no longer needed. Calculators, alarm clocks, etc. So today I’m pulling up an old Radio Shack ad to see electronics made extinct by the smartphone.
Wednesday, January 12th
The omicron variant and smartphones. Now that this new variant is taking hold I thought it’s a good idea to look at dirty smartphones that carry germs. You may not worry about it much, but kids share phones more often than their parents. I’m going to take a look at best practices at cleaning phones when kids come home from school or wherever they’ve been.
Tuesday, January 11th
Cyber criminals next trick? Mailing USB drives loaded with malware and keyloggers. The FBI is warning businesses about a tactic where bad guys pretend to be Best Buy or Amazon and send out flash drives with a gift card loaded onto them. It’s easy for someone to fall for this trick because, not only does it look legitimate, it also seems to be plausible that a company might send a thank-you gift card.
Monday, January 10th
How to spot a fake website. Sometimes it is almost impossible to recognize a fake website. Spoof sites are set up to look so much like the real thing to trick people into making purchases, downloading malware and giving up personal information. I’m going to show how real these sites can look and what to look for so as not to be tricked.
Friday, January 7th
This is a first. The App of the Day is a video game. I’ve never featured a game app before but this one is unique and I’ve found no one I’ve asked has ever tried it. It’s Angry Birds in augmented reality. Aim your camera at a flat surface and then the app places the game view on that surface.
Thursday, January 6th
Almost live from CES. Sadly, I decided to cancel my trip to CES due to Covid. But I’m following everything virtually. I’m looking at some of the most interesting and unique gadgets and tech being released this week. Some of these things may be on your Christmas list in December.
Wednesday, January 5th
Use your smartphone to find a new job.the great resignation continues with a record 4.5 million Americans quitting their jobs in November. Im looking at how to make money with your smartphone, whether that’s searching for a new job or starting an online business you run on your own.
Tuesday, January 4th
Amazon sold millions of Alexa devices over the holidays. Most peop;e on;y use them to play music, set timers, or get weather forecasts. Today I’m looking at a few things you can, and should do with your Alexa device. Things only power users know. And one will blow your mind.
Monday, January 3rd
Millions of smartphones will stop working this year. Older phones (iPhone 5 and older for example), will not be able to connect to cell towers after the wireless companies take the 3G networks down. It’ll start happening this month. Of course lots of our viewers have older phones. I’ll explain why this is happening, which phones are affected and what you need to do if you’re using an older phone.
Friday, December 31st
One last app of the year: Whisk. You may already have one or s everal cooking and recipes app, Whisk is different from all the others. Along with recipes and communities, Whisk makes it easy to ‘clip’ recipes from other apps and websites. See a recipe on TikTok or Pinterest, just share it to Whisk and all of the recipes you want to try are in one place.
T hursday, December 30th
The app of the year; Bandcamp. Spotify and Apple have algorithms to suggest music you may like, but they rarely suggest music from bands and artists you’ve never heard before. Bandcamp helps you discover independent artists you’ll never find on popular streaming apps. It also supports those bands that haven’t been able to do live performances in the past two years. 100% of the music you purchase on Bandcamp goes to the artist. Spotify and such only pay a fraction of a penny per play.
Wednesday, December 29th
The app of the year, “What3Words”. This is an amazing app that has literally saved lives. Imagine one of your children is lost somewhere and can’t describe where they are. This app helps locate them by sharing 3 simple words. It isn’t a tracker, the creators divided the entire globe in 3×3 meter squares and gave each one a 3 word combination.
Tuesday, December 28th
The app of the year: Radio Garden. This app got as much feedback from viewers as almost any other story all year so I think it’s worth mentioning again. Radio Garden is a free app that tunes in to hundreds of thousands of radio stations from around the world. A funk station in France, classic rock in Britain, a jazz station in Italy and a disco station in South Africa. Just spin the globe to spin the dial.
Monday, December 27th
All this week I’m going to look at my top apps of 2021. These are the most useful, creative, and interesting apps from this year and the apps I’ve been asked about more than any others. They are certainly worth mentioning. Todays app of the year is “Heard That” that helps anyone, especially those with some degree of hearing loss, to hear anyone clearly, even in a noisy space.
Friday, December 24th
Merry Christmas! Since a few stations run the stories a day behind, I’m staying away from Christmas in the package. But you can change up the intro to mention it. The App of the Day: Balance. This is one of Google’s apps of the year. It’s another meditation app to help calm anxiety and helps you fall asleep. It’s also free.
Thursday, December 23rd
You hear about last minute gifts, these are last second gifts. For when someone hands you a gift you did not expect and you do not have anything for them. Or on Christmas morning when you realize you might need just one more gift for someone.
Wednesday, December 22nd
Why you should open some gifts before Christmas. If you’re giving someone a gaming system, phone, tablet or any gadget that connects to the internet, you should activate it before they open it. Every year millions of those tech gadgets won’t work Christmas morning. I’ll explain.
Tuesday, December 21st
What to do with all those amazon boxes? For the millions of people who do most of their Christmas shopping online, amazon boxes are all over the house. Before you throw them away, consider using them to donate items you no longer use. Give Back Box is a program and charity that provides free whipping for people who want to fill those boxes with things they no longer want and ship them to organizations that help people who need help celebrating the holidays. I’ll show you how it works.
Monday, December 20th
grown up Christmas stockings. Has it been years or decades since adults in your family got anything good in a Christmas stocking? For teenagers and anyone older, these small-enough-to-fit-in-a-stocking gadgets make for cool and useful Christmas gifts. And they’re still available.
Friday, December 17th
The app of the day “Fakespot”. Ever wonder if the Reviews you see on amazon are fake or real? WhileAmazon says it makes an effort to delete fake reviews it is still a huge problem for shoppers. This app of the day may prevent you from buying garbage products. It’s an app for iPhones, android devices and the web.
Thursday, December 16th
Tech gifts for the person who (almost) literally has everything. They’ve got doorbells, game systems, big TV, projector, kitchen gadgets and anything else you can think of. I’ve rounded up a few random but totally impressive gift ideas that may be the best thing they get this year.
Wednesday, December 15th
Having trouble finding that unique toy your kids are asking for? It’s not too late to get something different. I’ve rounded up some tech toys that’ll make them forget about what they’re NOT getting.
Tuesday, December 14th
The most unusual earphones you’ve ever seen. Do you know someone on your list who’s still using wired headphones? Bluetooth earbuds will be music to their ears. I’m trying to explain the difference in apple AirPods models, the best earbuds, best budget friendly, and a brand new set of earphones built into sunglasses.
Money, December 13th
Gifts for preserving family memories. Old films and VHS tapes won’t last forever. These gadget gift ideas will not only save those special moments but make great gifts. I’m looking at a gadget for films and one for videotapes.
Friday, December 10th
White elephant tech gifts. Tired of seeing the same old $25 and under gifts for the company or small group white elephant gifts? Call them dirty Santa, white elephant or yankee swap, whatever you call them these tech gadgets will be picked over and over again.
Thursday, December 9th
Don’t let Alexa spoil Christmas Day . Thought I’d take a day away from Christmas gift ideas after hearing that Alexa keeps announcing what gifts are being delivered, letting some little kids know what they’re getting Christmas morning. I’ll show you how to turn a feature off and muzzle Alexa’s knack of spoiling surprises.
Wednesday, December 8th
Christmas gifts for the businessman or woman on your list. I’m looking at a few gadgets that’ll not only be welcomed, but very very helpful for someone who works from home, in the office or on the road.
Tuesday, December 7th
Christmas gift ideas for the family. Outdoor movie theater. These are the products I have been asked about more than any other this year. Movie projectors and movie projector screens. I’m taking a look at a few of the best options and things you should consider before buying, plus a really cool chair for the kids while you watch the flick under the stars.
Monday, December 6th
Practical gift ideas. The great thing about practical gifts is they’re generally things they wouldn’t buy for themselves. I’m looking at a few 8smaller tech gadgets someone on your list didn’t know they needed.
Friday, December 3rd
The App of the Day: Ada. I’ve mentioned this app before but not for over a year. It’s an app that just might save you a trip to the doctor’s office. Ada was developed by doctors to keep otherwise healthy people out of the doctor’s office. It uses AI to determine if the symptoms you have are a reason to schedule an appointment. As colds and flu are going around and worries about COVID 19, this is an app to try if you’re not feeling well.
Thursday, December 2nd
Common online payment Christmas scams and how to avoid them. When shoppers have money ready to spend, the scammers up their game to grab some of it. I’m looking at some scams people should beware, how to identify them and how to protect yourself.
Wednesday, December 1st
Gift ideas for dads. The great thing about giving dad one of these gifts is that the whole family gets to use them at some point. Still, some very cool gadgets he’d probably never buy for himself.
Tuesday, November 30th
One of last years most popular gadgets is all sold out online. Try to buy an Amazon Alexa device and it likely won’t be delivered until next year. Another option is a Google Nest Hub. Is it even better than Alexa? I’m comparing the two to help you decide if it’s a good option for you.
Monday, November 29th
Gift ideas. Nanoleaf lights. Lights that could be artwork hanging on your wall. These lights catch your eye as they sync with music and sound and touch. Control,them with your phone and routines.
Friday, November, 26th
The app of the day, Rent the Runway. Holiday parties are here. If you have social events on the calendar you’re maybe already thinking about what to wear. My daughter and her friends are crazy about this app that allows you to rent outfits. They don’t want to wear the same thing to multiple parties and they’re all learning how this app can give them something different to wear for each party they go to.
Thursday, November 25th
Happy Thanksgiving. Before you shop, make a gift list. Better yet let the people you buy for make and share their own list. Today I’m looking at a couple of tech shortcuts to create shopping wish lists in google docs so everyone can see what everyone wants.
Wednesday, November 24th
I’m looking at an app that’s perfect for thanksgiving. Share the Meal encourages people to, as they sit down for their thanksgiving meal, they share a meal with someone around the world. Share the meal takes small donations to feed the world in some of the most impoverished countries. And the app makes it very easy. This story can certainly run today or on thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 23rd
I’ll be doing the light keeper story today.
One bulb can kill a strand. If you’ve ever draped lights around a Christmas tree or just plugged in a pre-lit tree to find not all of the lights turn on, you know what I’m talking about. One bulb prevents all the bulbs from lighting up. I’m testing a gadget to help you identify that one bad bulb. Does it work? We’ll find out if this gadget can save the Christmas spirit.
Monday, November 22nd
Update: having a problem creating a problem with the Christmas lights. I haven’t been able to get the lightkeeper to work but I want to make sure I fairly. So, I’ll be doing a story today about gadget gift ideas for the home entertainer.
One bulb can kill a strand. If you’ve ever draped lights around a Christmas tree or just plugged in a pre-lit tree to find not all of the lights turn on, you know what I’m talking about. One bulb prevents all the bulbs from lighting up. I’m testing a gadget to help you identify that one bad bulb. Does it work? We’ll find out if this gadget can save the Christmas spirit.
Friday, November 19th
The App of the Day: “SuperCook”. Many people look forward to the holidays because they love to cook. You may still use great grandma’s recipe for green bean casserole but looking to find something new for the family get together. This app helps you find something to cook or bake without need ing a trip to the grocery store. Tell the app what you already have and it’ll show recipes that only require those ingredients.
Thursday, November 18th
Smart online shopping to save money. It’s super easy to shop only at amazon and you can typically find, if not the best price, something pretty close to it. Don’t forget about the other ways to shop and find the best deals. I’m looking at ways to search the whole internet for the best price, cash back and discount codes.
Wednesday, November 17th
Safe shopping. Black Friday sales have already begun online (at least that’s what Amazon says). Before you start adding things to your cart, there are a few things you should keep in mind to save money and protect yourself. I’m looking at a few ways to make sure you’re getting the best deal, and the one thing you do not want to do that puts your bank account information at risk
Tuesday, November 16th
Christmas gadget gift ideas. These are for anyone you know who spends hours each day in front of a computer. Whether they’re zooming or working on spreadsheets and reports these gadgets will make every day a little better.
Monday, November 15th
An answer to a viewer email asking about the differences between the Roku, Amazon FireStick, Apple TV, and Google Chromecast. They’re all similar but I’m looking at some of the differences to help you decide which is right for you and the person on your gift list.
Friday, November 12th
The app of the day: Recipe Keeper. It takes planning to prepare meals for the holidays and we all run across recipes on the internet that we’d like to try. Maybe you see something on Pinterest or a link from Facebook, or in an own;one magazine on the computer. Or even in a family cookbook that’s been passed down for years. Recipe Keeper let’s you save all of those recipes, no matter where you find them in one app.
Thursday, November 11th
Gift ideas for the home. We’re exactly 2 weeks from, thanksgiving and the real start of the holiday shopping season. I’ll be doing gift idea stories off and on from now thru Christmas. Today I’m looking at tech gadgets for the home. A robot vacuum cleaner, a garden that sits on your desk, and a litter box that cleans itself after the cat goes potty.
Wednesday, November 10th
How to protect your purchases from porch pirates. Christmas shopping is in full swing and thieves are as busy as those amazon workers. Don’t leave deliveries on your front porch for very long. But what if you’re at work? I’ll take a look at a few options to keep your packages safe.
Tuesday, November 9th
How to make an extra $1,000 for Christmas. Who wouldn’t like to have an extra thousand bucks for Christmas? It’s possible even if you get started now. I’m looking at a few ways to earn an extra grand between now and the middle of December.
Monday, November 8th
The good side of TikTok. The social media app is mostly criticized for spreading dumb and dangerous stunts, but over the past few days there are positives. A hand sign to subtly send a message that you need help that spread on TikTok that reportedly saved a young girl from harm, and then at the Travis Scott concert, recording countless videos of the tragedy that is being used by police to determine exactly what happened.
Friday, November 5th
The App of the Day: Endel. Time to fall back this weekend and for a few days some people will have trouble getting to sleep on time. There are lots of sleep apps in the app stores and I’m looking at a unique one called Endel. This app builds sleep sounds based on your circadian rhythm. Is a one-of-a-kind app that creates sounds that are tailored especially for you. What’s more, there are many ways to use the app to help you fall asleep fast.
Thursday, November 4th
Tech gadgets you should buy right now. We all know about the shipping problems but the chip shortage make these Christmas gifts nearly impossible to find. I’m looking at some tech gadgets that, if you want one in December you shouldn’t wait for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
Wednesday, November 3rd
Kids and their phones. A new report shows kids are looking at screens 8 hours a day. That’s double what it was in 2020 and does not include time spent on a computer doing homework. I’m interviewing a researcher and author of the book “How to Break up With Your Phone, and why you should”. She’ll give insight on the effects of staring at a screen half the day.
Tuesday, November 2nd
We all know the importance of good passwords but about 66% of Americans use the same one for every account they have. Why do people use bad passwords for everything? Good, safe passwords are hard to remember. Today I’m giving a secret to creating a separate password for every account you have that’s impossible for a bad guy to guess and for you to forget. Seriously.
Monday, November 1st
What is the metaverse? The word has been mentioned a lot in the past week after Facebook changed its company name to “Meta”. I’m going to try to explain what it is to help you figure out if it’s something you’ll care about.
Friday, October 29th
The app of the day. Bluebird. How many times do you sit down to work on a project only to get distracted by notifications, website browsing and social media? Happens every day doesn’t it? Bluebird is an app that simply keeps you on track and focused on the task that needs to be finished at a certain time. I think it works.
Thursday, October 28th
Want to hear something scary? Someone could be watching you and posting live video on the internet? While it’s unlikely you’re going to be targeted, it does happen. How? Bad guys gain control of your WiFi router using poor security and many (if not most) people have a router with poor security. Today I’m going to look at some examples of what happens when a hacker compromises a router and accesses security cameras, and the one thing you can do to prevent it, or at least make it next to impossible.
Wednesday, October 27th
What parents need to know about YouTube. YouTube is appearing before Senators regarding how it protects children on the platform. What are the concerns? How do pedophiles or other bad guys use YouTube to groom kids? YouTube has taken steps to protect kids but parents may unknowingly present their children as a target of those bad guys. Is it safe to upload videos of your kids to YouTube?
Tuesday, October 26th
What’s the scariest part of Halloween for parents? Letting their kids roam neighborhoods. Maybe most parents try to keep kids from trick-or-treating at houses they do not know, but lots of folks don’t know a lot of their neighbors. I’m working on a story about how to keep kids safe. Two apps that parents may want on their phones. One shows where known sex offenders live.
Monday, October 25th
Digital Halloween decorations. Sure, pumpkins and scarecrows and spooky characters are fine but many people are stepping up their Halloween decorations and using digital decorations. What are those and how easy/difficult are they to set up? Im going to show how to set up a creepy scene in your windows and doors.
Friday, October 22nd
The app of the day, Writey. When was the last time you wrote a letter? Or just wrote in cursive? The digital world we live in has made handwriting a lost art. Whitely is an iPad app for kids learning to write cursive and adults who want to re-learn how to write with good penmanship.
Thursday October 21st
It’s cybersecurity awareness month and as millions of people are falling for scams and attacks, I’m going to look at some of the most common scams that target, not only seniors but young people. I’ll have examples and what to watch out for.
Wednesday, October 20th
Story change update: the AirTag is not working so I cannot show it being used to stalk someone. So, I’m going to have to diagnose the problem tonight.
Instead, today I’ll show a new feature in iOS 15 that I just discovered that is huge. It allows you to take a photo of something and turn it into searchable text. I was blown away. I’ll show you how it works and when you may want to use it.
Apple air tags and security. Apple says it’s air tags are meant to keep track of things, but some groups are concerned that abusive spouses, stalkers, and parents involved in custody disputes can use them for nefarious purposes. I’m looking at how these can be used for bad reasons and how to protect yourself from being followed.
Tuesday, October 19th
How to track your kids on Halloween. Depending on how old your children are, they might be roaming free with their friends on Halloween. You can track them with their phones and Apple’s “Find My” app. A better choice might be an Apple AirTag. I’m taking a look at how these things work and why they may be more effective than a Tile Tracker.
Monday, October 18th
Google’s “in case of death feature”. What happens to your digital life when you die? Can anyone access your email, google account, Facebook, etc? Not without all of your usernames and passwords. I’m looking at a Google Gmail feature that shares those digital items with loved ones. How does it do that? How does google find out your dead and when to send the information? I’ll show you how this works and where to find it.
Friday, October 15th
The app of the day, Crowdfire. This is a productivity app for people who use social media for business. Posting to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and other social media is a little overwhelming if you try to stay in front of people. And to help you find things to tweet and retweet. Crowdfire allows you to handle the many of social media heavy lifting and gives the regular twitter user something to tweet about.
Thursday, October 14th
How many times have you seen something incredible and couldn’t get your phone out fast enough to record video? There is a little known feature on iPhones that let you open the camera and start recording by placing your finger on the screen. You can also zoom in and out without removing your finger. I’ll show you this trick only power iPhone users know and explain the one drawback.
Wednesday, October 13th
A tailgate necessity and a gadget to keep the lights on. Noisy gas-powered generators are no longer need to keep a TV, fridge or anything else running when there’s a power outage or just no electricity available. I’m testing portable rechargeable generators that even run on solar power. Take to a ballgame, camping or keep one in a storage room for when the power goes out.
Tuesday, October 12th
Creating an backyard theater requires a projector. I’m looking at a few of the best options and what you need to know about those cheap projectors you see on amazon. What’s most important? Lumens? Color? 4K? And how do you get the movie playing?
Monday, October 11th
How to Create your own outdoor movie theater. Now that the weather is cooling off I thought I’d spend a couple of days looking at how to bring a movie experience to your backyard. Since the pandemic began the sales of projectors and movie screens have surged. What do you need? Today I’m looking at one of the most important items, the movie screen. I’ve ordered 2 styles and will compare the picture, and how easy/difficult it is to set them up. Tomorrow I’ll look at the top projectors.
Friday, October 8th
The app of the day. Noted. As more people are working from home and having online meetings, taking notes is more important than ever. Noted is a simple app that, with one tap of the screen records a meeting, lecture or anything else and then stores it as a dictations. It’s even better on an Apple Watch.
Thursday, October 7th
Enough with The Facebook for today. Sometimes old tech is better than old tech. Everyone is streaming movies and TV shows but if you really want a movie experience you need to kick it old school. I’m looking at why DVDs are light years ahead of streaming when it comes to picture and sound quality. And why a second Netflix subscription may be necessary.
Wednesday, October 6th
For all of the talk about Facebook pushing negative content to everyone’s news feed, Instagram and its impact on teenagers has been lost in the weeds. I’m talking to a podcaster/mommy blogger about why Instagram is bad for some teenagers. Body shaming is one thing but we talk about why Instagram’s algorithm pushes content from depressed teens to other depressed teens and what parents need to know if their teenager suffers from any level of depression.
Tuesday, October 5th
Did you know if you like a post on Facebook you’re more likely to see similar posts in your newsfeed? You probably did. But did you know if you respond with the angry emoji you’re even more likely to see posts that make you angry? Facebook has its algorithm set up to push angry or negative content to the top of your newsfeed. I’m talking to a social media professor today about why Facebook plays this game and whether it affects society as a whole. It’s very interesting.
Monday, October 4th
UPDATE 2: I will have this story ready to go by 5 PM ET. If you’dWSW` like to use it today
UPDATE: well, I have to do something on Facebook and Instagram being down. At this point, since we have no idea why or for how long, I plan to go out and talk to people about what it’s like to not have Facebook to look at. I’ll have the Instagram story below tomorrow unless this whole FB, Insta outage continues.
Instagram and the negative impact on teenagers. New reports, and Facebook’s on research shows Instagram is responsible for making teenage boys and girls to feel bad about themselves and is especially damaging to teens who are already depressed. I’m talking to a mom/podcaster/journalist and writer about what parents need to know about Instagram and why certain postings are harmful.
Friday, October 1st
The App of the Day: Blinkist. Ask most people and they’ll say they’d like to read more books but they just don’t have the time. Blinkist is a cool app that boils down an entire book into just 15 minutes. Blinkist helps people read more non-fiction titles. No novels. It’s good for people who’d like to learn something new, get motivated and learn from some of the world’s greatest minds.
Thursday, September 30th
Is this the end of business cards as we know them? I guess we’ve all had our ways of sharing contact information with someone we just met. If it isn’t an old-fashioned business card, it’s entering a phone number into our phone and texting them. Then you have to enter their name, email etc to our contacts. I’ve found a better way. Linq is a one-business card system that fits in a wallet or on your wrist. They tap the Linq and all of your contact information is added to their Contacts app. I’ve been trying out Linq to see if it works. It does, it’s pretty cool too.
Wednesday, September 29th
Employee tracking software. if you’ve been working from home or remotely your boss has probably been wondering just what all you’ve been doing besides work. When quarantine began last year, companies making employee tracking software saw a huge spike in business. I’m looking at three pieces of software that can be installed on an employee’s computer and phone to track what they’re doing on the internet, if they’re away from the desk, if they are where they say they are.
If you do polls, this would be a good opportunity to see how people feel about it. Is it fair for a company to track their employee’s work hours and habits or is it an invasion of privacy?
Tuesday, September 28th
The state of streaming. About a year ago the number of people dropping cable or satellite surged as many TV viewers switched to streaming. Saving money was the #1 reason but how is that working out now? Most services have raised prices. One service disappeared and now YouTube TV notifies subscribers it’ll drop 14 channels this week. I think it’d be a good idea to review what all has happened and where streaming is headed next.
Monday, September 27th
Update: I’m going to do the story below later this week. The FCC announced today an update to the broadband benefit program. I’ve covered the EBB program before that pays eligible families $50/mo to pay for broadband internet. Today the program announced that 19 million families that qualify have not taken advantage of the program. This affects many of our viewers. I’ll explain and show how to take advantage of the free program.
Is your employer tracking you as you work from home? Remote working sounds good, but bosses are keeping an eye on if you’re actually working or spending time watching Netflix or YouTube videos. Many Companies are using software installed on a worker’s desktop and laptop computers to track their time. I’m looking at 2 programs they use and how to find out if you’re being watched.
Friday, September 24th
Phont.o. What in the world is Phonto? If you like editing your photos, it’s an app you’ll be glad you know about. This app allows you to easily add captions, text bubbles and personalized graphics to any picture you take so you can post to social media or use in any other way. If you see someone else post a photo with a witty caption and wonder, “how did they do that?”, you’ll know after seeing our story.
Thursday, September 23rd
Please note: in the web story of the Gabby Petito story yesterday, 9-22. A quote in the web story was incorrectly cited as coming from “Laundrie” when it should be attributed to “Ajaeb”. I’ve made the correction but if you copy and pasted my web story yesterday, please edit the web version.
Today, I’ve changed the story if you saw the pitch below. Smishing, what is it and how does this new scam work? Well, it isn’t exactly a new scam but the Federal Trade Commission, BBB and AARP are warning people that in the past few months, Smishing attacks have surged. I have some examples delivered to my phone. I’ll show you what to watch out for, what happens when you click, and what to do instead.
The end of business cards and “text me your number”. Sharing contact information, whether for business or personal reasons isn’t all that difficult but it could be easier. I’m looking at a new business card that uses NFC technology to instantly send someone all of your information (or what you want to share) by just tapping their phone onto a plastic card, a button or bracelet. This is called a “Linq” and I’ll show you how it works and why it may be the last business card you’ll ever need.
Wednesday, September 22nd
My interview came through but very late yesterday. I’m talking with a former investigator who used social media to gather clues. amateur investigators on TikTok submitting all kinds of theories and tips on the disappearance of Gabby Petito. They are camping out at the home of Daniel’s parent’s home and sharing photos and videos from the couple’s Instagram posts. Is there a role for these amateur Sherlocks? Do investigators see their posts and photos and theories? And how unusual is it for TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to leave posts up after a crime is committed?
Tuesday, September 21st
The story on social media and they Gabby investigation isn’t going to happen today. I’ll effort it for tomorrow. I’ll need to stick with the iOS 15 story for today.
I am efforting a story on the amateur investigators on TikTok submitting all kinds of theories and tips on the disappearance of Gabby Petito. They are camping out at the home of Daniel’s parent’s home and sharing photos and videos from the couple’s Instagram posts. I am waiting on a response from one of the many criminal investigators I’ve contacted this morning. I’ll update this page as soon as I find out whether the interview can happen. If it doesn’t, I’ll do the story below.
iOS 15 is available for download and when our viewers do, they’re going to be hit with many new features they’ll like, and dislike. I’m taking a look at one of the best features (focus mode) and the one people may not like (address bar at the bottom of the screen). I’ll show how to use them and how to change them.
Monday, September 20th
How to improve your chances at getting an iPhone this week. Hours after pre-orders began Apple posted to its website that due to demand, anyone now ordering should expect their phone to arrive sometime in October. If you just have to get one of the new iPhone 13’s this week, I’m looking at a few ways to guarantee (almost) you’ll find one. And one thing everyone needs to do when buying a new phone.
Friday, September 17th
Ever wonder what you’d look like with a tattoo? Ever think about another tattoo? The App of the Day, Ink Hunter, will show you. Using your smartphone’s camera and a wide variety of tattoo designs, simply aim your camera where you want the tattoo and see what it’ll look like. It’s very accurate and you can re-size the tattoo as needed. Before getting inked, this app may save you from getting something you’ll always regret.
Thursday, September 16th
Stupid (and dangerous) TikTok challenges and what parents need to know about them. This is going to be a ‘side-bar’ type story since some of you are covering this locally. I’m hoping to talk with a family psychologist about the idiotic things kids are doing and seeing while viewing TikTok. What do you say to them? How do you spot what’s coming up in their TikTok feeds?
Wednesday, September 15th
I’ll be doing the story on the FBI warning about sextortion complaints surging since the first of the year. What to watch for, how these things work, how to protect your kids, and what to do if you or they have been targeted. By the way, this is a problem that largely goes unreported as victims are too embarrassed to report it and kids are to ashamed to tell anyone.
Tuesday, September 14th
Back on track on a backup computer until I’m able to fix the one I’ve got. #engineerskills. Today is the Apple iPhone event. Lots of people are interested in what it’s going to be and what it can do. I’ll be watching the keynote and will have everything you’ll want to know about the new iPhone 13, 12s or whatever they decide to call it. by the way, the piece isn’t dated. I don’t mention when the announcement was made and the story will work for the next couple of days.
Monday, September 13th
UPDATE:
I am having serious computer problems that I’ve been dealing with all morning. I won’t be able to get the sextortion story done on time. This rarely happens and I’ve been pulling my hair out all morning trying different solutions.
I am putting a story in the folders today for a story that I ran a little over a year ago. How to set up Alexa as a whole-house intercom. It’s still relevant and useful today and not dated.
I do apologize. I’m usually pretty good at finding and resolving computer problems but not this time. It’ll be fixed by tomorrow I’m sure.
story pitch: By now most people have at least one Alexa device in their home and we all use them to play music, get the weather, answer a trivial question. I’m going to show you how to make Alexa even more helpful by setting up a whole house intercom.
Again, sorry
Jamey
A huge spike in sextortion attempts. The FBI is warning people of a huge increase in the number of complaints of sextortion. The FBI says people have lost a total of $8 million to sextortion scams since the first of the year. I’m taking a look at how to spot these scams and what to do.
Friday, September 10th
The App of the Day: Shazam. Wait, I know you know about this music identifying app and you’ve probably used it to find the name and artist of any song playing in the background. But there are things you don’t know Shazam can do and it might change how (and how often) you use this app. Plus, how to quickly open Shazam to name a tune before the music stops.
Thursday, September 9th
With job benefits ending soon many people are going to be looking for work. While there are plenty of opportunities everywhere, good or great jobs can be found online. I’m looking at two apps/places to go to find great opportunities to work remotely for some of the largest companies in the world and small businesses.
Wednesday, September 8th
If you have an iPhone it’s going to be worth less next week than it’s worth today. Anytime Apple unveils a new phone, older iPhones depreciates $150 or more. While you may want to hold on to your iPhone X, 11 or 12, it makes more economical sense to buy a new phone every year. I’m doing the math to show how much your iPhone will be worth next week and, how much you’re paying for that phone every day.
Tuesday, September 7th
Lots of people are looking for a new job or even a new career. But how do you search for a job without your boss finding out? LinkedIn is perhaps the best way to connect with companies looking for new employees. Your boss is on there too right? I’ll take a look at how to use LinkedIn to find a new job AND keep your boss and co-workers from finding out.
Monday, September 6th
Netflix secret codes. In ten years of What the Tech, no story has received more interest as this one. I’m looking at secret codes to help you see every movie and TV show on Netflix. As you’re probably aware, when you’re browsing Netflix, you’ll only see shows and movies it thinks you’re going to like. If you know these secret codes and how to use them, you’ll be able to see everything Netflix has to offer.
Friday, September 3rd
The App of the Day: Down Dog. One of the things that makes any workout boring is monotony. Following workout routines in an app or by watching YouTube videos is the same old exercise after another. Down Dog is a yoga app that gives you a different routine every time. It’s recommended by physicians to patients experiencing stress and in need of physical exercise.
Thursday, September 2nd
Have you noticed a change to the number of robocalls you’re getting? It’s been a month since the new technology called STIR/SHAKEN went into effect. It’s supposed to limit the number of robocalls coming from local numbers. Is it working? I’ll explain why robocalls should be easier to identify before answering the phone and what to do when you get one.
Wednesday, September 1st
Driver Licenses and IDs on iPhones and Apple Watches. Apple has confirmed that two states will soon allow people to store their DL’s on their devices to use at airports. It’s coming to GA and a couple of other states and others will be added soon. How is it going to work? Is it a good idea?
Tuesday, August 31st
This is the start of college football season with games beginning Thursday. Don’t watch the big games with the wrong TV settings. Most people’ s TVs are set up for to be displayed in the store but those are not the best settings for sports watching. I’ll show you which settings to change and why you should never use the “Game” settings to watch games.
Monday, August 30th
This page didn’t update earlier. I’ll hold the footballs story for later this week.
Cell towers are down across Louisiana due to the hurricane and I watched a local newscast from there this morning and no one could figure out why text messages would go through but phone calls couldn’t. Well, I’m explaining this and an app people are using on the coast to connect and help other people.
This is the start of college football season with games beginning Thursday. Don’t watch the big games with the wrong TV settings. Most people’ s TVs are set up for to be displayed in the store but those are not the best settings for sports watching. I’ll show you which settings to change and why you should never use the “Game” settings to watch games.
Friday, August 27th
The App of the Day: Fontmaker. This is a keyboard app that suddenly became the #4 most downloaded app in Apple’s App Store. It allows you to send messages, texts, and create Facebook and Instagram stories using your own handwriting. BUT, there’s something everyone downloading it should know: It can cost you a small fortune if you’re not careful.
Thursday, August 26th
Would you show a perfect stranger your address and a photo of your home? Chances are, you’re doing that right now. Google is sharing photos of practically every house in the world. Anyone can see your address and your house (even the back door and the cars you drive). I’ll show you how to remove photos of your home from Google Street View and why you may want to.
Wednesday, August 25th
As students get back together with their friends they’re likely sharing secrets of shortcuts they’ve discovered on their phone. One such secret is how to hide apps on their iPhone. If you’re keeping the kids from using Snapchat, TikTok or another app, they may have them on their phone but they’ve hidden the icon. So when you check their phone, you won’t see it. Tricky kids. I’ll show you how they’re doing it and what you need to do to see all the apps they’ve got on their phone.
Tuesday, August 24th
Well, I got my second COVID shot yesterday and feel terrible today. Splitting headache, can’t keep my eyes open. I’m going to try to re-work a package from last summer about YouTube videos where people who are studying, set up a camera and record themselves. Sounds boring (and it is if you’re watching for entertainment value) but these students’ videos are getting millions of views from other students looking for a “study buddy”. I’ll re-work this to freshen it up.
Monday, August 23rd
More and more we hear of restaurants, venues and other businesses requiring proof of a negative COVID test or proof of vaccination. I think I need to do something else on how to store your vaccine card on your phone. You can take a photo, which is what a lot of people are doing, but there’s another way that looks more legitimate and will likely be accepted. I’ll show you how to do it on an iPhone and Android device.
