Apple Archives

10 privacy-friendly Big Tech alternatives

Amazon uses your Alexa voice commands to train its AI, Dropbox had a breach in April that exposed customers’ passwords, and apps like Facebook and Google make billions of dollars gathering and sharing every little detail about you. I could go on (and on).

Luckily for you, there are privacy-friendly alternatives. Here are some proven ones.

1. Instead of Dropbox …

Try Nextcloud. It does everything Dropbox does (including end-to-end file encryption) but gives you total control. You can even host your own server for free at home.

2. Instead of Google Docs or Microsoft 365 …

Try Joplin. It’s a document app that keeps your files encrypted and stored in open formats, so you can take them anywhere without anyone snooping.

3. Instead of Google Keep or Apple Notes …

Try Notesnook. It’s end-to-end encrypted and lets you export to other apps. Unlike some companies, Notesnook won’t use your stuff to train an AI chatbot.

4. Instead of Google Photos or Apple Photos …

Try Ente, a free photo storage app that backs up your data in multiple locations and scrambles it with a password for maximum security. Ente doesn’t use your pics for AI machine learning, either, like Google Photos and Apple Photos both do.

5. Instead of Apple Home or Google Home …

Try Home Assistant. It’s an open-source smart home hub that works with just about every smart home device out there. The best part? You can manage everything from your browser or phone — no need for home apps that collect your data … and voice … and schedule … and shopping habits …

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8 ways your phone is tracking you - That you can stop now

You understand that your phone knows where you’re located. This is how GPS works, how Find My sees your location and why you get local ads on Facebook and Google. Like other data on your phone, that location data is a hot commodity for internet marketers.

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Top tech gifts of 2024

Give the gifts they really want — at your budget.

Over-the-ear headphones
💸 The Apple AirPods Max (16% off, $459.99) are top-of-the-line. They come in 10 colors and have super-comfy memory foam ear pads. I have a pair.
😏 Sony wireless headphones, on sale for only $38. They get 50 hours on a single charge, dang.

Bluetooth speakers
💸 The Bose SoundLink Flex (20% off, $119) is waterproof and portable, with excellent sound quality.
😏 The Tribit Xsound Plus 2 ($60; click the coupon for 10% off) is waterproof and gets 24 hours of playtime on one charge.

Robot vacuum cleaners
💸 The Shark Robot vacuum and mop combo (26% off) uses super-efficient home mapping to vacuum and mop. It even empties its own dustbin!
😏 The iRobot vacuum works with Alexa and gives you clean map reports. It’s 40% off right now, so hurry!

TVs
💸 LG’s new C3 series 65-inch 4K TV ($1,397) has a super-powerful AI processor that adjusts depending on the room’s brightness. Cool!
😏 For under $350, this Insignia 65-inch 4K TV (29% off) is a great all-in-one pick. It comes with Fire TV built in and an Alexa voice remote.

Dashcams
💸 This 70mai dashcam ($110) has a super-high-tech Sony image sensor and built-in GPS tracking. Click the coupon for $20 off!
😏 Slightly smaller, this Avylet dashcam (17% off, $50) has 2K resolution, night vision and a 24-hour parking monitor.

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

Make your app icons useful: On an iPhone running iOS 18, press and hold an app icon. At the top, you’ll see a few icons. Choose the second one to transform that app into a widget. Long-press again to change what that widget does. Apple’s Weather app widget, for example, can display the forecast. Neat!

🪫 It’s not just you: Apple’s new iOS 18.2 update is draining iPhone batteries. If it’s happening to you, don’t panic. Turn down your screen’s brightness and turn off apps refreshing in the background. Apple says to give it a few days to settle. Or you could get this portable charger for just $17.75 (26% off; click the box for an additional 5% off).

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

$100 Daily Cash

What you can earn as a new Apple Card customer when you spend $500 within your first 60 days of opening an account. You can deposit the bonus into your Apple Cash or Apple Card Savings account and spend it however you want. Hurry — the offer is available until Jan. 13.

The morning habits of CEOs (including me!)

I ran across this story (paywall link) about the morning routines of tech billionaire CEOs. It was interesting but not that thorough, so I did additional research. Here’s what I found, and even though I’m far from a billionaire, I’ll share my morning recipe for success, too.

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To do: Change your smart speaker settings before the holidays

True story: Last year, a friend’s toddler ordered 20 pounds of dog food and a karaoke machine using only their smart speaker. Mom had no idea till the Amazon boxes arrived. Voice commands and toddlers? Not a great combo.

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Mac magic: Hit the Apple menu > System Settings > Mouse (if you have one) or Trackpad (on a MacBook). You’ll find all kinds of settings you can adjust to your heart’s desire, including cursor speed and how hard you have to tap your trackpad to click.

🍎 Secret spot to hide pics: On an iPhone, use the Notes app. Open the pic in your Photos app, tap the share icon and select Add to Quick Note. Then, go into the note you want to protect, tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner, and choose Lock.

📱 Update your iPhone now: Apple iOS 18.2, the update that superpowers Siri with AI, also fixes 21 security issues. That includes a major flaw in Apple’s Passwords app. Still on iOS 17? There’s a fix for you, too. Go to Settings > General > Software Update.

📱 It’s like Siri went to college: The smart assistant now uses ChatGPT on the iPhone 15 Pro or any iPhone 16. If you grant permission, the iOS 18.2 update allows OpenAI’s GPT-4 to step in if Siri can’t help you. No ChatGPT account, free or paid, is needed. It’s kinda weird. I opened an email and it automatically generated a reply that was pretty damn good.

Heads-up, Apple shoppers: Scammers are walking into Apple Stores with fake IDs and QR codes to steal laptops before the real buyers show up. It’s not quite clear how the shysters are getting the intel, so keep an eye on your order status and pick up your new tech ASAP.

Improve your Mac’s display: Click the Apple menu > System Settings, then scroll to Displays on the sidebar. Click the pop-up menu for Color profile > Customize and hit the + (plus icon) to open Display Calibrator Assistant. Picture-perfect.

Use an Apple Watch? Make sure Fall Detection is turned on so you can get help if there’s an emergency. On your iPhone, open the Watch app, tap the My Watch tab > Emergency SOS. From here, you can choose Always on or Only on during workouts. Pick Always on.

No more green bubbles … kinda: Apple’s upcoming iOS 18.2 update for iPhones ends the blue-versus-green speech bubble dilemma. Blue bubbles have always meant secure iMessage chats (iPhone to iPhone), whereas green bubbles lacked end-to-end encryption (Android to iPhone). Now, you’ll be able to set third-party apps like WhatsApp or Signal as your default encrypted messenger.

🔴 How to record a call on your iPhone: It’s built into iOS 18.1. During a call, hit the Start Call Recording button. (It’s not a secret — you and everyone else on the call will get an audio notification.) To stop recording, tap the Stop button or hang up. Recordings are automatically saved to a Call Recordings folder in your Notes app. Neato!

🤓 Phone manuals still exist: They’re just digital now. Hit this link for Apple’s version. It’s trickier for Android since there are so many different phone manufacturers. Your best bet is to search for “[your phone model] + official manual.” I found the Google Pixel and Samsung S24 models for ya.

Rolling out on Android phones now: Google’s Gemini AI will work in more apps, write captions for social posts and photos, combine emojis (Apple did it first), and share QR codes. Pixel phones get exclusives like having Gemini save your info and updates to Pixel Screenshots … which Apple already has. You can also circle something on your Pixel to search for it. It’s pretty sweet.

Biggest hack in US history: How to encrypt your communications

I’ve been talking about it for weeks, and now it’s all over the news: Communist Chinese hackers infiltrated telecommunications giants like AT&T and Verizon and wormed their way into government surveillance systems. The massive breach was detected over a month ago, but it’s been going on for over a year.

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