In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Are You Paying for a Phone You Could Be Getting for Free?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Old Ideas, Modern World
📦 Featured Product: Things That Hold Other Things

📝 Are You Paying for a Phone You Could Be Getting for Free?

Every fall, at least for the Apple fans, they must ask themselves, “Is it time to upgrade and get the new iPhone?” Sometimes this answer is simple, sometimes it’s a bit more difficult. Android users go through the same internal struggle, so this argument can be made for anyone with a cell phone. It’s just feels a bit more prominent every September since Android device releases are broken up throughout the year (Google, Samsung, etc).

I’ve talked in the past about When Should I Buy a New Phone? and have a set rule of thumb I’ve been pretty consistent on. Essentially, I believe you should upgrade every 3-5 years whether you need to or not. Older phones will eventually not be able to update the software to keep up with newer versions. Which means you’re missing features, but more importantly - missing security updates.

Not to mention, your phone holds your entire life. Your phone calls, texts, passwords, personal media, and much more. You use it everyday and depend on it - don’t keep yourself from having a stress free life in this area of tech. In the podcast linked above, I talk about pretty specific scenarios, helping you choose when and what to buy, but in this post, I want to talk about something I’ve realized most people don’t take advantage of or fully understand - trading in your older phone for the most recently released phone. This has been the case with the iPhone for roughly the last 10 years, but many Android phones follow suit.

Generally, within the first month or two, one or more of the major cell phone network providers (ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc), will give you a lot of money when you trade in your older phone towards the newer phone. They usually accept a phone that is 3-5 years (or versions) old, and the trade in value is the same regardless of the age of the phone. Meaning, last years model will not warrant you any more money via trade in.

For example, this year, ATT is giving up to $1,200 towards a new iPhone 18 as long as you trade in an iPhone 14 or newer in working condition. So what’s the catch? Well, for starters it depends on the plan you have. But it doesn’t require a new line (which some do). You do, however, have to pay the taxes upfront and sometimes an upgrade fee. The biggest catch though, is the “rebate” comes monthly. Meaning - each month, they will charge you $33.33 for ‘purchasing’ the phone, but also credit you that same $33.33 for 36 months. Multiplying $33.33 x 36 months = $1,200.

What happens if you don’t stay with [insert provider] for all 36 months? Simple, you much pay off the remaining balance. So if in 1 year you decide to switch to [another provider], you will have paid $33.33 x 12 = ~$400, and need to pay the $800 difference. BUT, and this is a big BUT — if you stay with [insert provider] for the full 36 months, you essentially have received the newer phone for free. Some carriers do this over 24 or 30 months, too.

“Well, what if I don’t know if I’ll stick with them for that long?” Well, there are other options. Apple, Google, and Samsung all have their own version of an “Upgrade” program. But I also wrote a post about Breaking Down the Hidden World of Alternative Cell Phone Providers. However, if there’s the slightest chance you will switch providers, it is absolutely worth the ‘purchase.’ Even if you switch, you still need a newer phone every so often, and with an MVNO, you’ll typically have to pay out of pocket for it.

So with that, I would like to make a new rule of thumb. If your cell phone provider allows trading in/up your older phone for a newer phone at $0/month, you should absolutely take advantage of that. It doesn’t matter if you want a new phone or not, it’s a phone that will last you ~3 years longer than your current phone for ~$100. And it comes with much better hardware, speed, and battery life!

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

• Apple releases iOS 27 with Siri AI overhaul while Microsoft wrote a Code of Conduct for future MAI (Microsoft AI) Models.

• Other Top A.I. Leaders Call for Slowing Down A.I. Development except for Meta. There, Mark Zuckerberg Takes Aim at Anthropic in Debate Over A.I. Slowdown. They also released Muse for the Mac, letting the AI take actions on your computer.

• In regard to the political space in tech, Revolut confirms customer data breach through fake government requests and the Senate Votes to Block Crypto Bill in Major Blow to the Industry.

• A connectomics milestone: Mapping the complete male fruit fly brain - which helped Pietro Schirano train the fly to play Super Mario.

😎 POTW: Old Ideas, Modern World

This week’s picks prove humans have been weird, clever, and surprisingly innovative for a very long time.

• 40 Studio Portraits Showcasing Victorian Men’s Facial Hair

• Fast food in ancient times

• The First Computer Bug & the Harvard Mark II

• Wheels, gears, and batteries: 15 ancient ideas that engineered the modern age

📦 Featured Product

This week, here’s a few random picks of things that hold other things. I own/have owned each of these and if this is something you would use, these are worth having!

• Kewig Motorcycle Cup Holder

• Microphone Mic Stand

• Magnetic Test Tube Flower Vases for Refrigerator

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Is a Link the New Business Card?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Views Worth Sharing
📦 Featured Product: Cooling Car Seat Cover

📝 Is a Link the New Business Card?

Last week I talked about creating a digital CV/portfolio, but maybe you visited GarrettWheat.com and wanted something similar? This is another version of the typical “Bio Link” site that just about all creators and influencers have popularized. Except nowadays, anyone that has an online presence has one - including businesses. Rather than having to tell people to “Follow me on [insert platform(s)],” they can be sent to one site that list all other sites.

We used to just hand out a business card with our information on it, but people are sharing a link or a QR code that sends people to a bio link or “digital business card” page. Linktree is probably the best-known and most popular example, but there are thousands of others. I cannot list them all, but some of the more popular ones you may have seen include:

• AllMyLinks

• Beacons

• Carrd

• Dot.

• Later’s Link in Bio

• Tiles

• Shorby

• SleekBio

The basic idea is simple: instead of giving someone five different places to find you online or trying to email each other, you give them one permanent link that points to everything else.

These services range in price, look, and features. Most of them provide free versions and charge for extra features or to remove branding. Since they are similar,my suggestion is to find the one you like the look of or that functions the way you prefer.

What types of links should you include? Well, the sky’s the limit essentially. You can include all of your social media accounts, a link to your website, LinkedIn Profile, a newsletter, product for sale, schedule a meeting, and any other contact information you’d like to share. For example, my page includes a link to this newsletter, my recently launched app, my book, my social networks, and more. Don’t forget a link to your resume page! As things change, you can just update one link page, and the main link would stay the same.

This link can also live all over your online and physical presence: your email signature, listed in the “About” pages of all of your social media sites, in your biography, and even on your business card. If you really wanted, you could replace your Instagram handle on your car’s back glass with your link. Kidding, of course…

Essentially, you may not know what someone is interested in about you if you just met. Your bio link page gives them an overview and insight to who you are. This can be as professional or as personal as you’d like. The common discussion in business for years has been to keep your private life private (which is still generally good advice), but many companies like to show the human side of their employees, too.

As mentioned above, companies like Dot. actually try to blend the physical and digital world by providing business cards, bands, and other NFC-style devices allowing someone to scan your card and have access to your profile (and/or site). There are also ways to setup your own NFC devices or a QR Code to forward to your link, save your contact info, and much more.

While business cards may still have a place, they are slowly being augmented with the digital version across the business landscape. Do you have a bio link page? What else are you including on yours?

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

• Watch the Apple Event where the New Apple CEO unveils latest iPhone lineup, including a foldable model called Duo.

• Apple Watch’s new feature listens to your chats and recaps them but [they] still protect your privacy. Meanwhile, Meta Disabled Cameras on Thousands of Ray-Ban AI Glasses.

• California governor signs laws aimed at protecting kids from risks of social media, AI chatbots while the UK to force Apple and Google to block explicit images on children’s smartphones.

• OpenAI Says It Has Cracked One of Math’s ‘Millennium Problems’ and also Introduced ChatGPT Images 2.5.

😎 POTW: Views Worth Sharing

This week’s picks are all about things worth seeing. From breathtaking photography in sky and space to natural wonders, creative logos, and beautiful architecture. Consider this your reminder that there’s still plenty of incredible stuff to look at.

• 16 gorgeous images from the 2026 Aerial Photographer of the Year Awards

• Artemis II Photo Timeline

• Graphic Designer Creates Logos Of Famous Painters

• Nature’s Most Extraordinary Moments In 4K

• The 7 Most Beautiful Airport Terminals in the World

📦 Featured Product

If you have an older vehicle, there’s a chance it doesn’t have air conditioned seats. Oh, you didn’t know that was a thing? No worries, I got you covered! Check out the Coverado Cooling Car Seat Cover. It simply connects to power through the 12v port in your car, and has 3 speed levels. I’ll be honest, the material takes a bit of getting use to, but it’s not - not - comfortable. The air blows from two fans, and is actually cool air. One hiccup (that I think all versions of this will have) is as you sit on the cushion, you essentially block part of the airflow to your back. However, it does still work well, and I would suggest it!

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Should Your Resume Be a Website?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: How to and Life Skills
📦 Featured Product: Custom Key Caps

📝 Should Your Resume Be a Website?

When was the last time you updated your resume? If you are looking for a job, then probably more recent than most. Whether your job hunting or not, having an up to date resume, CV, or portfolio that lives on the web can be very useful. Now to dig through your flashdrives to find your most recent copy…

If you do play to apply for a new job anytime soon, having a physical resume is probably useless. The digital copy, however, is worth keeping around. Most companies only allow applying online, and even then, you have to copy and paste your information into boxes on their site outlining your education, experience, and skills. Hopefully, you at least try to keep your resume updated once a year or so.

And there’s the problem. A typical resume is essentially a snapshot of a moment in time when it was last updated. Updating it frequently almost feels daunting, too. You have to be on the computer where the file is stored, then you have to make a backup, maybe even email it to yourself, and things just become cumbersome. Which means you put it off or don’t do it.

When you finally decide to update it, you have to remember every little thing you did: finished projects, earned a certification or award, gave a presentation, published an article, among many other personalized achievements.

What I would like to suggest you create is a digital version of your CV. This can include a lot of the same things in your typical resume, but more personalized, personable, and much more interactive. The most basic example of this is a LinkedIn profile. This is a great, basic start, but LinkedIn can have issues with privacy, sharing, and it limits what you can actually put on your profile. Things you can add to your CV/portfolio can include many of the same things as a typical resume:

• Work experience

• Education

• Certifications

• Major projects

• Presentations

• Publications

• Awards

• Professional organizations

• Volunteer work

• Software or technical skills

However, now each item can be hyperlinked. The link could take someone to your companies’ websites, social media pages, or even to a specific project. Certifications can link to the organization in question or even let someone see the PDF version of your certification. A link for a presentation could allow the slides to be viewed.

Then, you could even include digital assets that can’t be shared easily:

• Audio files

• Pictures

• Videos

• PDFs

• Links to products or services (books, courses, apps)

• Links to social media sites

Essentially, anything that can be shared on the internet can now be shared in your new digital CV. You also don’t have to think of this as a job-hunting tool. This digital CV can become your ultimate social media platform. It tells anyone anything and everything about who you are. Sharing the link will allow others to not only read but see what kind of work you do. The information here can potentially help you earn a speaking gig at a conference, too. The next time someone asks for a bio, you can simply share a link. Or you can use this for your current job the next time an annual evaluation comes up, and you’re asked to provide a list of your accomplishments over the last year.

This “link” can also be accessed via a domain you’ve purchased. Perhaps your FirstNameLastName.com? I wouldn’t share this without providing an example, now, would I?

If you visit GarrettWheat.com and scroll down to the button that says, “Full Resume/CV,” you will be sent to my personal digital portfolio stored on Notion.com. This can easily and generally quickly be edited to stay up to date with all the happenings in my personal and professional career.

Keep in mind, when you do need a resume, you can use this new digital CV to pick and choose what should be on your “one-pager,” then link to your new expanded CV.

As mentioned, I used Notion to create my digital CV, but there are plenty of other options. They include:

• Adobe Portfolio

• Canva Websites

• Carrd

• Framer

• Google Sites

• SquareSpace

• Tiles

• Wix

• Worst case — a link to a Word Document or PDF stored in the cloud (e.g., Dropbox, OneDrive)

What’s important to note: the website used is not where the focus should be placed. It is a tool to help record a list of your professional work. Use what you are comfortable with and what works for you. It can be as simple or extravagant as you want it to be. For example, if your professional work is more portfolio focused, check out my buddy’s sites: ClintSelf.com and MeltdownIllustration.com.

I’ll leave you with one quick note of caution. Remember that anything put online is accessible at any time from anyone. Make sure you don’t share private information like addresses, phone numbers, or emails that you intend to keep private. If you share any projects from work, make sure you have permission first. There are a lot of things I do at work I am unable to share. Believe me though - they are really cool and I did an amazing job!

So, if someone asked you today to show some of your work from the past five years, would you know where to send them?

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

• Apple’s Cook Says He ‘Will Miss This Work’ in Final Memo as CEO

• Everything Apple Is Expected to Announce in September

• Google Won’t Be Forced To Sell Ad Tech Business Despite Monopoly, Judge Rules

• OpenAI’s Astra Is Here: What to Know About GPT-6

• Sony and Microsoft say they’re not obligated to pass U.S. tariff refunds to consumers

• Tesla Begins Offering Rides in a Car Without a Steering Wheel

• Xbox Cloud Gaming is getting monthly time limits, and you’ll be able to pay for more

😎 POTW: How to and Life Skills

Here’s a couple of random picks that help you and help you help others!

• 15 Things Every Dad Should Know How to Fix

• Be My Eyes App

• Handlebar vs Chevron Mustache: Which Style Is Right for You?

• How to Use AI in 2026: The Complete Proficiency Guide

📦 Featured Product

Do you have a normal keyboard that you’d like to personalize a bit? Well, depending on the keyboard you have, did you know you can replace the key caps? Here’s some examples of what you can replace them with:

• Custom Uploads

• Emoji Keycaps

• Gaming Direction Keys

• Topographic Key Caps

• Translucent Jelly Key Caps

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Are We Finally Done Emailing Files to Someone Standing Next to Us?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Apple Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Unique Picks
📦 Featured Product: KardiaMobile 6L EKG

📝 Are We Finally Done Emailing Files to Someone Standing Next to Us?

Have you ever tried to send and/or receive a file from someone else’s phone, only to be met with a device different than yours? Maybe you have an iPhone and AirDrop doesn’t work with their Android. Or your Android can’t use Quick Share with an iPhone. Well, guess what? Now it can! With the recent update, one of the ‘hidden’ features means Android just got AirDrop. I say ‘hidden’ because let’s face it - neither Google or Apple want you to worry if your device works with the other’s. They want you on their device.

However, this update now allows Android and Apple devices to share files seamlessly from phones to tablets to computers. Rather than having to text or email, using Quick Share/AirDrop is immediate. It also has another perk - it will keep full quality of the file. Have you ever shared a picture or video and the recipient received a much poorer quality version of what you see on your phone?

You could upload it to a shared cloud drive - Google, OneDrive, Dropbox - but that defeats the purpose of immediacy. There’s also something ironic about having to upload a photo to a server half way around the world to send to someone sitting 10 feet away.

For years, Apple has been the gold standard for file sharing from one device to another - as long as it’s within their ecosystem. And now thanks to the EU, AirDrop works with Android devices. Essentially, this is creating a direct communication channel via Bluetooth and transferring the files over WiFi. Files could be sent over Bluetooth alone (they have been on older devices for years), but the speed is slow(er) and the strength can be weak(er).

If it sounds like I’m underselling this, I apologize. This is a very big deal not only for mobile users, but for tech industry as a whole in regards to communicating and sharing through open standards.

So, if this is a great step forward for Android/Apple folks, what’s the hold up? It’s a built-in app that just works, right? Well, there are still some issues for mass adoption. First, not all Android phones and tablets support AirDrop via Quick Share. Neither option supports transferring files to a PC, either. It can also be slow at times and only works when someone is within around 25 feet.

Enter the third-party alternatives. The following list includes some of the major players in the peer-to-peer file sharing space. They include:

• Blip

• LocalSend

• PairDrop

• ShareDrop

They provide a mix of features, including: no accounts required, sharing to *essentially any device with internet access, transfers as fast as your internet connection, can share with anyone anywhere in the world, and some even use your local network without using internet bandwidth. Some have even noted sending gigabytes of files, and when the connection is interrupted, resuming the transfer rather than starting over.

An important distinction here, too. These services are not providing file storage to access at a later time. They are essentially instantly sharing the file. These services to not compete with the file storage options mentioned earlier. It is also not a transfer of the file from one user to another. It is sending a copy of the file. meaning, it still lives on your device.

So, the next time someone asks you to send them a file, you may no longer have to ask what their phone number or email is since ‘they have a different phone type’ than you. You could simply just ask them to turn on their sharing.

Are you familiar with any other peer-to-peer file sharing service that isn’t Napster?

🗞️ ICYMI: Apple Updates

As Apple prepares for the changing of the guard, they held a Farewell Party for Tim Cook. As Apple concurrently celebrates their 50th Anniversary, check out this auction of some unique and rare Apple memorabilia.

Their new CEO, John Ternus, comes from the hardware side of Apple, so it will be interesting to see their future movement in a world of AI. For starters though, they announced new Mac Minis. You can preorder on their website, and check out the Apple M5 Ultra Vs M3 Ultra and What’s Changed.

On the software side of things, Apple TV now costs $14.99 a month after its fourth price hike in four years. This has other affects, causing a rise in their Apple One subscription, which includes Apple TV, iCloud Storage, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade.

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

• AI’s memory crunch is coming for Android apps

• Chinese humanoid robots break human records at Beijing’s robot games

• Galaxy S26 August patch is here to fix that ‘red stain’ problem

• Nvidia in Talks to Buy AI Startup Hugging Face (the company OpenAI recently ‘hacked’)

• SpaceX to Spend $100 Billion on Spaceport in Louisiana

😎 POTW: Unique Picks

If weird wasn’t enough, how about some unique picks?

• 7 Rare Vinyl Records That Are Worth a Fortune

• 10 of the Creepiest Things Ever Displayed in Museums

• Am I Unique? Your Online Fingerprint

• Boredom for creativity

• The Nightly - sad. old. radio.

📦 Featured Product

In the medical world, consumer devices are tricky. Many times they aren’t approved and may not provide as accurate of information needed. However, sometimes devices are close enough and can show trends that help users know when to see a medical professional for a more detailed analysis. We’ve seen this with many of the smart watchs that provide heart rate and ECG tracking. Now, there’s a new device that allows users to complete an at-home EKG, the KardiaMobile 6L. They note it takes around 30 seconds, and can help detect AFib, Bradycardia, Tachycardia and Normal Sinus Rhythms. It requires a mobile app but does not require a subscription.

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Why Do Newer Phones Sometimes Take Worse Pictures?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Unexpected Headlines
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: The Future can be Scary
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Weird Picks
📦 Featured Product: Lights

📝 Why Do Newer Phones Sometimes Take Worse Pictures?

At the risk of stating the obvious, just about everyone has their phone on them at any given time throughout the day. Which means everyone also has a camera within arms reach at any given time, too. And if you’re like me, you gave up on even considering buying a handheld camera to supplement your phone’s camera. They have become that good in recent years.

Except, have they?

Popular YouTuber MKBHD posted a few short clips showcasing the camera quality of the iPhones along with the at-the-time flagship Samsung phones to put that to the test. You can tell for yourself and argue with others about if the quality has increased or declined over time.

What you can’t argue is the processing these cameras are capable of doing today has exponentially increased over the years. Herein lies the problem. If our cameras are capable of so much processing power, why are our pictures not following suit? Why can we take the same picture with our newer phone and say to ourselves, “My older phone took better pictures.”

Well, this is where things can get a bit tricky. Within the camera and photo space, we have hardware and software features that are both becoming much more advanced and better by all metrics. Even if someone would argue an update of sorts to one of the given features isn’t “better,” there are ways to adjust and “go back” to the older version. At least in theory.

Modern camera phones have much more control over exposure, brightness, tone, noise, sharpness, and many other “full” camera features. Not to mention, they can identify objects, faces, QR codes, and adjust or blur backgrounds to create a bokeh effect. The processing power required to do all of this on the device, within a second of pressing the shutter button is crazy if you compare to previous models - and even older full cameras.

So back to the original question: if our cameras are much better by all accounts, why do our pictures appear worse at times? Well, as mentioned, we have to consider the hardware and software sides of the equation. Most of us just use the default settings that make all of the decisions for us. For example, when you do see a picture you take and argue that your older phone took a better picture - you’re only seeing that for the given parameters from that specific picture. Tons of things are factors in that argument: indoor vs outdoor, night or day, how much natural light, what’s in the background, what’s the subject, and much more.

All of those demographics of where, when, and how the picture was taking, in tandem with all of the qualities of a picture file mentioned above, dictate the choices the camera app on your phone makes. And for 99% of the time, it’s probably good enough. If not, good enough that most people wouldn’t even notice any difference between pictures taken by 10 different people and devices.

But sometimes the phone makes decisions you wouldn’t. Or sometimes you want to adjust the picture just enough to highlight a certain part of the image. Maybe you want the background to pop a bit. Or maybe the picture was taken at night and it looks washed out. This is where third-party camera apps come in. For both iOS and Android, there are probably hundreds of apps in this space I’m unaware of, so I will only focus on 4 in total that I am familiar with.

There are two apps on the hardware side that help take better pictures, by saving the original file in a format that saves as much information about the picture as possible - RAW. Your fefaul camera typically saves pictures in a JPEG or HEIC file that is essentially “flat” in that no settings were preserved. These third party apps give you more direct control of the camera hardware, allowing you to adjust shutter speed, ISO, focus, exposure, white balance, and more, while saving all settings, too. They include:

• Halide

• Moment

However, taking the picture is only half of the work. On the other hand, there are two apps on the software side that allow better editing of these pictures. These apps can read the RAW file which shows all of the information saved by the camera app. It’s also important to note, the pictures you take will appear to be worse at first. That’s because the camer app simply takes a picture - it’s not making any adjustments or creative decisions. That’s where these photo editing apps come into play. They include:

• Lightroom

• Snapseed

Taking a picture and editing a picture are two totally different things. If you are just taking a picture of a receipt, or trying to remember where something is or what it looks like, the auto setting on your default camera is probably good enough. But if you’re trying to take a picture of a landscape or try your hand at family pictures on a whim, a third party camera app and editing tool will be your best bet.

There are trade offs when choosing to use other apps, though. Obviously, it takes much more time as you may have already gathered. The taking of the picture takes time to adjust the focus and other settings as needed. Then, you must bring that picture into an app for further tuning. In general, RAW files are fairly large in size, too. And if you don’t delete the original after editing as saving as a JPEG, you’ll have duplicate files on your phone.

Essentially, your default camera is good enough, but if you find that it’s not doing as good of a job as you’d like, theres a few things to blame, and using a couple of other apps (or just tweaking some settings) will fix it. So if you’re like me and don’t want to carry around another device just for taking pictures, it may be worth looking into what your current phone’s camera is already capable of.

🗞️ ICYMI: Unexpected Headlines

I don’t like to report on leaks, because things change too much and it’s just too hard to keep up sometimes. But last week, Apple Accidentally Leaked More Than 10 New Products in macOS Update. So maybe we can expect some AirPods with cameras along with their other (expected) updated devices. We’ll find out within the next month or two!

Walmart finally launching Apple Pay support next week. That’s it. That’s the headline, and it’s one we never thought we’d see.

🗞️ ICYMI: The Future can be Scary

Comcast is turning your WiFi router into a basic home security system, for free. This is pretty interesting, but the WiFi signals can essentially map out your home, note where movement is happening, and notify you of unexpected movement.

States sue Meta over kids’ safety, seek nearly $200 billion, saying “it made its apps addictive for kids and broke child safety laws.”

Tesla’s Austin robotaxis are now fully driverless. So if you are in the area and see a car driving around by itself, don’t be ‘too’ alarmed. Until now, Tesla had an employee riding around as a backup should things go awry.

🗞️ ICYMI: AI Headlines

• Slack launches Slack Code, where teams and AI agents build together

• OpenAI ‘will be a public company in 2027’ or sooner, CFO Friar tells employees

• Google just bought a bunch of Spirit Airlines data for AI training

😎 POTW: Weird Picks

I know the word “weird” is relative… but here are some picks of what other people have called weird:

• 6 of the weirdest things to ever wash up on the beach

• 22 Weird Driving Laws Across the Country

• The 100 life decisions people dread most

• Young People Are Ditching Skin Tats for Tooth Tattoos

• The Weirdest Festivals in America Celebrate Aliens, Cow Poop—and Racing Toilets

📦 Featured Product

A few posts back, I shared some lamps for your office or home. However, I have since stumbled upon these picks that also have ‘lights’.

• Endoscope Camera with Light

• LED Lights for TV

• GOTUS LED Sign for Car (or desk)

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Did Algorithms Kill the Hashtag?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Made by Google Event
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Entertainment Picks
📦 Featured Product: Open Ear Headphones

📝 Did Algorithms Kill the Hashtag?

Recently, the new owners of MySpace have noted they are wanting their social platform to make a comeback of sorts. There’s still a lot of details to work out, but at least there’s hope. Well, for millions of Millennials, anyway. The nostalgia appears rampant across other social media platforms, including tons of Gen Zers who missed that era. But the question is really - where is the nostalgia coming from?

Of course nostalgia is a tricky subject, but from what I can tell of the consensus, it seems like many people just miss the “olden days” of social media. What made social media popular (and even moreso, MySpace) was users being able to login and see their friends posts. They only saw posts of users they followed, businesses didn’t have accounts, and users actually had to search out to find new things.

There was no algorithm or machine learning to “show you” anything the system thought you may enjoy. It was very much a manual process to look and search for things you wanted to see. However, one such tool - the Hashtag - allowed users to group conversations or discussions around a certain topic of choice. A #Hashtag is nothing more than a word, group of words, or short phrase preceded by a pound sign or number sign. Depending on your social media platform of choice, typically, they are also clickable and will search that hashtag and show posts where users have posted that same hashtag on their post.

This became a way for users to follow events, breaking news, conferences, and even TV shows in real time. As the #Hashtag became more popular, you can imagine users started using it more and more. This led to posts that would potentially only contain a single picture with 10-15 hashtags. Because if posting one helps with discoverability, more is better, right?

Well, then the algorithms started taking over. Users didn’t have to search for the content they wanted to see because the platforms would simply show you things you didn’t know you wanted to see, and in some cases things you didn’t even know existed. We went from telling the platforms what category something belongs to based on the hashtag given to the post, but increasing, the platforms (computers on the backend) are figuring that out for themselves. They know where you are, what you’re doing, what you just saw, and can assume a post you are making is about topic “X.”

Since, some major platforms have even started to limit the number of hashtags in a post. For example, Instagram limits posts and Reels to 5 hashtags, Threads limits posts to 1 hashtag. X.com still allows them, but does not in paid ads. TikTok allows them, but apparently they aren’t used by the algorithm, only for searchability.

All this to say, the #Hashtag isn’t dead or meaningless. It just means social platforms have changed the way findability works. They still make sense for events, and news, and other items mentioned, but note this is when a user is searching out a topic. And the TV show bit is minimized since most TV shows aren’t watched live anymore.

MySpace is gaining popularity with the announcement of its possible return, but again, the nostalgia runs deep. The #Hashtag can be viewed as the label it is living in between the algorithms and social platforms where we only see those we follow. It is an intentional search for a topic or event that can help breathe a little bit of life into what social platforms used to be like. But don’t think you have to add a bunch of hashtags on your post - the systems are still good enough to tell which ones are most accurate.

The ultimate question here may not be what’s the best platform. It may be asking users if they prefer to let the system choose what to see, or let the user search out what they intend to see.

🗞️ ICYMI: Made by Google Event

Google announced a lot of new devices at their Made by Google ‘26 event. You can check out Everything Revealed at Made by Google 2026 in Less Than 12 Minutes or read below. A new Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro (in two sizes), and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold phones received hardware and software updates including:

• Gemini updates across the platform, including major voice typing updates

• Better quality camera for telephoto and night time pictures

• Up to 30 hours of battery, with around 15 hours of use from 15 minutes of fast charging

• Highlight - a customizable colored light on the back of the phones to help show who’s calling

• A new Magic Capture feature to automatically capture pictures and video simultaneously

• A new Sign-to-Text feature allowing ASL users to convert their signs to text in real time

Other devices include Pixel Buds Pro 2, the Pixel Tag, and the Pixel Watch 5 - with accurate heart rate tracking for fitness and health tracking and advanced GPS

In other Google news, the classic Search button is gone in a new AI-first homepage and Google has started hosting rival app stores in the Play Store after the Epic decision earlier this year.

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

• Anthropic says it will watermark text generated by its AI models

• Apple is working on a way to authenticate that a photo came from an iPhone camera

• IBM found there were an increase of 56% AI-driven attacks, led by AI deepfake impersonations and AI-enabled malware

• Mark Zuckerberg shared a manifesto titled The Future is for Everyone where he argued that personal super intelligence is for everyone and should have free or affordable access

• Milo, the first fully autonomous robot guide dog

• Spotify asks creators to label songs when they’re AI-generated

• Windows 11’s major context menu upgrades are INSANELY good

😎 POTW: Entertainment Picks

A couple of picks for movies, music, TV, and an app to play music behind your podcast.

• 20 Best Sword-and-Sandal Films, From ‘The Odyssey’ to ‘Gladiator’

• Bingebuster — your streaming services, restocked as a video store

• Music Fans Rerank Rolling Stone’s List Of The Best Songs From Fake Bands

• Podbeat: Beats for any Podcast App

• The Seinfeld Chronicles

📦 Featured Product

Across the globe, there are thousands, if not millions, of headphones available for purchase for your mobile devices. Wired, Bluetooth, in-ear, over the ear, and many other options. However, a newer style is beginning to become more and more popular. The open ear headphones. These allow the user to hear the music, video, phone call, etc., while still hear things going on around them. This is much safer for pedestrians and bicyclist alike. Two of the more popular models are the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and the SHOKZ OpenDots 2.

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: Google Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: New York City Picks
📦 Featured Product: Desk Pads

📝 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 are 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