The school laptop is a work computer. Here's what it does and doesn't monitor.

Every adult knows how to behave on a work laptop. Your child was handed one at school and nobody explained the distinction. Here is what the school district can see, and what to check before you sign the packet.

Check Your Router's Expiration Date. No Manufacturer Is Required to Tell You It Has One.

Washington spent this month regulating where your router was manufactured. The far more dangerous question is how long anyone will keep patching it, and on that one you are entirely on your own.

Your phone has a magnifying glass

The camera app zooms. The magnifier holds the image still, turns up the contrast, and on an iPhone it will even read the small print out loud.

What is an AI agent, and should you let one loose on your computer?

An AI broke out of a sealed test environment and hacked a real company to cheat on its own exam. Here is what an agent actually is, and how to try one without getting burned.

Also this week: iPhone leases, a movable taskbar, and a deepfake law in court

Four stories from the week I did not write a full piece about, and a sentence or two on why each one matters to you.

The power company is not calling to cut you off in 30 minutes

A call says your electricity goes off within the hour unless you pay right now. Real shutoffs move by mail, and during dangerous heat the shutoff itself can be against the law.

Millions of cars carry a Southern California dealer alarm with a security flaw

Most of the 2.2 million affected cars were sold at Southern California dealerships, but resale carried several hundred thousand of them everywhere else. Two minutes tells you whether yours is one.

The map your robot vacuum made of your house, the camera reading your license plate, and a deepfake takedown that costs nothing

Also in this issue: the Odyssey streaming scams, the AI habits that actually pay off, something new on Fridays, and how to make your phone stop ringing for robocalls.

You just got scammed. What now?

The hours lost to embarrassment are what turn a bad afternoon into a drained account. Here is the order to work in, and what is actually recoverable.

Google wants a video of your face. Skip it for now.

Google's new selfie sign-in is optional, stored on Google's servers, and easier to turn on than to undo. Five minutes on your recovery settings does more for you.

Make your phone stop ringing for robocalls

Your phone can send robocalls straight to voicemail, or make them say who they are first. Here is the five-minute setup on iPhone, Android, and Samsung.

What a Flock camera actually does

It photographs every car that passes, including yours. The argument your city council is having is about who gets to search the record.