A tech-tastic Fri-yay is upon us, friends! I thought those who love to travel might like this trivia question. Which airline was the first to introduce personal televisions in the seatbacks for in-flight entertainment on commercial jets? Was it … A.) Pan Am, B.) British Airways, C.) Virgin Atlantic or D.) Singapore Airlines? You’ll find the answer at the end.

✅ Keep this newsletter free by clicking the link to check out today’s sponsor, Bark — the best phone for tweens and teens. If you or someone you know wants to monitor exactly what the kids are doing, this is it. — Kim

No, no, no — not this email, of course. I’m talking about the rambling ones you get from coworkers, clients, your boss, your neighbor, your cranky uncle … and so on.

The folks at messaging app Slack surveyed 8,000 small-biz workers. Turns out, our old ways of sending emails are chock full of painful time wasters no one likes sending or reading.

Clearly, Slack has a vested interest in people using, well, Slack. But these numbers reveal a lot. Let’s crack our knuckles, check some stats and get rid of yawn-worthy emails.

Too long, won’t read

Eight sentences or longer, and 57% of people skim or just ignore parts. Ahem … yeah, I do that. Instead, try this:

• Put all the most important info in the first line.
• Write in bullet points to save time. (See? It works!)
• If you need to write more than a few sentences, move to a phone call, text or chat instead.

Wait, you didn’t answer me!

Over 60% say it's common they didn't get an answer to a question they included in an email. About half say they get asked questions they already answered or are called by the wrong name. Ouch.

• Pull names directly from the email contact, or save space and don’t use a name. It’s 2023 — they know who they are.
• Maintain an open chat with those you work with often for quick questions and answers. So much faster than email for follow-ups!

The problem is … I didn’t read it

This surprised me: 45% of respondents said they missed a meeting date or a deadline that was buried in an email. That's embarrassing. Here's how to fix it:

• Rely on your email app. Most automatically highlight and prompt you to save important information.
• Setting up a meeting? Send an invite through your email’s scheduling system.
• Avoid “reply all” whenever possible. No one likes it.

✅ Adopting even a few of these habits will do a world of good. I have a few more tricks to share, including the way to make sure your email isn’t coming off like you’re a big jerkface. Yep, technical terms only here.

🎱 I asked my magic eight ball which email client to use. It told me … Outlook not so good. (Haha! Yes, I laugh at my own jokes!)

This is seriously cool! You’ve heard me talk about the Bark Phone for kids. It just made TIME’s list of Best Inventions of 2023.

Bark makes a phone that keeps kids and parents happy — it’s a customizable Android with built-in tracking and monitoring that can’t be disabled. Hate to break it to you, but most older kids are smart enough to get past all the other parental controls and blocker apps.

Firm screen time limits, real-time location tracking, no deleting texts and automatic scanning for anything troubling. It’s really no wonder this phone made TIME’s list.

🚨 Warning for teachers, parents and students: Girls at Westfield High School in New Jersey discovered boys swapping naked photos of them. But the girls never took nude selfies or pics. Police confirmed AI was used to superimpose real faces over other girls’ bodies. What specific law did the perpetrators break? It could be none — nothing has been written to cover this yet.

Mom, I’m in jail: Scammers are now using AI-generated mugshots and voice cloning to convince you your kids or grandchildren are in jail and need bail money. The big red flag: They want the money sent to Venmo or PayPal accounts. If you get a call, email or text, call whoever they say is in jail (or someone else who knows them) before sending any money.

Mint is minted: Bad news if you use the budgeting app Mint. It’s shutting down at the end of the year and folding into Credit Karma, owned by Intuit. Mint's been around since 2006, so it's a shame to see it go. Check out my handy list of free budgeting apps if you need some encourage-mint.

👨‍🚀 Perfect for space cadets: NASA is launching a streaming service with mission footage and shows on Nov. 8 — no ads and no subscriptions required. Nice. Watch the trailer here. Oh, and Disney’s buying Hulu for $8B, so watch for price hikes and the end of password sharing there, too.

Talk is Jeep: Jeep is recalling nearly 100,000 Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer SUVs over faulty third-row seatbelts. The affected model years are 2022 through 2024. Call your dealership for a free seatbelt replacement ASAP.

Sneaky malware: Watch for any links that tell you to download Google Chrome or Grammarly. Hackers are embedding new malware called Ghostpulse into various app installers. If you’re a real IT nerd, here’s a free tool you can use to detect the malware. PSA: Be tech-smart, and only download apps from official app stores.

Pro-bionic tech: Karin lost her hand in a farming accident 20 years ago, and now, she’s the first person to receive a fully functional bionic hand, loaded up with AI. Much like a real hand, the bionic hand allows Karin to move her fingers and feel touch, pressure and heat. The new hand even reduces phantom pain. So, so cool.

🎸 The Beatles’ new single: Producers used machine learning to separate John Lennon's voice from an old demo tape, letting Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr create a tune around Lennon's vocals. Give it a listen, then reply to this email and let me know what you think!

Ever try to put together a shopping list of who’s bringing what for a school event, scout troop, church function, family party or whatever? Yeah, it’s a nightmare trying to do that in a group text or email chain.

You have much better options. Take your pick!

• Use a shared note-taking app like Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote or Evernote. This is easiest if everyone already has, say, a Google or Microsoft account.
• You can also try a dedicated shopping list app like Any List, Out of Milk and OurGroceries. Make a new list in the app and invite others to join. Bonus: You can remind people the day before an event about what they're supposed to bring.

🧺 Look at that. Now, even your most forgetful friends, relatives and coworkers have no excuse. You’re welcome! But I can’t help you if Aunt Ruth decides to bring that bowl of pink stuff again.

😆 Everyone at the family reunion got food poisoning. Runs in the family. (I know you’re going to use that one.)

I make the complex world of tech simple and approachable. From explaining the latest gadgets in plain English to offering easy-to-follow cybersecurity advice, I’ve got you covered.

Choose your platform below to listen:

💵 Secret way to save money on internet: Your internet plan is expensive. Call your ISP and ask for a promo. Most of the time, they’re valid for a year. You can negotiate when the year ends. Now, don’t talk to whoever answers the phone; ask instead for a “Retention Specialist” — aka the folks who can cut you the best deal.

Have a teen in the house? YouTube now limits video recommendations to teens that could trigger body image issues, and it will stop repeat watches of videos that drive “social aggression,” like non-physical fighting or intimidation. This comes two years after YouTube testified before the government and got its hands slapped. Two years and that’s what we get?

Free Samsung security upgrade: The new Auto Blocker stops Zero Click attacks (usually spread via images hiding malicious code), app downloads outside the official app stores and more. If you have a Samsung Galaxy running One UI 6, it’s worth checking out.

🔒 Brave says, “Hey! Us, too!” The privacy-focused browser’s AI assistant is here. Leo can summarize videos and webpages, translate text, and rewrite things for you. For $15, you get faster and more accurate responses. Leo uses an anonymous server as a proxy, so the things you ask can’t be linked back to you. Neat.

Check, mate: Chess[.]com and Duolingo paired up to help you finally learn what a rook does. On Chess[.]com, you can face multilingual bots in online games. Head to the homepage, click Play Computer, then choose your difficulty and language. I’m scared to face “Lily.”

This one made my knees buckle.

The answer: C.) Virgin Atlantic added screens in 1991. Get this: The movies and TV shows weren’t on-demand; they played on a schedule.

🧳 Reminds me of the time we took British Airways to Paris. They lost our bags because of a major snafu at Heathrow. Three days later, no sign of our luggage. On the fourth day, the Daily Mail was delivered with my breakfast. There, on the front page, was a picture of luggage lost at Heathrow — with our bags in it. I called and told them, “I found our bags!”

Thanks for reading, and one more reminder to check out the Bark Phone. Supporting our sponsors keeps this email free to you! I appreciate you. I’ll see you tomorrow with another issue of the best tech newsletter in the USA! — Kim