MONTHLY TECHNOLOGY TRENDS FROM THE WSJ. (SEE wsj.com for further details)
2/2026 Social-Media Bans for Youth Gain Momentum Worldwide By Sam Schechner - Moves to bar younger teens from social media across Europe and Asia are growing. What started in Australia last fall, has spread to more than a dozen capitals and is adding to a growing backlash against teenage smartphone use being blamed by some critics for deteriorating mental health and an epidemic of screen addiction. Florida has started enforcing a ban on social-media use under age 14, and some states, including California and New York, have passed legislation requiring warning labels detailing potential harms to children and adolescents. 2/2026 A Health Monitoring Option From ChatGPT By Joanna Stern - Millions of people have already been asking OpenAI’s chatbot for health advice, and the company recently launched a dedicated health tab, ChatGPT Health. ChatGPT Health will only be available to a small group of users at first, before rolling out to others on a waitlist in coming weeks. 2/2026 Reasons Teens Say No to AI By Julie Jargon - Some teens only turn to chatbots as a last resort. They seem to be having a limited interest in the AI revolution. Many have a reluctance to embrace AI and fear where it’s headed, including it’s hard to have ideas of your own when you use it excessively. 2/2026 When Home Security Cameras Become a Dragnet for Everything By Nicole Nguyen - Cameras capture roaming wildlife, delivery driver drop-offs, and potential criminal activity. When companies store footage, there are fundamental privacy questions, like what happens to the videos and who owns the footage. These should be part of planning to use the devices. Currently 30% of U.S. residences with internet access own a security camera or video doorbell according to research from Parks Associates.
1/2026 Our Gadgets Finally Speak Human By Christopher Mims - Generative AI makes voice interactions with devices a lot more productive. People are talking to their gadgets. And not just a little—constantly. Today’s voice-transcription AIs have crossed an accuracy threshold. It’s now more convenient to dictate a message than to type it. 1/2026 Ideas for Improving Offices of the Future By Demetria Gallegos - Article offers design suggestions for bettering the workplace like bring back the cubicle. 1/2026 What a Digital Detox Can Do for You By Sumathi Reddy - A Boston Children’s Digital Wellness Lab cited a survey of more than 1,500 teens and found 63% said they use their phones too much. A study in JAMA Network Open found that when young adults did a social-media detox for a week they had a reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as less insomnia. The article suggests how to detox. 1/2026 OpenAI Takes On Apple App Store By Rolfe Winkler -ChatGPT apps have a way to go before they can threaten Apple’s dominance. 1/2026 Car Tech Gets Mixed Reviews By Demitria Gallegos - Anybody who has bought a car recently has a new generation of assisted driving technology that has changed between car and driver. Some people love new assisted features while others are driven to distraction or anger.
12/2025 New Evidence Shows That Bans On Phones in Classrooms Work By Julie Jargon - Some districts see higher test scores, less disruptive behavior and kids going back to being kids. One large urban district in Florida saw an increase in student test scores. A smaller school district in rural California is experiencing a dramatic decline in student behavioral problems. The reason for both: the absence of smartphones in the classroom. 12/2025 Smartphones and the Childhood Epidemic of Myopia By Allysia Finely – Parents and politicians are waking up to how social media and smartphones can harm young people’s mental health. Ophthalmologists are raising alarms about an epidemic of childhood myopia. Nearsightedness typically develops between ages 3 and 10, when the eyeballs are rapidly growing, though it can progress during adolescence and young adulthood. 12/2025 Social-Media Ban Leaves Australian Teens at a Loss by Rhannon Hoyle – Australians are divided over whether the law passed a year ago with broad political support, will make anyone safer or is even enforceable. The banned platforms used by Australian teens: Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube are required to take reasonable steps to enforce the new rules, under threat of penalty. 12/2025 AI Means the End of Entry-Level Jobs By Richard R. Smith and Arafat Kabir - AI presents a different challenge than past technological disruptions—in large part because it is eliminating the entry-level positions traditionally served as stepping stones to career advancement. The traditional bottom rung of the career ladder is disappearing. We will need to think about how younger workers will be affected in an AI-driven future to ensure that we have enough talent to replace retiring workforces. 12/2025 The Tech That’s About to Change Your Life By Joanna Stern, Nicole Nguyen and Christopher Mims - Folding iPhones, home robots, mind-reading tech and EV super cars are coming.. Also get ready for some AI-induced challenges in healthcare and cybersecurity and not everything will be AI.
11/2025 Small-Business Owners Are Putting AI to Good Use By Katherine Bindley - An August report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found 58% of 3,800 small businesses surveyed said they use generative AI. That’s up from 40% in 2024 and more than double from two years ago. 11/2025 Use AI, Or You’re Fired By Lindsay Ellis - AI is costing workers their jobs if their bosses believe they aren’t embracing the technology fast enough. Executives at Amazon and IBM have tied workforce cuts to the technology in statements this year. 11/2025 Universities Need More AI, Not Less By Jerry Balentine - We don’t know what AI will look like a decade from now any more than professors 40 years ago knew what computers would become. But if we don’t start preparing students now, they’ll be left behind— and so will the institutions that failed them. 11/2025 AI Browsing Faces Some Big Hurdles By Dan Gallagher - AI-powered browsers can make basic search more effective by helping users zero in more precisely on what they are looking for. OpenAI recently launched the Atlas browser; Perplexity Comet browser hit the market earlier this year. Google is watching and preparing. 11/2025 Consumers’ Streaming Costs Soar By Mellissa Korn - The menu of options for how to watch shows and movies without cable continues to grow—as do their price tags. Costs continue to rise in part because some media companies have bulked up their sports programming, paying big money to secure rights to them. 11/2025 World Watch Denmark By Associated Press - Denmark is banning access to social media for anyone under 15, as concerns grow that children are getting too swept up in a digitized world of harmful content and commercial interests. A ban won’t take effect immediately and will likely take months to pass legislation.
10/2025 Getting Kids to Give Up Social Media on Their Own By Leonardo Bursztyn and Cass Sunstein - A wave of school phone bans is growing as are fears about teen mental health and attention spans. Parents are urged to follow “Wait Until 8th,” a campaign to delay smartphones for children until the end of the eighth grade. 10/2025 Desperate To Unplug By Jean M. Twenge – The book by Jean 10 Rules for Raising Kids In a High-Tech World includes committing to delaying giving children any devices of their own as long as possible — no tablets, no gaming consoles, nada and no electronic devices in the bedroom overnight. 10/2025 How Much Pay Will Workers Sacrifice to Work Remotely? By Lindsey Choo - A study of tech workers at the UCLA Anderson School of Management offers an answer: quite a lot. Many job applicants are willing to accept less pay for positions that are either fully remote or on a hybrid schedule. Allowing for just one or two days a week of remote work can make a difference on a person taking a job. 10/2025 Tech-Savvy Seniors Embrace Use of AI By Julie Jargon – Seniors are finding AI is highly effective to help with investment decisions, plan trips and fix things around the house. According to the Pew Research Center, they ae using Chatbots several times a day to replace Google searches finding it gets to the root of the question quicker than long-winded YouTube videos.
9/2025 Deploy Newest Defenses for Cellphone By Heidi Mitchell - As scammers adjust tactics to steal your information, phone makers, carriers and software developers respond. Smart phones now including defenses like two factor authentication and having latest OS with better scam screening. Use preventative methods. 9/2025 With a New iPhone Coming, Should You Upgrade or Just Fix It? By Nicole Nguyen – There will be the temptation to upgrade after Apple’s Sept. 9 launch event. And there are very good reasons to buy the new model. Just because your oldie has sluggish performance, short battery life or a cracked touch screen, it isn’t doomed to become e-waste; doing repairs might be worth it. If phone is more than six years old, upgrade it. For repairs, maybe a nearby Apple store can help. 9/2025 How Social Media Creates Flabby Young Brains By Allysia Finley – Because there are now many indications children are spending excessive screen time, some States are experimenting with regulations to curb adolescent digital addictions. However, the problem defies a pat government solution and requires a cultural introspection. When kids see adults scrolling their phones at all hours of the day, they begin to think this is normal and acceptable behavior. It isn’t. 9/2025 Apple Gives Its Lineup of Watches a Timely Upgrade By Nicole Nguyen - This year’s lineup includes a new Apple Watch SE 3 ($249 and up), a Series 11 with a big battery boost ($399 and up) and an Ultra 3 ($799 and up) with emergency satellite connectivity. Some new features, including hypertension alerts and sleep score which also work on older watches that update to WatchOS 26. If your watch works and supports Watch OS 26, you can probably hold off on upgrading. Given this year’s significant improvements to battery and glass durability, it’s worth buying new. As you move up in price, the watches have better screens and more health sensors,
8/2025 AI Workers in Their 20s Rake In High Salaries By Katherine Bindley - It’s a tough time to be a young person looking for a job—unless you’re in artificial intelligence. The job market for entry level workers is in a continued slump. The unemployment rate for new college graduates was 4.8% in June, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. However, right out of school, employees at the company Scale AI can expect base salaries of around $200,000 a year. Although they don’t have advanced degrees, people with AI skills learn fast and think fast. 8/2025 AI Robs My Students of the Ability to Think By Alex Green – A notable number of native English speakers told the article author that after relying on AI to draft papers and emails, their ability to write, speak and conduct basic inquiry is slipping away. For all its promise, AI is being developed and used in ways that are disabling because of its overuse. 8/2025 When to Ditch Web Search And Opt for Deep Research By Nicole Nguyen – When activated, AI goes beyond basic chat, taking more time, examining more sources and composing a more thorough response. AI can plunge deep into the internet, analyze thousands of words and repeat until it is satisfied to compose a more thorough response. ChatGPT and other popular AI chatbots like Copilot and Gemini have advanced research modes and when activated, go beyond basic chat, taking more time. 8/2025 Don’t Forget Microsoft Isn’t Just About AI. By Asa Fitch – The tech giant’s non-AI businesses, including productivity software and cloud computing are going strong. Although Microsoft is one of the biggest winners in the artificial-intelligence boom, it’s 365 software Cloud business for remotely accessed versions of Word, Excel and other productivity software grew 16% from a year earlier. 8/2025 Whole Foods Staff to Join Amazon By Owen Tucker-Smith - Move aims to fuse e-commerce giant’s grocery teams and ease collaboration. Amazon said that since its acquisition of Whole Foods, it has expanded it to more than 535 locations, while sales have risen more than 40%. The Whole Foods systems are expected to shift to Amazon on Dec. 8.
7/2025 Tracing AI’s Insatiable Appetite for Energy By Joanna Stern - By 2028, data centers like the one the author visited in Ashburn, Va., could consume up to 12% of all U.S. electricity, according to a report from the Energy Department and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Google, Microsoft and Meta need to help with determining how much Graphics Processing Units GPU will be needed for AI. 7/2025 New Meta Division Focuses on AI Effort By Meghan Bobrowsky - In recent months, Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new “Superintelligence” division within Meta officially organizing an effort with a recruiting for AI. The new organization, called Meta Superintelligence Labs, will house Meta’s AI research team, known as FAIR which is building Meta’s AI products. 7/2025 AI Is Killing The Entry-Level Job By Lindsay Ellis and Katherine Bindley - New tech dents the already fragile job market for college graduates. Amazon and JPMorgan have said in recent weeks that they expect their workforces to shrink considerably. Ford CEO Jim Farley said he expects AI will replace half of the white-collar workforce in the U.S. For new graduates, this means not only are they competing for fewer slots but they are also increasingly up against junior workers who have been recently laid off. 7/2025 The Case for Snooping On Your Child’s Cellphone By Julie Jargon - Some parents feel phone snooping amounts to a breach of privacy. Others argue as long as they’re paying the bill, they can look at it. The author, feels the best approach is somewhere in the middle. The younger or less mature the child, the less privacy they should expect. Regardless of age or maturity, there’s one that is nonnegotiable: All parents should know the passcode to their child’s phone. It’s a necessity in the event of an emergency or tragedy. 7/2025 Why You Shouldn’t Buy An iPhone Right Now By Nicole Nguyen - The latest and greatest crop Apple products typically come out in September, which means it’s a bad time to buy an Apple gadget right now. If you can hold off for just a couple of months, better trade-in deals and price drops await. The article reviews some of the considerations for Apple products like iPhone, watch, AirTag, iPad and Mac.
6/2025 An AI Bot Is Helping Seniors Feel Less Lonely By Julie Jargon - In a pilot study, Residents of a nonprofit senior living community in Riverdale, N.Y., took part in a recent pilot study to determine whether calls from a virtual companion named Meela would alleviate depression and loneliness. As a result, when they called the AI companion to chat, their mental health improved. 6/2025 Eyeglasses With Built-In Hearing Aids Sound Promising By Nicole Nguyen - New eyeglasses with hearing aids built in have been designed for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. Tiny speakers are in the arms and microphones around the front. The $1,200 Nuance Audio frames, which launched in the U.S. in April, join Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 as an auditory option for people who don’t want traditional hearing aids. 6/2025 How People Decided It’s OK To Wear AirPods at All Times By Lauren Weber - Earbuds have so infiltrated daily life that even doctors can’t get your full attention. Users of earbuds often worry about re-moving the earbuds even briefly. “If you take it out and put it in your pocket, it can end up in the laundry”. Keeping them in your ears are a safe place to store them. 6/2025 The Best New Features With Apple’s iOS 26 Upgrade By Nicole Nguyen - A glassy re-design , spam-call screener and more are headed to devices this Fall. The new OS now does on-device live translation, taking a page from Google and Samsung . The iOS number will now be the year of the upgrade.
5/2025 Don’t Be Intimidated by AI. Here’s How to Get Started By Nicole Nguyen – If you have a friend, child or co-worker who won’t shut up about ChatGPT or some other generative AI (artificial intelligence) chatbot (computer program that simulates a conversation) and have not asked them about it, this article is for you. Choose your bot (Robot). Don’t think of a “chatbot” as a conversational buddy. It’s a massive trove of information and “learning” that you can access by typing or speaking plainly. OpenAI’s ChatGPT was first on the scene and is the most well known. Microsoft Copilot, powered by a mix of OpenAI and Microsoft tech, has an approachable interface for beginners. Google’s Gemini brings search into the mix and can export data to Docs. It’s now 2025 and generative technology is only getting bigger. 5/2025 Criminal Scams Flood Instagram and Facebook By Jeff Horwitz and Angel Au-Yeung - Meta Platforms, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is increasingly a cornerstone internet fraud, according to regulators, banks and internal documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The company accounted for nearly half of all reported between the summers of 2023 and 2024, An internal analysis from 2022 described in Meta documents found that 70% of newly active advertisers on the platform are promoting scams, illicit goods or “low quality” products. The Meta spokesman said that the documents seen by the WSJ are old and that Meta has been ramping up its investments in antispam work since the second half of 2022. Because of U.S. telecommunications law known as section 230, platforms like Meta, are generally shielded from liability for user-created content. 5/2025 Students Turn to AI to Prove Bots Didn’t Write Their Essays By Julie Jargon - Teachers use AI detection to spot cheating while students are now using it to maintain their innocence. Students don’t want to get accused of cheating, so they are using artificial intelligence to make sure their school essays sound human. More than 500,000 people use Grammarly’s AI tool to detect plagiarism each week, and the majority are students, a spokeswoman says. 5/2025 What to Do if Your Personal Data Ends Up on the Dark Web By Nicole Nguyen - This hidden part of the internet is where criminals exchange illegally obtained data, such as passport details, passwords and Social Security numbers. Always be wary of scammers who could use your compromised personal info to trick you. If you have reused a password for multiple accounts, reset them. Turn on multifactor authentication. Sign up for an online Social Security account and an IRS account before a hacker can use your info to do it on your behalf and stop giving out unnecessary data: Hackers can’t steal data that’s not there.
4/2025 Here Are 3 Golden iPhone-Buying Rules By Joanna Stern and Cordilia James - Here are three golden iPhone-buying rules:1. Buy only if you need. 2. Buy only what you need. 3. Buy refurbished to save. 4/2025 My Daughter Is Ready for Her First Smartphone. I’m Not Ready To Give It to Her By Sumathi Reddy - At 11, she still goes bike-riding with me and lets me hold her hand. Why would I want her to hold a phone instead? Most parents justify a phone as a necessary tool for staying in touch. The age a child should have a phone is not clear. 4/2025 No More Cellphones in Virginia Classrooms BY WSJ Editorial - This month the state’s Democratic-led general studies show “mental health improvements, increases in physical activity, and reductions in bullying when schools go phone-free.” At least eight other states have imposed bans on classroom cellphone use. Dozens more are considering the same—including New York, where one high school that banned cellphones in 2023 saw student grades increase to pre-pandemic levels within a year. The evidence is strong that cellphone addiction undermines student learning, while promoting other ills.
3/2025 When Your Child Uses AI to Cheat By Matt Barnum and Deepa Seetharaman - More students are hiding their secret weapon from parents and teachers. AI has rooted in America’s education system, allowing a generation of students to outsource schoolwork to software with access to the world’s knowledge. Of students who reported using AI, nearly 40% of those in middle and high schools said they employed it without teachers’ permission. 3/2025 Market for Secondhand Smartphones Is Taking Off By Stu Woo - More shoppers are saving money with secondhand phones. “Phones are lasting longer,” said Sean Cleland, an executive at BStock, a big platform for secondhand phones. “The glass is less likely to crack. The software, the operating system is getting longer support.” Mobile carriers, retailers and even Apple and Samsung themselves are stepping up their used phone offerings. 3/2025 Apple’s ‘Cheap’ iPhone Costs A Lot More Now By Nicole Nguyen - The iPhone 16e has big battery gains—but no more home button and a substantial price jump. After nearly a week of testing the iPhone 16e, I found it a decent choice for anyone who just wants the basics. The 16e hit shelves starting at $599. 3/2025 New MacBook Air Has Big Upgrades at the Old Price By Nicole Nguyen - Apple’s next-generation classic thin laptop is now priced at $999—with double the RAM. When someone asks what laptop to buy, my default answer is the MacBook Air. And the latest model is even cheaper and better than before. The new M4 MacBook Air has a faster chip, updated webcam and double the RAM and it costs $100 less. The new 13-inch MacBook Air is back to its $999 starting price tag.
2/2025 Stop Panicking Over Teens and Social Media By Lucy Foulkes - The psychological impact of social media is not clear-cut. More needs to be known. Parents need to take an active role helping children navigate in the digital world. Tech companies should help minimize obvious harms. 2/2025 Pros and Cons Of the AirPods Hearing Aids By Nicole Nguyen and Julie Jargon - The Apple $240 air pods help amplify a conversation, but they fall out easily. Other users think they are too awkward to be full-time hearing aids. One downside is battery life. Normal hearing aids can typically last 24 hours on one charge and Apple says AirPods can last up to six hours. 2/2025 The New Wave of AI Is Here By Andy Kessler - AI can turn a single bullet point into a long email which I can pretend I wrote or AI can make a single bullet point out of a long email which I can pretend I read. The McKinsey Report projects 8 to 9 percent of 2030 labor demand will be for new types of occupations. Real productivity will define what saves money for using AI. 2/2025 Newest iPhone Takes On Chinese Rivals By Stu Woo - Apple has a new phone in the world’s biggest smartphone market. Deliveries of its iPhone 16e, a cheaper version of its flagship device, will begin in China this week with a starting price of about $600. The new device will help Apple to be more competitive in China. The average price of China smartphones from Vivo, Huawei and Apple last year was $298, $658 and $1,007. 2/2025 Schools Turn to a New Chatbot To Help Support Students By Julie Jargon - Teens around the country are confiding in Sonny a new chatbot when they feel they don’t have anyone else to talk to. Sonny is part human, part AI school districts are adopting when there aren’t enough counselors to go around. Sonar Mental Health, the developer of Sonny, is available to meet student the demand for mental-health services. A test school has seen a 26% drop in student behavior infractions since they began using Sonny. Students appreciate having a companion because “They feel it’s a judgment- free zone,”
1/2025 Screens Are Taking Over In American Classrooms By Sara Randazzo, Matt Barnum and Julie Jargon - Class time has become screen time in American schools. Kindergartners now watch math lessons on YouTube, counting aloud with the videos. Middle-schoolers complete writing drills on Chromebooks while sneaking in play of an online game. It is not clear whether the rapid shift toward more technology has really benefitted learning. 1/2025 Guard Against Space Invaders On Your iPhone By Nicole Nguyen - The most common storage offender is Photos. There are a few features built into the Photos app that can help you reduce the size of your library, such as removing duplicates and deleting photos. Eliminate unused Apps. Eliminate unnecessary messages. 1/2025 Find Your Digital Photos to Organize By Shara Tibken - Finding and organizing photos is a big project and is will take time. Photos may be located on old hard drives, CDs, your Mac or PC, Google account or Facebook. Set up a system perhaps a spreadsheet to record where what exists and where.1/2025 Netflix Lifts Prices and Logs Subscriber Increase By Jessica Toonkel – Netflix continues to grow. During 2024, the number of subscribers increased 44% from 2023. Prices were increased to $7.99 a month for basic with ads and $24.99 a month without ads. 1/2025 Star Employees Escape Return-to-Work Mandates By Ray A. Smith - Millions of workers across the country are being given return-to-office marching orders. But the rules are different for stars and top performers. Employees with unique skills and talents, are often being offered more flexibility.
12/2024 Apple Sees Foldable iPhone As a Key To Growth By Arron Tilley and Yang Jie - Two foldable devices are being planned. A larger device, intended to serve as a laptop and a smaller model that would be larger than an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Major challenges have included improving the hinge, the display cover and a flexible material protecting the foldable. Apple initially aimed to introduce the larger device first to gauge market response, but it now appears the foldable iPhone will likely be ready ahead of it. 12/2024 You Won’t Return to Office, You May Lose Your Job By Callum Borchers - After lax enforcement, companies are getting serious about in-person requirements. Amazon will require employees to report to offices five days a week. Several other major employers, including UPS, JPMorgan Chase, Boeing and Starbucks also have called at least some of their workers back to the office for the full five. 12/2024 The Smart Glasses That Won Me Over By Joanna Stern - Meta’s Ray-Bans and prototype Orion hint at the future of face computers — sleek, stylish and truly wearable. There’s no screen or onboard computer. Instead, they rely on a Bluetooth connection to a smartphone. One of my biggest gripes is that they often unpair from the phone and the Meta View app. Battery life could be better. The camera is the winning element. 12/2024 Apple’s Latest Update Finally Integrates Key AI Features By Joanna Stern - As part of iOS 18.2, Apple’s new release are new Artificial Intelligence tools which include making your own emoji (smiley, etc.) images with Image Playground and an integrated ChatGPT into SIRI lookup. The new features require iPhone 15 Pro or later.
11/2024 Beef Up Passwords On These Accounts By Nicole Nguen - Do two things to beef up your online security: Create a long, unique password and turn on two-factor authentication for each account. Article describes for bank accounts, email and phone. 11/2024 Australia Passes Ban On Social Media for Children By Gareth Vipers - Australia is set to become the first country to ban social media use by children under 16 with its Senate’s 34-19 vote in favor of new legislation, Under the ban, not to take effect for at least 12 months, technology companies could be fined up to 50 million Australian dollars, roughly $32.5 million, if they fail to bring in steps to prevent children from holding accounts. Meta said more research into the effects of social media on mental health is needed. 11/2024 New Tech Tries to Catastrophe-Proof Your Home By Christopher Mims - Construction of ultra-efficient ‘passive houses’ is booming as developers use new building technology that is both green and disaster-resistant. The trend has roots in a movement called “passive house,” based on a design standard to make buildings use as little energy as possible. Massachusetts has mandated that all multifamily dwellings larger than 12,000 square feet in and around Boston must meet the passive- house standard. construction techniques now at the cutting edge will eventually be the norm, because nature, or governments, require it. 11/2024 Lessons From 11 Years Of Work-Life Balance Ray Rachel Feintzeig - After writing articles for the Wall Street Journal since 2013 about careers and leadership, the author shares thoughts on raises, setbacks, family and having dream jobs.
10/2024 Data Scarce on Teen Anxiety, Social Media By Nidhi Subbaraman - Concern is growing it is causing more harm than good. No one really knows how significant a role social media plays in youths’ emotional state. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost all indicators of poor mental health, suicidal thoughts and behaviors got worse from 2013 to 2023. 10/2024 There Are Many Reasons to Use Apple’s New Password Manager By Nicole Nguyen – Managing passwords is a challenge and most people have many of them. Apple is offering a new free password manager App to help manage passwords. 10/2024 Your Medical Records Are a Mess. Technology Can Help By Laura Landro - The digitization of healthcare information was supposed to make it all so easy. It hasn’t yet, but it’s getting there. Almost all hospitals and close to 90% of doctor’s offices now use some kind of electronic medical record. However, many of them are incompatible. 10/2024 Starbucks to Staff: Work in Office or Else By Jennifer Calfas and Heather Haddon - Starbucks is stepping up efforts to enforce a return to-office mandate with warning: Comply with the policy or risk termination. According to Flex Index, which tracks workplace strategies, more employees are being required to be in the office five days a week.
9/2024 Wi-Fi on Flights Promises to Get Better By Joanna Stern - Internet connections at 30,000 feet are hit or miss, but satellite tech from SpaceX’s Starlink and others are ready. Starlink is excellent but its availability is limited. Intelsat plans to start equipping planes later this year with antennas. Planes can’t be out of commission for very long, so the strategy is to maintain the same technology for about 10 years. Delta, United and Alaska all plan to drop the old cellular tech by the end of 2025. That’s the future of the friendly skies: free, fast and foolproof Wi-Fi. 9/2024 Parents Try to Opt Their Kids Out of Classroom Technology By Joanna Stearns - Parents worried about how much time students spend on iPads and laptops during school are trying to opt their kids out of classroom tech. They’re finding it isn’t easy. Phone bans are taking effect in big districts across the country like Los Angeles and Las Vegas. However, not all schools purchase physical textbooks anymore; many only offer them as e-books. More testing of what tech should be in classrooms is needed. 9/2024 Apple Watch Series 10 Gets Bigger Screen, Thinner Body By Nicole Nguyen - It is easier than ever to check the time with the Series 10. The watch maintains an 18hour battery life like previous models. The $399-and-up Apple Watch Series 10—available Sept. 20— has a bigger and thinner display, can detect sleep apnea plus water depth and temperature sensors for swimmers. It isn’t just thinner, it’s also lighter and charges faster; thirty minutes will fill up 80% of the battery. (That used to take 45 minutes.)
8/2024 Colleges Race to Add Courses Offering AI By Milla Surjadi – The rise of generative AI in the workplace and demands by students for more hirable talents is driving schools to revamp courses. Students now expect professors to teach them how to incorporate generative AI into their careers. AI literacy is similar toe typing in the 1970’s and 80’s. AI will be a major asset to getting recruited in the next two to five years. 8/2024 How to help Students Panicked by School Smartphone Bans by Liza GaronZik an Claire Goldsmith – Parents and teachers need to reassure young people that they can navigate their days without screens. Educators and parents will need to help students reconnect with each other without screens. Need to talk to students about reason for these limits. Need to reset home-school boundaries. Need to model a balanced relationship with technology. Need to teach face-to-face communication skills. 8/2024 Google’s AI BOT is Remarkably Human by Joanna Stern – Google’s has a new Chat BOT (chat robot) named Gemini Live and is a voice assistant available in the company’s four new 2024 Pixel phones (1% of 2023 global market). It is similar to Apple’s SIRI and Amazon’s Alexa.
7/2024 Making a Case for Backing Up Your Photos and Files at Home by Cordilia James – Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft’s One Drive and Google’s One are good backup tools everyone should be consider, but it’s also smart to have multiple copies of important files. Use a Solid-State Drive SSD. The article describes how to do it including how to transfer files. 7/2024 Timeline for iPhone’s AI Features by Joanna Stern - Apple’s timeline for first AI tools will be in OS 18.1 scheduled for release this Fall. Only iPhone 15 and newer will be able to get it because they have the latest and fastest chips. Changes will include a New Siri, Writing Tools, Photos and more later.
6/2024 Apple Doesn’t Need AI To Sell Its Next Phone by Dan Gallagher – Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference WWDC will be outlining a generative AI strategy. Siri, Apple’s 12-year-old digital assistant is expected to get a major AI upgrade. Consumers are holding onto their phones for longer periods, particularly the iPhone 12. Consumer interest in AI phones remains unclear. 6/2024 Safeguarding your Data in Your Finance Apps by Tomio /Geron – The more Apps used, the greater the risk of hacks and data leaks occurring. Using strong passwords are a major protection. Where available, turn on any two-factor authentication. Facial recognition is also a strong protection. Be careful downloading an App and make sure it is reputable.6/2024 AI is Helping Scammers Outsmart You by Dalvin Brown and Katherine Hamilton – Artificial Intelligence is making scammers more difficult to spot. Gone are poorly worded messages often a giveaway sign of a scammer. Scammers can now use AI to imitate a voice to be convincing. 6/2024 Meta Taps Your Data to Train AI Features by Cordilia James – Meta Google, X and other social media Apps are tapping personal information to make their AI smarter. 6/2024 Doctors are Quietly Prescribing The Apple Watch For Uses Beyond Those Approved by the FDA by Christopher Mims – Doctors are using the Apple Watch informally to help diagnose. Many doctors are telling patients for go out and buy an Apple Watch to alert them to episodes of atrial fibrillation. Apple Watch OS 11 is including all-new “vitals” App. Clinicians and researchers need to determine appropriate uses.
5/2024 A Beginner’s Guide to Using AI: Your First 10 Hours by Ethan Mollick – First, choose one of the popular AI tools like OpenAI’s GPT-4, Google’s Gemini Advanced or Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus. See how it can help compose email, write a report and analyze data. 5/2024 iPad Pro vs. MacBook: Testing the Trade-Offs by Joanna Stern – Each has pluses, but Mac wins in the most important category: software. The iPad has always been a touch device. iPad apps are limited. Battery life longer in Mac-Book. 5/2024 Fed Up With Students Obsessed With Phones, One Teacher Quits by Julie Jargon – Teacher quitting because tired of trying to engage students who are lost in their phones. Apps are designed to be addictive. Schools say phones should not be out during class but leaves enforcement to teachers. 5/2024 AI-Focused PCs make Windows Exciting Again by Joanna Stern – Microsoft has new Copilot+ PCs with AI improved performance, battery life, and enhanced AI features. Has Live and fast captions in 44 languages. 5/2024 A Low-Tech Solution for Our Tech Addiction by Gordillia James – Enter Yondr a maker of little bags for locking up a phone. Number started with 22,000 in 2015; now over 25,000. The Yondr pouch at a CT school cost $60,000 for 2,000 students and thought to be well worth it. Competitor Phone Locker from Australia founded in 2020 has sold 50,000 in the country. Not available in U.S.
4/2024 Open AI Reveals a Feature That Clones Human Voices by Ginger Adams Otis – New technology has been showcased that can recreate a human voice from a 15-second clip, but said it wouldn’t release it publicly until it knows more about potential risks for misuse. The program called Voice Engine, can read text aloud. Generative artificial-intelligence will make it easier to deceive people. 4/2024 Can We Save Our Children From Smartphones? By Peggy Noonan – Jonathan Kaidt’s new book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” describes a crisis. The young seem to have become addicted to social media and gaming. The tidal wave comes as children enter puberty when the human brain is experiencing greatest reconfiguration since early childhood. Mr. Haidt suggests no smart phones before high school, no social media before age 16 and elementary through high school should be phone-free zones. 4/2024 Schools Want to Ban Phones, But Parents Are the Obstacle by Julie Jargon – Restricting smart phone use helps students focus, but families want to keep their connection for emergencies and scheduling issues. Parents want access to their children at all times. 3/2024 Virtual Meetings Are Killing the Office Vibe by Priya Parker - The way we meet has changed radically in recent years: It is more online and remote, with more brevity. New tools are revolutionizing workplaces in ways we might not have grasped. The article talks about Zoom, Teams, Slack and working hybrid in and out of the office. The future will have more in-person gatherings. Meeting etiquette is evolving. 3/2024 Count on Two-Factor Codes to Offer Online Security by Nicole Nguyen – There’s a basic equation for online security: Long, unique passwords + two-factor authentication = safer money, work and personal data. Two-factor codes are a necessary security layer; Don’t treat this as optional. 3/2024 Schools Move to Limit Students’ Phone Use by Sara Randazzo and Matt Barnum - The decision to disable or lock up phones is taking hold in thousands of schools across the U.S. Many states have proposed or enacted new school cellphone restrictions. Many teachers say phones have become an in-class distraction. Atlantic City, N.J. however, has no plans to restrict phones because they can be a helpful research tool. The problems with phones in the classroom is not going away.
2/2024 Parental Controls Don’t Work. How to Keep Teens Safe Online by Julie Jargon – During the past five years optional tools for parents to keep kids safe have been rolled out but are optional and usually buried or broken. The best solution is to sit with teens and work together to define guidelines. Having parental restrictions and constant monitoring stifles teen’s ability to solve problems. 2/2024 How to Stop Useless Alerts From Flooding Your Phone by Dalvin Brown – Many people are now annoyed when opening social apps when it looks like a notification is personal or urgent and it often is not. The number of notifications from social networking has become excessive and can create ill will. There are suggestions to reduce the notifications for Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, X and Snapchat. 2/2024 It’s the End of The Web as We Know It by Christopher Mims – AI is changing how we use the Internet. A new generation of “answer engines” is coming. A new free AI powered search engine tested Arc Search can be a time saver reducing the number of links to sites without AI.
1/2024 Don’t Ignore This New iPhone Setting by Nicole Nguyen and Joanna Stern – As part of iOS 17.3 update, Apple released Stolen Device Protection. If you enable Stolen device Protection, your iPhone will restrict the Passcode power over certain settings when you are away from a location familiar to the iPhone, such as your home or work. A thief would need more than just the passcode like Face ID or Touch ID. 1/2024 Apple's New Headset is the Best So Far by Joanna Stern – Apple’s $3,400 Vision Pro has been released. Watch 3-D movies, reach out to select apps and many other features are included. Stay tuned for what the future will be for the device.
12/2023 Apple Adds Security to Stymie iPhone Thieves by Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen – Apple is rolling out new security settings for iPhone. Will include setting in coming software update. It will restrict certain settings when away from a location familiar to the iPhone. If phone is stolen, act quickly to use web address icloud.com/find and remotely erase data on your missing or stolen device. 12/2023 Return-to-Office Mandates Are A Disaster for Working Mothers by Joanne Lipman – Remote work has helped fuel women’s record numbers in workforce participation and remote work has been an enabling factor. About 40% of Americans still work from home. Fully remote jobs are prized by moms with young kids. 12/2023 Make Your iPhone Last Forever by Justin Pot – Average phone in America is only used for around 2 ½ years and can last much longer following several tips including: Check for updates, Put a case on it, Clean charge port, Monitor battery health. Know your repair options, If a manufacturer declares phone is obsolete, there are other options. 12/2023 Fewer People Are Posting on Social Media by Cordilia J Ames – Users are posting less and favoring a passive experience and becoming more selective on what they post. More friends are becoming “watchers”. The quality of social media has declined in the past five years with misinformation, toxicity and proliferation of bots (robot). Gartner estimates 50% of users will either abandon or significantly limit their interactions with social media in the next two years.
11/2023 Should Students Use ChatGBT for School? More Teachers Say Yes by James R. Hagerty – Teacher Kevin Lisle’s ChatGPT assistant (Artificial IntelIigence RoBOT) worries about students cheating or cutting corners. Using AI ChatGBT does bolster basic skills. 11/2023 Listen Up: There Are More Ways To Get Audiobooks Now by Nicole Nguyen – Spotify is changing economics of audio reads. For those just starting out, look at Libby. For power users look at Audible Premium Plus. For indie bookstore lovers, look at Libro.fm. 11/2023 Meta Targeted Teen Brains, States Allege by Jeff Horwitz – Meta sought social-media to take advantage of young user’s brains and their being predisposed to impulse, peer pressure and potentially harmful features. Fort-one (41) states allege Meta was intentional.
10/2023 The New Etiquette for Earbuds by Nicole Nguyen – Consider when wearing Earbuds if they are impolite to other people. Apple has Conversation Awareness feature to detect when you start speaking and fade Earbuds so you can better listen to someone who is speaking to you. Other high-endear-buds have feature. 10/2023 Rethink Streaming, Save on Monthly Fees by Nicole Nguyen – Prices are going up and plans need to be reviewed. Netflix Premium is $20, Amazon Prime $139, Disney+ $13.99, Hulu $17.99. Save by switching to Ad plans. Check for bundles. 10/2023 Blocking Graphic Posts on Social-Media by Cordilia James - Graphic videos of conflict in Israel and Gaza can be prevented for X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, YouTube and Google.
9/2023 AI Is About to Be Everywhere. Sceptics Risk Being Left Behind by Christopher Mims – Most of us will be using artificial intelligence soon enough and a growing number of communications generated with AI assistance. People are highly satisfied with generative AI. Microsoft has announced deep integration across Windows 11. Google has its Bard generative AI and Amazon is including in Alexa. 9/2023 Is the Newest iPhone Worth it? By Joanna Stern – Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max get a lighter titanium case and an “action button”. Prices are iPhone 15 $799 and up, iPhone 15 Plus $899 and up, iPhone 15 Pro $999 and up and iPhone 15 Pro Max $1,199. The Pro and Pro Max have three cameras – ultrawide, main and telephoto. All include the popular USB-C charging port. 9/2023 Apple Watch Series 9 Isn’t as Useful as It Could Be by Nicole Nguyen – Author writes the Apple Watch is the bestselling smartwatch in the world but the new Series 9 is not much better than the Series 8. Battery life still needs improvement. Series 9 screen is brighter. Wait until 2024. 9/2023 Meta Unveils a New VR Headset by Salvador Rodriguez – Facebook parent Meta Platforms is releasing Quest 3 virtual reality headset ($499) and new Ray-Ban smart glasses ($299) equipped w/ Meta AI and 36 hr. battery life. Meta also announced it is releasing 28 AI Chat-Bots (simulates human conversation) as it works with Microsoft.
8/2023 Schools Trash Their Chromebooks by Nicole Nguyen – Simple laptops from Google are more expensive, need constant repairs and have an expiration date for operating. When they expire, they come e-waste; unlike Macs and Windows PCs, which run after their software is no longer supported. 8/2023 Language Learning APPs Translate to Cognitive Benefits by Julie Jargon – Learning a new language has shown to delay the onset of dementia. Numerous studies suggest bilingual people develop dementia later than monolingual people do. Learn at home at little or no cost. 8/2023 Search for AI Talent Sends Salaries Soaring by Chip Cutter – U.S. companies are in the midst of an AI recruiting frenzy. Available supply of AI practitioners is falling short of demand. Those who combine industry expertise with a solid understanding of engineering are in the highest demand. 8/2023 E-Bike Battery Fires Can Be Deadly. Here is How to Prevent One in Your House by Nicole Nguyen – Choose an e-bike from a reputable brand with a well-designed safety system and safety certifications. Don’t mix and match chargers, purchase aftermarket batteries or charge in extreme temperatures. Cheap no-name batteries and chargers are a risk.
7/2023 Four Day Work Week Wins Praise by Vanessa Furmans – Studies are showing less burnout, improved health and more job satisfaction. Both business and employees gain. 7/2023 The Hidden Talent of your Office Software by Sean Captain - You may think you know all there is to know about Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Excel, PowerPoint, Gmail, Outlook and other apps. But you probably don’t. For example, learn to collaborate and organize video conferences better. 7/2023 Meta, Microsoft Team Up in AI Push by Tom Dotan and Deep Seetharaman – Meta AI, dubbed Llama 2, will be free to developers building software using Microsoft’s Azure Cloud computing platform. Microsoft to charge $30 a month to access AI powered assistant for Microsoft 365. 7/2023 Making the Right Call on Folding Cell Phones by Nicole Nguyen – Samsung Galazy Z Fold and Google’s Pixel too much phone for most people. Apple to offer one in a few years. Foldables ideal for people who spend time in trains and planes. Still fragile. 7/2023 TV’s Golden Era Has Been Costly for Streamers by Nate Rattner and Sarah Krouse – Netflix, Disney + and Max have become default entertainment options. Retaining customers critical. Growth has slowed. More ads 7/2023 Smart Gadgets Protect Your Home – But also Collect Data by Andy Rain – Uses leak detector and electrical sensor alarms. Consider costs to install and maintain relative to savings in insurance.
6/2023 Too Young for Social Media? The Case for Waiting Until 16 by Julie Jargon – Doctors and policy makers cite youngsters’ vulnerability. See links to mental-health crisis. Kids are much more susceptible to peer pressure, opinions and comparison. Age 13 is too young to handle them. They probably should stay off TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Parents should have ongoing conversations with children. 6/2023 Big Changes Are Coming To Your iPhone This Fall by Nicole Nguyen – Apple’s iOS 17 software update is coming and has big additions, especially for communication APPs such as Messages and Facetime. Will come at no additional cost. Simplified AirDrop and improved audio transcription. Interact with widgets as a convenient way to display bite-size pieces of information on home screen. Older phones like iPhone 8 won’t get the update. 6/2023 Apple Releases Vision Pro Product by Aaron Telley – Vision Pro Headset is first major new Apple product in a decade. Will allow users to experience virtual reality and digital APPs overlaid on the real world. Cost $3,499 and partner with Walt Disney.
5/2023 A Thin Foldable Offers AI Tricks by Nicole Nguyen – Google’s new Pixel Fold looks like a regular phone from the outside, but you can open it like a book to become a bigger screen on the inside. Model is relatively thin (slimmer than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold) and hand-friendly. Most Google apps work on the Pixel Fold 7.6” screen. Price for the Pixel Fold start at $1,799. The use of an expandable device with bendy screens is getting stronger. 5/2023 TikTok Feeds Teens a Diet of Darkness by Joseph Pisani – A Wall Street Journal investigation in 2021 found TickTok steers viewers to watch dangerous content. TickTock has since strengthened parental controls but is little changed. Two-thirds of teens use TickTok. 5/2023 Surgeon General Warns of Social-Media Risks for Youth by Jennifer Calfas – U.S. Surgeon General is urging stronger standards for adolescents. Teenagers between 10 and 15 are particularly vulnerable. Using social media more than three hours a day risks depression and anxiety. 5/2023 The “Killer APPs” That Will Make Apple’s Headset a Winner by Christopher Mims – Apple’s forthcoming headset for June 5 is likely to accelerate using augmented reality, It remains to be seen if Apple can overcome earlier issues which have plagued other headsets. Apple's vision could succeed where others have failed.
4/2023 Life After Death: Secure Your Digital Legacy Before You Die by Christopher Mims – Have a plan for what to do with your digital assets. Designate a contact person for your passwords. Make plans for social media accounts. Where possible, set up a legacy contact. Talk it through with a conversation with family. 4/2023 Tech Older Adults Want Now by Julie Jargon – Fitness wearables and password managers are popular for people 50 and up. According to AARP, last year, they spent on average $912 on technology, up from $394 during 2019. Home assistants like Amazon Echo (Alexa) and Google Nest Audio are popular. Streaming services are popular. Because seniors ware often targeted, learning about scam protection and the importance of strong passwords is important. 4/2023 People Grow Sick and Tired of the cost of Subscriptions by Rachel Wolfe and Imani Moise – Popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and others have had cancellations of up to 49% during 2022, up substantially, from the previous year. The Federal Trade Commission has a new proposal to make it simpler to break away from a subscription. Existing companies are changing their strategies. 4/2023 The Best Trackers For Finding Lost Stuff by Nicole Nguyen – The Tile Slim saves many hours looking for things for the author. Unlike the rounded AirTag, it is thin and fits in a wallet. To use it just ring the Bluetooth tracker from a smart phone.
3/2023 AI Begins to Transform Office Jobs by Gretchen Farrant – AI is the next revolution and there will be no going back. Generative Pre-trained Transformers or GPTs use machine learning. Employees will have a challenge to adapt to AI. 3/2023 Microsoft Incorporates Generative AI Tools Into Business Software by Tom Dotan – Using ChatGPT to upgrade PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. A new release will be the Microsoft 365 Copilot like creating a PowerPoint presentation from text. Workers are using ChatGPT when seeking a new job. 3/2023 Technology Skills Every Employee Should Have Today by Sean Captain – People must know advanced features of online collaboration. They need to know how to use Microsoft Excel or Sheets, Word or Google Docs and PowerPoint or Google Slides. Also important are skills to organized remote meetings, manage projects and do programing.
2/2023 Netflix Expands New Curbs To Limit Password Sharing by Sarah Krouse - Netflix is starting new restrictions in Canada, Spain Portugal and New Zeeland to increase revenue. It is unclear when it will be rolled out in the U.S. Standard and premium plans can pay and share with up to two others. Basic won’t be able to share. 2/2023 Larger Issues Distort Debate on Screen Time (for children) by Julie Jargon – Numerous studies show children should not spend excessive time looking at screens. What to do includes: No screens at dinner table, No screens in the bedroom, No screens for babies, Stick to smart, positive content and Take regular breaks. 2/2023 My Coach Is a Computer by Shely Mateo – A new class of fitness equipment is having a type if artificial intelligence and is making progress to monitor exercise.
1/2023 Microsoft Growth is Slowest Since 2016 by Tom Dotan Recorded lowest sales growth in more than six years. Azure Cloud services remain main engine for growth. Sales during pandemic are scaling back. 1/2023 Google Prepares for Battles on Multiple Fronts by Miles Kruppa – Google is in battle mode to defend its search, mobile-software, onl9ne-video and ad-tech businesses. Googler facing several lawsuits related to privacy and monopolistic practices. 1/2023 Facebook Parent Meta Sees Path Ahead After Rough Year by Jeff Horwitz and Salvador Rodriguez - Bouncing back from Apple’s privacy changes. After roughest year in history Facebook and Instagram are starting to recover. Meta’s product Reels is takin off as it competes with TikTok.
12/2022 Netflix Braces for Sharing Crackdown by Sarah Krouse & Jessica Toonkel – Over 100 million Netflix viewers watch service with borrowed passwords. Netflix is to change that. Will be having special pricing. 12/2022 Netflix’s Ad-Supported Tier to Take Time to Catch On by Dan Gallagher - New advertising tier will help Netflix ease off price increases. 12/2022 Streaming’s Very Chaotic Year by Jason Kilar – Increased shifting toward Netflix, Hulu and others. Hollywood’s streaming subscribers increased. Many choices for streaming. Cable users gone from 90% in 2010 to 55%. Streamer wars will continue. Expect mergers. 12/2022 Say What? How to Fix Hard-to Hear TV Dialog by Cordilia James – Use TV dialog or add soundbar. Grab headphones or earbuds. Newer TVs are providing Blue-tooth settings. 12/2022 Eight Questions To Ask Your Aging Parents (and yourself) To Keep Their Phones Safe From Hackers by Da;vin Brown – 1) Is your PW protected? 2) Do you update your phone’s software? 3) Do you have spam filters? 4) Do you get alerts from your bank? 5) Have you added a trusted backup contact? 6) How do you keep your PW? 7) What do you want to happen to your tech when you die? 8) Does anything concern you? 12/2022 Tech That will Change Our Lives in 2023 by Jason Schneider – Big tech will be belt tightening, The Subscription Police starting, China interrupted, Artificial Intelligence finds real use, Can I hear you? Crypto’s rotten core, Smart home gets easier, iPhone Regular’s Edition, Social media upheaval, Metaverse will be more than Meta (Facebook) with HTC and Apple arriving.
2/2026 Social-Media Bans for Youth Gain Momentum Worldwide By Sam Schechner - Moves to bar younger teens from social media across Europe and Asia are growing. What started in Australia last fall, has spread to more than a dozen capitals and is adding to a growing backlash against teenage smartphone use being blamed by some critics for deteriorating mental health and an epidemic of screen addiction. Florida has started enforcing a ban on social-media use under age 14, and some states, including California and New York, have passed legislation requiring warning labels detailing potential harms to children and adolescents. 2/2026 A Health Monitoring Option From ChatGPT By Joanna Stern - Millions of people have already been asking OpenAI’s chatbot for health advice, and the company recently launched a dedicated health tab, ChatGPT Health. ChatGPT Health will only be available to a small group of users at first, before rolling out to others on a waitlist in coming weeks. 2/2026 Reasons Teens Say No to AI By Julie Jargon - Some teens only turn to chatbots as a last resort. They seem to be having a limited interest in the AI revolution. Many have a reluctance to embrace AI and fear where it’s headed, including it’s hard to have ideas of your own when you use it excessively. 2/2026 When Home Security Cameras Become a Dragnet for Everything By Nicole Nguyen - Cameras capture roaming wildlife, delivery driver drop-offs, and potential criminal activity. When companies store footage, there are fundamental privacy questions, like what happens to the videos and who owns the footage. These should be part of planning to use the devices. Currently 30% of U.S. residences with internet access own a security camera or video doorbell according to research from Parks Associates.
1/2026 Our Gadgets Finally Speak Human By Christopher Mims - Generative AI makes voice interactions with devices a lot more productive. People are talking to their gadgets. And not just a little—constantly. Today’s voice-transcription AIs have crossed an accuracy threshold. It’s now more convenient to dictate a message than to type it. 1/2026 Ideas for Improving Offices of the Future By Demetria Gallegos - Article offers design suggestions for bettering the workplace like bring back the cubicle. 1/2026 What a Digital Detox Can Do for You By Sumathi Reddy - A Boston Children’s Digital Wellness Lab cited a survey of more than 1,500 teens and found 63% said they use their phones too much. A study in JAMA Network Open found that when young adults did a social-media detox for a week they had a reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as less insomnia. The article suggests how to detox. 1/2026 OpenAI Takes On Apple App Store By Rolfe Winkler -ChatGPT apps have a way to go before they can threaten Apple’s dominance. 1/2026 Car Tech Gets Mixed Reviews By Demitria Gallegos - Anybody who has bought a car recently has a new generation of assisted driving technology that has changed between car and driver. Some people love new assisted features while others are driven to distraction or anger.
12/2025 New Evidence Shows That Bans On Phones in Classrooms Work By Julie Jargon - Some districts see higher test scores, less disruptive behavior and kids going back to being kids. One large urban district in Florida saw an increase in student test scores. A smaller school district in rural California is experiencing a dramatic decline in student behavioral problems. The reason for both: the absence of smartphones in the classroom. 12/2025 Smartphones and the Childhood Epidemic of Myopia By Allysia Finely – Parents and politicians are waking up to how social media and smartphones can harm young people’s mental health. Ophthalmologists are raising alarms about an epidemic of childhood myopia. Nearsightedness typically develops between ages 3 and 10, when the eyeballs are rapidly growing, though it can progress during adolescence and young adulthood. 12/2025 Social-Media Ban Leaves Australian Teens at a Loss by Rhannon Hoyle – Australians are divided over whether the law passed a year ago with broad political support, will make anyone safer or is even enforceable. The banned platforms used by Australian teens: Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube are required to take reasonable steps to enforce the new rules, under threat of penalty. 12/2025 AI Means the End of Entry-Level Jobs By Richard R. Smith and Arafat Kabir - AI presents a different challenge than past technological disruptions—in large part because it is eliminating the entry-level positions traditionally served as stepping stones to career advancement. The traditional bottom rung of the career ladder is disappearing. We will need to think about how younger workers will be affected in an AI-driven future to ensure that we have enough talent to replace retiring workforces. 12/2025 The Tech That’s About to Change Your Life By Joanna Stern, Nicole Nguyen and Christopher Mims - Folding iPhones, home robots, mind-reading tech and EV super cars are coming.. Also get ready for some AI-induced challenges in healthcare and cybersecurity and not everything will be AI.
11/2025 Small-Business Owners Are Putting AI to Good Use By Katherine Bindley - An August report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found 58% of 3,800 small businesses surveyed said they use generative AI. That’s up from 40% in 2024 and more than double from two years ago. 11/2025 Use AI, Or You’re Fired By Lindsay Ellis - AI is costing workers their jobs if their bosses believe they aren’t embracing the technology fast enough. Executives at Amazon and IBM have tied workforce cuts to the technology in statements this year. 11/2025 Universities Need More AI, Not Less By Jerry Balentine - We don’t know what AI will look like a decade from now any more than professors 40 years ago knew what computers would become. But if we don’t start preparing students now, they’ll be left behind— and so will the institutions that failed them. 11/2025 AI Browsing Faces Some Big Hurdles By Dan Gallagher - AI-powered browsers can make basic search more effective by helping users zero in more precisely on what they are looking for. OpenAI recently launched the Atlas browser; Perplexity Comet browser hit the market earlier this year. Google is watching and preparing. 11/2025 Consumers’ Streaming Costs Soar By Mellissa Korn - The menu of options for how to watch shows and movies without cable continues to grow—as do their price tags. Costs continue to rise in part because some media companies have bulked up their sports programming, paying big money to secure rights to them. 11/2025 World Watch Denmark By Associated Press - Denmark is banning access to social media for anyone under 15, as concerns grow that children are getting too swept up in a digitized world of harmful content and commercial interests. A ban won’t take effect immediately and will likely take months to pass legislation.
10/2025 Getting Kids to Give Up Social Media on Their Own By Leonardo Bursztyn and Cass Sunstein - A wave of school phone bans is growing as are fears about teen mental health and attention spans. Parents are urged to follow “Wait Until 8th,” a campaign to delay smartphones for children until the end of the eighth grade. 10/2025 Desperate To Unplug By Jean M. Twenge – The book by Jean 10 Rules for Raising Kids In a High-Tech World includes committing to delaying giving children any devices of their own as long as possible — no tablets, no gaming consoles, nada and no electronic devices in the bedroom overnight. 10/2025 How Much Pay Will Workers Sacrifice to Work Remotely? By Lindsey Choo - A study of tech workers at the UCLA Anderson School of Management offers an answer: quite a lot. Many job applicants are willing to accept less pay for positions that are either fully remote or on a hybrid schedule. Allowing for just one or two days a week of remote work can make a difference on a person taking a job. 10/2025 Tech-Savvy Seniors Embrace Use of AI By Julie Jargon – Seniors are finding AI is highly effective to help with investment decisions, plan trips and fix things around the house. According to the Pew Research Center, they ae using Chatbots several times a day to replace Google searches finding it gets to the root of the question quicker than long-winded YouTube videos.
9/2025 Deploy Newest Defenses for Cellphone By Heidi Mitchell - As scammers adjust tactics to steal your information, phone makers, carriers and software developers respond. Smart phones now including defenses like two factor authentication and having latest OS with better scam screening. Use preventative methods. 9/2025 With a New iPhone Coming, Should You Upgrade or Just Fix It? By Nicole Nguyen – There will be the temptation to upgrade after Apple’s Sept. 9 launch event. And there are very good reasons to buy the new model. Just because your oldie has sluggish performance, short battery life or a cracked touch screen, it isn’t doomed to become e-waste; doing repairs might be worth it. If phone is more than six years old, upgrade it. For repairs, maybe a nearby Apple store can help. 9/2025 How Social Media Creates Flabby Young Brains By Allysia Finley – Because there are now many indications children are spending excessive screen time, some States are experimenting with regulations to curb adolescent digital addictions. However, the problem defies a pat government solution and requires a cultural introspection. When kids see adults scrolling their phones at all hours of the day, they begin to think this is normal and acceptable behavior. It isn’t. 9/2025 Apple Gives Its Lineup of Watches a Timely Upgrade By Nicole Nguyen - This year’s lineup includes a new Apple Watch SE 3 ($249 and up), a Series 11 with a big battery boost ($399 and up) and an Ultra 3 ($799 and up) with emergency satellite connectivity. Some new features, including hypertension alerts and sleep score which also work on older watches that update to WatchOS 26. If your watch works and supports Watch OS 26, you can probably hold off on upgrading. Given this year’s significant improvements to battery and glass durability, it’s worth buying new. As you move up in price, the watches have better screens and more health sensors,
8/2025 AI Workers in Their 20s Rake In High Salaries By Katherine Bindley - It’s a tough time to be a young person looking for a job—unless you’re in artificial intelligence. The job market for entry level workers is in a continued slump. The unemployment rate for new college graduates was 4.8% in June, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. However, right out of school, employees at the company Scale AI can expect base salaries of around $200,000 a year. Although they don’t have advanced degrees, people with AI skills learn fast and think fast. 8/2025 AI Robs My Students of the Ability to Think By Alex Green – A notable number of native English speakers told the article author that after relying on AI to draft papers and emails, their ability to write, speak and conduct basic inquiry is slipping away. For all its promise, AI is being developed and used in ways that are disabling because of its overuse. 8/2025 When to Ditch Web Search And Opt for Deep Research By Nicole Nguyen – When activated, AI goes beyond basic chat, taking more time, examining more sources and composing a more thorough response. AI can plunge deep into the internet, analyze thousands of words and repeat until it is satisfied to compose a more thorough response. ChatGPT and other popular AI chatbots like Copilot and Gemini have advanced research modes and when activated, go beyond basic chat, taking more time. 8/2025 Don’t Forget Microsoft Isn’t Just About AI. By Asa Fitch – The tech giant’s non-AI businesses, including productivity software and cloud computing are going strong. Although Microsoft is one of the biggest winners in the artificial-intelligence boom, it’s 365 software Cloud business for remotely accessed versions of Word, Excel and other productivity software grew 16% from a year earlier. 8/2025 Whole Foods Staff to Join Amazon By Owen Tucker-Smith - Move aims to fuse e-commerce giant’s grocery teams and ease collaboration. Amazon said that since its acquisition of Whole Foods, it has expanded it to more than 535 locations, while sales have risen more than 40%. The Whole Foods systems are expected to shift to Amazon on Dec. 8.
7/2025 Tracing AI’s Insatiable Appetite for Energy By Joanna Stern - By 2028, data centers like the one the author visited in Ashburn, Va., could consume up to 12% of all U.S. electricity, according to a report from the Energy Department and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Google, Microsoft and Meta need to help with determining how much Graphics Processing Units GPU will be needed for AI. 7/2025 New Meta Division Focuses on AI Effort By Meghan Bobrowsky - In recent months, Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new “Superintelligence” division within Meta officially organizing an effort with a recruiting for AI. The new organization, called Meta Superintelligence Labs, will house Meta’s AI research team, known as FAIR which is building Meta’s AI products. 7/2025 AI Is Killing The Entry-Level Job By Lindsay Ellis and Katherine Bindley - New tech dents the already fragile job market for college graduates. Amazon and JPMorgan have said in recent weeks that they expect their workforces to shrink considerably. Ford CEO Jim Farley said he expects AI will replace half of the white-collar workforce in the U.S. For new graduates, this means not only are they competing for fewer slots but they are also increasingly up against junior workers who have been recently laid off. 7/2025 The Case for Snooping On Your Child’s Cellphone By Julie Jargon - Some parents feel phone snooping amounts to a breach of privacy. Others argue as long as they’re paying the bill, they can look at it. The author, feels the best approach is somewhere in the middle. The younger or less mature the child, the less privacy they should expect. Regardless of age or maturity, there’s one that is nonnegotiable: All parents should know the passcode to their child’s phone. It’s a necessity in the event of an emergency or tragedy. 7/2025 Why You Shouldn’t Buy An iPhone Right Now By Nicole Nguyen - The latest and greatest crop Apple products typically come out in September, which means it’s a bad time to buy an Apple gadget right now. If you can hold off for just a couple of months, better trade-in deals and price drops await. The article reviews some of the considerations for Apple products like iPhone, watch, AirTag, iPad and Mac.
6/2025 An AI Bot Is Helping Seniors Feel Less Lonely By Julie Jargon - In a pilot study, Residents of a nonprofit senior living community in Riverdale, N.Y., took part in a recent pilot study to determine whether calls from a virtual companion named Meela would alleviate depression and loneliness. As a result, when they called the AI companion to chat, their mental health improved. 6/2025 Eyeglasses With Built-In Hearing Aids Sound Promising By Nicole Nguyen - New eyeglasses with hearing aids built in have been designed for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. Tiny speakers are in the arms and microphones around the front. The $1,200 Nuance Audio frames, which launched in the U.S. in April, join Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 as an auditory option for people who don’t want traditional hearing aids. 6/2025 How People Decided It’s OK To Wear AirPods at All Times By Lauren Weber - Earbuds have so infiltrated daily life that even doctors can’t get your full attention. Users of earbuds often worry about re-moving the earbuds even briefly. “If you take it out and put it in your pocket, it can end up in the laundry”. Keeping them in your ears are a safe place to store them. 6/2025 The Best New Features With Apple’s iOS 26 Upgrade By Nicole Nguyen - A glassy re-design , spam-call screener and more are headed to devices this Fall. The new OS now does on-device live translation, taking a page from Google and Samsung . The iOS number will now be the year of the upgrade.
5/2025 Don’t Be Intimidated by AI. Here’s How to Get Started By Nicole Nguyen – If you have a friend, child or co-worker who won’t shut up about ChatGPT or some other generative AI (artificial intelligence) chatbot (computer program that simulates a conversation) and have not asked them about it, this article is for you. Choose your bot (Robot). Don’t think of a “chatbot” as a conversational buddy. It’s a massive trove of information and “learning” that you can access by typing or speaking plainly. OpenAI’s ChatGPT was first on the scene and is the most well known. Microsoft Copilot, powered by a mix of OpenAI and Microsoft tech, has an approachable interface for beginners. Google’s Gemini brings search into the mix and can export data to Docs. It’s now 2025 and generative technology is only getting bigger. 5/2025 Criminal Scams Flood Instagram and Facebook By Jeff Horwitz and Angel Au-Yeung - Meta Platforms, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is increasingly a cornerstone internet fraud, according to regulators, banks and internal documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The company accounted for nearly half of all reported between the summers of 2023 and 2024, An internal analysis from 2022 described in Meta documents found that 70% of newly active advertisers on the platform are promoting scams, illicit goods or “low quality” products. The Meta spokesman said that the documents seen by the WSJ are old and that Meta has been ramping up its investments in antispam work since the second half of 2022. Because of U.S. telecommunications law known as section 230, platforms like Meta, are generally shielded from liability for user-created content. 5/2025 Students Turn to AI to Prove Bots Didn’t Write Their Essays By Julie Jargon - Teachers use AI detection to spot cheating while students are now using it to maintain their innocence. Students don’t want to get accused of cheating, so they are using artificial intelligence to make sure their school essays sound human. More than 500,000 people use Grammarly’s AI tool to detect plagiarism each week, and the majority are students, a spokeswoman says. 5/2025 What to Do if Your Personal Data Ends Up on the Dark Web By Nicole Nguyen - This hidden part of the internet is where criminals exchange illegally obtained data, such as passport details, passwords and Social Security numbers. Always be wary of scammers who could use your compromised personal info to trick you. If you have reused a password for multiple accounts, reset them. Turn on multifactor authentication. Sign up for an online Social Security account and an IRS account before a hacker can use your info to do it on your behalf and stop giving out unnecessary data: Hackers can’t steal data that’s not there.
4/2025 Here Are 3 Golden iPhone-Buying Rules By Joanna Stern and Cordilia James - Here are three golden iPhone-buying rules:1. Buy only if you need. 2. Buy only what you need. 3. Buy refurbished to save. 4/2025 My Daughter Is Ready for Her First Smartphone. I’m Not Ready To Give It to Her By Sumathi Reddy - At 11, she still goes bike-riding with me and lets me hold her hand. Why would I want her to hold a phone instead? Most parents justify a phone as a necessary tool for staying in touch. The age a child should have a phone is not clear. 4/2025 No More Cellphones in Virginia Classrooms BY WSJ Editorial - This month the state’s Democratic-led general studies show “mental health improvements, increases in physical activity, and reductions in bullying when schools go phone-free.” At least eight other states have imposed bans on classroom cellphone use. Dozens more are considering the same—including New York, where one high school that banned cellphones in 2023 saw student grades increase to pre-pandemic levels within a year. The evidence is strong that cellphone addiction undermines student learning, while promoting other ills.
3/2025 When Your Child Uses AI to Cheat By Matt Barnum and Deepa Seetharaman - More students are hiding their secret weapon from parents and teachers. AI has rooted in America’s education system, allowing a generation of students to outsource schoolwork to software with access to the world’s knowledge. Of students who reported using AI, nearly 40% of those in middle and high schools said they employed it without teachers’ permission. 3/2025 Market for Secondhand Smartphones Is Taking Off By Stu Woo - More shoppers are saving money with secondhand phones. “Phones are lasting longer,” said Sean Cleland, an executive at BStock, a big platform for secondhand phones. “The glass is less likely to crack. The software, the operating system is getting longer support.” Mobile carriers, retailers and even Apple and Samsung themselves are stepping up their used phone offerings. 3/2025 Apple’s ‘Cheap’ iPhone Costs A Lot More Now By Nicole Nguyen - The iPhone 16e has big battery gains—but no more home button and a substantial price jump. After nearly a week of testing the iPhone 16e, I found it a decent choice for anyone who just wants the basics. The 16e hit shelves starting at $599. 3/2025 New MacBook Air Has Big Upgrades at the Old Price By Nicole Nguyen - Apple’s next-generation classic thin laptop is now priced at $999—with double the RAM. When someone asks what laptop to buy, my default answer is the MacBook Air. And the latest model is even cheaper and better than before. The new M4 MacBook Air has a faster chip, updated webcam and double the RAM and it costs $100 less. The new 13-inch MacBook Air is back to its $999 starting price tag.
2/2025 Stop Panicking Over Teens and Social Media By Lucy Foulkes - The psychological impact of social media is not clear-cut. More needs to be known. Parents need to take an active role helping children navigate in the digital world. Tech companies should help minimize obvious harms. 2/2025 Pros and Cons Of the AirPods Hearing Aids By Nicole Nguyen and Julie Jargon - The Apple $240 air pods help amplify a conversation, but they fall out easily. Other users think they are too awkward to be full-time hearing aids. One downside is battery life. Normal hearing aids can typically last 24 hours on one charge and Apple says AirPods can last up to six hours. 2/2025 The New Wave of AI Is Here By Andy Kessler - AI can turn a single bullet point into a long email which I can pretend I wrote or AI can make a single bullet point out of a long email which I can pretend I read. The McKinsey Report projects 8 to 9 percent of 2030 labor demand will be for new types of occupations. Real productivity will define what saves money for using AI. 2/2025 Newest iPhone Takes On Chinese Rivals By Stu Woo - Apple has a new phone in the world’s biggest smartphone market. Deliveries of its iPhone 16e, a cheaper version of its flagship device, will begin in China this week with a starting price of about $600. The new device will help Apple to be more competitive in China. The average price of China smartphones from Vivo, Huawei and Apple last year was $298, $658 and $1,007. 2/2025 Schools Turn to a New Chatbot To Help Support Students By Julie Jargon - Teens around the country are confiding in Sonny a new chatbot when they feel they don’t have anyone else to talk to. Sonny is part human, part AI school districts are adopting when there aren’t enough counselors to go around. Sonar Mental Health, the developer of Sonny, is available to meet student the demand for mental-health services. A test school has seen a 26% drop in student behavior infractions since they began using Sonny. Students appreciate having a companion because “They feel it’s a judgment- free zone,”
1/2025 Screens Are Taking Over In American Classrooms By Sara Randazzo, Matt Barnum and Julie Jargon - Class time has become screen time in American schools. Kindergartners now watch math lessons on YouTube, counting aloud with the videos. Middle-schoolers complete writing drills on Chromebooks while sneaking in play of an online game. It is not clear whether the rapid shift toward more technology has really benefitted learning. 1/2025 Guard Against Space Invaders On Your iPhone By Nicole Nguyen - The most common storage offender is Photos. There are a few features built into the Photos app that can help you reduce the size of your library, such as removing duplicates and deleting photos. Eliminate unused Apps. Eliminate unnecessary messages. 1/2025 Find Your Digital Photos to Organize By Shara Tibken - Finding and organizing photos is a big project and is will take time. Photos may be located on old hard drives, CDs, your Mac or PC, Google account or Facebook. Set up a system perhaps a spreadsheet to record where what exists and where.1/2025 Netflix Lifts Prices and Logs Subscriber Increase By Jessica Toonkel – Netflix continues to grow. During 2024, the number of subscribers increased 44% from 2023. Prices were increased to $7.99 a month for basic with ads and $24.99 a month without ads. 1/2025 Star Employees Escape Return-to-Work Mandates By Ray A. Smith - Millions of workers across the country are being given return-to-office marching orders. But the rules are different for stars and top performers. Employees with unique skills and talents, are often being offered more flexibility.
12/2024 Apple Sees Foldable iPhone As a Key To Growth By Arron Tilley and Yang Jie - Two foldable devices are being planned. A larger device, intended to serve as a laptop and a smaller model that would be larger than an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Major challenges have included improving the hinge, the display cover and a flexible material protecting the foldable. Apple initially aimed to introduce the larger device first to gauge market response, but it now appears the foldable iPhone will likely be ready ahead of it. 12/2024 You Won’t Return to Office, You May Lose Your Job By Callum Borchers - After lax enforcement, companies are getting serious about in-person requirements. Amazon will require employees to report to offices five days a week. Several other major employers, including UPS, JPMorgan Chase, Boeing and Starbucks also have called at least some of their workers back to the office for the full five. 12/2024 The Smart Glasses That Won Me Over By Joanna Stern - Meta’s Ray-Bans and prototype Orion hint at the future of face computers — sleek, stylish and truly wearable. There’s no screen or onboard computer. Instead, they rely on a Bluetooth connection to a smartphone. One of my biggest gripes is that they often unpair from the phone and the Meta View app. Battery life could be better. The camera is the winning element. 12/2024 Apple’s Latest Update Finally Integrates Key AI Features By Joanna Stern - As part of iOS 18.2, Apple’s new release are new Artificial Intelligence tools which include making your own emoji (smiley, etc.) images with Image Playground and an integrated ChatGPT into SIRI lookup. The new features require iPhone 15 Pro or later.
11/2024 Beef Up Passwords On These Accounts By Nicole Nguen - Do two things to beef up your online security: Create a long, unique password and turn on two-factor authentication for each account. Article describes for bank accounts, email and phone. 11/2024 Australia Passes Ban On Social Media for Children By Gareth Vipers - Australia is set to become the first country to ban social media use by children under 16 with its Senate’s 34-19 vote in favor of new legislation, Under the ban, not to take effect for at least 12 months, technology companies could be fined up to 50 million Australian dollars, roughly $32.5 million, if they fail to bring in steps to prevent children from holding accounts. Meta said more research into the effects of social media on mental health is needed. 11/2024 New Tech Tries to Catastrophe-Proof Your Home By Christopher Mims - Construction of ultra-efficient ‘passive houses’ is booming as developers use new building technology that is both green and disaster-resistant. The trend has roots in a movement called “passive house,” based on a design standard to make buildings use as little energy as possible. Massachusetts has mandated that all multifamily dwellings larger than 12,000 square feet in and around Boston must meet the passive- house standard. construction techniques now at the cutting edge will eventually be the norm, because nature, or governments, require it. 11/2024 Lessons From 11 Years Of Work-Life Balance Ray Rachel Feintzeig - After writing articles for the Wall Street Journal since 2013 about careers and leadership, the author shares thoughts on raises, setbacks, family and having dream jobs.
10/2024 Data Scarce on Teen Anxiety, Social Media By Nidhi Subbaraman - Concern is growing it is causing more harm than good. No one really knows how significant a role social media plays in youths’ emotional state. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost all indicators of poor mental health, suicidal thoughts and behaviors got worse from 2013 to 2023. 10/2024 There Are Many Reasons to Use Apple’s New Password Manager By Nicole Nguyen – Managing passwords is a challenge and most people have many of them. Apple is offering a new free password manager App to help manage passwords. 10/2024 Your Medical Records Are a Mess. Technology Can Help By Laura Landro - The digitization of healthcare information was supposed to make it all so easy. It hasn’t yet, but it’s getting there. Almost all hospitals and close to 90% of doctor’s offices now use some kind of electronic medical record. However, many of them are incompatible. 10/2024 Starbucks to Staff: Work in Office or Else By Jennifer Calfas and Heather Haddon - Starbucks is stepping up efforts to enforce a return to-office mandate with warning: Comply with the policy or risk termination. According to Flex Index, which tracks workplace strategies, more employees are being required to be in the office five days a week.
9/2024 Wi-Fi on Flights Promises to Get Better By Joanna Stern - Internet connections at 30,000 feet are hit or miss, but satellite tech from SpaceX’s Starlink and others are ready. Starlink is excellent but its availability is limited. Intelsat plans to start equipping planes later this year with antennas. Planes can’t be out of commission for very long, so the strategy is to maintain the same technology for about 10 years. Delta, United and Alaska all plan to drop the old cellular tech by the end of 2025. That’s the future of the friendly skies: free, fast and foolproof Wi-Fi. 9/2024 Parents Try to Opt Their Kids Out of Classroom Technology By Joanna Stearns - Parents worried about how much time students spend on iPads and laptops during school are trying to opt their kids out of classroom tech. They’re finding it isn’t easy. Phone bans are taking effect in big districts across the country like Los Angeles and Las Vegas. However, not all schools purchase physical textbooks anymore; many only offer them as e-books. More testing of what tech should be in classrooms is needed. 9/2024 Apple Watch Series 10 Gets Bigger Screen, Thinner Body By Nicole Nguyen - It is easier than ever to check the time with the Series 10. The watch maintains an 18hour battery life like previous models. The $399-and-up Apple Watch Series 10—available Sept. 20— has a bigger and thinner display, can detect sleep apnea plus water depth and temperature sensors for swimmers. It isn’t just thinner, it’s also lighter and charges faster; thirty minutes will fill up 80% of the battery. (That used to take 45 minutes.)
8/2024 Colleges Race to Add Courses Offering AI By Milla Surjadi – The rise of generative AI in the workplace and demands by students for more hirable talents is driving schools to revamp courses. Students now expect professors to teach them how to incorporate generative AI into their careers. AI literacy is similar toe typing in the 1970’s and 80’s. AI will be a major asset to getting recruited in the next two to five years. 8/2024 How to help Students Panicked by School Smartphone Bans by Liza GaronZik an Claire Goldsmith – Parents and teachers need to reassure young people that they can navigate their days without screens. Educators and parents will need to help students reconnect with each other without screens. Need to talk to students about reason for these limits. Need to reset home-school boundaries. Need to model a balanced relationship with technology. Need to teach face-to-face communication skills. 8/2024 Google’s AI BOT is Remarkably Human by Joanna Stern – Google’s has a new Chat BOT (chat robot) named Gemini Live and is a voice assistant available in the company’s four new 2024 Pixel phones (1% of 2023 global market). It is similar to Apple’s SIRI and Amazon’s Alexa.
7/2024 Making a Case for Backing Up Your Photos and Files at Home by Cordilia James – Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft’s One Drive and Google’s One are good backup tools everyone should be consider, but it’s also smart to have multiple copies of important files. Use a Solid-State Drive SSD. The article describes how to do it including how to transfer files. 7/2024 Timeline for iPhone’s AI Features by Joanna Stern - Apple’s timeline for first AI tools will be in OS 18.1 scheduled for release this Fall. Only iPhone 15 and newer will be able to get it because they have the latest and fastest chips. Changes will include a New Siri, Writing Tools, Photos and more later.
6/2024 Apple Doesn’t Need AI To Sell Its Next Phone by Dan Gallagher – Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference WWDC will be outlining a generative AI strategy. Siri, Apple’s 12-year-old digital assistant is expected to get a major AI upgrade. Consumers are holding onto their phones for longer periods, particularly the iPhone 12. Consumer interest in AI phones remains unclear. 6/2024 Safeguarding your Data in Your Finance Apps by Tomio /Geron – The more Apps used, the greater the risk of hacks and data leaks occurring. Using strong passwords are a major protection. Where available, turn on any two-factor authentication. Facial recognition is also a strong protection. Be careful downloading an App and make sure it is reputable.6/2024 AI is Helping Scammers Outsmart You by Dalvin Brown and Katherine Hamilton – Artificial Intelligence is making scammers more difficult to spot. Gone are poorly worded messages often a giveaway sign of a scammer. Scammers can now use AI to imitate a voice to be convincing. 6/2024 Meta Taps Your Data to Train AI Features by Cordilia James – Meta Google, X and other social media Apps are tapping personal information to make their AI smarter. 6/2024 Doctors are Quietly Prescribing The Apple Watch For Uses Beyond Those Approved by the FDA by Christopher Mims – Doctors are using the Apple Watch informally to help diagnose. Many doctors are telling patients for go out and buy an Apple Watch to alert them to episodes of atrial fibrillation. Apple Watch OS 11 is including all-new “vitals” App. Clinicians and researchers need to determine appropriate uses.
5/2024 A Beginner’s Guide to Using AI: Your First 10 Hours by Ethan Mollick – First, choose one of the popular AI tools like OpenAI’s GPT-4, Google’s Gemini Advanced or Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus. See how it can help compose email, write a report and analyze data. 5/2024 iPad Pro vs. MacBook: Testing the Trade-Offs by Joanna Stern – Each has pluses, but Mac wins in the most important category: software. The iPad has always been a touch device. iPad apps are limited. Battery life longer in Mac-Book. 5/2024 Fed Up With Students Obsessed With Phones, One Teacher Quits by Julie Jargon – Teacher quitting because tired of trying to engage students who are lost in their phones. Apps are designed to be addictive. Schools say phones should not be out during class but leaves enforcement to teachers. 5/2024 AI-Focused PCs make Windows Exciting Again by Joanna Stern – Microsoft has new Copilot+ PCs with AI improved performance, battery life, and enhanced AI features. Has Live and fast captions in 44 languages. 5/2024 A Low-Tech Solution for Our Tech Addiction by Gordillia James – Enter Yondr a maker of little bags for locking up a phone. Number started with 22,000 in 2015; now over 25,000. The Yondr pouch at a CT school cost $60,000 for 2,000 students and thought to be well worth it. Competitor Phone Locker from Australia founded in 2020 has sold 50,000 in the country. Not available in U.S.
4/2024 Open AI Reveals a Feature That Clones Human Voices by Ginger Adams Otis – New technology has been showcased that can recreate a human voice from a 15-second clip, but said it wouldn’t release it publicly until it knows more about potential risks for misuse. The program called Voice Engine, can read text aloud. Generative artificial-intelligence will make it easier to deceive people. 4/2024 Can We Save Our Children From Smartphones? By Peggy Noonan – Jonathan Kaidt’s new book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” describes a crisis. The young seem to have become addicted to social media and gaming. The tidal wave comes as children enter puberty when the human brain is experiencing greatest reconfiguration since early childhood. Mr. Haidt suggests no smart phones before high school, no social media before age 16 and elementary through high school should be phone-free zones. 4/2024 Schools Want to Ban Phones, But Parents Are the Obstacle by Julie Jargon – Restricting smart phone use helps students focus, but families want to keep their connection for emergencies and scheduling issues. Parents want access to their children at all times. 3/2024 Virtual Meetings Are Killing the Office Vibe by Priya Parker - The way we meet has changed radically in recent years: It is more online and remote, with more brevity. New tools are revolutionizing workplaces in ways we might not have grasped. The article talks about Zoom, Teams, Slack and working hybrid in and out of the office. The future will have more in-person gatherings. Meeting etiquette is evolving. 3/2024 Count on Two-Factor Codes to Offer Online Security by Nicole Nguyen – There’s a basic equation for online security: Long, unique passwords + two-factor authentication = safer money, work and personal data. Two-factor codes are a necessary security layer; Don’t treat this as optional. 3/2024 Schools Move to Limit Students’ Phone Use by Sara Randazzo and Matt Barnum - The decision to disable or lock up phones is taking hold in thousands of schools across the U.S. Many states have proposed or enacted new school cellphone restrictions. Many teachers say phones have become an in-class distraction. Atlantic City, N.J. however, has no plans to restrict phones because they can be a helpful research tool. The problems with phones in the classroom is not going away.
2/2024 Parental Controls Don’t Work. How to Keep Teens Safe Online by Julie Jargon – During the past five years optional tools for parents to keep kids safe have been rolled out but are optional and usually buried or broken. The best solution is to sit with teens and work together to define guidelines. Having parental restrictions and constant monitoring stifles teen’s ability to solve problems. 2/2024 How to Stop Useless Alerts From Flooding Your Phone by Dalvin Brown – Many people are now annoyed when opening social apps when it looks like a notification is personal or urgent and it often is not. The number of notifications from social networking has become excessive and can create ill will. There are suggestions to reduce the notifications for Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, X and Snapchat. 2/2024 It’s the End of The Web as We Know It by Christopher Mims – AI is changing how we use the Internet. A new generation of “answer engines” is coming. A new free AI powered search engine tested Arc Search can be a time saver reducing the number of links to sites without AI.
1/2024 Don’t Ignore This New iPhone Setting by Nicole Nguyen and Joanna Stern – As part of iOS 17.3 update, Apple released Stolen Device Protection. If you enable Stolen device Protection, your iPhone will restrict the Passcode power over certain settings when you are away from a location familiar to the iPhone, such as your home or work. A thief would need more than just the passcode like Face ID or Touch ID. 1/2024 Apple's New Headset is the Best So Far by Joanna Stern – Apple’s $3,400 Vision Pro has been released. Watch 3-D movies, reach out to select apps and many other features are included. Stay tuned for what the future will be for the device.
12/2023 Apple Adds Security to Stymie iPhone Thieves by Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen – Apple is rolling out new security settings for iPhone. Will include setting in coming software update. It will restrict certain settings when away from a location familiar to the iPhone. If phone is stolen, act quickly to use web address icloud.com/find and remotely erase data on your missing or stolen device. 12/2023 Return-to-Office Mandates Are A Disaster for Working Mothers by Joanne Lipman – Remote work has helped fuel women’s record numbers in workforce participation and remote work has been an enabling factor. About 40% of Americans still work from home. Fully remote jobs are prized by moms with young kids. 12/2023 Make Your iPhone Last Forever by Justin Pot – Average phone in America is only used for around 2 ½ years and can last much longer following several tips including: Check for updates, Put a case on it, Clean charge port, Monitor battery health. Know your repair options, If a manufacturer declares phone is obsolete, there are other options. 12/2023 Fewer People Are Posting on Social Media by Cordilia J Ames – Users are posting less and favoring a passive experience and becoming more selective on what they post. More friends are becoming “watchers”. The quality of social media has declined in the past five years with misinformation, toxicity and proliferation of bots (robot). Gartner estimates 50% of users will either abandon or significantly limit their interactions with social media in the next two years.
11/2023 Should Students Use ChatGBT for School? More Teachers Say Yes by James R. Hagerty – Teacher Kevin Lisle’s ChatGPT assistant (Artificial IntelIigence RoBOT) worries about students cheating or cutting corners. Using AI ChatGBT does bolster basic skills. 11/2023 Listen Up: There Are More Ways To Get Audiobooks Now by Nicole Nguyen – Spotify is changing economics of audio reads. For those just starting out, look at Libby. For power users look at Audible Premium Plus. For indie bookstore lovers, look at Libro.fm. 11/2023 Meta Targeted Teen Brains, States Allege by Jeff Horwitz – Meta sought social-media to take advantage of young user’s brains and their being predisposed to impulse, peer pressure and potentially harmful features. Fort-one (41) states allege Meta was intentional.
10/2023 The New Etiquette for Earbuds by Nicole Nguyen – Consider when wearing Earbuds if they are impolite to other people. Apple has Conversation Awareness feature to detect when you start speaking and fade Earbuds so you can better listen to someone who is speaking to you. Other high-endear-buds have feature. 10/2023 Rethink Streaming, Save on Monthly Fees by Nicole Nguyen – Prices are going up and plans need to be reviewed. Netflix Premium is $20, Amazon Prime $139, Disney+ $13.99, Hulu $17.99. Save by switching to Ad plans. Check for bundles. 10/2023 Blocking Graphic Posts on Social-Media by Cordilia James - Graphic videos of conflict in Israel and Gaza can be prevented for X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, YouTube and Google.
9/2023 AI Is About to Be Everywhere. Sceptics Risk Being Left Behind by Christopher Mims – Most of us will be using artificial intelligence soon enough and a growing number of communications generated with AI assistance. People are highly satisfied with generative AI. Microsoft has announced deep integration across Windows 11. Google has its Bard generative AI and Amazon is including in Alexa. 9/2023 Is the Newest iPhone Worth it? By Joanna Stern – Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max get a lighter titanium case and an “action button”. Prices are iPhone 15 $799 and up, iPhone 15 Plus $899 and up, iPhone 15 Pro $999 and up and iPhone 15 Pro Max $1,199. The Pro and Pro Max have three cameras – ultrawide, main and telephoto. All include the popular USB-C charging port. 9/2023 Apple Watch Series 9 Isn’t as Useful as It Could Be by Nicole Nguyen – Author writes the Apple Watch is the bestselling smartwatch in the world but the new Series 9 is not much better than the Series 8. Battery life still needs improvement. Series 9 screen is brighter. Wait until 2024. 9/2023 Meta Unveils a New VR Headset by Salvador Rodriguez – Facebook parent Meta Platforms is releasing Quest 3 virtual reality headset ($499) and new Ray-Ban smart glasses ($299) equipped w/ Meta AI and 36 hr. battery life. Meta also announced it is releasing 28 AI Chat-Bots (simulates human conversation) as it works with Microsoft.
8/2023 Schools Trash Their Chromebooks by Nicole Nguyen – Simple laptops from Google are more expensive, need constant repairs and have an expiration date for operating. When they expire, they come e-waste; unlike Macs and Windows PCs, which run after their software is no longer supported. 8/2023 Language Learning APPs Translate to Cognitive Benefits by Julie Jargon – Learning a new language has shown to delay the onset of dementia. Numerous studies suggest bilingual people develop dementia later than monolingual people do. Learn at home at little or no cost. 8/2023 Search for AI Talent Sends Salaries Soaring by Chip Cutter – U.S. companies are in the midst of an AI recruiting frenzy. Available supply of AI practitioners is falling short of demand. Those who combine industry expertise with a solid understanding of engineering are in the highest demand. 8/2023 E-Bike Battery Fires Can Be Deadly. Here is How to Prevent One in Your House by Nicole Nguyen – Choose an e-bike from a reputable brand with a well-designed safety system and safety certifications. Don’t mix and match chargers, purchase aftermarket batteries or charge in extreme temperatures. Cheap no-name batteries and chargers are a risk.
7/2023 Four Day Work Week Wins Praise by Vanessa Furmans – Studies are showing less burnout, improved health and more job satisfaction. Both business and employees gain. 7/2023 The Hidden Talent of your Office Software by Sean Captain - You may think you know all there is to know about Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Excel, PowerPoint, Gmail, Outlook and other apps. But you probably don’t. For example, learn to collaborate and organize video conferences better. 7/2023 Meta, Microsoft Team Up in AI Push by Tom Dotan and Deep Seetharaman – Meta AI, dubbed Llama 2, will be free to developers building software using Microsoft’s Azure Cloud computing platform. Microsoft to charge $30 a month to access AI powered assistant for Microsoft 365. 7/2023 Making the Right Call on Folding Cell Phones by Nicole Nguyen – Samsung Galazy Z Fold and Google’s Pixel too much phone for most people. Apple to offer one in a few years. Foldables ideal for people who spend time in trains and planes. Still fragile. 7/2023 TV’s Golden Era Has Been Costly for Streamers by Nate Rattner and Sarah Krouse – Netflix, Disney + and Max have become default entertainment options. Retaining customers critical. Growth has slowed. More ads 7/2023 Smart Gadgets Protect Your Home – But also Collect Data by Andy Rain – Uses leak detector and electrical sensor alarms. Consider costs to install and maintain relative to savings in insurance.
6/2023 Too Young for Social Media? The Case for Waiting Until 16 by Julie Jargon – Doctors and policy makers cite youngsters’ vulnerability. See links to mental-health crisis. Kids are much more susceptible to peer pressure, opinions and comparison. Age 13 is too young to handle them. They probably should stay off TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Parents should have ongoing conversations with children. 6/2023 Big Changes Are Coming To Your iPhone This Fall by Nicole Nguyen – Apple’s iOS 17 software update is coming and has big additions, especially for communication APPs such as Messages and Facetime. Will come at no additional cost. Simplified AirDrop and improved audio transcription. Interact with widgets as a convenient way to display bite-size pieces of information on home screen. Older phones like iPhone 8 won’t get the update. 6/2023 Apple Releases Vision Pro Product by Aaron Telley – Vision Pro Headset is first major new Apple product in a decade. Will allow users to experience virtual reality and digital APPs overlaid on the real world. Cost $3,499 and partner with Walt Disney.
5/2023 A Thin Foldable Offers AI Tricks by Nicole Nguyen – Google’s new Pixel Fold looks like a regular phone from the outside, but you can open it like a book to become a bigger screen on the inside. Model is relatively thin (slimmer than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold) and hand-friendly. Most Google apps work on the Pixel Fold 7.6” screen. Price for the Pixel Fold start at $1,799. The use of an expandable device with bendy screens is getting stronger. 5/2023 TikTok Feeds Teens a Diet of Darkness by Joseph Pisani – A Wall Street Journal investigation in 2021 found TickTok steers viewers to watch dangerous content. TickTock has since strengthened parental controls but is little changed. Two-thirds of teens use TickTok. 5/2023 Surgeon General Warns of Social-Media Risks for Youth by Jennifer Calfas – U.S. Surgeon General is urging stronger standards for adolescents. Teenagers between 10 and 15 are particularly vulnerable. Using social media more than three hours a day risks depression and anxiety. 5/2023 The “Killer APPs” That Will Make Apple’s Headset a Winner by Christopher Mims – Apple’s forthcoming headset for June 5 is likely to accelerate using augmented reality, It remains to be seen if Apple can overcome earlier issues which have plagued other headsets. Apple's vision could succeed where others have failed.
4/2023 Life After Death: Secure Your Digital Legacy Before You Die by Christopher Mims – Have a plan for what to do with your digital assets. Designate a contact person for your passwords. Make plans for social media accounts. Where possible, set up a legacy contact. Talk it through with a conversation with family. 4/2023 Tech Older Adults Want Now by Julie Jargon – Fitness wearables and password managers are popular for people 50 and up. According to AARP, last year, they spent on average $912 on technology, up from $394 during 2019. Home assistants like Amazon Echo (Alexa) and Google Nest Audio are popular. Streaming services are popular. Because seniors ware often targeted, learning about scam protection and the importance of strong passwords is important. 4/2023 People Grow Sick and Tired of the cost of Subscriptions by Rachel Wolfe and Imani Moise – Popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and others have had cancellations of up to 49% during 2022, up substantially, from the previous year. The Federal Trade Commission has a new proposal to make it simpler to break away from a subscription. Existing companies are changing their strategies. 4/2023 The Best Trackers For Finding Lost Stuff by Nicole Nguyen – The Tile Slim saves many hours looking for things for the author. Unlike the rounded AirTag, it is thin and fits in a wallet. To use it just ring the Bluetooth tracker from a smart phone.
3/2023 AI Begins to Transform Office Jobs by Gretchen Farrant – AI is the next revolution and there will be no going back. Generative Pre-trained Transformers or GPTs use machine learning. Employees will have a challenge to adapt to AI. 3/2023 Microsoft Incorporates Generative AI Tools Into Business Software by Tom Dotan – Using ChatGPT to upgrade PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. A new release will be the Microsoft 365 Copilot like creating a PowerPoint presentation from text. Workers are using ChatGPT when seeking a new job. 3/2023 Technology Skills Every Employee Should Have Today by Sean Captain – People must know advanced features of online collaboration. They need to know how to use Microsoft Excel or Sheets, Word or Google Docs and PowerPoint or Google Slides. Also important are skills to organized remote meetings, manage projects and do programing.
2/2023 Netflix Expands New Curbs To Limit Password Sharing by Sarah Krouse - Netflix is starting new restrictions in Canada, Spain Portugal and New Zeeland to increase revenue. It is unclear when it will be rolled out in the U.S. Standard and premium plans can pay and share with up to two others. Basic won’t be able to share. 2/2023 Larger Issues Distort Debate on Screen Time (for children) by Julie Jargon – Numerous studies show children should not spend excessive time looking at screens. What to do includes: No screens at dinner table, No screens in the bedroom, No screens for babies, Stick to smart, positive content and Take regular breaks. 2/2023 My Coach Is a Computer by Shely Mateo – A new class of fitness equipment is having a type if artificial intelligence and is making progress to monitor exercise.
1/2023 Microsoft Growth is Slowest Since 2016 by Tom Dotan Recorded lowest sales growth in more than six years. Azure Cloud services remain main engine for growth. Sales during pandemic are scaling back. 1/2023 Google Prepares for Battles on Multiple Fronts by Miles Kruppa – Google is in battle mode to defend its search, mobile-software, onl9ne-video and ad-tech businesses. Googler facing several lawsuits related to privacy and monopolistic practices. 1/2023 Facebook Parent Meta Sees Path Ahead After Rough Year by Jeff Horwitz and Salvador Rodriguez - Bouncing back from Apple’s privacy changes. After roughest year in history Facebook and Instagram are starting to recover. Meta’s product Reels is takin off as it competes with TikTok.
12/2022 Netflix Braces for Sharing Crackdown by Sarah Krouse & Jessica Toonkel – Over 100 million Netflix viewers watch service with borrowed passwords. Netflix is to change that. Will be having special pricing. 12/2022 Netflix’s Ad-Supported Tier to Take Time to Catch On by Dan Gallagher - New advertising tier will help Netflix ease off price increases. 12/2022 Streaming’s Very Chaotic Year by Jason Kilar – Increased shifting toward Netflix, Hulu and others. Hollywood’s streaming subscribers increased. Many choices for streaming. Cable users gone from 90% in 2010 to 55%. Streamer wars will continue. Expect mergers. 12/2022 Say What? How to Fix Hard-to Hear TV Dialog by Cordilia James – Use TV dialog or add soundbar. Grab headphones or earbuds. Newer TVs are providing Blue-tooth settings. 12/2022 Eight Questions To Ask Your Aging Parents (and yourself) To Keep Their Phones Safe From Hackers by Da;vin Brown – 1) Is your PW protected? 2) Do you update your phone’s software? 3) Do you have spam filters? 4) Do you get alerts from your bank? 5) Have you added a trusted backup contact? 6) How do you keep your PW? 7) What do you want to happen to your tech when you die? 8) Does anything concern you? 12/2022 Tech That will Change Our Lives in 2023 by Jason Schneider – Big tech will be belt tightening, The Subscription Police starting, China interrupted, Artificial Intelligence finds real use, Can I hear you? Crypto’s rotten core, Smart home gets easier, iPhone Regular’s Edition, Social media upheaval, Metaverse will be more than Meta (Facebook) with HTC and Apple arriving.