A recent Buzzfeed investigation discovered that several popular VPN and adblocking apps for Android and iOS secretly collected user data and sent it to Sensor Tower, a cross-platform data analytics service for app developers.

Life Hacks – Spoken Edition

Uninstall These VPN and Ad-Blocking Apps That Spied on Your iPhone or Android

If you have a flight coming up soon, then you might be considering rebooking it. An airplane obviously isn’t the most ideal place to be right now given coronavirus concerns. While rebooking your flight might give you some peace of mind, it can also help you save some cash. Airlines, in general, are dealing with a pretty significant number of canceled flights right now. With the demand lower than usual, airfare for flights is also going down.

Check to See If Your Upcoming Flight is Cheaper Now Due to Coronavirus

Coronavirus had made air travel something that a lot of people are reconsidering right now. When getting on an airplane more and more people are also considering giving their personal space a little wipe down to try and catch any germs that might have been left behind by the last passenger to sit there. One place you might not consider: the seat-back pocket.

Never Store Things in The Seat-Back Pocket on Airplanes

If the COVID-19 outbreak has got you checking the news a little more often—or asking yourself whether it’s time to stock up on food or medications, cancel travel, or prepare to work from home—you’re not alone. But there’s a difference between preparing for the coronavirus and letting thoughts about the coronavirus take over your brain. The former can be productive; the latter rarely is. I reached out to Dr.

How to Deal With Coronavirus Anxiety

Cast iron is a favorite tool for serious home cooks. But what most people find really serious is the proper way to maintain their heavy metal cookware. Some people swear that soap is the enemy of a properly seasoned pan. Others hold firm that the correct method for seasoning a pan takes five hours. Well, the good news is that cast iron is easier to maintain than you may have previously thought. It does, however, require a more intensive care process than most other dishes and cookware.

How to Properly Care for Cast Iron

Email is something that consistently absorbs a lot of my day. I start everyday checking and responding to email, but as the day progresses, find myself checking my inbox pretty much constantly from my phone and computer. This week Fast Company made an interesting suggestion on how to combat that problem: Using an out of office message. One of the best pieces of advice in terms of not getting distracted by email is to only check your email at certain times.

Use Out of Office Messages Even When You're Not on Vacation

Ah, there’s nothing like zooming down the highway on a bright, sunny day—wind in your hair, sunglasses on, and... all of a sudden you come to a screeching halt in a traffic jam. As you sit in traffic, it’s pretty easy to succumb to the urge of switching to a lane that appears to be moving faster.

What's the Fastest Way to Get Through a Traffic Jam?

When I was in the early stages of my various careers—both as an executive assistant and later, when I retooled as a freelance writer—I was all about the overdelivery. I had read in some business book that the secret to becoming a valued employee was to always turn things around a little bit faster and a little bit better than expected. To go the extra mile, if you don’t mind the cliché. And I did become a valued employee—and, later, a valued freelancer.

Know When to Stop Overdelivering at Work

If you’re someone who has lost hours, if not days, watching old TV clips from your childhood on YouTube, block off some time in your calendar, because you’re about to lose another chunk of your adult life. The Internet Archive—aka the Wayback Machine—now has more than 20,000 VHS recordings available to view for free on its website.

The Internet Archive's VHS Vault Is a 1990s Pop Culture Goldmine

Dunkin’ is offering customers a little bit of an incentive to grab a cup of coffee on Friday mornings: free donuts. The donut chain is launching “Free Donut Fridays” for the month of March. Customers can score a free donut of their choice, including the ‘Lucky Shamrock Donut,’ every Friday when they purchase any beverage.

You Can Get a Free Donut Every Friday in March at Dunkin'

Finding parking is always a hassle, but perfectly parallel parking? That seems almost impossible. If you street park a car in a large city, you may dread every time you switch on your blinkers and start to back up. So, in order to ease all this pain and frustration, we teamed up with our dear friends at Jalopnik to put together this easy video guide on how to parallel park like a pro. Our car expert, Andrew P.

How to Parallel Park Perfectly Every Time

Starting October 1, 2020 you’re going to need a Real ID or a passport to board any domestic flight in the United States. If you don’t already have one (a Real ID will have a gold or black star in the top-right corner), then acquiring one can be a potentially long and painful process. Since everyone needs a new ID by October, lines at local DMVs have gotten pretty overwhelming.

Spend Less Time at the DMV by Submitting Your Real ID Paperwork Online

Your USB peripherals may be making your PC vulnerable to hackers. The data security firm Eclypsium reports that the majority of Windows and Linux-based peripherals use “unsigned” firmware that leaves them open to all manner of attack—ransomware, spyware, and even full-on device takeovers.

How to Check Your USB Devices for Unsafe Firmware

Your child really is a special, fantastic little human. They’re an incredibly poised dancer or outgoing in a way you could never be or gifted in math. You know your kids are great; you just want to make sure they know how great they are. And it’s natural to want to praise them for all the wonderful, impressive things they do. But if we over-praise, we may actually be harming their self-esteem over time.

How to Help Your Kids Build Self-Esteem

Emojis add a little personality to your messages and social media posts, and there are so many of them to pick from that they’re practically their own language at this point. Even then, sometimes you’ll find that there isn’t one that quite fits what you’re trying to say. Thankfully, Android users will soon be able to mix and match two different emojis to create new ones, all thanks to the Gboard keyboard app’s new “Emoji Kitchen” feature.

Create and Customize Your Own Android Emojis With Gboard

Daily weblog on software and personal productivity recommends downloads, web sites and shortcuts that help you work smarter and save time. A SpokenEdition transforms written content into human-read audio you can listen to anywhere. It's perfect for times when you can't read - while driving, at the gym, doing chores, etc. Find more at www.spokenedition.com

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Life Hacks – Spoken Edition

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