In this newsletter:

📝 Post: How Much Freedom Should We Give AI?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: SpaceX and Starlink
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Food and Drink
📦 Featured Product: Every Day Carry

📝 How Much Freedom Should We Give AI?

Last week I talked about choosing a specific model within your chatbot of choice. But as mentioned, this has changed over the last few months, much less over the last few years. The highest reasoning models are getting much more powerful. This week, OpenAI claimed their next major model Astra had breakthroughs on 10 long-standing math problems.

Just in the last couple of months, we also saw OpenAI’s unreleased model Escape and Hack a Company in Cybersecurity Test. Except they weren’t alone. A few days later, Anthropic says its AI models hacked 3 organizations during testing. What’s interesting is this comes a month or so after the US Government ordered Anthropic to block all public access to Claude Fable before removing it a few weeks later. You can read more about Why the US Government Shut Down Claude Fable.

However, it’s very important to note that none of these bots decided to start hacking on their own and become sentient. They were being tested with a given objective, and some level of parameters to work within. Essentially, the chatbots found holes in the rules of the game but did so without causing any harm.

Traditional software works because someone tells it what to do and it follows the rules. I talked about this in my post about The Power of Automation Software to Upgrade Your Workflows. AI functions very similar, except there’s not only one way to solve the problem its given. The more capable and powerful the specific model becomes, the better it becomes at finding multiple paths towards the objective, or at least different paths. And sometimes, these paths are unexpected.

What’s interesting is that sometimes what programmers and researchers use to help train the models seems to come out of left field - and it works. This is akin to how humans function, too. Have you ever had a problem in one area of your life, move to work on another problem, and it hits you. You now know how to solve the first problem. Famously, Mark Zuckerberg said he gave up running as exercise to take his mind off work because ‘the problem with running is you can think a lot’.

That said, AI can improve by doing something “new” rather than these companies continuing to throw money at compute power. One new way AI Companies are combating this is by Buying Tons of Old Books Because They’re Free of AI Slop. This is for one main reason: the information written within the books are written entirely by humans and no forms of AI or machine learning programs. With the amount of content being uploaded to the internet everyday, the amount of information isn’t what’s helpful. What the AI bots need is good information - or at least, not other AI generated information.

A friend shared a video with me that was pretty interesting. In it, computer scientist Stephen Wolfram shares how The universe follows rules, but that doesn’t mean it’s predictable. He describes a concept called “computational irreducibility” that essentially states as systems (and AI by extension) become more and more complex, there isn’t always a way to figure out what they will do or how they function. He gave the example of a horse - we know how to train them, ride them, and how they generally function - but they can still may surprise us with their actions.

This made me think of a mobile phone. For most of us, we know how our phones work, but we could never troubleshoot most hardware issues, much less build one from scratch. Like the horse and our phones, we know how to use AI, we know generally what it will do and how it works, but there’s still this black box concept happening that data goes in and data does out and we still don’t always know the outcomes.

Which is where the AI battle lives. Giving it too many guardrails means we restrict what it can’t and can do - making it far less useful, but potentially more accurate. Giving it too much freedom makes it more capable and powerful, but also less predictable and often times flat our wrong.

This doesn’t mean AI is becoming sentient as I mentioned already. At least yet. And I don’t know anything or think they will. I’m also not trying to scare anyone, just making an observation. The companies saw this happen and were able to contain it. But that also means the next test may try to do more and could do so without being caught…

The more access we give AI, the more we train, and the more it’s allowed to do, the more issues like this will surface. So the questions of “What can AI do?” or “What model do I use” may be replaced by a much deeper and more difficult to answer question of “How much freedom are we willing to give up?”

🗞️ ICYMI: SpaceX and Starlink

Just to remind you: SpaceX is “revolutionizing space travel by carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Starlink is a satelitte internet service offering fast, affordable internet to rural areas. Starlink is owned and operated by SpaceX, and has recently hit 12 Million Subscribers. On the mobile front, SpaceX Outlines Plans to Take on AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. They already offer a satellite mobile service through Starlink Mobile, so maybe it’s speed, availability, and price is ready for the mainstream. In order to launch more and more satellites, they are also expanding physically. SpaceX is set to acquire 130,000 acres of marshland in southern Louisiana.

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

Apple Plans iPhone-to-Windows Copy and Paste in EU After Microsoft Request. We’ll see if this is available early next year in the US (or even globally outside of the EU).

Bending Spoons to buy Airtable for $1.28B. If you use Airtable in your business, you will have a bit of runway to offload your databases should you choose. If history repeats itself from their other buyouts, Airtable will in fact get more features, but that will come with a higher price tag, too.

Ford announced a new small-to-midsize electric truck - the Ford Fathom. Check out this article with more information: Ford Fathom Electric Truck: What We Know So Far.

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT free users unlimited text chats. I still stand by the argument that if you are using AI a lot, it’s worth paying for as the token usability becomes much more useful.

😎 POTW: Food and Drink

It’s about time for another round of food picks! Enjoy some niche lists in the food and drink space:

• 8 Foods People in the ‘Odyssey’ Might Have Actually Eaten

• 11 Fruits That Wouldn’t Exist Without Human Intervention

• 11 Things Customers Steal Most Often From Restaurants

• The Healthiest Fast Food at 12 Chains

• The One Whiskey You Should Bring Home From Every State

• This Is the Most Popular Grilled Food in Each State

• Why These 13 Foods Are Banned In The US

📦 Featured Product

Over the last few months, I’ve shared some products on pens, fidget toys, and multitools, but here are a few more items that fit the Every Day Carry (EDC) category.

• Flat Rechargeable Flashlight

• Pebblebee Halo Personal Safety Alarm

• Titanium Toothpick Holder

• Travel Utensils with Case

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Are You Using the Wrong AI Model?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI, Apps, Phones, and Streaming
😎 Pick of the Week: Disney Picks
📦 Featured Product: Organization

📝 Are You Using the Wrong AI Model?

In this world of -what seems like thousands of- AI tools, what’s the difference in all of the various versions? And why do they come out on a random basis? This has a lot to do with not only the hardware, but the software behind these systems. One way I read about comparing the differences, is to compare it to a company - in this case, I’ll use Apple as an example.

• OpenAI = Apple

• ChatGPT = iPhone

• 5.6 Sol = iPhone 17 Pro Max

• LLM = the A19 Chip

• ChatGPT application = iOS

• Reasoning effort = Performance settings

OpenAI is the company itself. They have multiple product lines like ChatGPT (for Work, Education, Enterprise), Codex, and discontinued products like DALL-E and Sora. Within a specific product like ChatGPT, they have multiple models (1, 2, …, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, etc). Then, within the model, the reasoning efforts can be modified for various outputs (instant, medium, high).

It may be obvious, but the higher number of the model, the more powerful and ‘smarter’ it is. However, that comes at a higher cost in tokens - meaning depending on how much you pay (or don’t pay if using the free version), your use of that model will be limited. Then, within each model, the higher levels will use more tokens, too. But why would you ever want to use instant over high? Better is better, right?

Well, not necessarily. It does mean it will always take longer. But longer thinking isn’t always better, either. At least depending on the question asked. To compare back to the iPhone, we would compare this to the performance settings - which are always tied to battery usage. So, imagine if instant is comparable to the efficiency mode, high is comparable to maximum performance, and medium is balanced. In the case of AI prompting, high reasoning is better for things like coding, analysis, and multi-step decisions when there are multiple constraints in place.

The basic example would be if you were asking for the solution to a simple math problem, or to make up a joke about ducks - the instant version would be best suited here. If you were trying to design a 3-year business plan that included tax information, software suggestions, marketing copy, and more - the higher reasoning model would need to be used to provide time and research. Choosing the wrong version can also stifle results. You can ask for all of those documents in the instant model, but your results will be all but useless.

The next question becomes, why are there new models released so often? Essentially, they may be faster and better (or smarter), but there are changes happening on the backend, too. This may include updates to the code, faster speeds, better reasoning, lower cost, lower use of electricity, improved memory, size of the model, and other tweaks to the system for usability around safety, multilingual support, or simply a better User Interface or User Experience. Just like every new version of an iPhone isn’t just faster, they have a better camera, battery, and more.

The next question I get a lot is, “Which one is the best?” And that answer can actually change month to month. Just like in the phone world, there’s a new manufacture releasing a new phone just about every month which is newer and better than any other on the market. The new Samsung Galaxy phone released last month is going to be (on paper at least) better than the last Google Pixel released… until the new one comes out. Which then starts the process all over again.

Another question to this is why do these companies still keep older products active and available for use? As mentioned, within each new model released, there are tradeoffs. We mentioned speed, cost, reasoning, memory, and others, but token utilization is another huge factor. Since different prompts on different models call for a varied use in tokens, sometimes you may want to prioritize your usage - especially with larger projects. Older models become exponentially cheaper when newer models are released.

Except something I’ve already written about a few times should be considered, too: local models. The Google AI Edge Gallery is one popular and powerful local model that can run on your device with no connection to the internet. There are some downsides though - this is comparable to an older “instant” model. Hugging Face is an AI community that shares tons of LLMs that can run local on your machine.

Ultimately, the best model is the one you are comfortable using and the one you will actually use. Unless you’re on the bleeding edge of coding or solving high-level mathmatical problems where you’re already paying $100-200 a month to use the model for, it probably doesn’t matter anyway. Just pick on you’re comfortable using, pay for the base tier, and choose the highest reasoning model based on the prompt you’re giving it.

Not sure which model to use and want to at least try to use the right one. Simple - just ask it! Type in what prompt you were planning to ask anyway, but before sending, make the first sentence something like, “Which model and reasoning effort would be best for the following prompt:“? If you really want to dig into prompting importance, there are tons of online courses, videos, and documentation. But maybe start here: Do you have to be polite to AI?

All this in mind, AI has grown exponentially in the last year. Any and every update may seem overwhelming, but the good news is choosing or deciding what model to use isn’t as important as just learning how to ask questions.

So the next time you open up a chat window, before typing in anything, ask yourself: What problem am I trying to solve?

🗞️ ICYMI: AI, Apps, Phones, and Streaming

AI

• Tau’s humanoid cleaning service Launched in San Francisco at $30 per hour, invite only, and human controlled while testing is underway.

• DoorDash Gets FAA Nod to Run Its Own Drone Delivery Program

• Industry Leaders Unite in Open Secure AI Alliance for AI Safety and Security “Including Leaders across cloud computing, cybersecurity, enterprise software, open source foundations and AI research.”

• Anthropic AI Models Hacked Three Companies During Tests …more to come soon.

Apps

• X.com launches X Money in the US with Apple Wallet support after invite-only beta. You can read more at X Money.

• Meta Gives Facebook Marketplace Its Own App Called Seller. Currently, it’s only available on the App Store. The Android version has testing underway.

• Jack Dorsey is taking on Slack with Buzz, a group chat platform for teams and their AI agents. Currently, only available on Mac.

Phones

• Amazon Plans to Launch 5,000 New Satellites to Beam Data to iPhones

• Apple Launches Product Leasing Program Through Klarna. Please do not lease an Apple product unless it’s strictly for work, you get a new one every 2-3 years, and you have Apple Care with it.

Streaming

• YouTube clarifies policies around AI slop and upsetting videos. If you’re using AI in your YouTube videos and trying to monetize, be careful! Without having full details yet, it appears YouTube “Hackquires” Peacock by ‘partnering’ rather than acquiring?

😎 POTW: Disney Picks

Disney World is often a vacation spot at the top of many people’s list. But there’s a lot more happening behind the scenes than what you may be aware of! The technology and engineering behind the parks and movies is amazing! If you’re okay with losing a bit of the magic, check out some of the picks below. And if you enjoy these picks and visit Disney World in person, I can’t suggest the Keys to Kingdom Tour enough!

• 8 Tech Innovations That Have Fueled Disney’s Rise

• Inside Disney’s Secret Engineering Lab

• Let’s move to Disney town! Will life in its 2,000 themed homes be a dream or a nightmare?

• Olaf: Bringing an Animated Character to Life in the Physical World

• Time stands still: A look inside Walt Disney’s office

• Why Disney World Has No Mosquitoes

📦 Featured Product

If the heat of the summer has you inside looking for things to do, perhaps you can pick up where your spring cleaning left off and organize and decorate a bit? There’s hopefully something for everyone. And lock your phone away until your finished!

• 3- or 4-Tier Medicine Storage Box Cabinet

• Clear Plastic Drawer Organizers

• Drawer Organizer for Garage

• Floating Bookshelf

• Metal 7 Day Travel Pill Organizer

• Mindsight Timed Lock Box

• Over the Door Organizer

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: When Is a Failed Product Actually Ahead of Its Time?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Galaxy Unpacked
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI Updates
😎 Pick of the Week: Education Picks
📦 Featured Product: Lamps

📝 When Is a Failed Product Actually Ahead of Its Time?

If you know me, or have followed me, long enough - you probably still may think I’m a Microsoft fan boy. To some extent, I may be, but it’s also no secret I’m trapped in the Apple ecosystem pretty deep and I’ve embraced the blue bubble. As mentioned, I still think Microsoft does some things right, I know they also do some things wrong, but other times, they may also just be too early. I also recognize many other companies do the same thing… I just had this thought this week, and now you get to hear about it! And hopefully get to thinking yourself.

What sparked the thought was seeing Samsung’s newly announced Galaxy Z Fold8. It is a “passport” book-opening shape that the rumored new iPhone is also alleged to be. Well, it’s probably not a spoiler, but do you know who released the first passport-style foldable phone? Microsoft. The Surface Duo had two inner screens with one outer screen (with one exception that the two inner screens weren’t connected). However, that may have been the right choice in hindsight since the first few years of foldables had major issues.

Well, this post wouldn’t be made if that was the only product I’m talking about. To be clear, I’m not saying every failed product was amazing and shouldn’t have been cancelled. Some products fail because they are bad, some fail because they are too expensive, others may fail due to understanding, timing, or limitations.

A few other Microsoft examples come to mind that you may or may not have heard of: Cortana, HoloLens, Microsoft Band, and the Surface Duo as mentioned.

Cortana was Microsoft’s digital assistant. At the time, it was their competitor to Apple’s Siri and Google’s assistant. Except anyone who had a Windows phone would tell you that Cortana was the market leader here. Today, Microsoft is trying to push back with Copilot, but I think they’ve fallen a bit too far to catch up, unfortunately.

HoloLens was Microsoft’s mixed reality headset. What we would refer to as Augmented Reality (AR). It was one of the first in the AR space, and most of the market moved towards VR. Where it stayed for a few years… until… you guessed it - back to AR. There are still VR-only headsets, but Apple’s Vision Pro, Meta’s Quest, and Google’s Android XR systems are all a mix of VR and AR. Microsoft’s biggest issue here was it was priced too far out for consumers and was a bit too bulky. Pair the HoloLens with the Xbox Kinect, and they could absolutely have a monopoly on the future of the gaming industry. Okay, that may be a bit too much, but I think you understand my point.

The Microsoft Band was one of the first fitness-focused wearables that wasn’t just a “smartwatch”. Now, all the major manufactures are releasing a screen-less wearable to rival the Whoop - the most popular fitness wearable. Now, smartwatches have taken over and generally include the fitness features most people care about. That said, years before the Band or any other major smartwatch, Microsoft also released SPOT Watch Technology. Too early here is almost an understatement.

I’m not sure what the full pattern is, but the next time Microsoft invests a lot into a product, then eventually cancel it, I may start investing in companies about to release the same type of product! It seems like Microsoft is mostly business-focused and struggles to get normal consumers to care before the category is ready.

The lesson here isn’t that Microsoft always gets it right. Clearly, they don’t. Again - somethings they do right, and somethings they do wrong. But othertimes, maybe they are just too early.

It’s also not just Microsoft. Google was a bit too early with Google Glass, and the Humane Pin has some competitors coming around. There are different reasons for both of those products, but as the market and the potential customers change, so do their needs.

What products are you seeing today that may be too early?

🗞️ ICYMI: Galaxy Unpacked

At the Galaxy Unpacked event last week, Samsung announced update devices, including: three new phones, two new watches, and a pair of smart glasses.

The Galaxy ZX Fold 8 Ultra is their flagship foldable, which was updated to be their thinnest phone, with biggest battery ever. The display now uses a new titanium film providing less of a crease than previous models. The new Galaxy Z Fold 8 is their first passport-style phone which is a bit smaller than the ultra, has one less camera, and is touted as their “lightest Fold phone ever.” The Galaxy Z Flip has been updated to be thinner and faster with a new One UI 9 for the Flex Window, allowing users to create custom Cards. All three phones have updated cameras, softwares, and AI is more integrated throughout the OS.

The phones and watches are available on August 7th, with the Samsung Intelligent Eyewear coming this Fall.

🗞️ ICYMI: AI Updates

OpenAI had a busy week… they Launched Health in ChatGPT, then their Models Escaped and Hacked a Company in a Cybersecurity Test Gone Wrong. Their agents were solving simulated hacking challenges, but found a vulnerability in the testing sandbox, allowing them to Break Into Hugging Face. There’s a much larger discussion here around increasingly more capable AI agents, but it does appear the agents were only trying to solve the issue at hand, not cause harm to the company or gain consciousness. Say what you will, but if companies owning the software are testing with results like this, then true hackers are probably already doing much worse. These models are already out and cannot simply be “shut down,” so this will be common in the foreseeable future. Hugging Face did release a Security incident disclosure.

😎 POTW: Education Picks

With school getting ready to start back across the country, perhaps you (and your kids) may enjoy some unique education picks to end your summer!

• 5 Most Common Shark Myths: BUSTED

• 6 Fascinating Facts to Know on the 150th Anniversary of the Telephone Call

• Education Interactive Periodic Table & Chemical Equation Balancer

• Every Moon Type in the Universe Explained

• What Collectibles Crazes Can Tell Us About an Entire Era

• What’s Under Your Feet in New York City?

📦 Featured Product

Whether your trying to get a bit more (or unique) light in your office, living room, or at the campsite, here’s a few lamps to consider:

• DIY Puzzle Lamp Shade

• Philips Hue Play Table Lamp

• SKYLEO Desk Lamp

• WeatheReady LED Camping Lantern

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Are You Using Your Inbox the Wrong Way?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI, Mobile, and Other Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Entertainment Picks
📦 Featured Product: Multitools

📝 Are You Using Your Inbox the Wrong Way?

A few years ago, I wrote a post about how to get to Inbox Zero in your email.

And before you start making excuses, no, Inbox Zero does not mean you are better than everyone else because your inbox is empty. It also does not mean you respond to every email immediately, live inside Outlook all day, or treat every notification like an emergency. Put simply, Inbox Zero means your inbox functions as a tool rather than a catch all.

I think most of us are used to and comfortable using email since we must use it for work. Not to mention it functions like a more in-depth text message, which we are all familiar. The problem is there is a lot more “junk” in our email, and it feels like a never-ending list of things to keep up with. As we receive more and more email, it becomes quite overwhelming. In the post linked above, the 5 main tips I shared still ring true today.

1. Move all current emails into a new folder called “Old Inbox”

2. Use your inbox as a “working table”

3. Create rules and filters for anything and everything

4. Create folders (or labels/categories) for everything

5. Use search!

What can be a bit confusing, or what may seem like a cheat at first, is by simply starting today with no emails in your inbox. These tips work collectively to help you manage your inbox. By moving everything currently in your inbox to another pre-determined folder, and creating a system to track your emails, your inbox can now become your Todo list of sorts.

Keep in mind: we are not deleting anything. We are not pretending the emails don’t exist and acting like we will never respond or act on them. We are simply giving ourselves a clean starting point. Remember, email should function like a tool, and in order to do that, starting fresh allows us to continue the process more effectively once it gets going.

Before any emails come in, we can choose on a new organizational system - and an important note: there is no one correct system. This can be based on a category or labeling structure, or a foldered structure. To be fair, I know many people who leave every email ever in their main inbox and just use the search feature mixed with categories or labels. It works for them. But if this worked for you, you would have already stopped reading by now I bet.

I prefer, and suggest, specific folders for every [topic, project, item, person, etc]. The system I use to create my folders and organization is based on the Johnny Decimal System. I’ve been using it for a few months and I’m sold. Anytime I need to find a file, note, or email, I can go straight to the given folder. Not sure what folder it’s listed under? Simple - just check the index file!

Alternatively, you could also wait until new emails come in, and create an organizational structure up based on who it’s coming from, what project it goes with, or what topic it falls under. Any system will be continually updated, so there’s flexibility. Now, the goal is simple: any email that lands in your inbox should eventually be handled in one of a few ways: responding, filing, deleting, or leave it to become a Todo later on.

Later on, you can attack that old inbox folder and start organizing those emails by searching [by topic, project, name, etc]. By simply searching the term, “Unsubscribe” the results will net all emails that you can then unsubscribe to. Or with a clean inbox, you’ll see them coming in in real time and can act then. I haven’t used it, but the app Trimbox: Email Cleaner has great reviews and appears to help do this step much easier.

Now, let’s talk about a few general email habits that have nothing to do with Inbox Zero but can save you headache in other ways.

First, you can highlight any text in your email, right click (or click the properties button of your email app) and select “Insert Link.” This will allow you to make your text clickable and go to a website of your choice to anyone you send the link to. Any of the text in this post that is colored red is clickable and created the same way.

Second, be careful with “Reply” versus “Reply All.” Sometimes indicated by a single curved arrow or a an arrow with two heads. Reply means you are responding only to the original sender. Reply All means you are responding to everyone in the “To” and “CC” fields. The “To” field is who you are intending to see the email - just like a text message (which can also be a group).

The “CC” stands for Carbon Copy and lets the recipient(s) in this box be in the loop. This is also you telling them, “Hey, this is important, but you don’t necessarily need to respond.” They are receiving a copy for their records.

The “BCC” stands for Blind Carbon Copy and lets the recipient(s) in this field receive the email as if it was only sent to them as an individual email. They will not see anyone else in the BCC field, however, they will see others in the “To” and “CC” boxes. Also important here, no one else who may be in the “To” or “CC” fields will see the users who received the email in the “BCC” field. This is also a way to email a lot of people the same email without anyone being able to choose “Reply all.”

Third, utilize email drafts more often! Many times, people will send an email as soon as they finish and immediately say, “Oops!” because they noticed a misspelt word or incorrect date.

Sometimes it can be helpful to write the message, leave the recipient blank, save it as a draft, and come back to finish it later. Leaving the recipient blank is the important part, because email apps will not let you send an email until that is filled out. If you don’t want to forget the users email for instance, just paste it at the top of the email and remove it before sending.

One last trick is to have an ongoing email chain with yourself that is pinned at the top of your inbox. That way, you always know where it is and its easily accessible. Simply right clicking on the email in your inbox will allow you to choose “Pin to top” where the email will live until you unpin, delete, or file it away.

So, keep in mind, with all of the advancements we’ve seen in technology - including the chat apps, project management tools, and AI chatbots - email is still default communication tool to most and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

If we have to use it, why not use it as a tool to make our lives easier. Find a system that works for you and implement it! If your inbox currently has 100+ unread emails, this is for you. Make sure your inbox is helping you get things done rather than be a place where emails go to disappear.

What other email tricks are you using?

🗞️ ICYMI: AI, Mobile, and Other Headlines

While Meta is doubling down on its Louisiana AI data center bringing the project’s cost to more than $50 billion, New York becomes the first state to enact a data center moratorium. SpaceX and xAI are working on moving their data centers to space, and China just switched on the first underwater data center, cooling servers with the ocean to slash energy use. On the software side of this, Apple Sues OpenAI, Accusing It of Stealing Company Secrets after hiring over 40 former Apple employees.

After almost 7 years on mobile Ninendo has to decided to shut down Mario Kart Tour on September 29, with no offline version planned. Specific to Android, Third-party app stores are coming to Google Play next week as the Epic settlement was withdrawn. This will open up tons of opportunities for new games and apps, so look for a Mario Kart clone if you are missing out. Current alternatives include Sonic Racing, Disney Speedstorm, and Beach Buggy Racing.

Just in case you were wondering, Cryptocurrencies are still here. Visa Is Expanding Its Crypto Push With New Stablecoin Platform, potentially opening the door for other financial organizations to make a move if they haven’t already.

Engineers at The University of Texas at Austin created a Wearable jacket that extracts 900 ml of drinking water daily from the air.

😎 POTW: Entertainment Picks

TV shows, movies, and music all keep us entertained and feel human. If you’ve ever wondered how things changed over time, what some actors really think about, or simply curious about the industry, here’s some entertainment picks I hope you find interesting:

• A timeline of tech advancements in music

• Channel Surfer - Watch YouTube Like It’s Cable TV

• In case you forgot directors cuts exists, I present to you - Ben Affleck Mocks Armageddon

• Most Famous Movie Set in Every State

• SeasonTracker — Track TV Show Seasons, Renewals & Cancellations

• The Golden Age Begins: 40 Vintage Film Posters of the 1930s

📦 Featured Product

Perhaps fidget toys weren’t your style? What about a multitool? Here are 3 different styles, so I’m sure one of them look interesting!

• Carabiner 8-in-1 Multitool

• GUARDMAN 11-in-1 Credit Card Multitool

• Leatherman Rebar Multitool

• Snowflake 18-in-1 Multitool

• Victorinox Swiss Card Classic Swiss Army Knife

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Is Your Device Getting Better, or Just Better Looking?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Meta
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Open AI
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Streaming TV and Games
😎 Pick of the Week: Travel Picks
📦 Featured Product: Fidget Toys

📝 Is Your Device Getting Better, or Just Better Looking?

Have you ever woke up and your phone or computer now looks different than it did before? Maybe the buttons moved or changed shape. Maybe an icon looks different. Or worse, you can’t find that one setting you know exactly where it is because all of the menus have changed, too.

Well, Operating Systems (OS) send out updates all the time. Some you never notice as they may just be bug fixes or some small feature update. Some are nice because our phones and computers can now do things it couldn’t before. But some are aggravating - especially when we didn’t expect it and we’re use to our daily workflow.

The difference in these two examples is referred to as the User Interface (UI) and the User Experience (UX). Put simply, the UI is what you actually see and touch in regard to the menus, icons, tabs, and more. The UX is how the system actually functions. Is it easy and intuitive or is it confusing and difficult? Ultimately, can you find what you need and do what you need to do?

Let’s compare this to your home’s kitchen. The UI is how the kitchen looks. The UX is whether or not the dishwasher is too far from the sink, or if you can find a utensil without opening half the drawers. While each has its place and use case, the distinction actually matters. Software companies always update their systems, and sometimes it’s a UI update, but sometimes it’s a UX update. These two can absolutely go hand in hand, combining to make things easier for users.

Across our computing world, I want to break up two areas into two categories. To start, let’s talk about desktops vs mobile. In the desktop world, the two main players are Apple’s Mac OS and Microsoft’s Windows OS. In the mobile world, the two main players are Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. I know there are others, but I am only discussing these two as the role of comparing UI and UX is pretty clear between the two.

Both of Apple’s OS’s are the same story (generally). There is one polished UI across their system, there is one way to do something within the OS itself or within the settings, and there are few (if any) ways to customize the look and feel. With this comes consistent and a predictable UI and UX. To keep the food analogy going, Apple UI and UX is like going to a restaurant where the menu is limited and substitutions are not allowed.

Lumping Windows and Android together, both systems allow the user multiple ways to do the same thing. For example, a setting can be changed within the Settings app, the control panel, a right-click menu, keyboard shortcut (opn desktop), or even with root level commands from the coding backend of both systems. This UI and UX could be compared to a restaurant’s buffet where everyone is getting the same things, but the portions differ and everyone’s plate looks different.

It’s important to note that neither approach is better for either the UI or the UX. This is where user preference usually helps with decisions. I’ve talked about my past conversion to the Apple System (Confessions of an Apple Convert: Embracing the Blue Bubble), and even wrote a recent post about Is Your Ecosystem Making Your Decisions for You? Sometimes, one or two apps, regardless of the UI or UX make that decision for you, too.

The Apple process of one “one way to do X” works for some because there are no decisions to make and “things just work.” The Windows/Android process of “do things multiple ways” and “make it look and function however you want” allows people to tinker and argue that “things work better.” Comparing flexibility vs consistency is probably the biggest argument when trying to decide. Which, no one can make that decision for you.

UI (looks) and UX (behavior) both work together to create systems that look and work for you the way you want them to. The look of your system matters, and the way it function matters, but working together is the sweet spot we look for when choosing. But remember, whichever system we do choose, we are also giving up some level of looks, function, or consistency.

So the next time your phone or computer updates, pay attention to what actually changed. Did it just get prettier? Did it become easier to use? Did it hide something you used all the time? Did it give you more control, or did it quietly take control away? Because at the end of the day, the best system is not the one that helps you do what you want to do without thinking about it.

🗞️ ICYMI: Meta

Last month, the New York Times reported that Meta created a Prediction Market app. It was then revealed that they were in talks to acquire Kalshi but deal fell apart. But that’s just one subsidiary of Meta. Their messaging app, WhatsApp, just opened username reservations. Make sure you claim your handle before it's taken. On their Instagram app, they developed an AI image model in bid to court advertisers and subscribers. The kicker here is anyone on the platform can reuse your images to create an AI image. Make sure you opt out of this new Instagram feature if you choose to do so.

🗞️ ICYMI: OpenAI

If you subscribe to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, you should be seeing a new interface soon if not already. This week, OpenAI released a new ChatGPT tool for all things work related. This combined their previously separate app, Codex, and now includes sites, scheduling tasks, and more capable Agents. You can also use the app’s voice feature to hold a conversation between two speakers using different languages while ChatGPT translates in realtime. This update includes a launch of GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna, their most intelligent model, their balanced model, and fastest model.

🗞️ ICYMI: Streaming TV and Games

Streaming services are ever changing and always adding and removing content. However, it appears that Netflix Is Exploring Live TV and Bundles as It Struggles to Keep Viewers Hooked. Not sure how that’s ever been an issue, as there doesn’t appear to be a decline in viewership. Among others, Netflix and Sony Are Reportedly Circling Letterboxd. This would give either entity “a social network and an audience research tool.” Sony’s other revenue stream, PlayStation, confirms end of physical games. The gaming world is about to change, because Xbox is also working on a way to digitize your physical game collection while they are Cutting More Than 3,000 Jobs in Xbox Division. In other sad gaming news, a fan favorite - Mario Kart Tour will shut down later this year, with no offline mode planned.

😎 POTW: Travel Picks

While most summer trips may be winding down, I wanted to share some travel picks before it got too late. Enjoy these whether you’re traveling by car, plane, or just planning for next summer’s trip!

• ‎Are we nearly there? App

• From fairytale towns to secret islands: Europe’s hidden gem travel destinations

• Google Flight Simulator

• Is There a Best Day to Buy Airline Tickets?

• Makemydrivefun.com

• These Odd Travel Hacks Actually Work in 2026: Yogurt, Hats, Maps, & More

• Why road trips are good for you, according to science

📦 Featured Product

Looking for something to help keep you focused, ease restlessness, or just something to play with in your hands while you’re thinking or simply just sitting at your desk or on your couch? How about a simple fidget toy? Here are some that click, spin, rotate, and more!

• Fidget Toys Sensory Rings

• Keyboard Fidget Toy

• Picking Fidget Toys

• Sensory Stones for Stress Relief

• theFube Infinity Cube

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Why Is AI So Good at Some Problems and So Bad at Others?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Price Hikes
😎 Pick of the Week: Presidential Picks
📦 Featured Product: Casio Ollee Watch

📝 Why Is AI So Good at Some Problems and So Bad at Others?

Have you ever tried to use AI and just weren’t happy with the result? Or maybe you use it often and think sometimes it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread and other times an 8-year-old could give you a better answer? And they wouldn’t be a sycophant about it. I don’t know about you, but I get tired of AI chatbots excessively agree with me and always saying what it “expects I want to hear.”

With all of the changes in AI across the many companies involved creating their own chatbots, what they can and can’t do change pretty frequently - even in their responses to the same question or prompt given to a previous model. However, regardless of updates, I’ve noticed that AI thrives in one of two areas that couldn’t be further apart.

First, AI, also referred to sometimes as Generative AI, excels in ‘generating’ new things. This includes all forms of writing, graphics (images and video), audio, code, and even idea generation. The kicker here - is this only revolves around things that have no correct answer. Meaning everything is creates should be (at some level) sufficient for what the user wants but is subjective on “how good” it actually is.

At this end of its parameters, one could argue AI is a form of an artist. However, all artist (regardless of the medium) have a personality, and success is very subjective as mentioned. AI also has a personality (as do artists), but it can be easier for a human to sniff out. Here, AI doesn’t have to produce the correct answer, only a useful answer.

On the other end of the spectrum, AI excels (generally) in taking in a ton of information, distilling it out, and providing an answer when there is only one answer to give. The kicker here - is it needs all information, or at least as much access as possible to all information, required to make a decision. Meaning every answer it gives should be very black and white.

At this end of its parameters, one could argue it’s not even AI, it’s just a robot blindly completing a task. And this is probably a good take, but in this case, AI is doing a lot more compute than just [if this is X, then the answer is Y]. Here, I would argue that AI is literally doing the same exact thing a human could do, it would just take a human weeks, months, if not years. Pattern recognition falls under this category, too.

Where AI falls short and gets things wrong more often than not, is in the middle. If it doesn’t have all of the required information, or if there are multiple (potentially) correct answers, AI can struggle to provide a great response. These types of scenarios require tradeoffs, considering intuition, values, a level of uncertainty, and most important - judgement. Example scenarios that fall here may have multiple right answers. And in most cases, there also aren’t an unlimited amount of answers, either.

You know who else struggles with scenarios that have multiple correct answers if information is missing? Humans! The difference is that humans have lived experiences, understand empathy, accountability, intuition, and much more.

So be careful when prompting, and make sure you know what you’re actually asking. Are you wanting the one correct answer, some generated answers, or are you possibly requesting a level of judgement. For friendly reminder, check out one of my older posts about How to Make AI Work for You with the Power of Prompting.

AI performs best at the two ends of the spectrum, when there are countless acceptable answers, or when there’s only one. The hardest problems aren’t typically either one of those. They’re the ones in the middle. And these decisions require complete information, competing priorities, and human judgment. Those are the scenarios where AI should be remembered as a tool for helping you get to the right answer - for you, and for your specific scenario.

🗞️ ICYMI: AI Updates

While I wrote about how often AI changes in regard to prompting and its response, something else that also changes is the teams behind them. One of the most popular companies, OpenAI, is known to make significant changes, and pull from competitors. First up, they hired Apple’s Vision Pro and Smart Glasses Chief, then the Google Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer.

Unrelated, but Google makes Gemini’s personalized image generation free for all US users - something you may want to take advantage of if you do not have an AI subscription elsewhere. The Nano Banana image generator is a popular tool across the web consistently putting out great work that many people talk up.

🗞️ ICYMI: Price Hikes

In a long list of price increases across the tech world, Apple announces significant price increases for MacBooks, iPads, more. Noting the surge in pricing for the costs of memory and storage chips, the price for Macs, iPads, and other hardware rose anywhere from 15%-25%. Missing from the price adjustments is the ever-popular iPhone lineup. While time will tell, in the short term, Apple stock sunk 6% after the price hikes.

On the gaming side, Microsoft Announces Significant Price Rises for Xbox Series X and S, while discontinuing the highest storage model. One of the most anticipated games of the decade, Grand Theft Auto VI, is finally allowing preorders for a November 19 release date. And it’s topping the charts for pricing, too. Sure, you can purchase the Standard Edition for $79.99, but without spending the extra $20 for the Ultimate Edition, you will literally be locked out of physical locations within the game.

😎 POTW: Presidential Picks

As the U.S. continues to celebrate its semiquincentennial, how about some presidential picks?

• 7 Priceless Facts About the U.S. Mint

• Presidential Fitness Test: Does It Teach Kids How to Exercise?

• The 5 Most Unusual Morning Routines of U.S. Presidents

• The U.S. Presidents’ Favorite Books

📦 Featured Product

After talking with a few readers, I think one of my previous “products” that was called out in the tech headlines deserves it’s own product showcase. An electrical engineer I saw on Reddit developed the Ollee Watch. It’s a circuit board you can buy to turn your classic Casio watch into somewhat of a smartwatch. It works well with the Casio F91W Series, among a few others. It includes extra features from a normal Casio like snooze alarms, sunrise/sunset tracking, steps tracking, and an *astericks* version of heart rate and temperature. There are some caveats to those two. It has up to 10 months of battery life at normal use, with over 3 years in power save mode and motion sensors off. Notifications are planned, but no release time set yet.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: How Do Data Centers Keep Your Files Safe?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Meta Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: TV Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Sports Picks
📦 Featured Product: World Cup Merch

📝 How Do Data Centers Keep Your Files Safe?

Almost everyone who owns a phone or uses a computer has heard one of the following statements:

• “Back up your files.”

• “Store things in the cloud.”

• “Use the 3-2-1 method.”

Even I’ve shared that multiple times before. I’m obviously biased, but one of the better posts I think I’ve made on this topic is Understanding Where Your Data Lives and How the Cloud Works. But just knowing how and where these companies are storing our data is only one part of the problem. We can assume our data is stored on hard drives, and (after reading the above post) we understand our data may be split across multiple data centers.

But what happens when hard drives go bad? Because they do go bad…

Data centers use a “best practice” in the computer world that you may also use at home should you so choose. It can’t be utilized on laptops (typically), but it can and is used on Desktops and personal External hard drives all the time. Your servers used in your work/office probably utilize this method, too.

It’s a process known as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). And the process is in the name. A hard drive is also called a disk, and by having multiple, independent disks, the array provides redundancy.

Now you may be thinking, “I will NEVER use this…” and you’d probably be right. But I still think understanding what’s happening on the backend of things is important. Maybe you get a trivia question right one day, too! ****

As mentioned, most of these hard disks in use will fail. They have a lifecycle based on a number of reads and writes, but may also fail in general due to power surges/loss. Just like anything, they are getting better, faster, and cheaper, but again - they can and will still fail over time.

Well, believe it or not, these data centers also backup everything. At least for the most part. Each data center approaches it in a different way, but for the most part, they’re all backing up their data. The RAID process allows multiple ways of backing up or storing data across multiple disks, not just one. This provides redundancy or speed through two main ways known as Striping and Mirroring.

Striping splits data across two (or more) drives. It’s faster to access, but doesn’t always provide proper redundancy. A perk here, though, is by using multiple drives and splitting the data, you have the same amount of storage space that can (theoretically) be accessed in twice the speed. The main downside here is if you lose one drive, you lose everything.

Mirroring puts the same data on two (or more) drives. This means if one (or more) drives go bad, you can still have 1 good copy. However, you will only get the total storage space of one drive.

For both striping and mirroring, both all drives must be identical in brand, model, size, and speed.

Where this becomes more powerful though, is combining striping and mirroring together. It does require more drives, but when dealing with a server or larger external storage drive, they will typically have 5 or more drives in use. The more drives in use, the more that can go bad at the same time. When a drive does go bad, techs can swap out a new drive for a bad one, and they system will automatically adopt it and set it up to work with the others.

By utilizing RAID, and even other systems, data centers can provide massive amounts of storage, quickly, with redundancy. As mentioned before, these data centers are not only using RAID locally at each center, they are utilizing a physical version of RAID by having your data stored across multiple centers across the nation.

The next time you upload files to the cloud, remember that multiple hard drives in multiple locations are working together to make sure it is backed up when one of the drives eventually fails. Cloud storage isn’t reliable because hard drives never fail, it’s reliable because engineers designing these data centers expect them to.

🗞️ ICYMI: Meta Updates

As Meta integrates AI and LLMs across their platforms in many ways, it seems they are stepping back usage internally. They have decided to ‘pause’ the employee tracking program after it let the whole company see sensitive data. However, in other AI news, they are planning to release AI-powered prediction market app. It will be interesting to see what a final product looks like and if it’s using setiment across their apps to change the market.

On the hardware side, Meta Launches Cheaper Own-Brand Smart Glasses For $299. These appears to essentially be their version of the RayBan Meta Glasses. Perhaps their non-compete is over, and they’re allowed to sell their own? Either way, you can purchase them on the Meta Store or on Amazon.

🗞️ ICYMI: TV Headlines

• AI Goes Hollywood: Google, A24 Strike $75M AI Deal for Filmmaking Tools

• Nearly Half of LG Smart TV Apps Are Laced with Proxies

• Instagram looks to take on streaming services with longer-form, episodic and live formats for its TV app

• The Steam Machine is now available for purchase

😎 POTW: Sports Picks

• Art But Make It Sports: Epic Matchups Where Art and Sports Collide is a coffee table book with “a clever and laugh-out-loud art history twist” matching your favorite sports moments with their fine art doppelganger.

• Interested in watch live baseball games, but don’t necessarily subscribe to services that show each game? Well, you can try out MLB.TV or catch pitch by pitch rendered in a pixel art with Ribbie: 8-bit baseball.

• Play 82-0 and see if you can construct a historical NBA roster capable of achieving a perfect undefeated season. Choose one player from a random team from a random decade until you complete your team.

• Watching the World Cup and still confused a bit? Check out this video on The World Cup Explained For Beginners or Every position in soccer.

📦 Featured Product

To help celebrate the FIFA World Cup happening across the US, Canada, and Mexico, here’s some licensed World Cup merch:

• Adidas FIFA World Cup 26 Trionda Host Nation League Soccer Ball

• LEGO Editions FIFA World Cup Official Trophy Building Set

• Nike Men’s World Cup T-Shirt

• Official FIFA World Cup Refillable Squeeze Water Bottle

• Pelican M50 Micro Case

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Why Are Companies Suddenly Building So Many Data Centers?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: T
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: O
😎 Pick of the Week: M
📦 Featured Product: N

📝 Why Are Companies Suddenly Building So Many Data Centers?

If you have browsed the web either on news sites or on one of the plenty social media sites available, you’ve probably heard many of people, businesses, or even all levels of government (city, parish/county, state), talk about companies building massive new data centers across the country. Recently, it was reported that Meta’s Giant AI Data Center Is Reshaping Rural Louisiana. There have been talks of others not just in Louisiana, but across the south where the demographics and infrastructure help. This includes an area in need of/or possessing an industry, an abundance of land, and an ability to access or build (inexpensive and consistent) energy (e.g., water, solar) that has somewhat central access to an internet grid.

So, what exactly goes inside these buildings, and why do we suddenly need so many of them?

That’s an easy to understand, but difficult to master type of question that has a lot of nuances and many moving pieces - including political ones. However, put simply — every time we stream a movie, upload a picture, scroll on social media, play a podcast, or ask one of our many AIs or virtual assistants a question, we are demanding more computational power. And the more and more people that do this at scale, the more data centers will be required to sustain this access, speed, and expectation.

Be honest, how long would you give a YouTube video or TV show to load (or buffer) before you’d decide to move on to something else? That will only get worse and worse as more people come online if we have no data centers to support them. To be clear - I’m not talking about internet speed here. I’m talking about what your internet connects and talks to in order to give you the information you’re asking for.

We talk about “the cloud” as if it exists “somewhere in the sky,” but in reality, it exists on very real and very physical hard drives store in a random location across the country. Moving the physical storage to a different country would not be feasible for privacy/security sake, but also for speed and access. To dive a bit deeper here, check out my post on Understanding Where Your Data Lives and How the Cloud Works.

These data centers are essentially a bunch of computers. CPUs, GPUs, RAM, Hard Drives, and Power Supplies. They require a lot of energy to power the chipsets, keep the hard drives running, and also keep things cool. These data centers’ computers also host websites, run applications, help with your backups, and much more. An AI data center includes many of the same types of hardware, but requires much more processing power, and by extension - electrical power.

In my last post, I tried to attack the question of What Happens When AI Can Take Action? because the AI models are actually ‘shrinking’ enough to be very powerful just by using our device’s processing power locally, without needing internet access to pint an AI data center. The problem is it doesn’t appear that shrinking and speeding them up is still keeping up with demand. On the other hand, looking at the LLMs price vs performance over the last 3 years, we are getting faster AI models that cost less. In many cases, the new version is quicker/faster/etc and cost less than its predecessor.

As the performance increases with a drop in cost, the demand has surged. Some businesses even require their employees to use AI in their jobs. We as a society have started to paint ourselves into an AI (and by extension, data center) corner where we have two ways of looking at this, and both are a much bigger conversation to have:

• If AI succeeds, will we have massive job layoffs?

• If AI fails, will we have massive economy collapse?

While this is very argumentative, the next time you wonder why companies are continuing to build massive data centers, start by looking at your own screen time. These buildings (must) exist because we use the services they offer made possible by the storage and power they require. The digital world we knew as “the cloud” for many years is starting to become very physical.

🗞️ ICYMI: Google Updates

Google released Android 17, but it looks to only -currently- be available on Pixel devices. See how You can get Android 17 on non-Pixel devices. **Check out what’s new, or watch 9to5Google’s video on Everything new in Android 17!**

With support from Google, Researchers at the University of California San Diego are building a useful second-life for consumer smartphones.

Google has filed a lawsuit against Outsider Enterprise, a China-based cybercrime network for using AI tools, including Gemini, to build phishing websites and scam infrastructure.

Google also released A New Google Home Smart Speaker. It’s priced at $99, built specifically for Gemini for Home, has upgrades speakers for a broader range of sound and bass, and can be paired for surround sound.

The ‘unsaid’ part of this product (and other Google products) is they’re trying to get users to opt in to one of their Google Home Premium plans. But if you plan to sign up for Google Home Premium (Standard) plan ($10/month), and are in the Google space at all, consider a Google One - Google AI Pro plan. It comes with 5 TB of storage, higher levels of Gemini usage, Google Home, and YouTube Premium for $20/month.

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

AI

• AI Startup Midjourney Pivots to Health With Ultrasound Machine

• OpenAI launches scheduled tasks in ChatGPT

• Using OpenAI to help physicians diagnose rare genetic diseases affecting children

Entertainment

• Everything Announced at Nintendo Direct June 2026 including a new Nintendo Switch Sports Resort for the Switch 2 launching on 22 October.

• Fox Is Buying Roku in a $22 Billion Deal that will close in the first half of calendar year 2027.

• Snap unveils $2,195 Specs AR glasses, read more about them in their announcement.

😎 POTW: New York City Picks

I’m a big fan of visiting New York City, so I’m always looking for a reason to share some Big Apple picks! So, in honor of the Knicks winning the NBA Championship and the city hosting FIFA this summer, how about some fun picks to go along with it!

• Affording New York - The New York Times

• Find a restroom through Bano NYC, NYRestroom, or PeePass.

• Making $2.7 Million a Year Selling Ice in NYC

• Traffic Cam Photobooth

Also, a popular NYC YouTuber, Casey Neistat has picked up steam posting videos a few times a week, and Subway Takes with Kareem Rahma was posted front and center in a Vanity Fair article where they were dubbed, “the new wave of late night”. He also started a new series called Keep the Meter Running where he basically asks a cabbie to take them to their favorite place - to which they continue to go all out.

📦 Featured Product

Whether your home office or place of business needs some desk swag, consider a Desk Pad. This essentially gives you a much larger mousepad that you may also place your keyboard on. There’s tons of varieties of art, minimal colors, practical information, or let you show support for your favorite [insert team, brand, etc]. Here’s a few examples:

• Aothia Non-Slip Waterproof PU Leather Desk Pad

• Desk Mat for Keyboard and Mouse - Black World Map

• Excel Cheat Sheet Desk Pad

• Mouse Pad with Wireless Charging and RGB

• NCAA LSU Tigers Logo Series Desk Pad

• Van Gogh Starry Night Extended Large Gaming Mouse Pad

• Weekly Wheaties Desk Pad

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: What Happens When AI Can Take Action?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Apple’s WWDC 2026
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Updates
😎 Pick of the Week: Pick 10
📦 Featured Product: Pens and Pen Holders

📝 What Happens When AI Can Take Action?

You’ve used a chatbot based on an LLM before, yes? Or you at least know what I’m referring to? Examples here include ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and more. These are AI tools that actually answer questions and help create things for you. On the other hand, this same technology (for the sake of the argument) can also be used to do actual work for you. And in some cases, automated on a schedule or [when this happens]. In general, we will refer to these as AI Agents. A very popular one that just came out this year is OpenClaw.

To further explain, the normal chatbots can write an email for you, or provide summaries of meetings with action items, but an AI Agent can actually send that email, or complete some of the action items before the meeting is even over.

All the big players in the tech space are already doing this and more. At Microsoft Build two weeks ago, one of their announcements included Scout, an AI That Works Like an Executive Assistant, allowing it to “appear on internal email and calendar systems as if it were just another helpful employee.” Mark Zuckerberg Wants Meta’s New AI Agents to Run Your Whole Business. And NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI.

They want to sell you not just the software, but the hardware allowing these AI Agents to work effectively. However, the AI sticker shock has hit corporate America, and they’re evening slowing down their usage. While Microsoft has their own Copilot AI, they also allowed their employees to use Claude, and recently cut Claude Code access as AI coding costs surge. They have since unveiled new AI models to lessen reliance on OpenAI and lower costs for developers.

However, what’s interesting is as our phones and computers are becoming more and more powerful, the LLMs are requiring less and less compute power to get the same (or better) result. For instance, Google’s new Gemma 4 12B model is designed to run on any laptop with 16GB of RAM. I’ve even written a few times about smaller Google models that can run on your phone, using only your phone’s processing power — the Google AI Edge Gallery app.

What this means for us is something pretty interesting. The models are becoming so powerful in such a small package, apps and services are being created that allow control over apps and services within your phone and/or computer. Prior to a wide release of the new Siri AI, Poke.com - the first and only Apple approved AI assistant - helps automating tasks on your phone by integrating with your email, calendar, and files through iMessage. This is just the start…

For personal matters, you can tell AI where you’d like to go (if it doesn’t know already), and it will book flights (around your schedule), setup Uber for when you land, book your hotel, reserve dinner and attractions, and even give you an itinerary to follow. Whether it gets everything exactly right is one question, but whether or not the trip itself is a good trip is something else.

Now imagine this in the workplace. There are tons of apps that integrate with others in acting like a digital assistant of sorts - emailing others, scheduling meetings, sending files, placing orders for products low in stock, and much more. It’s imperative that an AI Agent can be accurate for these types of roles, and while it’s not there just yet, it’s getting scarily close. This is why many people in the AI space mention the importance of the Human in the Loop. Having an expert (you in this case) who know’s the tasks being completed by the AI Agent are sufficient is paramount.

You probably wouldn’t want an AI Agent booking an entire vacation from you start to finish. But the question may not be whether you’ll use an AI Agent. It may be which tasks you’re willing to hand over first. Maybe this trip it’s just the flight. Next trip it’s the hotel. Eventually, it’s the whole itinerary. I have not read it, but journalist Joanna Stern “surrendered her life to artificial intelligence for one year” in her book I Am Not A Robot.

I’ve said it before and this won’t be the last time I’ll say it. AI won’t replace jobs - or at least as many jobs as people think - but it will allow someone who is utilizing AI to replace someone who isn’t.

🗞️ ICYMI: Apple’s WWDC 2026

Apple held their annual WWDC last week, sharing what’s to come in all things software for the Apple lineup this fall. Overall, the features announced appear to be a polish on the current line of softwares, along with finally releasing a standalone Siri AI app to do all the things and more promised two years ago. You can watch the full replay here, or read about Everything Announced. Some quick takes include:

• Apple Intelligence (and Siri AI) across many other Apple Apps

  • Email, messages, notes, etc.

  • Camera to search

  • Photos have spacial reframing and can now extend beyond the current photo’s crop

• More robust safety protections for parents and their children

• Passwords can not only tell you your password has been compromised, but change it to something more secure

• Describe a Siri Shortcut with natural language

• Tens (or maybe even hundreds) of minor updates affecting user experience, speed, compatibility, and reliability

  • Design changes to liquid glass

  • App launches up to 30% faster, Photos load up to 70% faster

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Updates

• Elon Musk’s SpaceX kicks off mega IPO wave with $75 billion haul. As crazy as this sounds, Google to Pay SpaceX Nearly $1 Billion a Month in Cloud-Computing Deal to access data from space (arguably one of the first true “cloud” storages ‘above the clouds’). Google is also running tests sending Chrome users straight into AI Mode. So… what is Google anymore?

• In partnership with Mike Rowe Works, Meta announced America’s Workforce Academy: The Future Is for Everyone. They’re not alone, either. Google is funding skilled trades training for the American economy, the next generation of American workers.

• AT&T is launching $3 ‘unlimited’ day passes for iPads. Sounds like this will work on any iPad that has cellular service and may be a great opportunity for those long car rides.

• Early last week, Anthropic Released Claude Fable 5, Its Most Powerful AI Yet, With Cyber Safeguards. However, the power outweighed the safeguards (allegedly) as they then released a s Statement on the US government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5.

😎 POTW: Pick 10

For better or worse, ten seems like a good number, right? Here’s some fun picks revolving around the number 10.

• 10 Famous Men and Their Motorcycles

• A rock, paper, scissors tournament for $10,000

• Image manipulation has always been around’: 10 early photographic ‘fakes’ that trick the eye

• The Cocktail That Defines Every Decade Since Prohibition

• The Entire ‘Avatar’ Franchise Explained in 10 Interactive Infographics

📦 Featured Product

In honor of Father’s Day coming up, how about some unique pens and pen holders?

• Demotivational Pens

• Multitool Pen

• Metal Gravity Spinner Pen

• Sarcastic Ballpoint Pens

• Tactical EDC Pen

• Executive Samurai Pen Holder

• Hand Shape Pen Holder

• Squat Rack Pen Holder

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: What Happens to Your Digital Life When You're No Longer Around?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Summer Reading and Watching
📦 Featured Product: Desk Organization

📝 What Happens to Your Digital Life When You're No Longer Around?

The last few weeks I’ve shared about protecting and preparing for your phone to fill up or become stolen. Something I hope you can avoid on either account. But a much more uncomfortable conversation revolves around what happens to your devices and online accounts when you are no longer around. Many of the same things are true and helpful: having a password manager, backing up your device and data, and more. A few past posts that will help here may include: Tips to Keep Your Personal Information Private, What Should You Do After You’ve Been Hacked, and Is Your Phone Ready to Be Stolen?

As we look into the future, there are some nuances that begin to appear when we look at specific pieces of information or online ownership. To loosely quote Sean Parker from The Social Network, “We lived on farms, then we lived in cities, and now we’re going to live on the internet!” We post everything publicly online, but what about the more personal things others may need to access if we’re not around and able to give permission? If you’ve setup any type of will and testament, hopefully you’re already accounting for your home, vehicle, and other possessions, but use this as a reminder to also include your digital assets.

In our digital world, there is a lot more to handle than just our phones and social media, too. Today, many other important things are managed digitally, including: photos, subscription services, monetary accounts (banking, crypto, payment processors like PayPal and Venmo), and other cloud services. Luckily, for many of them, simply having an email login and password may be sufficient. However, do your loved ones know how to access your emails and passwords? Are they backed up somewhere - perhaps in a password manager?

Keep in mind, when accessing accounts, typically a Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) will be requested. There are 3 things MFAs use to tell someone is who they say they are:

• Something you know (password)

• Something you have, or have access to (a device for a text message or email)

• Something you are (fingerprint or FaceID)

If someone is no longer around to provide access through a fingerprint or FaceID, having the other pieces becomes all but required. You need to make sure someone close to you either currently has this information, or will if something were to happen to you. Most of the major online services will not have decent customer support accessing accounts (Google, Facebook, Microsoft) if you aren’t the account owner. However, if you prepare things preemptively, many of them have great practices in place. Make sure to visit and complete information for:

• Facebook’s Legacy Contact

• Google’s Inactive Account Manager

• Apple’s Legacy Contact and Digital Legacy Request

By searching “legacy contact for [insert service]” you can typically find information for the account or service important to you. The Digital Legacy Association also has a lot of resources and information for other specifics not mentioned here.

As mentioned, having and using a password manager isn’t just important for you, but for your loved ones once you’re no longer around. Start creating and planning a digital inventory just as you would a physical inventory. This can include a lists of your online accounts (email, social media, banking, etc), photo storage, digital documents, and anything else that lives in the digital world. You do not have to give access to these accounts today - only have a plan in place. This could be a physical piece of paper stored in a safe, kept with your living will, or stored with a loved one whom you trust.

There are so many other nuances approaching different types of access after someone does pass that I can’t begin to cover everything. One thing that can be very expensive and difficult to cancel is a phone service. Meaning, having someones phone number stay active for MFA support, or simply receiving phone calls for a given service can be important. Keeping the account active (essentially forever) can become expensive. Thanks to a Reddit post, they shared how you can Port a phone number to Google Voice. This includes mobile phones and land line phones.

There are some things to note and consider though. Not all numbers can be ported, and some services do not recognize a Google Voice as a ‘real’ phone number. There is also a one time charge of $20- which keeps you from having to pay a monthly fee. There is discrepancy on whether or not Google will cancel the number if not used - which can be combated by calling or texting from that number once a month to keep it active. Lastly, Google is famous for ending support of random products, so this may not be a completely future-proof plan.

So, if something happened to you tomorrow, would your family know where your digital life begins and ends?

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

Google offers opt-out of “AI” search results for websites, promises it won’t affect regular search rankings. If you want to verify AI isn’t scraping sites, and you want to opt of any AI overview, consider using DuckDuckGo.

Two big names are looking to go public with an IPO later this fall. Anthropic and SpaceX - setting the price for the world’s largest IPO at $135. Exact dates weren’t shared for either.

New report shows annual app subscribers rarely return after they cancel. A friendly reminder that you may have some app subscriptions you forgot about…

Researchers let AI models run a simulated society. Claude was the safest. But let’s face it, these things can be very tricky based on the prompt and exact model of the LLM - which changes every week.

With the release of the Fitbit Air, many people are yearning for a basic smartwatch. A popular alternative allows you to turn your classic Casio watch into a smartwatch with the newly released Ollee Watch.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference returns this week. Be on the lookout for a potential new Siri and other AI features announced for the next iOS version (releasing to the public typically in late September).

😎 POTW: Summer Reading and Watching

Whether your on the beach soaking up the sun, or stuck indoors looking for your next YouTube watch, consider something here:

Reading List:

• 12 Biographies That Everyone Should Read Once

• 19 Novels You Need to Read This Summer

• 35 Books Every Man Should Read in His Lifetime

• The Pour Over’s 2026 Summer Reading Guide

YouTube Watch List:

• Michelle Khare’s series on I Ran 7 Marathons in 7 Days on 7 Continents

• Ryan Trahan’s series on The Top 10 Places in America (also, don’t forget his daily Minecraft marathon)

• Yes Theory is continuing their worldwide travel

• Three popular YouTubers have made Hollywood-level movies (all are in the horror genre for some reason) that have made millions:

  • Iron Lung

  • Backrooms

  • Milk & Serial

📦 Featured Product

With spring cleaning potentially still on your mind, how about moving to the office and clean up your desk space? For starters, a Clamp-on Desk Pegboard comes in two different sizes or colors, and can mount to your desk on any side. The accessory bins and clips can handle anything that may currently be randomly placed on your desk, and it can be organized for your workflow. To keep the cables out of the way, pair that with an Under Desk Cable Management Organizer. If you don’t want the clamps showing, and assuming you won’t have a ton of weight stored in it, the No-Screw Under Desk Cable Management uses double-sided adhesive to connect to your desk.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Is Your Phone Ready to Be Stolen?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: The Ferrari Luce
😎 Pick of the Week: Geography Picks
📦 Featured Product: Kidde Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector

📝 Is Your Phone Ready to Be Stolen?

After cleaning up/out your phone to help manage the storage, there is some more spring cleaning you should consider. Previously, I wrote how to Prepare Your Phone to be Lost, Stolen, or Damaged. As well as, What Should You Do After You’ve Been Hacked? However, there is always more to do in the safety world, and things can and do change. For a quick refresh, some of the main things you should verify for theft protection include:

• Create a pin number not easily guessed

• Turn on password/pin/face ID access on any available apps

• Use a password manager

• Create frequent backups

• Use MFA on any available accounts

• Have family or friends share location with Find My or Life 360

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), or sometimes referred to as two-factor authentication, is simply a second way of proving you are who you say you are when logging into an account. You can read a bit more about Staying Safe Online Through Hacks, Phishing, and Scams in Weekly Wheaties #2434. Most people (and by most, probably 99% of people) use their main phone as their device that either receives their MFA text or notification. So what happens when you lose your phone or it becomes stolen?

Well, the easiest way may be something you haven’t considered. If you are like the majority of other smartphone users, to the tune of 70%, you probably have never sold your old smartphone. So, why not use it? If not, there are ways to allow any of your other devices (an older phone, iPad, Android tablet, Mac, or PC) to also receive a copy of your text messages. This device can also double as a backup for your Password Manager, as well as any Authenticator-type app you have.

Depending on how private you’d like to keep your lock screen, you may prevent notification previews from appearing or turn off message preview. While this may be inconvenient at some level when using your phone daily, it could be beneficial if your phone is ever stolen. And I’ve said before, the highest level of safety also comes with the lowest level of convenience. You must weigh the importance of each for your use.

Typically, the easiest and/or quickest way to sign out of your accounts is to simply login and change your password with the given account. Most services will allow a “sign out everywhere” option. However, remember if you have MFA or an Authenticator app setup (as you should), make sure you have quick access to it to keep any thief from getting to it first. One other suggestion I give is to backup your MFA QR codes. When setting up an account with MFA, you typically have to scan a QR code with your phone. You can screenshot these, print them, or save the QR code to a locked note. This will allow easier setup on another device if needed. Make sure this is a secure location, though.

If your phone ever is stolen, there is one more preventive step you may take. And this is a a bit complicated and convoluted, but it does work! What this does, is setup an automation (which you have to kick off) through the Shortcuts app that does one or more of the following steps on your phone:

• Turns on low power mode (to preserve battery until found)

• Turns brightness to the lowest setting

• Locks the device and requires FaceID to unlock

• Disables control center (to keep the thief from putting your phone in airplane mode)

  • Pro-tip here: you can also disable control center without FaceID all the time (or remove airplane mode as an option)

• Takes a front and rear facing photo

  • Make sure to disable the “Show camera preview” option in the settings

• Gets current device location

• Sends the picture and location to another contact in your phone (text or email)

This can be completed by a few ways. The most common includes having a text message received. For example, you can set a specific message/word to start the automation (e.g. “stolen phone”). You may also have this automation run every [5] minutes. Another tip is to set this up anytime airplane mode is turned on (as is the most common things thieves do when stealing a phone). You can also make airplane mode turn back on after some time and lock the screen as a second deterrent.

As mentioned, this can be a bit complicated to setup, but you can use a shortcut others have already created. On iPhone, you can watch this video how to create this shortcut or simply download it here. On Android, this process isn’t as straightforward, but there are third-party apps to do something very similar. Check out the most recommended one - Anti-theft Alarm Phone Tracker by Cerberus. For live tracking, you may login to your Apple account through Find Devices or on Android through Google’s location-tracking tool. Apple also offers a Stolen Device Protection Feature that would be beneficial to setup.

If your phone is lost for good, a desperate and final measure is to remotely lock and wipe it. This will hopefully remove all of your data and make the device unusable for whoever has it - including your payment methods. Here’s how to Erase an Apple device in Find Devices on iCloud.com and how to Find, secure, or erase a lost Android device.

What other steps are you taking to secure your device if it may ever become lost or stolen?

🗞️ ICYMI: AI Updates

Last week, Pope Leo shared his Encyclical Letter, Magnifica Humanitas, on Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. Personally, I haven’t been able to read it all yet, but did want to share for those of you who may be interested before I may even be able to provide a response. It’s been reported that in it, he Compares AI Threat to Biblical ‘Tower of Babel’. With Google coming off of their I/O hype reported on last week, their CEO, Sundar Pichai, shares how he understands why people are anxious about A.I.. It appears both at least believe AI is a very profound piece of technology, even if they disagree on where the future should go or how to get there.

To help share what AI can and is doing, Meet Mark Zuckerberg’s Right-Hand Man Who’s Unleashing AI at Meta. They’ve been integrating AI a lot lately, so much so, they’ve let go thousands of employees. At Meta, “Boz” is working on a future where AI agents perform much of the work while employees focus on directing, reviewing, and improving the output. In other Meta 9or Facebook) news, they also Launched Forum, a New Reddit-Like Standalone App for Facebook Groups. It’s currently only available on iOS.

🗞️ ICYMI: The Ferrari Luce

Ferrari Launched their $640,000, Jony Ive-Designed, Glass-Clad Electric Speedster. It’s been getting a lot of headlines, and most are… well… fairly negative. With exception. Most people praise the interior, but dislike the exterior. Since it was designed by a group of former Apple execs, there is a lot of sentiment that this is just what “the Apple car would have been.” And whether you agree or not, if this car had an Apple (or any other car brand) badge on it instead of Ferrari, and came in under $100,000, I think the feedback would have been more optimistic and positive. It’s the price matched with a look that’s not Ferrari. While the former Ferrari chairman publicly criticized the vehicle, the current Ferrari CEO says first EV racks up orders despite criticism. Visit Ferrari.com and change the look in the configurator to see for yourself!

😎 POTW: Geography Picks

While things in the tech space have changed over time, so has our geography. Check out your area over time through Paleolatitude or OldMapsOnline. Then have some fun with a geography game, or spell your name from satellite images.

• Discover history through OldMapsOnline

• Eternal Flames and Thousands of Jars: 9 of the Most Mysterious Places on Earth

• MapTap.gg - Daily Geography Game

• Paleolatitude - Your Area Over Time

• Your Name in Landsat - NASA Science

📦 Featured Product

If you own a home, eventually you’ll need to replace a smoke detector or two. And you may opt for a the Kidde Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector. It comes in a hard-wired (with battery backup) or battery only variants. The voice alerts help specify if the alert is for smoke or carbon monoxide, and the interconnectivity allows all within range to be alerted when one is set off. An inconvenience at times, yes, but it could also help save your life. Consider adding at least one Kidde App Enabled model. This would alert your phone should you not be home when the alarms go off. Only one smart alarm is needed to notify on behalf of the others should they be interconnected.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Why Is My Phone Always Out of Storage?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Google I/O
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: The “A” Team of Tech News
😎 Pick of the Week: Board Games and More
📦 Featured Product: Chess Boards

📝 Why Is My Phone Always Out of Storage?

Most of us don’t realize how much digital clutter we accumulate on our phones on a day-to-day basis until they start begging for more space. It may be relatively easy to add more space to a computer, but on a phone, it’s essentially impossible. Many people resort to upgrading their phone, but there are things you can do out of habit to keep your empty storage to a minimum.

As cloud storage has increased, so has our ability to store more files online. The problem is, our phones haven’t always followed with increased storage, and we may run out of storage locally on our devices. As the cameras on our phones take better quality pictures and videos, the file sizes have increased drastically. Chances are, you have a lot of pictures on your phone that are taking up a lot of storage. And if you’ve had your phone, or maybe more specifically the same account or phone number, you also probably have a ton of text messages taking up a lot of space.

To get a recap on how cloud storage works, check out my post: Understanding Where Your Data Lives and How the Cloud Works. I highly suggest using a cloud storage service. Any of them are fine, and I always suggest the one that fits within your greater account, whether that be Google, OneDrive, iCloud, etc. This is also a great place to have a backup or a second location to store data should you wish to have multiple services.

A general rule of thumb for backing up files is the 3-2-1 Rule. I explained this a bit more in depth in my post: Deleting Your Photos, Not Your Memories. While photos, pictures, and video typically take up the most space on your phones, there’s a few other things you can look into to save some space, both on your physical phone and in your cloud storage of choice, should it be getting full, too.

Regardless if you’re on Android or iOS, simply going to the settings menu of your phone will help you figure out what is taking up the most space. Typically located under Settings > General > Storage. You may also use your setting’s “Search” feature and look for pages that mention ”storage”. This may be noting file sizes for pictures, video, music, apps, movies, or even software for the OS itself. If you have updated your phone recently, a restart is sometimes required to delete older files from the system to allocate more space.

In regards to your media, videos take up a lot more space than photos. There’s also a very high chance you have duplicate copies of photos, or at least photos that are similar to other ones, in your camera roll. You can use one of a hundred apps to help locate duplicates for removal, but I find manually going through every month or so not only gives you a better result, you can look back at memories, delete unneeded photos, and perhaps remember to share a picture or two with a friend or family member you forgot about.

But before deleting pictures or videos you want to absolutely keep, be careful. Both Google and Apple are subject to the same problem many people face. If you backup your photos from your phone to your cloud storage and you delete them in one location, they may delete them in another. You need to be very careful that your photos are actually backed up before deleting them as to not accidentally delete the photo from your phone and your backup location.

Regarding text messages, I know some of you have text chains that go back to 2007 from the first iPhone. Ask me how I know. The text itself takes up space, but more often what’s happening is - if you have a text chain that has pictures or videos in it, and you saved those pictures or videos, you’re actually storing them twice. Meaning, if you backed up the pictures or video on your phone or a cloud storage service, you can delete the pictures and video within the text itself or simply delete the text message thread. You also could back up that text message thread using a third-party app. There are a lot of third party apps for this, and many of them require a fee. Some will only backup the text, and not media, thereby saving space. Others may help backup all media separately.

Another place to check for lost storage is within the apps installed on your phone themselves. The app may take up a ton of space simply from downloading it, but a lot of apps also have cached data. Cached data is temporary information apps store locally to make things load faster later. This is data is stored on your phone from just using the app, but can be removed easily. For example, if you have the Facebook app on your phone, every time you scroll and see video or pictures, they may be stored on your phone in the background (if even as a thumbnail). This can be fixed by one of two things: either by emptying the cache data within the app, or within the settings of your phone. Another option is to delete the app completely from your phone and reinstall it. That is the cleaner way, but you’ll also have to re-login to the app itself, so make sure you know your passwords.

Since apps can take up a lot of space, it will also help to audit your downloaded apps every now and then. You can do this from your phone’s app drawer or within the settings. I also recommend deleting apps you haven’t used in a while or no longer need so they may not be used to track your location or share private information. If you stumble upon an app you’re not familiar with, search for it in the app store and make note to match the app’s icon. A simple way to verify the exact app is to long press on the app, and “Share the app” with yourself via text message. When clicking the link, you’ll be routed to the app’s download page.

Your phone is the physical manifestation of your home’s junk drawer. It’s full of screenshots you forgot about, duplicate photos from family events, old videos, unused apps, and years of cached data. Make it a habit to keep your phone cleaned up:

• Backup and remove old media

• Delete duplicate photos

• Clear app cache

• Remove unused apps

• Audit large text threads

• Restart after updates

So, when was the last time you cleaned out your phone the same way you clean your house or office?

🗞️ ICYMI: Google I/O

Last week, Google continued sharing what’s new with Google I/O across the spectrum of services, including new ways to create and get things done in Google Workspace like voice features for Gmail, Docs, and Keep, Google Pics, and a new AI Inbox.

• Gemini 3.5 Flash became Google’s new fast model for agents, coding, and long tasks

• Gemini Spark introduced itself as a 24/7 personal agent that can work across Workspace apps

• Search got information agents that monitor the web, plus mini apps for ongoing tasks

• Antigravity 2.0 turned coding agents into a managed desktop, CLI, and SDK workflow, plus the ability to launch a team of parallel coding agents

• AI Studio now lets you generate full Android apps

Watch the Google I/O '26 Keynote or the I/O '26 Recap on YouTube.

🗞️ ICYMI: The “A” Team of Tech News

AI is reshaping science, software, and the economy

• AI finds signs of pancreatic cancer before tumors develop

• An OpenAI model has disproved a central conjecture in discrete geometry

• Meta plans 8,000 job cuts worldwide to fund AI investment

Apple unveils new accessibility features, and updates with Apple Intelligence

AT&T announces new $15/month ‘Build-a-Plan’ wireless plan

AirBnb introduced car hire, grocery delivery, airport pickups, luggage storage, and more—making your entire trip even better

😎 POTW: Board Games and More

I think it’s safe to say there are probably millions of board games and video games available to play on the number of systems made and sold over the last few decades. Board games are an interesting world of their own because some games may leave production. Board Game Arena offers a digital way of playing physical board games on the web. Some games require a premium membership, but only the host of the game needs one (not all players). Check out some board games adjacent picks below:

• A History of Mario, Nintendo’s Golden Boy

• ColorGuesser

• FlightQ - Daily Flight Guessing Game

• If you like this video game, play these similar games

• TimeGuessr

📦 Featured Product

If you like the board game Picks of the Week, but may want to go old school, how about a simple chess board? They make magnetic wooden sets, glass sets, and even sets that help teach you how to play. The ChessUp 2 board integrates with Chess.com and allows you to play another person or the computer while helping learn basic gameplay and openings.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Is Bluetooth Tracking More Than You Realize?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Google Updates and Gemini Intelligence
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: A Trip Back in Time
📦 Featured Product: Fitbit Air

📝 Is Bluetooth Tracking More Than You Realize?

Last week I talked about how Is GPS Tracking More Than Just Your Location? What you may not know is I intentionally left out a piece that helps with making GPS more accurate sometimes — Bluetooth. Remember, GPS data is aggregated and anonymized. Bluetooth, however, is actually doing more than GPS, and can even become much more of a privacy issue. And I’m not just trying to scare you. Hear me out…

Think about it this way. You typically only do one thing with GPS - location data. Which, yes, in and of itself can tell a much bigger picture about your personal habits and privacy. Bluetooth does way more things. For example, it’s used for: headphones, smartwatches, vehicles, tracking devices, smart home devices, remote controls, gaming accessories, and even assists with indoor positioning systems.

While there are many factors affecting both, GPS can usually pinpoint a location to within 10 feet while Bluetooth can get within 1 foot. When paired together, they both can work well in any condition or location, indoor or out. Bluetooth also helps with location data in more urban areas. However, walls and other devices (including microwaves and Wifi), can cause interference with pairing and cause random disconnects.

So how does Bluetooth help with tracking and in regards to location?

Bluetooth functions similarly to Wifi in the sense that it broadcast a signal that other devices can connect to. Rather than an SSID and a password, Bluetooth devices use unique hardware identifiers called Bluetooth Device Addresses (BD_ADDR), which function much like MAC addresses in networking.

They also usually require a pin or the other connection to ‘verify’ connectivity. The key here is this identifier is unique to each device and no other device can share the same address (usually an alphanumeric label of sorts). This is different from Wifi in that many networks can share the same Wifi name. These identifiers are so unique, they even help dictate the manufacture of the device based on the naming structure (usually the first few letters or numbers). While they are unique, some modern smartphones may randomize these identifiers.

This naming structure helps dictate what device is sending a signal or receiving a signal. For example, when looking at your Bluetooth list of devices and searching for a new device, notice other phones, tablets, or computers in the area do not show up alongside your headphones, speakers, and other devices.

Any device that has power and the Bluetooth signal is on is advertising its identifiers (including device type), availability, and proximity. What this can lead to is a much more nuanced tracking when compared to GPS. Meaning — (legal) first and third party companies that place Bluetooth beacons in public (including around traffic signals or corridors) can track much more than your current location.

As these beacons capture your unique identifier and location in multiple places, they can track a very specific device across town over days, weeks, months, or even years. This means your device’s information (not tied specifically to you) is shared. What would this look like and why does this matter?

Companies and businesses can tell (roughly) how many people are in each vehicle based on the number of phones. They may see how many Apple devices are in their building compared to Android phones. They can accurately estimate how long it takes a vehicle to get from point A to point B on a normal basis on any given day within any time frame. Or, they can see where the core of their customers are coming from to help answer the question - “Where should we open our next location?”

Every time you drive somewhere, a system can infer about where you live, where you work, your commute path, how often you visit a location, and how long you stay there. None of this necessarily means companies know exactly who you are. But modern systems are becoming much more powerful in putting puzzle pieces together to build a surprisingly accurate picture of behavior, movement, and habits.

With all of the information companies are able to gather between GPS and Bluetooth, how much of our modern convenience depends on these systems quietly learning our patterns every day?

🗞️ ICYMI: Google Updates and Gemini Intelligence

Last week, Google announced a bunch of updates to their line of software and (hardware). You can read how Android is getting a big AI overhaul in 2026, Watch The Android Show | I/O Edition 2026 on YouTube, or catch the snippets below!

Across the Android OS, there are many updated apps, new emojis, changes to the camera and camera software, and a major update to Android Auto (in tandem with updated Google Maps and live lane guidance) including specific car widgets. One of the biggest changes now allows YouTube video to play while the vehicle is in park, moving to audio only when in drive.

Many of the updates to apps and/or built-in features that may sherlock other third party apps include:

• Rambler — a audio/text feature that helps organize your rambling thoughts when using voice-to-text.

• Create my Widget — an app to literally create widgets! I’ll be honest, this is one of the first things I’ve seen that even has me the least bit interested in switching to Android. I have downloaded/purchased multiple apps to modify my phone’s home screen and widgets. Third party apps just don’t have the control of the system all the time.

• App Automations — the “app” version of deep research and AI chatbot Agent features already available, just on mobile.

• Screen reaction — works in tandem with Adobe Premiere and Instagram (both getting updates for Android, along with tablet apps) to record your body cutout from your camera over your screen.

• Pause Point — a feature that helps you limit screen time by noting distracting apps.

Next, Google’s new Android-powered laptops are called Googlebooks, and they’re coming this year. This shows a shift from an Operating System to an “Intelligence System” that appears to be the best of Android mixed with Chrome OS and heavily AI focused. This is “the first laptop designed for Gemini Intelligence with personal and proactive help around every turn.” Other manufactures are helping sell this “premium hardware built with Gemini at the Core.” The mouse pointer (cursor) has been upgraded to give quick contextual suggestions from a wiggle of the mouse from any screen and within any app (image editing for example) to provide a new and innovative way to change the use of your mouse.

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

• Amazon employees are “tokenmaxxing” due to pressure to use AI tools

• EBay rejects GameStop’s $56 billion takeover bid, calling it ‘neither credible nor attractive’

• Google shared how Adversaries Leverage AI for Vulnerability Exploitation, Augmented Operations, and Initial Access

• iOS, macOS, and iPadOS 26.5 updates arrive with encrypted RCS messaging and more

• SpaceX and Google Are in Talks to Launch Data Centers in Orbit

• The Netflix Affect touts contributing over $325 billion in value added to the global economy over the last decade

😎 POTW: A Trip Back in Time

With technology, there’s always something new around the corner. But sometimes it’s also fun to look back and see where we’ve come from. Check out some of these trips back in time in tech and history.

• Apple Just Showed Us Rare Prototypes—Even Tim Cook Hasn’t Seen Them

• Every iPhone Ever Made

• Explore the FBI Vault

• France in the Year 2000, as Envisioned in 1899

• Have One of These Last Names? You Might Be Related to Royalty

• The Complete History of the Polaroid Camera (And Why It Never Really Died)

📦 Featured Product

If you’ve ever heard of the Whoop, it’s essentially one of the most powerful health tracking devices on the market used by tons of professional athletes. Except it comes at a pretty steep price point of around $240 with a yearly membership fee of $200 and up. It’s very popular for not only the metrics the device offers, but the lack of a screen. Google recently released their Fitbit Air to target customers who would like to track some of their health metrics without diving too deep. It’s simple tracking of steps, workouts, heart rate, and sleep tracking is plenty for most. With a 7 day battery life, it comes in at $100 with no subscription plan required. Although for $100 a year, you can receive premium features, personalized plans, and a coach.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Is GPS Tracking More Than Just Your Location?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Apple Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: OpenAI Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Alternate Hobbies
📦 Featured Product: LEGO Art

📝 Is GPS Tracking More Than Just Your Location?

I think it’s safe to assume everyone with a smart phone is aware of GPS. The Global Positioning System (GPS) hardware in your phone tells other apps where you are physically located on the planet by way of communicating with (3 or more) satellites. Depending on the building you are physically in, the accuracy could change, though. The type of roof, multiple floors, and size of the building all play into this - similar to how your phone’s cell signal degrades, too. However, the GPS software can utilize other connection types (e.g., cell signal, Bluetooth, WiFi) to guesstimate where you are, especially indoors.

But GPS isn’t just used for telling you where you are. Obviously it helps you with mapping your way from one location to another, but the power from GPS comes from the millions of other devices also using GPS. Your phone is part of one of the largest data collection sorts available, and millions of others can benefit from it. I’ve mentioned multiple times in these newsletters about the gray area between security and convenience. We give up some level of security when using GPS apps in lieu of the convenience it provides us.

So what other conveniences do we receive from our GPS?

Specifically with mapping, traffic is one of the largest pieces and biggest audience for GPS. We are able to see which routes will take longer based on the number of people currently on the same route. However, it’s also a bit deeper than that. Every time someone enters their destination, the maps now know where everyone else is going, thereby helping with future traffic conditions. That’s how these apps are able to predict how long it will take you to get from point A to point B, even if it’s a longer drive. They can also infer accidents, road closures, trains, simple congestion, and more.

When traffic apps share information with other apps on your devices, the power can be compounded to help businesses and individuals alike. For example, GPS helps with restaurants, sports venues, and overall shopping by popularity. By knowing how many people (devices) are heading that way, already inside the building, and an average of how long customers stay, wait times can be determined for restaurants.

For sports venues, GPS helps predict crowd movement like where do people go at half time for a football game? As people begin to leave (even if they leave early), ride share apps like Uber and Lyft can begin preparing drivers.

Even theme parks can benefit from GPS use by the same metrics. Understanding where people are and where they’re going can help with estimating ride wait times. However, it can also benefit the parks for helping with staff management. Historic data shows how any of this can help customers and businesses, too. Map apps know when traffic peaks are, and these businesses can estimate when most of their customers will be coming in (and leaving).

However, there is a potential downside to this. Around 2020, a local artist - Simon Weckert, filled a wagon with 100 phones and opened Google Maps. He then walked around Berlin causing multiple roads to show red lines indicating high traffic locations. Except, Google Maps only did this because there were so many devices moving slowly where they normally wouldn’t. Check out his story on YouTube to see more.

Where the convenience and security play a role again is with accuracy. These apps are almost scary in how well they can predict what will happen. And the more and more devices using the GPS only make the predictions that more accurate. More users give the apps more data, and the more data they have, the more accurate the results will be. This can also be a negative feature, too.

But don’t think you have to turn GPS off just yet.

First off, most of the data is aggregated and anonymized. These businesses benefiting from knowing who, when, and where people are going is not tied to a specific user. Second, while GPS does typically use more battery when in use, that is typically only when it’s the active app. Meaning, if you have your maps app open on your device’s screen, it will start eating away at your battery. But if you only have the app open in the background the battery usage is minimized. Also, if you give the app permission to track you all the time, regardless if the app is even open, and depending on the exact settings, it may ping your device a couple of times an hour or every few hours.

You are benefiting from others more than they are benefitting from you. The power of what GPS offers outside of just knowing your current exact position is only escalated by the numbers of users also using it. So remember, the next time your map reroutes you around traffic, it’s not just guiding you, it’s learning from everyone around you.

🗞️ ICYMI: Apple Updates

Just a friendly reminder: I don’t like to write about or share rumors about tech. They change too much, and I don’t like to get caught up in keeping up with who said what - I would rather wait to report on what IS coming. That said, multiple reputable outlets are reporting on a new feature coming in iOS 27, their plan to Let Users Swap Models Across Apple Intelligence. This is pretty interesting because Apple Reached a $250 Million Settlement Over Claims It Misled People on A.I. Essentially, since they haven’t lived up to their AI promise, customers of the 15 Pro and 16 versions of the iPhone purchased between June 2024 and March 2025 may claim between $25-95. Since, they’ve made deals with and/or invested in multiple AI companies, including: Google, OpenAI, Anthropic. My take: give it a few years for Apple to see how and what AI customers are using before they finalize their own mainstream version.

🗞️ ICYMI: OpenAI Updates

There’s been a lot happening in AI lately, and the small updates are combining to make larger changes. It seems like users switch back and forth between models frequently, and OpenAI’s stock (not stock price…) looks to be back up. An update to ChatGPT, GPT-5.5 Instant, is stated to be smarter, clearer, and more personalized. They also launched a new realtime voice and translation AI models to rival Eleven Labs. Lastly, reports show they are Fast-Tracking an AI Phone for 2027 Launch.

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

• AI finds signs of pancreatic cancer before tumors develop

• Ask dot com just quietly shut down after almost 30 years in operation

• Disney Sees Linear TV Channels as ‘Brands With Studios’

• GameStop Proposes to Acquire eBay at $125.00 Per Share

• Google unveils screenless Fitbit Air and Google Health app to replace Fitbit

😎 POTW: Alternate Hobbies

Looking to be inspired or find your new time waster? If you’re already into LEGO, check out the product blurb below. Otherwise, consider some of these possibly new to you hobbies:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Birding

• Eating every snack in the world!

• Eight master craftspeople keeping our treasures alive

• I won the world’s deepest underground marathon

• Smaller Than a Fingernail: Unboxing the World’s Tiniest Books

• War & Pieces: The race to become the world’s fastest jigsaw puzzler

📦 Featured Product

In case you didn’t know, LEGO offers popular art pieces in the form of LEGO. They are generally small in size (around 2 ft max in either direction) but are still just as much as an art piece to show after building them. Some are generic like the Japanese Cherry Blossom Landscape or The Milky Way Galaxy, but some are pieces by famous artist, including:

• Claude Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies

• Hokusai’s The Great Wave

• Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

• Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Sunflowers

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: What Apps Do You Actually Use Every Day?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: App Updates
😎 Pick of the Week: Adulting is Hard (and fun)
📦 Featured Product: Things You Should Have in Your Car

📝 What Apps Do You Actually Use Every Day?

After boring some of you with some Note Taking and Weather apps, I figured I would be a bit more personal in the app space. In this post, I’ve shared apps I either use on a normal and daily basis, or some one-off apps you may have not heard of that usually have a very unique and niche experience. Some that may be missing also play into some Browser Extensions You (may) Need.

For daily use, I’m constantly adding things to Apple Reminders. ChatGPT has all but replaced “Googling” for me, and my phone’s action button auto-starts an audio conversation. I have an use both, Apple Maps and Google Maps. Make sure you download maps for offline use!

Bitwarden is my password manager of choice. And if you don’t use one, you should read Why You Need a Password Manager.

As mentioned in Are You Using the Wrong Weather App?, Carrot is my main weather app for the widget and app screen modification.

Note taking is a bit more in depth, so here’s a quick summary of the post - Are You Using the Wrong System to Organize Your Life?

• UpNote (quick access and easily available on all platforms)

• Apple Notes (family and group sharing)

• Notion (personal projects - including this newsletter)

• OneNote (stores important and long-term items in my Johnny Decimal System)

OneNote isn’t the only Microsoft product (as you can imagine if you’ve known me long enough. Instead of Chrome, I use Edge. The Bing app helps with searches, matching items, barcodes, etc, and helps earn rewards points. And any app is probably better than Apple’s built in Mail app, but yes, I use and enjoy Outlook.

Living in south Louisiana, food is kind of a big deal. Anytime we are going to a restaurant, I try to first grab a reservation through Open Table or Resy. For fast food options, having the app always helps with points, discounts, or even free items!

• Cheba Hut

• Chick-fil-A

• Dominos (what would this list look like without my favorite go to pizza?)

• Jersey Mikes

• Jimmy Johns

• McDonalds

• Taco Bell

• Smoothie King

• Sonic

Next up is games! Which, I don’t really play a lot of games or play games a lot on my phone. However, when I do, it’s probably one of these:

• Chess.com

• Match Collector

• Pixel Pro Golf

• Phase 10

To wrap up, here’s an exhaustive list of some one-off apps you may have never heard of, or a friendly reminder to actually use them!

• Eleven Reader - turn any text into a audio book

• Filament - an in-depth Bible study app

• Flighty - powerful flight tracking app

• Google Opinion Rewards - get rewarded monetarily for sharing your opinion

• iExit - see what’s located on the next exit(s) while traveling

• Just Watch - find out where to watch that movie or show

• Kindle/Hoopla/Libby - read a book!

• My Lightning Tracker - does one job really well - shows where/when lightening strikes happen; helpful for sports, hobbies, etc

• Merlin Bird ID - Shazam for birds!

• Paprika - my favorite recipe app

• Picsew - stitch your screen shots together

• Google Play Books - the only place to get my audio book

• My Pollen Forecast - track pollen count and other allergens

• Recapp Sports Highlight - shared as a POTW

• Route - track all of your packages

• RunPee - put simply, know when to run and pee during a movie.

• The Pour Over - one of my favorite news newsletters has an app now

• USPS Informed Delivery

What are some of your favorite or niche apps?

🗞️ ICYMI: AI Updates

While many businesses are trying to figure out how to implement AI, Google looks to invest as much as $40 billion in Anthropic. This continues to help Google invest in their partnership, and has probably had an impact on Anthropic surging to a trillion-dollar valuation on secondary markets, overtaking OpenAI. Google is still updating their AI bot, Gemini, which can now generate Google Docs, PDF, Word, and other files. What’s becoming more tricky for businesses is the cost of AI. While they can do more and more things, a new study has shown that AI can now cost more than human workers.

🗞️ ICYMI: App Updates

Your may be able to easily pay less for your app subscriptions as Epic Games Wins Reversal of Stay in App Store Fee Legal Battle. In the past, Apple had removed apps that stated something to the effect of, “A monthly/yearly subscription is cheaper on our website!” because the developer didn’t have to give Apple 30% of the fee. Pros and cons here, so not diving too deep. Essentially, developers may be able to soon add that language back, along with having the In-App-Purchase (IAP) not have an inflated fee.

Remember Vine? The 6-second video app is (sort of) back. Check out The Story Behind Divine and download it on the App Store or the Google Play Store. The app has some archived historical videos, and is “striving to be free of AI-generated content.”

If you’re always scrolling Instagram while trying to decide what to watch next, Netflix’s TikTok-like vertical feed is finally here. This will let you browse clips of movies and TV shows and add to your list within the app. Keep an eye out for updates as the feature is slowing rolling out.

Lastly, in the gaming space, Microsoft rolls out Xbox Mode, bringing a console-like experience to any PC. This app “aggregates Game Pass and third‑party stores (Steam, EA, Ubisoft) with controller‑friendly navigation.” Many reviewers state this makes handheld and couch-gaming a much smoother experience.

😎 POTW: Adulting is Hard (and fun)

Bookmark FreeTaxUSA: Affordable Filing for All Situations for next tax season unless you already saved enough money and are looking for The World’s Most Expensive Experiences.

Make sure to save The Soundtrack of a Gentlemen’s Trip for when you’re trying to find the best price of a pint of Guinness across Ireland with The Guinndex.

While you’re still trying to find some of the Top Remote Work Destinations, check out What Live/Work Spaces Have Looked Like Through the Ages.

What Exercises Burn the Most Calories and what is The best sleep position for when you’ve had enough?

📦 Featured Product

This week’s product pick is a mix of a Pick of the Week and some products. Dad Day shared a post on The 5 Things Every Dad Should Have in His Car at All Times. But these are things anyone can and should have. They include:

1. The NOCO Boost Portable Jump Starter if you have an ICE vehicle

2. The Fanttik Portable Tire Inflator (the only I have isn’t available)

3. A Medic MyFAK First Aid Kit

4. The Leatherman Wave+ A Multi-Tool

5. A Thrive Roadside Emergency Car Kit with jumper cables (especially if you don’t have a portable jump starter)

There are other (and less expensive) options for every item, but all of these have extremely great reviews. Safety is one thing that I don’t suggest skimping on too much unless you’ve extensively tested the item in question. The only other thing I’d add to that list is an Emergency Escape Tool, Window Breaker and Seatbelt Cutter.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Do You Still Need to Take Notes in Meetings?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI Reshaping the Future
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Ecosystem Shift and the Future Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Unique Travel Picks
📦 Featured Product: Plaud Note

📝 Do You Still Need to Take Notes in Meetings?

Last week I talked about organizing your life (including your notes). But what if you don’t like to (or can’t) take notes in every meeting or for every conversation you have? Surely there’s an app or AI bot that can do this for me, right? Put simply - yes! There are plenty! Many of them have time limits or a subscription fee associated with them, but they all do similar things with unique features.

Before we talk about specifics, ask yourself a few questions. Do you never look at your notes after a meeting? Do you forget what you just agreed to? Do you not know what the action items are for the group? Do you still want to take notes? Will you have your computer with you, or just a phone? What if there were an app that allowed you to never have to take notes again?

There are plenty of apps that do this and a lot more. A few things they can do include: record conversations, transcription, summarize key points with action items and follow-ups, and potentially make everything searchable. Many can do this within your calling app of choice (Teams, Zoom, Meet, etc) by joining as a silent participant, or simply by uploading an audio file. Not all are equal though, and some even have other unique features.

This is not an exhaustive list but does include many of the major players in this space. They include:

• Avoma

• Bubbles

• Descript

• Fathom

• Granola

• Laxis

• Mem

• Noota

• Otter

• Rewind

When using these apps, it’s important to understand that there should be a potential shift in the way you now attend meetings. Meaning… if there is an AI bot (software in this case) to help capture all the notes, that means you can now stay present in the conversation. Rather than putting your cognitive workload towards capturing everything, your focus and attention can be on the other people in the meeting. You are now able to think and respond in real time, rather than be delayed due to capturing notes.

There are, however, a few potential downsides. For example, rather than spending time responding and being actively engages, some may accidently wonder off. This passive consumption may also lead to less retention of important information since writing reinforces memory. As these tools are used more and more, our reliance on them may bring a fals sense of understanding. Lastly, AI can’t “read the room” as far as human behavior is concerned and may miss something everyone else sees.

So where’s the sweet spot here? Wel, potentially you should still take notes, but only the absolute necessary action items or things that should not be missed. It would also be beneficial to immediately review any AI summary and compare what is/isn’t listed. As you edit and make notes, this may help with any lost retention.

Other tradeoffs here may be based on the tool of choice. For example, some of these tools have an “AI bot” that joins your meeting and may cause others on the call to feel awkward. People may also not say something simply because there’s a note taking bot on the call and they may want something off the record or just simply not captured. These tools are also a bit overkill for quick notes and may be less useful outside of scheduled meetings.

While the technology and ability of these tools allows us to be more present while also capturing things we may have originally missed, the difference between recording information and building knowledge still exists. On the other hand, if you’re taking notes and not acting on them or making them part of your larger knowledge data base, what good are they?

What note taking tools are you using?

🗞️ ICYMI: AI Reshaping the Future

OpenAI is still moving forward as they announced GPT-5.5, its latest artificial intelligence model and introduced ChatGPT for Clinicians, a free version of ChatGPT designed for clinical work. However, there is caution or concerns with the escalated updates in this space. The White House accused China of ‘industrial-scale’ theft of AI technology.

As the LLMs are improving, we’re also beginning to see how this affects the professional landscape. Microsoft Offers Its First Ever Buyouts to Shape Workforce Around AI Push. They’re not the only company looking to go lean, either. Meta is planning to cut 8,000 jobs as it charges into AI. In what seems to be the dystopian future coming into play, they also Put Keystroke Loggers on Employee Computers. Meta claims this is to help train their AI models, but with the announcement to minimize the workforce, employees are pushing back.

🗞️ ICYMI: Ecosystem Shift and the Future Headlines

• 23 Major News Sites Have Blocked the Wayback Machine

• Apple chooses Amazon satellites for iPhone, years after rejecting Starlink offer

• Instagram ‘Instants’ app launches, and it’s basically Snapchat

• SpaceX Strikes Deal With Cursor for $60 Billion

• Ticketmaster is an illegal monopoly, jury finds

• Who Is John Ternus? Meet the Incoming Apple CEO Set to Succeed Tim Cook

• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Price Update

😎 POTW: Unique Travel Picks

How about some unique travel picks from the city of New York to the National Parks across the US and famous places across the globe.

• 8 of the Best American Cities for Hikers

• 10 New York Stories That Capture the Big Apple

• From Castles in Romania to Glaciers in Iceland: 100 Travel Hotspots Made Famous by Film and TV

• Polarsteps Travel App

• The Bucket List of Remote Places to Kayak

• Visiting a U.S. national park—for the retro architecture

📦 Featured Product

If you don’t like to take physical notes or don’t want to use your phone or computer as a recording device, perhaps a separate physical device designed just to do that would help? Two devices that use the same ecosystem and apps include the Plaud Note Pro and the Plaud NotePin. The Note Pro is more of a credit card sized device meant to be used intentionally and records better in larger rooms and meeting spaces. It has a longer battery life and more microphones to capture more audio. The Plaud NotePin is more of a wearable meant to be easily accessible at all times. Both devices transcribe meetings or conversations and generate summaries that you can interact with through an LLM-style chat interface.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Are You Using the Wrong System to Organize Your Life?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI in the Workplace
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: YouTube and YouTube TV Price Changes
😎 Pick of the Week: Size of Life
📦 Featured Product: Portable Handheld Fan

📝 Are You Using the Wrong System to Organize Your Life?

Let’s face it. I’ve made a few posts in the past about note-taking and the apps that help keep you (and me) organized. Just to share a few in case you’re curious and/or need a refresher:

• You Need a Second Brain

• The Importance of Crafting Simple Standard Operating Procedures

• How Do You Actually Organize Your Life?

• Is There a Perfect Tool for Capturing Your Thoughts?

• Are We Getting Smarter, Dumber, or Just Storing Less?

After sharing a few weather apps in the last newsletter, I wanted to share the note-taking apps I use on a daily/weekly basis. Emphasis on appS. Included in this is a new notetaking app I’ve started using more recently, along with a whole notetaking system that mirrors how I started managing my files, too! This system is referred to as the Johnny Decimal System, as it was inspired somewhat by the Dewey Decimal system. All my Gen X’ers in the crowd just squealed, didn’t you?

The premise of the Johnny Decimal System compared to others is the common montra - Everything has a place, and there’s a place for everything. You can browse his site, as well as watch a YouTube video or two about it. But I think I have a quick and easy way to explain it, and its use.

Imagine having 10 filing cabinets. But instead of each one having 3 drawers, let’s give each one 10 drawers. Each filing cabinet represents an Area of your life. For example, Areas could include: Family, Personal, Work, and Hobbies. Each drawer within each area represents a Category. Within the Family Area, Categories could include: Home, Finances, Vehicles, and Vacations. The 10 areas are numbered by 10s. For example: 10 Family, 20 Personal, 30 Work, and 40 Hobbies. Within the Areas, the Categories are numbered by the single digit within the Area. For example, under Family, I would have: 11 Home, 12 Finances, 13 Vehicles, and 14 Vacations.

Finally, within each Category, there can be up to 99 folders (referred to as IDs) further drilling down into the category. Following the Vacations Category, examples could include 01 New York, 02 Cruises, and 03 Disney World. Notice not each category has to follow the same ‘structure’ as you create the system and folder structure of these IDs. Each ID’s folder also has the prefix of the Area and Category with a period separating the two. In this case, Vacations (14) - further specificed into New York (07) would be notated as “14.07”.

The premise is - you know where everything lives and the system makes sense to you. You want to be able to quickly find or locate what you’re looking for. Except there’s another kicker… This system can be used in your email, your file app(s) of choice, and your notetaking app(s) of choice. Meaning, whatever you’re looking for, and wherever you’re looking for it, you know exactly what to search or dive into. For example, if I’m trying to find that one pizza place to go to in New York, I can search my email, OneDrive/Google Drive folders, or notetaking app(s), for “14.07” and find what I’m looking for pretty quickly (Lombardi’s by the way).

This actually works incredibly well in practice, after spending a good bit of time setting it up. And before you ask, yes you can change your numbering structure, and probably will a few times until you get things setup just right. The structure is the most important part. Recently, I took a flight with an airline I haven’t flown on in a while. Since flying with them, I signed up for TSA Precheck. When checking in, I needed my Known Traveler Number. After not finding it quickly in my email, I was able to find it in my notetaking app within 10 seconds following the “10 Family > 14 Vacations > 14.01 Travel Info” structure I setup.

So, what notetaking apps do I use? Essentially, I use 4. And I know that sounds like a lot, but they each have a role and it makes sense for me.

For starters, I use OneNote to store my Johnny Decimal notetaking system’s notes. It’s stood the test of time with Microsoft, I have premium access through my Microsoft 365 account, it’s essentially available on any device, and it’s easy enough to use while providing more than a normal notetaking app. With the way Notebooks, Sections, and Notes work, it’s very friendly to the Johnny Decimal System, too.

Next, I use Apple Notes for things I share with family and friends. It’s extremely straightforward and the sharing is the easiest there is (especially when sharing with other Apple Devices). There is also a lot that Apple Notes can do if you really wanted to get crazy.

Only to keep things separate for my personal sanity, I use Notion strictly for my Weekly Wheaties newsletter and other personal projects. This just helps me keep things separated and have my own structure here without interferring with other personal notes.

Lastly, the most recent notetaking app I’ve started using is UpNote. I love its simplicity, but more importantly, how quick it is. This app opens, edits, and closes extremely fast. That makes it perfect for what I use it for — capturing quick notes anywhere and everywhere. This app is my digital version of post-it notes before they are moved to my Johnny Decimal System, deleted, or something else. It works on iPhone, Android, Mac, or PC. In theory, this app could also store my entire system instead of OneNote, I just haven’t decided if I wanted to make that leap yet. This app also offers a lifetime subscription for $40 that is absolutely worth it.

I’ll end with an honorable mention to Evernote. I paid for it and used pretty intensely for a few years. But after a few price increases, I just can suggest it anymore and have moved all of my notes to OneNote or UpNote now. Evernote is a bit more in depth than OneNote is, so it’s a great alternative if you do not like OneNote. I will share the one feature Evernote does incredibly well that no other notes app I’ve found can emulate — global todos. Meaning, Evernote creates one master “Todo” list showing every todo from every note in your entire library of notes. It’s pretty amazing.

Regardless of the software or app you decide to use, the important part is having some sort of system to track your notes. You can use one app or four, but if everything has a place and you know where to look, you’ll always be able to find what you need.

So ask yourself: if you needed to find something important in the next 10 seconds, would you know exactly where to look?

🗞️ ICYMI: AI in the Workplace

Stanford University recently released their 2026 AI Index Report with some unique takeaways. While AI is drastically improving at higher education levels, it’s still missing some of the humanistic side of things and can be unpredictable in some areas. There is also a mismatch in public perception with experts in the AI field. College students are starting to wonder themselves what the future looks like and are struggling to choose a major. An increasing number of students have either thought about switching majors (47%) or have already changed their field of study (16%).

The private sector even has disagreements on AI and the future for college students. While the CEO of Plantir says AI ‘will destroy’ humanities jobs, companies like BlackRock and McKinsey are ‘recruiting graduates who studied “things that have nothing to do with finance or technology” … “as potential sources of creativity,” to break out of AI’s linear problem-solving.”’

🗞️ ICYMI: YouTube and YouTube TV Price Changes

Just to be clear, YouTube (accessed via YouTube.com) is a website that allows users (even you) to upload videos for anyone to watch. There are some TV shows and movies on YouTube, but that’s not the focus. YouTube offers a paid service called YouTube Premium that provides ad free access to YouTube.com, allows background playback and offline viewing, but also includes ad-free music. Meaning, this is Google’s counterpart to Spotify, Amazon, or Apple Music. They offer an individual, student, or family plan, but all three a getting a price increase in June.

YouTube TV (accessed via TV.YouTube.com) is a service to help cut the cord of traditional cable and give access to local and major TV networks over the internet. Their plan has gradually added more channels (and a higher monthly price) since their inception. However, they have recently modified their lineup. Visit PC World to see YouTube TV’s hidden ‘genre’ plans: What they are and how to find them.

😎 POTW: Size of Life

With the Artemis II making its journey around the moon, perhaps you enjoyed some of the pictures from NASA. Similarly, the Neal.Fun website posted a page called the Size of Life that has a cool selection of animals and other living things to compare the size with. When finished, check out some of the other fun tools and games on his site, like Constellation Draw.

📦 Featured Product

Recently, Dyson released their HushJet Mini Cool handheld fan. It’s received mixed feedback on the quality and loudness of the fan. However, one thing that has rung true through the many reviews and comments I’ve read - there appears to be a cheaper and better alternative. JISULIFE offers many versions, but the one most can agree on is the Pro1S Portable Fan. An even less expensive one with great reviews is the Aecooly Portable Handheld Fan. Grab one before the summer kicks off if you’re in the market!

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Are You Using the Wrong Weather App?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Google Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Microsoft Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Color in Fashion
📦 Featured Product: Weather Stations

📝 Are You Using the Wrong Weather App?

Some of you have been using the same phone operating system for years. And some of you have even been using the same weather app(s) for just as long. I mean, the weather changes constantly, but how would tracking the weather actually change? Or how often should you even change weather apps?

Depending on our need, we may want to see or track temperature, wind, rain, snow, and even extreme events (fire, hurricane, etc.) as they arise. For starters, there are thousands of devices not only across the US, but the globe that help gather these measurements. These include satellites, weather stations (including many personal ones), buoys in the ocean, and weather balloons (that launch twice a day from all over). All of the data is crunched by supercomputers then available for apps to update. You can read more in depth here from NPR on Where does your weather forecast come from.

A problem with many of the weather apps, is they must choose a specific provider of sorts to determine what weather data to show (some do let you choose, though). Popular sources you may have heard of include: NOAA, The National Weather Service, Foreca, AccuWeather, OpenWeather, and many more. For some levity here, a survey found that The Weather Channel is America’s most trusted news source.

A potential next problem is some of these sources may be more accurate in one location than another simply because of either the number or quality of sources in that area. You’ve seen this in practice when your phone shows a 20% chance of rain and your friend’s show a 60%. This can simply be due to demographics and location (where you live versus where the weather stations your apps are pulling from are located).

The next problem is around funding. While some weather sources are free to access for users by way of grants through the Federal Government, others are private (for-profit) and will have either ad-supported options or are only available through a purchase or subscription. Before going too far, here’s a friendly reminder that NOAA and Weather.gov are currently two of those free services. Not to mention, the apps you’re using have to pay their developers and designers for updates to the app as required - even for typical app maintenance.

This leaves us asking ourselves a few questions. Do you want your app to be the most accurate? Do you want the most data available? The cleanest, and more modern of a look? Maybe some type of utility? Do widgets and notifications matter? Also, I know we’re talking specifically mobile apps, but it’s also known that Americans use digital assistants mainly for weather, music, and timers. So, do you want your app to talk to your digital assistants? Sometimes, having multiple apps working in tandem together may be required to get all of the specific information you’d want.

Here’s an exhaustive list of Weather apps you may want to check out:

• Acme Weather - from the developers of Dark Sky (an app bought out by Apple with a cult-like following)

• Carrot Weather - sarcasm mixed with surprisingly powerful data

  • Bonus pick here… I subscribe to this app for two reasons: awesome widgets and a customized home screen (add, remove, or reorder any weather widget within the app to see only what you want)

• Clime - detailed radar and alerts for serious weather

• EverythingWeather

• Flowx - swipe through time to see how weather changes

• Mercury Weather - simple, fast, no clutter

• MyRadar - quick, no-frills radar

• NOAA - straight from the official source (desktop friendly)

• NoAdsWeather - no ads, all data (desktop only)

• (Not Boring) Weather - weather as an interactive experience, not just a forecast

• Sun Seeker - tracks the sun’s path for planning and light

• Ventusky - beautiful maps that show weather in motion (desktop friendly)

• WeatherGraph - forecasts as clean, data-driven charts

• Weather Fit - tells you what to wear based on the weather

• Weather.gov - reliable forecasts, old-school interface (desktop friendly)

• What the Forecast - brutally honest (and hilarious) forecasts

• Windy.com - deep, layered weather data for power users (desktop friendly)

To end with a bit of fun while still learning, check out this video where Mark Rober shares how Hot Air Balloons work with the wind speeds at various heights on his YouTube Channel.

What weather apps are you using?

🗞️ ICYMI: Google Updates

Google’s at it again! Following their Google AI Edge Gallery AI app (available on both Android and iOS) that I keep trying to get people to download, they have now launched an AI dictation app that works offline. This means you can record audio and convert it to text just using the power of your phone - for free!

There was also an update to the Google Chrome Browser that provides updates for new vertical tabs and immersive reading mode. Other browsers have had vertical tabs for a while, but it’s interesting to see Google’s take on it. The debate between horizontal and vertical tabs is just as big among nerds as is the Android and iOS debate.

🗞️ ICYMI: Microsoft Updates

Microsoft has been silently making some updates in the AI space, too. LLMs work well when text is formatted properly. A common format used is called Markdown. This is simply a text-only way to format text using symbols (typically, #, *, or -). In order to make your Copilot experience better, Microsoft built a tool that converts literally anything into clean markdown. This includes Word Docs, PDFs, PPTs, and even Excel documents.

They also built Microsoft 365 connectors for Claude to help connect Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint to bring your email, docs, and files into the conversation. Lastly, with the new MacBook talk, a popular YouTuber made a video about the MacBook Air M5 vs Dell XPS 14, arguing if they may be closer than you think.

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

• Blind marathon runner to be guided by smart glasses

• OpenAI challenges Anthropic with ChatGPT Pro subscription tier

• OpenAI’s vision for the AI economy: public wealth funds, robot taxes, and a four-day workweek

• Starting in May, pre-2013 Kindles won’t be able to buy or download new books

• Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto? A Quest to Unmask Bitcoin’s Creator

😎 POTW: Color in Fashion

After sharing some fashion picks in Weekly Wheaties #2614, my wife shared with me how she used ChatGPT to help with personal color and clothing styles. After we discussed it a bit in depth, I wanted to share a prompt you could use to help! This is loosely based on the House of Colour, and if you’d like an in-person touch, make sure to check them out!

Prompt:

I want you to determine my seasonal color palette (Winter, Summer, Autumn, Spring, including sub-seasons like Dark Winter, Soft Autumn, etc.) and recommend clothing colors and style direction.

Please analyze based on undertone (warm vs cool), value (light vs dark), contrast, and chroma (bright vs muted).

Here is my information:

Basic Info:

• Age:

• Gender:

• Height:

• Weight:

• Build (e.g., slim, athletic, stocky):

Coloring:

• Skin tone (fair, medium, deep):

• Skin undertone (cool, warm, neutral, unsure):

• Hair color:

• Hair depth (light, medium, dark):

• Eye color:

• Natural Contrast: How much contrast between your skin, hair, and eyes—low, medium, high, or unsure?

Behavioral Clues:

• Do you tan easily or burn?

• Do you look better in silver or gold jewelry?

• Do you look better in black or brown?

• Do you look better in bright white or cream/ivory?

• Are there colors people compliment you in often?

• Are there colors that consistently make you look washed out or tired?

Optional:

• Ethnicity:

• Do you have freckles? (yes/no)

• Eye pattern (solid, mixed, bright, soft):

Style Context:

• Lifestyle (casual, business, athletic, etc.):

• What image do you want to project? (e.g., authoritative, approachable, modern, relaxed):

What I want from you:

• My most likely season and sub-season (with reasoning)

• A backup/alternative season if applicable

• My best colors (specific examples)

• Colors to avoid

• Ideal neutrals

• Example outfit combinations

• Style guidance based on my palette and body type

If anything is unclear, make your best inference and explain your reasoning.

📦 Featured Product

In tandem with this week’s post, are you looking for a home weather station? If so, I have two options that allow much more than your typical temperature and humidity. They are a bit more expensive than other setups you’re probably more familiar with, but these are weather stations, not monitors.

The Ambient Weather Station looks and functions like your traditional weather station. It has moving parts, requires a bit more setup, provides a monitor for inside your home, and also allows the most smart home integrations. Since it uses more traditional methods, it can be more accurate, but requires more occasional maintenance.

The Tempest Weather Station is low friction, low maintenance, and allows viewing throught the app only. It doesn’t include a few measurements that the Ambient does (UV, solar,), but is a more modern setup for casual users. While the Tempest appears to do a better job for more localized modeling, it may also under/over estimate some events.

Both use solar power and connect to Wifi, allowing you to access your home’s weather from anywhere you have an internet connection. Lastly, the Ambient system offers an optional AWN+ subscription for more advanced data views and features, but it is not required.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Where Should We Draw the Line with AI?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Highlights
😎 Pick of the Week: Fashion Picks
📦 Featured Product: Ubiquiti UniFi UNVR

📝 Where Should We Draw the Line with AI?

I think it’s safe to (continue) to say that it feels like AI is taking over all pieces of software we use not only in our workplace, but in our personal apps, too. With the development of the infamous Clawbot that allows anyone anywhere to build their own AI assistant, many companies are trying to build their own before becoming obsolete - or at least lose market share and/or customers.

The more AI tools and integrations we’re seeing popup, the more and more niche they are becoming. A prime example is Grammarly, who has been in the news the last few weeks. After a buyout back in the fall of 2025, Grammarly Rebrands Company as Superhuman. Superhuman started as an AI-enabled email and writing company of sorts themselves, so Grammarly is a great company to team up with.

Soon after the purchase, they launched a new AI assistant with an “expert review” feature. The problem, however, is this feature wasn’t properly vetted, and now a writer is suing Grammarly for turning her and other authors into ‘AI editors’ without consent. Grammarly pulled the tool after backlash, but now there’s this lingering question out there for the courts to decide on.

Where does AI fall on the line between copyright and free speech? Or to steal a term from the sports world - where does NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) fit in? At its core, this isn’t really a question about AI. It’s a question about ownership. Who owns the style, voice, or likeness in a world where machines (or other humans) can replicate them?

I would argue that as a whole, AI just allows a user to exponentially expediate what they have the capability of doing, just not the time or energy. AI is just doing what you would or could do, but exponentially faster. It’s not creating any new capability (arguably). It amplifies existing capability (and creativity) at a speed technology has only recently allowed and available to the masses.

For example: I could read every work written by a given author/writer/etc, and then write a completely new piece of content that could appear written by that person. Even if it was on something they would have never written about - their style, word choice, and more can be mirrored.

On the other hand, AI can do that exact process in less time than it would take for me to write the prompt. And for an example, a prompt may look like: “Pretend you are William Shakespear. Write a completely new play about two people who fall in love, but they are so engrossed in their mobile phone ecosystem of choice, they can’t bear to switch, and ultimately separate. Use the language and style similar to Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.”

As absurd as it is, I hope the point is understood. The same prompt could be made for any new stories in the style of J. K. Rowling or Stephen King. Except, here we start to find the gray area around copyright (or NIL). Anyone of high school age can understand plagiarism, but that isn’t necessarily what we’re talking about. I mean, FanFiction was a thing even before AI was a twinkle in the developer’s eyes. But still, we know where the line is. And I hope we can all agree it doesn’t look good for Grammarly when the app was appearing to have some sort of collaboration with the writer(s) in question even if they had a disclosure statement.

Which, again, leads us to something else in this same thought process. Remember when Meta Launched AI Chatbots for Celebrities like Snoop Dogg, MrBeast, and Tom Brady? No one ever thought they were actually talking to those people, did they? But I bet most people at least assumed the celebrities in question received some sort of payment. Well, at least a few of them helped with the announcement, so… there’s that.

I don’t know what the answer is here. But I do think however the courts choose to rule, something will have to change, and each decision comes with its own nuanced issues. Writers may have to opt in (or out) of letting the LLMs use their data. Writers may choose to pay-wall all of their content to keep LLMs from scraping everything - which isn’t good for the masses and has other issues. Or, maybe writers simply stop writing and find other jobs and sources of income?

Maybe the real question isn’t whether AI can replicate someone, it’s whether or not it should be able to. Or who gets to decide if and where the line is drawn. The technology is already here, the courts are just trying to catch up. So, where do you think the line should be between creativity and inspiration?

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Highlights

Chaofan Shou on X.com appeared to be the first to report that Claude code source code has been leaked via a map file in their npm registry and was posted onGithub (amond tons of other sites). It appears the Entire Claude Code CLI source code leaked thanks to an exposed map file. After verifying no sensitive data was exposed, they issued over 8,000 takedown requests across the web.

In their own article, Wikipedia explains how to write articles with large language models. Spoiler, AI is not allowed to write or update articles, only for basic copy edits.

One of the biggest announcements many have been waiting to go live, You can finally change the goofy Gmail address you chose years ago.

Tesla, SpaceX Plan to Build New Chip Factory in Texas.

😎 POTW: Fashion Picks

I’m not big into fashion, but I did enjoy Mrwhosetheboss’s YouTube video where he Tested Nike’s Top Secret Shoe. As someone who created (and wears) their own ‘uniform’ to work everyday, I do aspire to take Steve Harvey’s suggestion one day - the only 5 suits you need. Until then, check out these fashion picks I’ve been saving up.

• 7 Style Tips for Large Men: The Big Man’s Guide to Sharp Dressing

• 31 Days of all the tips and tricks needed to shape up for 2026

• How to Actually Enjoy Wearing a Suit

• This is how to pack a suit in a carry-on (without a wrinkled mess)

• The rules of wearing a double breasted suit: Your complete guide

• The Story Behind the Boldest Season of Golf Style in Forever

• Who is etiquette for?

📦 Featured Product

A while back I made a post on Everything You Need to Know About Home Security Systems. In there, I shared a few camera systems and brands available depending on if you want hardwired, wireless, or a mix. I always suggest hardwired as best you can, but the Network Video Recorders (NVR) are sometimes camera brand specific - meaning you can’t mix and match other cameras. The software is also rough sometimes, too. The Ubiquiti UniFi UNVR will allow connecting other branded cameras, although this is hardwired cameras only. Depending on availability on Amazon, you may have to purchase on the UniFi website. They also offer Android and Apple apps. On the Apple side, this app works on a iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or the Mac. But either way, there app is typically fast to load and has some of the best scrubbing of video I’ve seen.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Is Your Ecosystem Making Your Decisions for You?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Apple Business
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Meta Changes
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Other Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Google Picks
📦 Featured Product: MacBook Neo Alternatives

📝 Is Your Ecosystem Making Your Decisions for You?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been diving into the hardware side of computers - specifically CPUs. A common question I alluded to at the end of last week’s post that I get asked often, is “When is the best time to buy?” followed by, “What [computer, tablet, phone] should I buy?” I want to answer those in a bit of a different way than normal.

I will, however, answer both questions with a few blanket statements:

Spend the most amount of money you’re willing to on the most recent version of whatever device you’re buying. Buy it as soon as you have decided to buy something and given yourself permission to spend the money. Then, never look at [those devices] again. Next week there will be something newer, faster, and cheaper.

But my longer answer comes with a bit of a hot take. I think we are venturing off into a culture with less “general” IT folks. It seems like people are less and less willing to fight IT problems, or they haven’t grown up solving IT problems… which leads to a culture purchasing products that they are more familiar with, and they are less likely to switch ecosystems. There are niche software and hardware problem solvers out there, but on the consumer side of things, the easy way out usually wins.

To put it bluntly, it’s easier to stay within one ecosystem as best one can rather than have a mixed matched set of devices. This looks different based on the type of products we’re talking about, but you already know who we’re talking about:

• Computers: Apple, Google, or Microsoft

• Tablets: Apple or Google

• Phones: Apple or Google

• Smart Home: Amazon, Apple, or Google

Technically, I know Microsoft and Amazon offer phones or tablets, but they run on Android (which is owned by Google). There is also an increasingly larger segment of the Smart Home world that runs on the Matter standard, but it’s also not an easy plug and play system in comparison. Just trying to keep it simple for the explanation.

Which begs the next question: would you purchase a device (regardless of ecosystem) if it’s miles above the competition for its given purpose? I’ve mentioned it before, but the Apple TV is that device. If you are a cord cutter and don’t mind spending the money, the Apple TV is by far the best streaming device on the market. Where Apple is lacking is in the Smart Home systems. I would never suggest the Homepod for home automation.

The recently released Macbook Neo shows Apple is starting to go after the baseline computing market. This device comes in at $599 (or $499 with a student discount) and has shown to outperform even pricer PC counterparts. Since they have cornered the high-school aged market with their iPhone, it appears this laptop may keep them grounded to Apple when this cohort moves on to college and the working world. For the same reason many fall into The Subscription Trap, it is so much easier to just stay in the same ecosystem.

At the end of the day, you’re not just choosing a device, you’re choosing between convenience and flexibility.

So when you ask what device to purchase, you really need to ask another question. Are you wanting to stay in the same ecosystem, or are you willing to purchase something outside if it shows to be the best device available? Alternatively, are you willing to give up certain features in lieu of keeping the status quo?

🗞️ ICYMI: Apple Business

With the release and early success of the MacBook Neo a few weeks ago, many are saying Apple is coming after school systems and enterprise alike. It has also been shown to be their most repairable laptop in more than a decade. With the low starting price (and $100 discount for students), this is only the beginning for a possible new era. Coming April 14, Apple is revamping their business portal to provide a new all-in-one platform for businesses of all sizes. This includes updated device management, professional email, file syncing and ads in Apple Maps.

As we await a new Siri on the consumer side, it was reported that Apple Can Create Smaller On-Device AI Models From Google’s Gemini. This will allow iOS 27 to provide a standalone (read: no internet needed) version of Siri alongside the built-in model. I’ve reported on the Google version of this a few times already - Google AI Edge Gallery. In case it’s not coming across via writing, let me be clear — this is nothing short of amazing and a very and big deal!

Apple also released iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 With New Emoji, Playlist Playground, Purchase Sharing. It includes a few updates to music, some new emojis, and family purchase sharing changes (each member can use their own payment method now). Something else that’s hidden in the update is a security patch to protect users from a new DarkSword hacking tool, and something everyone has been waiting for — an updated ‘fix’ to Autocorrect.

🗞️ ICYMI: Meta Changes

AI integration in the Meta suite of apps is not slowing down. It’s also ramping up internally as Meta Executive Will Spearhead Push to Get Employees Using More AI. Mark Zuckerberg is wanting to lead by example and Is Building an AI Agent to Help Him Be CEO. Outlets aren’t sure if it’s due to AI-integration (or a lack of) or not, but their biggest-ever layoffs may start soon. This also comes right after a New Mexico jury orders Meta to pay $375M over alleged child safety failures. They will, of course, appeal. In other news, Meta reverses course, will keep metaverse partially VR after all.

🗞️ ICYMI: Other Tech Headlines

• Make sure you check your phone’s app permissions, because the FBI started buying Americans’ location data again.

• PBS partners with ITVS to launch the PBS Documentaries YouTube Channel. The channel will debut an expansive, diverse collection of documentaries across all forms of nonfiction storytelling.

• The popular travel app Flighty launched the Flighty Airports Meltdown Map on their website to help track major airport disruptions and give you a way to track issues, delays, and more.

• We won’t be getting any AI animated Disney videos as OpenAI Scraps Sora Video Platform Months After Launch.

😎 POTW: Google Picks

With all of the Apple and AI talk this week, Google (and its users) may feel a bit left out. But they are far from falling behind. With many of the new AI ‘third party’ tools being released, Google continues to do Google things and has made their own version of many of those tools - and many times may have even been the first one to do so.

To follow along with many of their updates and see what you may have been missing, check out this article from The Neuron on Google AI Day.

A tool I didn’t see mentioned much that is pretty interesting (at least for businesses) is Pomelli by Google Labs. It helps find colors, pictures and more to help develop marketing campaigns.

I made a post a while back about Mastering the Art of Speaking Google. But I also stumbled across this article that has some great information: Google Has a Secret Reference Desk. Here’s How to Use It.

Lastly, as much as Google does, they are also known for canceling products - regardless of the following and public outcry. To see some of these, visit the Google Graveyard - Killed by Google.

📦 Featured Product

If you are intrigued by the MacBook Neo, but want to stay in the PC or Google camp, consider these alternatives at a similar and competitive price.

• Asus Chromebook Plus

• ASUS Vivobook

• Dell 14

• HP OmniBook 5 Flip

• Lenovo IdeaPad

• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim Chromebook

• Microsoft Surface Laptop Go