What happens when you turn off location services for an app?
Your phone knows where you are, constantly. It uses GPS, cell tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi signals to figure out your location with impressive accuracy. Every app you install gets the chance to ask for this information. But what actually happens when you say “no” to location access, or when you go into your phone’s settings and toggle it off for a specific app? The answer isn’t just “the app can’t see where you are.” It’s more interesting and more important for your privacy than that.
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Why copying text from a PDF is such a mess
PDFs are everywhere: bills, forms, academic papers, contracts, instruction manuals. And yet one of the simplest things you can try—highlight a paragraph and copy/paste it—often turns into nonsense: missing spaces, words out of order, random line breaks, weird symbols, or hyphens in the middle of every line.
This isn’t (usually) your fault or your app’s fault. It’s a side effect of what a PDF is.
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Why some USB-C cables only charge (and don't transfer data)
If you’ve ever plugged a USB-C cable into your phone or laptop and thought “why is it only charging?”, you’re not imagining it. Some USB‑C cables really are charge‑only. Others can transfer data, but only at slow USB 2.0 speeds. Others can do high-speed data, video output, and fast charging.
The frustrating part is that they can all look identical.
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How to check if your email has been in a data breach
It seems like every other week we hear about another massive data breach at a major company. Whether it’s a social media giant, a retail chain, or even a credit bureau, these leaks often include sensitive information like names, passwords, and—most commonly—email addresses. If you’ve been using the internet for more than a few years, there is a very high probability that your email address has been included in at least one of these breaches.
Finding out if your data is “out there” isn’t just about satisfying curiosity; it’s a vital part of maintaining your digital security. When hackers get a list of emails and passwords from one site, they often try those same combinations on hundreds of other sites, a technique called “credential stuffing.” Knowing which of your accounts might be compromised allows you to change your passwords before someone else uses them against you.
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How to get better answers from AI chatbots (prompting basics)
The quality of answers you get from an AI chatbot depends on the quality of the questions you ask. It isn’t because the AI is being picky; it’s just how these tools work. A vague question gets a vague answer. A specific question gets a focused one. Getting better results doesn’t require any special knowledge. It’s just about being more thoughtful about how you communicate.
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