Section · 49 articles
Technology
Scams, devices, subscriptions and staying connected — written without condescension.
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The Call From Your Bank: How the Script Works
The caller has your name, your bank and a real-looking number. What the script is designed to do, where it always breaks, and the rule that ends the call.
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The First Two Hours After You Realise: A Checklist
If you gave a code, installed something, or sent money, the next two hours matter more than anything else. What to do, in order, without waiting to be certain.
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Fake Emails: Five Things to Check Without Technical Knowledge
The old advice about spelling mistakes stopped working. What actually distinguishes a fraudulent email now, and the one habit that makes checking unnecessary.
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Romance Fraud: How It Is Built, and How to Check Early
It is a long, patient operation run by teams, not a lonely person being careless. The structure it follows, and the checks that work early.
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The Family Emergency Call: Why It Works, and the One Question That Stops It
A cloned voice, a spoofed number and a plea not to tell anyone. How the grandparent scam works now, and the single arrangement that defeats it.
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Password Managers: Less Work Than What You Do Now
The objection is that it sounds complicated and risky to put everything in one place. Both are backwards, and the setup takes an evening.
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Two-Factor Authentication: What It Is and Why They Keep Asking
The one step that protects an account even after the password leaks. Which method to use, which to avoid, and the rule that makes it safe to use at all.
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Checking Whether Your Details Have Been Leaked
Breaches happen to companies, not to careless people. How to check in two minutes, what the result actually means, and what to do in what order.
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When to Replace a Phone, and When Not To
A phone that feels slow usually is not worn out. The one reason that genuinely forces a replacement, and the four that get repaired for a fraction of the cost.
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Buying a Laptop: What Matters and What Is Sold to You
Four things determine whether a laptop is pleasant to use, and three of them are rarely on the label. What to check in the shop, and what to ignore.
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Tablet or Laptop: Which One You Actually Need
They overlap more than they used to, and the deciding question is not what you do — it's how much of it involves typing and files.
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Smartwatches and Trackers: What They Measure and What to Believe
Some readings are measured, some are estimated, and some are guesses with decimal places. Which is which, and what these devices are good for.
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Home Automation Without Rewiring Anything
A handful of devices that plug in, solve a real problem and need no installation — and the ones that add complication without adding much.
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Hearing Aids and Earbuds: Where the Line Now Is
A category that did not exist a few years ago now sits between ordinary earbuds and prescription devices. What changed, what it covers, and where it stops.
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Subscriptions: Finding What You Pay For, and Stopping It
Most households pay for things nobody uses. How to find every recurring charge in an afternoon, and cancel the ones designed to be hard to cancel.
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Banking on a Phone: What Is Safe and What Is Not
A banking app is generally safer than a browser and safer than a phone call. What actually creates risk, and the settings that matter more than any of it.
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Documents Online: Signing, Storing and Dealing With Agencies
Electronic signatures are valid and easier than printing. What is safe to do online, what to keep on paper, and how to spot a fake agency site.
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Buying Online: Telling a Real Shop From a Fake One
Fake shops are cheap to build and heavily advertised. The checks that take two minutes, and the payment rule that makes a loss recoverable.
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What Happens to Your Accounts After You Die, and How to Arrange It Now
Photographs, email, subscriptions and access to everything else. Most of it can be arranged in an afternoon, and almost nobody does it until they have had to.
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Video Calls With Grandchildren: What Works and What Irritates Everyone
Long scheduled calls with a bored child are the format most families default to and the one that works worst. What actually holds a young child's attention.
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Sharing Photos With Family Without Burying Everyone
Sending forty pictures to a group chat is the method most families use and the worst one. Shared albums take ten minutes to set up.
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A Shared Family Calendar That People Actually Use
Most shared calendars fail for the same three reasons. What to put in one, what to keep out, and the setup that survives past the first month.
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Helping a Parent With Technology From a Distance
Doing it for them is faster once and worse every time after. What actually helps, what to set up in advance, and the sentence that keeps you in the loop.
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Settings Every Phone Has and Nobody Mentions
Bigger text, fewer interruptions, a screen you can actually read outdoors. The adjustments that are built in, free, and almost never pointed out.
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Streaming: What Replaced Cable, and What It Actually Costs
Four services cost about what cable did. How to work out what you are paying, watch without a subscription, and stop the ones that renew unnoticed.
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Talking Instead of Typing
Dictation became genuinely accurate and almost nobody switched. Where the microphone button is, how to punctuate, and what it is good and bad for.
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AI Assistants: What They Actually Do, and What Gets Claimed
Useful for some things, confidently wrong about others, and oversold in both directions. What they are genuinely good at, and where not to trust them.
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Fake Voices and Faces: What the Technology Can Do Now
A voice needs seconds of audio. A face works live on a laptop. What this breaks, and why the answer is a procedure rather than a keener ear.
2020
6 of the best cheap robot vacuum cleaners in the UK
I haven’t purchased one of these because I’m living in a temporary apartment and it seems too small for one of these. But from everyone who casually m
2020
Beware of Covid -19 Scams
By Andy Asher Coronavirus is bringing with it scam artists targeting the most vulnerable in the country. Worse yet, these are older adults who are oft
2020
COVID-19 Scams On The Rise: How To Protect You And Your Loved Ones
Author : Alice Rodriguez, financial health executive with JPMorgan Chase & Co. Millions of people fall victim to fraud each year and scammers pock
2020
New Age: 5 Ways Technology Can Improve Your Life in 2020
Sarah Kaminski | April 28, 2020 | 0 Comments If you still think that all things tech are a young man’s game in 2020, you’ ll have to reassess your per
2020
Stephen Colbert goes to absolute town on Iowa caucus voting app disaster
A lot of people will be asking the same question. What happened? After-all for months eyes have been on the Iowa primary eagerly awaiting how the Demo
2020
Why Scammers Use Gift Cards to Steal Your Money
As hard as we try to stop it, there will always be a scammer out there inventing novel ways to steal our money. We have all received a wide variety of
2019
Romance Scams: 5 Signs Exposing Them
By Jen Donnel In today’s digitally driven world, people of all ages use computers and smart-devices for business, leisure, and even dating. However, e
2018
Protect Yourself, Your Wallet and Your Identity from Phone Scams
By Alvaro Peon Sanchez, Senior Product Manager at Whitepages A survey of more than 2,000 adults last year found that an estimated one in every 10 Amer
2018
5 Things You’re Doing That is Compromising Your Online Safety
5 Things You’re Doing That is Compromising Your Online Safety by Dr. Eric Cole Just like we work to improve our physical health and well-being, it’s a
2017
Best Entry-Level Drones for Baby Boomer
Best Drones For The Older Geeks In 2017 -’18 Remote controlled toys have always been a favorite for baby boomers with a fanciful mind, but with the re
2017
Capturing Family History on Social Media
Adapted from The Essential Social Media Marketing Handbook: A New Roadmap for Maximizing Your Brand, Influence and Credibility (Career Press) by Gail
2017
Tips for Baby Boomers Online Dating and Safety
Singles that have reached the age of 50 or 60 want many different things from new encounters and relationships. Unlike young singles who want to have
2016
American Grandparents Are More Tech-Savvy Than You Think
16397524 – senior couple connected with family on internet NEW YORK, June 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — According to recent survey results derived from the
2016
How To Cut Your Landline Phone – Make Your Life Easier
Jennie Swenson | October 17, 2016 | 0 Comments How To Cut Your Landline Phone – Make Your Life Easier Studies show that most of us in the “Boomer” gen
2016
Technology Changes the Way Society Views Aging
Every week, we review the mature marketing content from the previous week with which our followers were most engaged. This week, we will take a look a
2015
Mature Marketing Links of the Week – Handheld Devices, Housing Design and Harley Davidson
Last Monday we started the week on a note of laughter, with jokes from and about outgoing LeadingAge President Larry Minnix. This Monday we find it ha
2015
Seniors Are Facebookers: Pew Research
31% of all Seniors are on Facebook, Finds Pew Research Center The holidays were very good to me this year, and it appears the gifts keep coming. The P
2015
Tech Companies Talking Down to Boomers and Seniors
Smart Boomer Woman Using Her Laptop AMSTERDAM and SAN FRANCISCO – January 6, 2014 – Over two fifths (43%) of those over 50 feel patronized by technolo
2015
At 90, Designing Tech For Aging Boomers
In Silicon Valley’s youth-obsessed culture, 40-year-olds get plastic surgery to fit in. But IDEO, the firm that famously developed the first mouse for
2014
Internet Dating – Staying Safe
Look we might as well jump right into this hot topic…it’s about online dating. For a long time for an awful lot of people it seems there is a stigma a
For additional public information on consumer fraud and scam prevention, see Federal Trade Commission.