But who determines what is a high priority? Google. That’s right, Google determines if an incoming missive is a High Priority message or not. Of course, users are able to mark a message as either Important or Not Important, but you have to remember to do that on a case-by-case basis. That happens to be the best route to take (I’ll explain later). But if you find you’re missing too many notifications for incoming Gmail, it’s time to take action....

Why? Simple. Encrypting an email prevents a third party from intercepting a communication and accessing the information within. An unencrypted email could be very easy to view by a bad actor. The more sensitive the information, the more you should protect it, and there’s no better way (when working with email) than to make use of encryption. Also: The best encryption software: Protect your data Here’s how encryption works: When you do this, only the recipient can read the email because they have the private key that matches the public key....

Also: Phishing attacks are getting scarily sophisticated. What to watch for But it can be extremely difficult to detect or remove spyware once it’s implanted in a device. This guide will run through different forms of malicious software that could end up on your iOS or Android handset, what the warning signs of infection are, and how to remove such pestilence from your mobile devices if it is possible to do so....

I’m not sure if it’s similar to decision fatigue, but I’ve got so many balls in the air right now that learning different routes from my daily ones sounds exhausting. Considering that more than a billion people use Google Maps each month, I’m not alone. Waze, available for iOS or Android, is my go-to because of all the extra perks: proactive route recalculation, warnings for sightings of stopped cars, crashes, or animals reported by other drivers, and user interface....

You don’t want that… especially when it comes to personal or professional information that you don’t want falling into the wrong hands. One of the complexities of using encryption in Thunderbird (or most email clients) is that you have to track down the recipient’s public GPG key and add it to the client. Without that key, you can’t send encrypted emails to the owner of the key, thereby rendering GPG useless....

Since many people have at least one way to connect with Alexa, Google, or Siri within their homes, it’s only logical that smart voice assistants adapt to sound more like the people using them. How to make Alexa bilingual Alexa has the option to listen and respond in English and other languages, or a combination of two languages. This feature is available on 3rd Generation Echo speakers, 2nd Generation Echo Shows and the newer generations of both devices....

One LibreOffice feature I’ve been using for some time makes it easy to password-protect a document so that only those with the set password can open it. This is a must-have feature for anyone who creates documents that contain sensitive information. Whether it’s a business plan, client information, or your diary, you can protect the contents of that document without having to use a third-party application to encrypt your file....

Also: This free utility is so simple and useful, it should be shipped with every Mac It was the fact that, for years, I had gotten so used to reaching over to the bottom-left corner of the keyboard for the Control key in order to select all (Ctrl+A,) copy (Ctrl+C,) paste (Ctrl+V,) and do all the other useful Windows-based shortcuts, that by the time I was presented with the MacBook’s repositioned Control key alternative, the Command key, my muscle memory was beginning to question itself....

As fellow minions beholden to remote IT overlords, we sympathize. In fairness to your IT department, their primary concern is keeping the network safe. The most effective way to achieve that goal is to minimize random web browsing and prevent the use of unauthorized software while keeping you connected to HQ on a virtual private network. As you’ve discovered, though, that makes even the simplest non-work-related computing tasks a pain to accomplish....

Also: How to record a call on your iPhone When your iPhone is plugged into a charger, Clean Energy Charging measures your local energy grid and throttles the phone’s charging speed so that it only pulls electricity during times of cleaner energy production. That means that during peak hours – usually between 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. – your iPhone won’t charge as fast as you may need, if at all....

Also: Google’s first Pixel feature drop of 2023 is official. Here’s what’s new The new Fall Detection feature uses a combination of sensors in the Watch to detect when whoever is wearing it falls. The wearer then receives an alert on the Watch asking if they’re alright, and depending on the answer – or worst case scenario, non-answer – the watch will contact emergency services and get help. Fall Detection isn’t only for those who are accident-prone, like an elderly family member, (pardon the cliché) but it’s for everyone....

Regularly, I have to send sensitive information to others. Although I’d rather take advantage of GPG encryption found in the likes of Thunderbird, I don’t always have that option… especially when using Gmail. However, a few years back Google did add a nice feature to Gmail called Confidential Mode that helps protect sensitive information from authorized access. With Confidential Mode, you can set an expiration date and a password for messages and even revoke access any time you choose....

Both of those methods work but are rather inefficient. And given how busy we all are these days, an effective workflow is crucial. You don’t want to waste precious time and you could wind up missing or losing that email. What do you do? If your desktop web browser of choice is Safari, you’re in luck. With the help of a handy feature called Reading List which is exactly what it sounds like…a reading list of webpages you’ve saved for later viewing....

Several years ago, I went to Best Buy on one of my regular missions to see what salespeople tell customers, and I asked a question that has often perplexed me: What’s the best Windows laptop? The answer was twofold: first, the salesman took me over to the HP display. The Spectre 15 was his suggestion. But as we got talking, he confessed that, though he wasn’t an Apple fanperson – his phone was Samsung – the best Windows laptop in his truly honest view was the 15-inch MacBook Pro....

I don’t know whether it was the fact that mercury had finally stopped being in retrograde – or whether the full moon had finally done its worst – but I really wanted to see something that would give my life a new meaning. Or, at least, something that would make me reconsider the meaning of technology. Deliberately and specifically, I searched for “weird tech gadgets.” This has been my marginal penchant of late, ever since I began living with a robot cat....

See also: The best crypto is anyone’s guess: Bitcoin and 11 more cryptocurrencies you need to know. But despite the wild volatility of the crypto market, mainstream financial players have felt compelled to participate in what’s either a gold rush or a modern-day example of tulip mania. When PayPal decided to start offering Bitcoin to its users, it became clear that crypto was here to stay (although at what valuation is anyone’s guess)....

But the most fun purchase was probably the Kasa Smart WiFi Plug Slim with Energy Monitoring. Specifications This means you can control the plug from anywhere at any time, and set up schedules and scenes. A good use for these little devices is for different appliances that you want to run on a schedule or automate, or holiday lights and decorations; or that one thing that you always forget whether you turned off before you left the house....

That’s what we’re being led to believe. OpenAI’s ChatGPT will soon replace Google I hear, and, who knows, perhaps even baseball managers and the government. How could I not be excited? Yet everyone seemed to be giving ChatGPT a try and declaring it quite good. Where’s the sport in that? Also: What is ChatGPT and why does it matter? So I ruminated deeply upon how to create my own chatbot excitement....

Every time I’ve visited a T-Mobile store, I’ve encountered customer service markedly superior to that of, say, AT&T. Not so many months ago, I visited both an AT&T and T-Mobile store and discovered opposed attitudes toward me as a customer. Then again, I’m not a T-Mobile customer. I’ve been with AT&T longer than is healthy. Perhaps new faces are more of an attraction than existing customers. Perhaps, too, T-Mobile is now struggling to maintain its image as, well, a little more human than the others....

Because it’s one thing to hear about it and another to fully absorb its essence. Yes, it was a Saturday, but as I walked past a Bay Area Apple store, I could see there was room for me inside. Apple stores may be back to normal, but perhaps people aren’t. Before the pandemic, this store would have been squeezed of air. Instead, there was room to breathe. I’ll come to my feelings about the iPhone SE another time because, on this occasion, there was something far greater and more memorable to observe....