For the last few years, I’ve chosen one weekend day a year to undertake what I’ve come to call a Feeds Reboot. I try to systematically go through every subscription, every follow, every algorithmically or chronologically generated thing I see on social platforms, streaming services, and news apps, and reset or at least review the way it works. I can’t recommend this enough.
Last week, I missed a real-life meeting because I hadn’t set a reminder on my smartphone, leaving someone I’d never met before alone in a café. But on the same day, I remembered the name of the actor who played Will Smith’s aunt in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1991 (Janet Hubert). Memory is weird, unpredictable and, neuroscientifically, not yet entirely understood. When memory lapses like mine happen (which they do, a lot), it feels both easy and logical to blame the technology we’ve so recently adopted. Does having more memory in our pockets mean there’s less in our heads? Am I losing my ability to remember things – from appointments to what I was about to do next – because I expect my phone to do it for me? Before smartphones, our heads would have held a cache of phone numbers and our memories would contain a cognitive map, built up over time, which would allow us to navigate – for smartphone users, that is no longer true.
With all that in mind, the volume controls on your smartphone (or on your actual headphones) shouldn't be neglected. Resist the temptation to crank up the volume, and your ears will thank you.
Even better, if you don't want to fiddle with the volume all the time, you can set a limit on how high it can go, which is very handy if you're on the move and aren't sure exactly what level the volume is set to.
We'll tell you where you can place an AirTag that you may not have thought of before.
Instead of sharing a copy of the recipe, you can now invite friends and family so they can access your recipes directly from the Pestle app.
The most common stargazing apps are of the "star map" variety; they help you identify celestial and manmade bodies such as satellites in the sky. We've outlined three of the best below. For some sky watchers, this kind of app will be enough. But if you also want to know where the light from the earth will interfere with your view the least, or want to find when the perfect conditions for a night under the stars will occur, we have solutions for that, too.
Apple was working in partnership with local nonprofit Superhero Me, a ground-up inclusive arts movement that empowers children from diverse backgrounds through the arts, social mixing and purposeful programming.
While this was Aida’s first mentorship for Superhero Me, she’s no stranger to working with people with special needs, or in creating artworks inspired by them. Aida, also known as Yellow Mushmellow, has created some exceptional projects influenced by people with special needs whom she cares deeply about.
I gave up on watching Stranger Things. Having too much money to put on the screen is not always a good thing. The first season of this show is still my absolute favorite. The simple storylines were perfectly executed, without bloat.
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Thanks for reading.