Listen up

🎤 Listen up: Adobe has a free tool to test if your mic is set correctly for a podcast or video meeting. Try it here. You’ll get pointers on where to sit relative to your mic and whether there’s too much going on in the background. Nice!

Tags: Adobe, background, free, Podcast, video, video meeting


Security tip: Next time you stay at a hotel, turn on your VPN

Did you know the average American spends more than 24 hours each week online? That is a considerable chunk of time.

If you’re one of many with multiple devices regularly accessing the internet, you probably know you need a secure connection to protect sensitive data. A virtual private network or VPN is the best way to do this.

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Mark your calendar! The best day to buy holiday flights

Attention, travelers: I have good news! Despite a record-setting summer for travel prices, winter isn’t looking so bad — if you know when to book.

Luckily, you have me. I’ve been to 36 countries, and I’m still itching to see the rest of the world. I’ve learned lots of ways to save over the years.

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Blur your house on Google maps

Don’t want to allow nosey people to see your house? Try this!

💄 All glammed up and no place to go: TikTok is loaded with people complaining that concealer, fake lashes and overlined lips in your passport photo can lead to big delays if you travel bare-faced (paywall link). You confuse both human and tech scanners. Btw, my passport photo is a publicity shot, and I’m happy to report I never get held up.

Trivia

Delivery drivers make the most money per hour working for which service: A.) Amazon, B.) FedEx, C.) UPS or D.) USPS?

Find the answer here!

How to rock a remote interview: Tips for shining over the phone or on video

Remote interviews are the present and the future. Why? The pandemic forced many companies nationwide to move to a remote system nearly overnight.

Now that we’ve been operating remotely for a while, many employers have seen the positive benefits of having remote employees. Increased productivity is one of them.

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Search battle: AI chatbots vs. Google

Still turning to Google for answers? How we search online is changing faster than I’ve ever seen in tech.

Google still processes a massive 8.5 billion daily searches, but AI is coming in hot. As of July, 1.5 billion people globally were using AI chatbots, and that market is projected to hit $455 million in revenue by 2027.

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Dropped your phone in water?

Forget the bowl of rice. This video uses low sound frequencies to literally pull the liquid out of speakers. Caveats: It won’t help with water trapped in the USB port or SIM card slot. You need to turn your phone on for this to work, so if it’s had a dunk, let it dry for at least 24 hours before you try.

📧 Use Gmail on your Android? If you pay for the Google Workspace plan (or your work does), you can now chat with Google’s AI, Gemini, about your emails. The bot has access to your entire inbox, so it can summarize your emails (“What did Mary want?”) or find specific info for you (“When’s the app design deadline?”). To use it, tap the black star logo in the top-right corner of the app. Coming soon to iPhone, I hope!

Dropped your phone in water? Forget the bowl of rice. The collective internet is going bonkers over this video. It uses low sound frequencies to literally pull the liquid out of speakers. Caveats: It won’t help with water trapped in the USB port or SIM card slot, and you’ll need to turn your phone on for this to work. Let it dry out for 24 hours before you try.