Joel Folgner - Fresh From Cache (Page 4)

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Your phone says storage is almost full. Don't delete anything yet.

The standard advice is to delete some photos. On the wrong phone, that advice destroys the only copy. Answer one question first.

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The AI boom is showing up on price tags

AI data centers are buying up the memory chips that go into every phone, laptop, and game console. The bill has reached store shelves. The cheapest devices are taking the biggest hit. Here is a real answer on whether to buy now or wait.

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This week: the first hour after a scam

Also in this issue: what your kid's school laptop can see, your router's expiration date, and the magnifying glass hiding in your phone.

Two girls in school uniforms run up a sidewalk past a road sign reading WATCH CHILDREN

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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.

A black Wi-Fi router with two antennas sitting on a wooden wall shelf.

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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.

Fresh From Cache 5-Minute Tech Tip card with a clock face and the question: Can your phone read the fine print to you?

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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.

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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.

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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.

Rows of high-voltage power line towers silhouetted against a deep orange sky, with the sun low and huge behind them

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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.

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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.

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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.

A young woman with one hand over her forehead, looking down at her phone in a dark room

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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.