NEW VENMO CREDIT CARD PAYS OFF IN CRYPTO

I’ll never forget being stuck in North Carolina without enough cash to pay for a bus to a remote retreat. When a fellow passenger lent me the money, I immediately paid her back using the Venmo app. That turned me into a Venmo fan. Now I have their new credit card. The Venmo card offers three percent back in your favorite category, such as groceries. It also gives you a virtual credit card number, which protects your real card number from prying eyes. What’s more, you get 10 percent back at 95 golf courses. My favorite perk is the crypto option, which gives you cash back in Bitcoin, Ethereum or one of the other major cryptocurrencies. Though the most I could invest […]

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EBAY GOES AI

My used phone sold almost as soon as I listed it, thanks to eBay’s new artificial intelligence tool. AI makes it easy to get rid of your stuff. EBay’s AI will write your item’s description for you, though you can also add your own words, like I did. But it suggested I start the bidding at $38, a price so low it scared me. So I upped it to $95, with a higher “buy it now” price. Later, I  discovered you can toggle off the auction switch and just use your set price. EBay suggested $143 for the “buy it now” price, which included my unlocked Pixel 6a phone, a $25 ruggedized Otterbox case, and the Pixel’s original box and […]

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BEWARE OF NOT-SO-FREE TRIALS

Free trials aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. I almost got burned. A Facebook friend showed off the restoration of an old family photo using an app called “Photomyne.” It looked good. At Photomyne.com, I clicked “try it for free.” After a bunch of questions about my intended use, the site asked if I preferred a recurring payment that I can cancel at any time or a free service with ads, among other options. I mistakenly chose the first option, thinking that the charge would start after the free trial. But my credit card statement immediately registered a recurring  $39.99 charge. Eek. I mistakenly thought it was $39.99 a month, but I also wondered: What happened to my […]

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FOOD MOOD

A robot from Google’s “Food Mood” creates interesting recipes based on any two countries you choose. The 193-country list makes for some interesting combinations. I made “Beetroot Symphony,” a great yogurt-beet dip that combined the cuisine of Latvia and India. My other combos include Barbados and Tonga; Grenada and Turkey; Saudi Arabia and Australia; Moldova and Namibia; Japan and Peru. To try it yourself, search on the phrase “Google Food Mood.” When you land on the page, take a look at the recipe Google found for you.  If it looks good, click “let’s cook.” If not, click on any or all of the keywords to customize your next recipe. You can change the countries, the serving size, and the type […]

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LOST PHONES

Why do I feel compelled to turn off my cell phone? It makes it so hard to find. Recently, I couldn’t find it anywhere. Worse, I couldn’t call it because I’d turned it off the night before. I couldn’t even use the “Find My Device” app or website for Android to pinpoint it on a map. Your phone has to be on.  But soon, Google is coming out with a version of Find My Device that works with trackers such as Tile Pro. They’re also hinting at a new Google Air Tags device. Either one would find your phone when it’s off by connecting via Bluetooth with any phone that’s near yours, then reporting its location to you. It will […]

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