Make your smartphone less appealing to reduce how much it begs you for attention and you will have more time for activities real life. Delete as many apps as possible, always asking yourself how much you “need” it (use social site via your web browser instead), set time use limits for the remaining apps, turn off all notifications, keep very few apps on your home screen, and the simplest one is to turn your colors off as in set your color filters or options to greyscale. You may want to try adding this greyscale view to your nighttime routine.
Windows restore points are incredibly useful when things like updates go wrong. But Microsoft is changing how far back they will be keeping your restore points in Windows 11. Regardless of how much drive space you have, restore points older than 60 days will now be deleted no matter what.
There is a new feature in Gmail, the web version, where you may see a new tab or category label called Subscriptions where Google will place newsletters and promotional emails that have easy unsubscribe options. The idea is that you can have Google unsubscribe you more easily than clicking through the link often hidden at the bottom of the email. This feature seems to be slowly rolling out so if you don’t see it but you do have the other tabs like Social and Promotions, just be patient.
Brush up on your medieval history (the early Middle Ages 284–1000) with a 22-lecture course (40-50 minutes each) brought online via YouTube and Yale history professor Paul Freedman. Just listening to his lectures and skip the home work, at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL77A337915A76F660
Preparing for international travel with your smartphone includes: check your carrier for their international pricing for per day or monthly plans so you can continue using your phone as if in the US; find eSIM plans for data covering your travel locations if your phone supports eSIMs (a digital SIM so you don’t have to swap out your physical SIM); tighten up security on all sites you log into by turning on any available two factor authentication; make sure your device tracking is turned on in case you leave your phone or tablet somewhere; figure out how to pre-download music, media, maps, etc. to cover you in areas without cell or Wi-Fi access and remember that GPS will still do a pretty good job if your maps are in offline mode; consider increasing the storage you have with iCloud or Google so you don’t run out of camera space; get comfortable with translation apps on your phone if need be; get a dry bag if you are traveling by water or in rainy areas even if your phone is rated waterproof; get a VPN so you can feel safer using public Wi-Fi at airports, train stations, hotels, etc.; and figure out if you can reduce the number of smart things you bring on your trip and have fun!
Windows 10 extended support updates end this October but Microsoft is going to offer a few other ways to get a year of more updates, apart from spending $30. These “free” options include: using Windows Backup, needing a Microsoft Account and OneDrive and its included 5 GB of free space; or spending 1,000 Microsoft Rewards point that you may have built up just by making your account and using Bing in Microsoft Edge. I just checked and I already have over 1,000 points without intentionally trying. Either approach will get you into the Extended Security Update program so long as you log into Windows 10 with your validated Microsoft Account. These options should be broadly available by mid-August.