Most of the time, online surveys are a waste of time, or worse. They serve to collect & sell your information, while giving nothing back to you, or increasing your spam. But Google Opinion Rewards is an exception, and one that I can vouch for personally. This app is free to install on your smartphone, … Read more
Most searches on the internet are carried out through Google Search. But not everyone wants to use Google, Bing or the other big search engines. These companies usually track you through your searches, and use that information to better advertise to you. If you’re looking for a search engine that respects your privacy more or … Read more
Are you selling items on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist? Then watch out for the Google Voice Verification scam! The Setup A potential buyer contacts you and asks for your cellphone number. Once you share your contact info, a text comes in from Google Voice. It contains a 6-digit verification code, and your would-be buyer quickly … Read more
You should check out the Experiments by Google website! Programmers and coders everywhere have been submitting their projects to Google, and many of them are shared here, free for all to use. But if you go to the main Experiments page I linked above, it may seem like too much to browse through. There’s over … Read more
Any email address is generally case-insensitive. That is to say: it doesn’t matter if you use capital letters or lower-case. But Google has a few more tricks up its Gmail sleeve. Let me describe how you might use extra periods and plus signs in Gmail addresses: Periods: In any Gmail address, periods are ignored before … Read more
Let’s say you have a special voicemail message. Maybe it’s critical to a lawsuit you’re involved with. Or perhaps it’s a precious memory from a long-lost friend. If it’s important to you, then it needs to be protected! Don’t take your voicemail for granted, as it can be deleted or lost, like computer data. If … Read more
Recently, I got a warning from my cellphone provider that I’d crossed a data usage threshold. My smartphone had consumed almost 2GB of data in a single day. This was exceptional for me, so I did the detective work to figure out what happened. As it turns out, the Amazon Shopping app was the culprit. … Read more
Google really wants everyone to try out Google Meet. So they built it into their Gmail page design, some months ago. Google Meet probably roosts in the lower-left corner when you visit Gmail.com on your computer. But not everyone uses Google Meet. And some people want that valuable screen real estate back, for their email … Read more
From 2011 to 2019, Google tried to get in on the social media craze with their Google+ platform. It never caught on, and the nail in its coffin was when it was shown that users’ information was not safeguarded well. Anyone with a Google+ profile may have had their PII revealed to 3rd-party developers. If … Read more
If you lose your smartphone or tablet, don’t give up hope. That goes for stolen devices, too. You may be able to locate your device! Android and Apple devices offer tracking tools, built-in to their accounts and devices, and they are free for all to use. The Tools On a computer, open your browser and … Read more