Hello, friends, it’s your tech know-how Monday! Let’s hit the ground running with trivia. Is your phone's accelerometer designed to … A.) Boost your signal strength, B.) Track your battery life, C.) Detect the screen’s orientation or D.) Control the screen’s brightness? Answer’s at the end!

🤝 Do your part to support this newsletter free by showing today’s sponsor, SimpliSafe, some love. More on their big sale below. Now, let’s do this thing! — Kim

Look around your house, and you’ll see things you never even realized have a shelf life — and I don’t mean things like food. Take fire extinguishers. Over time, they can lose pressure. Those and smoke detectors should be replaced every 10 years or so.

Bike helmets only last about five years. After that, they start degrading. Ladies, toss your mascara after a few months, or pink-eye-causing bacteria can grow. Oh, and bleach gets 20% less effective each year.

We haven’t even gotten to the tech! Some gadgets are security and safety risks, too. Scan this list to keep yourself and your family safe.

Old phones sitting in a drawer can start a fire

YouTuber Arun Maini, aka Mrwhosetheboss, has collected every Samsung flagship phone since 2010. He noticed a scary pattern — batteries swelling enough to crack the glass and split the cases.

It’s not just Samsung. Any gadget with a lithium-ion battery is susceptible to damage over time, and charging a swollen battery can trigger a fire or explosion.

It’s on a recall list

It’s sad how often products make it into our homes with issues that can cause fires, injury and worse — like this Ikea mirror that can fall off the wall and shatter.

It’s worth scanning the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s list now and then. Sometimes, you can get a replacement or refund for the recalled product. You’ll find instructions for how to contact the manufacturer there, too. And don’t worry, if there’s a major recall, I’ll warn you here or in my Tech Alerts newsletter.

⚠️ Wait, there’s more! Can’t fit ‘em all here, so head to my site.

$600,000: That’s a sweet salary when your company is tanking. Court documents leaked the juicy details of failed tech startup Bitwise, which is accused of stealing $100 million from investors with phony bank statements and revenue numbers. The CEOs paid themselves well, of course — and over 900 people lost their jobs.

♟️ Checkmate: A hacker leaked the data of 800,000 Chess[.]com players on a forum last week. Full names, usernames, users’ locations and other personal details all were revealed. Don’t be a pawn. Update your password. I already did.

🤖 Is AI all doom and gloom? For Bill Gates, nope. He says in the future, you’ll be able to program your own AI assistants and “simply tell your device, in everyday language, what you want to do.” Hope that happens soon because Siri is still having trouble putting a meeting on my cal.

(Not) made in the USA: Apple is ponying up $25 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit. The claim is they favor immigrant workers and green card holders over U.S. citizens in hiring. Apple says, oops, it was all a paperwork mistake.

Tracker pro tip: Police in Washington, D.C., are handing out AirTags for free to fight a huge surge in car theft. Smart move. I have them in all my cars. Don’t put an AirTag in the glovebox; that’s the first place thieves look. Better option: The engine bay with some duct tape.

📺 It’s not me — it’s you: Your Fire TV Stick is breaking up with Android. Amazon smart devices are getting their own OS called Vega. The company’s been developing it since 2017 because they say Android code is hard to work with. Smart TVs and Echo Show displays are all expected to move to Vega. I’ll keep you updated.

We didn’t start the fire: How do you put out an electric vehicle fire? Some firefighters told the Wall Street Journal (paywall link) they let it burn. Water doesn’t work and EV fires require special training to put out. If it happens to you, tell first responders all the deets about your car.

Every parent will want one: Owlet just got FDA approval for its Dream Sock. Slip the tiny sock on your little one, open the Owlet app, and you can see your baby's pulse rate and oxygen levels. It also sends alerts if any readings are abnormal. Amazing! One sock you can’t throw in the dryer.

Most people don't realize all they share when sending a picture via text. Nearly every social media site strips out the metadata that reveals a photo's little details, like when, where and how it was taken, but not the data showing when you text. You can stop that.

To stop location sharing on iPhone:

To disable location tracking in your camera altogether:

On Android, here’s how to wipe the location data for a single photo:

To disable your location from photos for good, open the Camera app’s settings and turn off the location setting.

🧪 A scientist snapped a selfie while drinking liquid nitrogen. It was the coolest shot he ever took.

Say hello to my Daily Tech Update podcast. In the first minute, get the latest tech news distilled down to its essence. In the next, learn a practical digital trick that can make your life easier or more fun.

Choose your platform below to listen:

🔒 Privacy, please: On Android, you can automatically lock your Incognito tabs when you switch to another app. Open Chrome, then tap More > Settings > Privacy and security. Turn on “Lock Incognito tabs when you leave Chrome.”

Go on data, not your gut: KPIs, aka key performance indicators, reveal a lot about the true health of your business. If you’re new to a leadership role or new to running a biz, download this free guide from Oracle NetSuite.*

Find the hidden gems: Next time you search for deals on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp or another site, type in the name of a brand you really like. Say I want an outdoor couch. I might type “Restoration Hardware outdoor” instead of scrolling endlessly through junky old stuff.

🌧️ Little-known iPhone delight: I'm talking about built-in nature sounds that can serenade you into dreamland. Open Settings and tap Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Background Sounds. On the next screen, enable “Background Sounds” and tap Sound. Choose between Ocean, Rain, Stream and more. Ahhhhh.

There’s never a wrong time to protect your home, but fall is a great time, because right now, you can get up to 60% off a brand-new SimpliSafe Home Security system!

Get comprehensive protection for your whole home, including advanced sensors to detect break-ins, fires, floods and more — all with 24/7 professional monitoring for less than $1 a day.

Right now, save up to 60% on any SimpliSafe system with a Fast Protect Plan. This huge offer is only available for a limited time.

Meals on wheels

The answer: C.) Detect the screen’s orientation. But that's not all — fitness apps use it to track your steps and monitor your sleep patterns. Even camera apps rely on it to stabilize images. Pretty snazzy!

🧵 And that’s a wrap. Be sure to rate this issue so we know how we’re doing, and show some love to the security pros at SimpliSafe. They’re doing some seriously innovative things and have a 60% off sale right now. Enjoy your day, and I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow morning. — Kim