Laden...
November 3, 2023 |
In partnership with Bark |
A tech-tastic Fri-yay is upon us, friends! I thought those who love to travel might like this trivia question. Which airline was the first to introduce personal televisions in the seatbacks for in-flight entertainment on commercial jets? Was it β¦ A.) Pan Am, B.) British Airways, C.) Virgin Atlantic or D.) Singapore Airlines? Youβll find the answer at the end. β Keep this newsletter free by clicking the link to check out todayβs sponsor, Bark β the best phone for tweens and teens. If you or someone you know wants to monitor exactly what the kids are doing, this is it. β Kim π« First-time reader? Sign up here. (Itβs free!) IN THIS ISSUEπ€ Do people hate your emails?π« AI scare in schools: Talk to your kidsβ οΈ Windows malware warning |
TODAY'S TOP STORYNew poll: Weβre all tired of email (surprise!)No, no, no β not this email, of course. Iβm talking about the rambling ones you get from coworkers, clients, your boss, your neighbor, your cranky uncle β¦ and so on. The folks at messaging app Slack surveyed 8,000 small-biz workers. Turns out, our old ways of sending emails are chock full of painful time wasters no one likes sending or reading. Clearly, Slack has a vested interest in people using, well, Slack. But these numbers reveal a lot. Letβs crack our knuckles, check some stats and get rid of yawn-worthy emails. Too long, wonβt readEight sentences or longer, and 57% of people skim or just ignore parts. Ahem β¦ yeah, I do that. Instead, try this: Put all the most important info in the first line.Write in bullet points to save time. (See? It works!)If you need to write more than a few sentences, move to a phone call, text or chat instead.Wait, you didnβt answer me!Over 60% say it's common they didn't get an answer to a question they included in an email. About half say they get asked questions they already answered or are called by the wrong name. Ouch. Pull names directly from the email contact, or save space and donβt use a name. Itβs 2023 β they know who they are.Maintain an open chat with those you work with often for quick questions and answers. So much faster than email for follow-ups!The problem is β¦ I didnβt read itThis surprised me: 45% of respondents said they missed a meeting date or a deadline that was buried in an email. That's embarrassing. Here's how to fix it: Rely on your email app. Most automatically highlight and prompt you to save important information.Setting up a meeting? Send an invite through your emailβs scheduling system.Avoid βreply allβ whenever possible. No one likes it.β Adopting even a few of these habits will do a world of good. I have a few more tricks to share, including the way to make sure your email isnβt coming off like youβre a big jerkface. Yep, technical terms only here. π± I asked my magic eight ball which email client to use. It told me β¦ Outlook not so good. (Haha! Yes, I laugh at my own jokes!) |
The smartphone Iβd pick for any kid or teenThis is seriously cool! Youβve heard me talk about the Bark Phone for kids. It just made TIMEβs list of Best Inventions of 2023. Bark makes a phone that keeps kids and parents happy β itβs a customizable Android with built-in tracking and monitoring that canβt be disabled. Hate to break it to you, but most older kids are smart enough to get past all the other parental controls and blocker apps. Firm screen time limits, real-time location tracking, no deleting texts and automatic scanning for anything troubling. Itβs really no wonder this phone made TIMEβs list. Set up your kid or grandkid for just $49 a month. Donβt wait! β |
WEB WATERCOOLERπ¨ Warning for teachers, parents and students: Girls at Westfield High School in New Jersey discovered boys swapping naked photos of them. But the girls never took nude selfies or pics. Police confirmed AI was used to superimpose real faces over other girlsβ bodies. What specific law did the perpetrators break? It could be none β nothing has been written to cover this yet. Mom, Iβm in jail: Scammers are now using AI-generated mugshots and voice cloning to convince you your kids or grandchildren are in jail and need bail money. The big red flag: They want the money sent to Venmo or PayPal accounts. If you get a call, email or text, call whoever they say is in jail (or someone else who knows them) before sending any money. Mint is minted: Bad news if you use the budgeting app Mint. Itβs shutting down at the end of the year and folding into Credit Karma, owned by Intuit. Mint's been around since 2006, so it's a shame to see it go. Check out my handy list of free budgeting apps if you need some encourage-mint. π¨βπ Perfect for space cadets: NASA is launching a streaming service with mission footage and shows on Nov. 8 β no ads and no subscriptions required. Nice. Watch the trailer here. Oh, and Disneyβs buying Hulu for $8B, so watch for price hikes and the end of password sharing there, too. Talk is Jeep: Jeep is recalling nearly 100,000 Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer SUVs over faulty third-row seatbelts. The affected model years are 2022 through 2024. Call your dealership for a free seatbelt replacement ASAP. Sneaky malware: Watch for any links that tell you to download Google Chrome or Grammarly. Hackers are embedding new malware called Ghostpulse into various app installers. If youβre a real IT nerd, hereβs a free tool you can use to detect the malware. PSA: Be tech-smart, and only download apps from official app stores. Pro-bionic tech: Karin lost her hand in a farming accident 20 years ago, and now, sheβs the first person to receive a fully functional bionic hand, loaded up with AI. Much like a real hand, the bionic hand allows Karin to move her fingers and feel touch, pressure and heat. The new hand even reduces phantom pain. So, so cool. πΈ The Beatlesβ new single: Producers used machine learning to separate John Lennon's voice from an old demo tape, letting Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr create a tune around Lennon's vocals. Give it a listen, then reply to this email and let me know what you think! |
DEVICE ADVICEThis makes getting organized so much easierEver try to put together a shopping list of whoβs bringing what for a school event, scout troop, church function, family party or whatever? Yeah, itβs a nightmare trying to do that in a group text or email chain. You have much better options. Take your pick! Use a shared note-taking app like Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote or Evernote. This is easiest if everyone already has, say, a Google or Microsoft account.You can also try a dedicated shopping list app like Any List, Out of Milk and OurGroceries. Make a new list in the app and invite others to join. Bonus: You can remind people the day before an event about what they're supposed to bring.π§Ί Look at that. Now, even your most forgetful friends, relatives and coworkers have no excuse. Youβre welcome! But I canβt help you if Aunt Ruth decides to bring that bowl of pink stuff again. π Everyone at the family reunion got food poisoning. Runs in the family. (I know youβre going to use that one.) |
TECH LIFE UPGRADESπ΅ Secret way to save money on internet: Your internet plan is expensive. Call your ISP and ask for a promo. Most of the time, theyβre valid for a year. You can negotiate when the year ends. Now, donβt talk to whoever answers the phone; ask instead for a βRetention Specialistβ β aka the folks who can cut you the best deal. Have a teen in the house? YouTube now limits video recommendations to teens that could trigger body image issues, and it will stop repeat watches of videos that drive βsocial aggression,β like non-physical fighting or intimidation. This comes two years after YouTube testified before the government and got its hands slapped. Two years and thatβs what we get? Free Samsung security upgrade: The new Auto Blocker stops Zero Click attacks (usually spread via images hiding malicious code), app downloads outside the official app stores and more. If you have a Samsung Galaxy running One UI 6, itβs worth checking out. π Brave says, βHey! Us, too!β The privacy-focused browserβs AI assistant is here. Leo can summarize videos and webpages, translate text, and rewrite things for you. For $15, you get faster and more accurate responses. Leo uses an anonymous server as a proxy, so the things you ask canβt be linked back to you. Neat. Check, mate: Chess[.]com and Duolingo paired up to help you finally learn what a rook does. On Chess[.]com, you can face multilingual bots in online games. Head to the homepage, click Play Computer, then choose your difficulty and language. Iβm scared to face βLily.β |
DEAL OF THE DAY
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BY THE NUMBERS$30,000,000 Inheritance a woman wanted so badly that she allegedly killed her ex-boyfriend. The North Dakota man was poisoned after he told her she wasnβt getting any of the money coming his way. After his death, the manβs brother revealed the $30 million payday Edward Riley Jr. was expecting was a complete and total scam. Awful. 60 Length, in miles, of the inaugural journey for the first commercial spacecraft. The Dream Chaser is making its way to a NASA facility. If it passes NASAβs tests (like withstanding the vibrations of a rocket launch), itβll be cleared for takeoff to the International Space Station in 2024. 1,000,000,000 Members on LinkedIn. To celebrate the milestone (or maybe itβs just good timing), new AI features are dropping for paying users β upgraded job suggestions based on your profile, profile recommendations to make you stand out and a summary button that will turn long posts into quick lists for different audiences. Btw, if youβre hiring, use my link to post a job for free.* |
WHAT THE TECH?This one made my knees buckle. |
UNTIL NEXT TIME ...The answer: C.) Virgin Atlantic added screens in 1991. Get this: The movies and TV shows werenβt on-demand; they played on a schedule. 𧳠Reminds me of the time we took British Airways to Paris. They lost our bags because of a major snafu at Heathrow. Three days later, no sign of our luggage. On the fourth day, the Daily Mail was delivered with my breakfast. There, on the front page, was a picture of luggage lost at Heathrow β with our bags in it. I called and told them, βI found our bags!β Thanks for reading, and one more reminder to check out the Bark Phone. Supporting our sponsors keeps this email free to you! I appreciate you. Iβll see you tomorrow with another issue of the best tech newsletter in the USA! β Kim |
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