Trump family business delays launch of $499 gold smartphone

US-made device planned by end of year hit by recent government shutdown affecting shipments…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/31/trump-family-business-delays-launch-of-gold-smartphone

 

 

 

25 surprisingly useful things you can do with your phone

Using the built-in features and easily available additional apps, there are plenty of clever things you can do with your smartphone…

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/21/a-tape-measure-a-metal-detector-and-a-spirit-level-25-surprisingly-useful-things-you-can-do-with-your-phone

 

One Way Parents Can Fight the Phone-Based Childhood - The Atlantic

About 75 percent of kids ages 9 to 12 regularly play the online game Roblox, where they can interact with friends and even strangers. But most of the children in our survey said that they aren't allowed to be out in public at all without an adult. Fewer than half of the 8- and 9-year-olds have gone down a grocery-store aisle alone; more than a quarter aren't allowed to play unsupervised even in their own front yard...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/kids-smartphones-play-freedom/683742/

Everything you should fix on your senior parent's smartphone - The Washington Post

Clean up and optimize your parent's smartphone with 20 minutes and this checklist...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/10/parent-senior-phone/

Rep. Pat Fallon Blames Mass Shootings On 'Dang Smartphones' | HuffPost Latest News

The Texas congressman is the latest Republican politician to ignore the fact that every single mass shooting, by definition, involves guns...

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pat-fallon-dang-smartphones-mass-shootings_n_62a0e293e4b06594c1c37c8a

Claim about smartphones given to immigrants misses key context: they’re used for tracking - PolitiFact

…The smartphones given to immigrants detained by ICE are used to track them with a pre-installed application after being released from custody. The phones cannot be used for anything else. ICE has been using the phones and the tracking application since 2018, before Biden became president…

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/apr/14/facebook-posts/claim-about-smartphones-given-immigrants-misses-ke/

How to use your smartphone to identify objects | Popular Science

Your smartphone may know what it is, even if you don't…

https://www.popsci.com/diy/how-to-use-smartphone-camera-to-search/

Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy - NYTimes

EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized — are logging the movements of tens of millions of people with mobile phones and storing the information in gigantic data files. The Times Privacy Project obtained one such file, by far the largest and most sensitive ever to be reviewed by journalists. It holds more than 50 billion location pings from the phones of more than 12 million Americans as they moved through several major cities, including Washington, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. ....
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html

Google Assistant Can Now Translate Languages on Your Phone | WIRED

Interpreter Mode comes to iOS and Android, making it easier to converse somewhat seamlessly across language barriers.
https://www.wired.com/story/google-assistant-can-now-translate-on-your-phone/

Trump Campaign Deploying Phone Location-Tracking Technology

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S reelection effort has retained the services of a technology company that specializes in the mass collection of smartphone location data, which can be used to track voters for political targeting purposes.
https://theintercept.com/2019/12/11/the-donald-trump-campaign-is-deploying-phone-location-tracking-technology/

Kroger is changing grocery shopping as we know it — and it's becoming a bigger threat to Amazon - Business Insider

Kroger is rolling out a new technology to stores that's designed to make grocery shopping easier than ever before. The technology communicates with customers' smartphones and uses a series of emoji-like icons to highlight products on their shopping lists as they walk down store aisles, helping them to quickly select items in a sea of identical-looking products. ....
https://www.businessinsider.com/kroger-microsoft-roll-out-digital-shelf-in-threat-to-amazon-2019-1

If your phone is running slowly or always losing battery, it might have been hacked to mine cryptocurrency – here's how to protect yourself - Business Insider

A single smartphone doesn't have the necessary processing power to mine cryptocurrencies, but together, many devices can allow hackers to successfully do so. ....
https://www.businessinsider.com/cryptojackers-are-targeting-mobile-users-and-could-destroy-your-phone-2018-8

iOS 12 review: the fixes are in - The Verge

Apple's latest mobile OS update focuses on making things work, instead of adding new features ....
https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/17/17862236/ios-12-review-download-features-update-speed-iphone-ipad-screen-time-notifications-siri

Turn Your Android Smartphone Into A Personal Surveillance System With Snowden's New App -- Fossbytes

Now there is another addition to the list of ways you can reuse your old smartphone: by turning it into a personal surveillance system to catch any unexpected guest or intruder trying to circumvent your privacy and security. ....
https://fossbytes.com/snowden-haven-android-survelliance-system/

Smartphones aren't a smart choice in middle school -- CNN

There is a correlation between cell phones and teen depression, writes Delaney Ruston, so US schools should follow France's lead and ban students' from having them during school. ....
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/22/opinions/smartphones-middle-school-opinion-ruston/index.html

How to Block a Number on Android Using Your Smartphone or an App | Digital Trends

Tired of getting calls from automated spammers or creepy strangers? You need to know how to block a number in Android. Figuring out how to block calls, however, can take some digging. Some manufacturers bury blacklist features deep in the settings pane, and some older devices may not provide native blocking features at all.....
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-block-phone-calls-on-your-android-smartphone/

Apple shares new iPad + iOS 11 how-to videos, features third-party apps -- 9to5Mac

On the heels of releasing iOS 11 today, Apple has published a few new how-to videos to its YouTube channel promoting what's now possible with its latest mobile OS and iPad. ...
https://9to5mac.com/2017/09/19/ios11-ipad-how-to-videos/

iOS 11 Is Here... Try These Hidden Tricks for Your iPhone -- The Wall Street Journal

You don't need a fancy new iPhone to benefit from many of the latest OS tricks ...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ios-11-is-here-try-these-hidden-tricks-for-your-iphone-1505844802

Take nude photos? What you can do to practice safer sexting -- USA TODAY

A lot of people take nude photos. Most people expect they will stay private. ....
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/stevenpetrow/2017/08/29/take-nude-photos-what-you-can-do-practice-safer-sexting/607663001/

And Now the Good News #254:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzKlA_HMhNk&feature=youtu.be