I love that Gen Z always finds a way to make things fun.
These shady tech loopholes let stalkers track you
Wonder why Apple and Google suddenly started rolling out anti-stalking alerts for their Bluetooth trackers? Apple’s dealing with a class-action lawsuit from victims who say abusers used AirTags to track and harass them.
Now, on iOS 17.5 and Android 14, your phone will alert you when an unknown tracker is moving with you. These alerts, though, might not pop up until it’s too late. That’s why I need to share this important information with you.
How long can a stalker track you undetected?
Apple can take up to nine hours to notify you about an unknown tracker on or near you. That’s plenty of time for a stalker to get to you, especially if they’re local.
That means if a carjacker tags your vehicle, you might lead them right to your house before you ever get alerted.
There are other loopholes, too. Older tracking devices can still follow you without an alert. Savvy creeps can even reconfigure new trackers to track you for months undetected.
Been in one of these situations recently?
Take steps to protect yourself if you’ve:
- Had an ex show up somewhere unannounced or harass you via text or voicemail.
- Driven over the border to Canada or Mexico. (Crooks tag tourists’ cars to steal or for trafficking illegal items.)
- Had a creepy interaction with a stranger at a bar or store.
Run a manual check on your phone
You can check for trackers even if you don’t get an alert.
- On iPhone, open your Find My app and then tap Items at the bottom of the screen. Tap on a nearby AirTag > Find.
- On Android, head to Settings > Safety & Emergency > Unknown tracker alerts > Scan now.
Lemme Turk to ya: I mentioned Amazon Mechanical Turk on the show, and a lot of you had questions. With mTurk, you can get paid to complete tasks that are easier for people than bots, like analyzing images and transcribing audio. Sign up here for a Worker account.
👨👩👧👦 95% of teens have a smartphone: Smartphone Free Childhood is an organization that offers support for parents who don’t want to cave to the social pressure. They’ve set up local WhatsApp groups to “empower each other.” Here’s another option: Teach your kiddo to use their smartphone responsibly.
What was the first video game ever played in space? Was it … A.) Pong, B.) Super Mario Bros., C.) Tetris or D.) Space Invaders?
How to download iOS18 Beta
The latest iOS update, 18, is in beta and you can try it on your phone now. We’ll walk you through the process. A word of warning: Beta software is still in the buggy phase, so not everything will work smoothly.
📅 AI personal assistant: Google Gemini or ChatGPT can plan your day for you. Tell the AI your top three priorities, appointments or commitments and how long a task typically takes. Then, ask it to create a schedule. Just like that, you’ll get a bulleted list, scheduled right down to the minute.
You spotted a scammer on Facebook: Do your good deed and report the page. Go to the profile, and in the top right corner, click the three dots. Select Find support or report, and then follow the on-screen prompts.
Wait, what? You can reread that Android notification you didn’t fully look at the first time. Head to your Settings and tap Notifications > Notification History to view that push alert on whatever wild thing Elon Musk said this time.
📸 iPhone editing trick: Use this next time a pic is almost perfect. Select an image and zoom in using two fingers. The option to crop your photo will appear on the top right of your device. Tap it, crop or adjust your pic using the editing tools, then tap Done.
None of your business: Quickly hide message previews popping up on your Android lock screen. This is an “A” and “B” conversation, so “C” yourself out, snoopers! From Settings, tap Display > Lock Screen > Privacy.
📺 Trying to pick the right-sized TV? Multiply the diagonal length of the TV by 1.2 to determine your ideal viewing distance. For example, a 98-inch screen would only require 118 inches, or 9.8 feet, of space between your couch and the TV for optimal viewing.
Pump it up: Stream music, movies or whatever’s on your iPad to a larger screen. Just tap the AirPlay icon in the Control Center and select an AirPlay-compatible device. Score.
⛔ I hate when tech companies do this: Firefox’s new default feature, “privacy-preserving ad measurement,” actually gives your data to advertisers. Turn it off. Click the three-line icon in the top right corner, followed by Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll to Website Advertising Preferences, and disable Allow websites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement.
Forget the rice: If your phone gets wet, turn it off immediately to prevent a short circuit. Remove the cover, wipe down the phone, and then let it air dry in a cool place. Keep it upright with the ports facing downward to let any remaining water drain. The hardest part? Waiting at least 24 hours to turn it back on.
Small-biz smarts: When you have contracts with different companies and vendors, you’ll never remember those dates. Create a shared work calendar that gives everyone who needs it notice when a contract is renewing. Pro tip: Build in time in case you have a 30- or 90-day out.
Intel launched in 1971, and today, its processors power more than half of all computers. Was the very first Intel processor used in … A.) Televisions, B.) Traffic lights, C.) Digital watches or D.) Calculators?
Stop using your Google profile this way: Logging into other services through Google puts one of your most important accounts at risk. Log in at myaccount.google.com and tap Security. Scroll to Your connections to third-party apps & services > See all connections. You’ll see a list of apps. Open the details, then click Stop using Sign in with Google.
📚 Parenting win: Swap videos for audiobooks. Audiobooks encourage kids to visualize stories, in effect training their voluntary imagination, improving their problem-solving skills, boosting their attention spans and listening skills, and enhancing their vocabularies.
Use Windows 11? Later this year, Microsoft will introduce “checkpoint cumulative updates.” Versions with significant changes will be checkpoint updates; security fixes and new features will be patches. The goal? To save hard drive space and time.