The everyday tech stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
Starlink Wi-Fi is on over 200,000 flights, but most airlines are still mid-rollout. Here is how to check your flight before you book.
Read more: Fast Starlink Wi-Fi is on many flights now, but not yet mostRoyal Mail says fake delivery texts, emails and cards demanding fees are rising. A tap on the wrong link could cost you money or personal details.
Read more: Royal Mail warns of fake parcel texts and emails asking for feesTesla has reportedly stopped selling its Solar Roof tiles after high prices and weak sales, and buyers now get regular panels instead.
Read more: Tesla drops its solar roof tiles after high prices and slow salesGoogle Photos' new Gemini Task can sort albums and tweak colors in bulk, but a hands-on test found it sometimes adds glitches and lowers quality.
Read more: Google Photos' new Gemini helper sorts photos well but can ruin editsAmericans may get about 60 billion political texts this cycle. A few phone settings can hide them, and some can be reported.
Read more: How to quiet the flood of political texts before Election DaySamsung's new One UI 9 tool silenced a free game's full-screen ads that AdGuard's free setting missed, but it works by cutting the app off from the internet.
Read more: Samsung's hidden ad tool beats AdGuard at the ads people hate mostCached files pile up on Android phones and can eat storage and slow apps. Clearing them takes a few taps and leaves photos and personal files alone.
Read more: Clearing your Android cache can free up space and speed up your phoneWhatsApp announced Group Status on October 29, 2026. Posts go to one group only and vanish after 24 hours, but everyone in that group can see them.
Read more: WhatsApp lets you post a status that only one group can seeSteve Yedlin, the cinematographer behind Knives Out, helped build a $13 iPhone app that gives photos a film-style look with no editing.
Read more: A Hollywood cinematographer's $13 iPhone camera app is a surprise hitOpenAI now lets other companies build ChatGPT and its speech-to-text tool Whisper into their own apps, at a much lower price than before.
Read more: OpenAI opens ChatGPT to other apps at a fraction of the old costGoogle Home can now tell when you are home or away from your phone alone, which makes simple lights and vacuum routines easy to set up with gear you may own.
Read more: Google Home can now run your house on autopilot in minutesOpenAI now caps paid ChatGPT accounts per device and card. Anyone juggling several subscriptions could be locked out and pushed toward costlier options.
Read more: ChatGPT now limits paid accounts per device and cardWired's reviewer says the Lenovo LOQ 15 is the only gaming laptop under $1,500 worth buying, at $999 or $1,300 depending on the graphics chip.
Read more: Lenovo LOQ 15 is the one gaming laptop worth buying under $1,500Apple says some Apple Watches show a time one hour off after clocks change, but only on the dimmed screen. Apple has posted a quick fix.
Read more: Apple Watch showing the wrong hour after clocks change? Here's the fixA YouTube redesign removed filters and changed familiar habits, and one writer says finding favorite creators now takes more effort, though a workaround exists.
Read more: YouTube's new look makes it harder to find your favorite creatorsWhich? says fake NatWest emails and Barclays texts are trying to steal personal details, and Lloyds reports impersonation scams cost its customers 10% more.
Read more: Scammers are posing as NatWest and Barclays to steal your detailsA tech writer asked Google's Gemini Spark to clean up his messy Mac Downloads folder. It sorted files by topic, and he set it to repeat weekly.
Read more: Google's Gemini Spark tidied a messy Mac Downloads folder by itselfGoogle and Samsung promise seven years of updates, but a worn battery or cracked screen will likely end a phone's life before the software does.
Read more: Phone makers promise 7 years of updates, but the battery gives out firstIndia's EPFO plans to pay out inactive provident fund accounts holding up to ₹1,000 automatically, so small leftover balances need no claim.
Read more: India's retirement fund to auto-close tiny inactive accountsIn a walking test of about 8,000 steps, a $179 Fitbit Edge landed within 50 steps of a $399 Apple Watch Series 12. Step counting alone may not justify the price gap.
Read more: A $179 Fitbit nearly matches a $399 Apple Watch at counting stepsA writer found that telling Google's Gemini chatbot his time and mood picked better shows than Netflix's own suggestions, though the tip comes with limits.
Read more: Using Gemini to pick what to watch beats scrolling Netflix for 30 minutesAn Android Authority reviewer says the Pixel 11 Pro's portrait mode with its 5x zoom lens is a blast to use, and shoppers may want to test it.
Read more: Google Pixel 11 Pro's zoom portrait mode wins a reviewer overTwo built-in iPhone settings can clear a full-storage warning while keeping your photos, videos, apps and app logins, though photos may need iCloud space.
Read more: Two iPhone settings free up storage without deleting photos or appsAndroid Authority ran the numbers and found that a repair costing hundreds can beat buying a new phone. Here is what to weigh before you decide.
Read more: Fixing a broken phone can cost less than buying a new one
