Get smart(er)

Get smart(er): Look for the new Matter or Thread standards when you buy smart-home tech. These give you spy-worthy security. Just keep an eye out for one of those words on the box or online product listing.

Tags: home, matter, online, security, Smart, smart home tech, tech, Thread


Looking For The Perfect AI Platform? Get Unlimited AI Power With Lightning Fast Speed on Graydient

From new hobbyist to professional, get the AI tools that unleash your creativity with Greydient – no credit counting required. 

Imagine: You’re working on your next AI masterpiece. But then, your creative process is interrupted. Your AI tool is asking for more credits? 

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11 insider tricks for the tech you use every day

If you’re the person skipping updates on your devices … knock that off. You’re missing out on important security enhancements — like iOS 17.4, which adds better Stolen Device Protection and Android’s new Find My feature to locate your lost phone.

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Microsoft will start nagging you to sign up for an online account. While it’s handy for backing up data and managing subscriptions, remember — you’re also letting them peek at your data. Switch off the prompts by going to Settings > Privacy & security > General and deselecting everything.

Trivia

Zillow’s Zestimate guesses how much your house (or any other house) is worth. How many data points does Zillow factor in? Is it close to … A.) 100, B.) 500, C.) 7.5 million or D.) 20 million?

Find the answer here

105 million air passengers

Passed through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2023. ATL is the busiest airport in the world. Dubai International Airport came in second, with 87 million passengers. You know the old saying: “When you die, whether you’re going to heaven or hell, you’ll connect through Atlanta.”

Zoom around the web with these keyboard shortcuts

I spend hours and hours (and hours) online every week looking for the latest in tech for my national radio show, podcasts and, of course, newsletter. Browsing more efficiently means I can spend more time on fun stuff like playing with Abby and answering Qs from all of you!

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Watch out for the new ‘ghost hackers’

Imagine if this happened to you: Your spouse passes away, and a few weeks after the funeral, you get a message from them that says, “Hi, I hope you’re having a great day.” Other friends report getting similar messages from your spouse. Some messages offer big returns on crypto investments.

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In northern Virginia (paywall link), internet data and AI centers are using so much electricity old coal plants are being fired back up. Yup, those very same plants we closed because of air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter. Cue a $5.2 billion project for new power lines stretching across state lines.

Rappin’ Lisa: Microsoft’s new AI tool, VASA-1, animates still images into videos loaded with facial expressions, head motions and lip movements that match a speech or song. Here’s a video showing the Mona Lisa rapping. Microsoft is delaying the release of this tool, though, because it makes creating deepfakes too easy.

$9 an hour is the pay for AI nurses

Over 40 health care companies are already using NVIDIA and Hippocratic AI nurse bots to perform risk assessments, remote patient monitoring, new medication onboarding and more. The median pay for human nurses in the U.S. is $39 an hour.