Digital life

Digital life

You pack your laptop and book a one-way ticket to Bali. Three months later, you're back home, broke and burned out. The digital nomad lifestyle you dreamed about turned into a nightmare of bad Wi-Fi, lonely nights, and zero productivity. Maybe you thought working from paradise meant actual paradise. Maybe you believed the Instagram posts showing laptops by the pool. The gap between fantasy and reality hits hard when you're trying to run a business from somewhere the internet cuts out every five minutes.

As a preteen, I couldn't resist the siren song of AIM, or AOL Instant Messenger. I'd hear that "door opening" noise or a message notification and rush to my computer, eager to see if the sign-on was my best friend or my boyfriend, both who were equally tethered to AIM at the time. (Naturally, all of our screen names usually contained the name of the person we were "dating" at the time ― NicksGirl4Eva88 was the height of romance in middle school in 2001.)

"The latest edition, titled "Encapsulating the Profound Impact of the Internet on American Life," found that 80% of adults find high quality internet very important to their household and rate it as one of the most important amenities. "Over 20 years of research confirms that reliable broadband has become as vital as electricity or water in American homes," Deborah Kish, FBA's Vice President of Research and Workforce Development, said in a press release about the fiber report."

If you're staying here for a quite a bit already, you can see my favorite things to write: Ultimate list, curated list, lists of lists and it's not that obvious that I love curating and saving things that I found it useful and share this to you. Read on and discover the old and new bookmarking tools and apps for 2024, so far.

The digital divide is evolving beyond household access to broadband. As artificial intelligence (AI) is woven into the fabric of everyday life - from smart homes and virtual assistants to creative and professional tools - a new divide is emerging: those with a fiber connection, and those without.

Yet ECRs face a significant risk by solely relying on institutional platforms for their digital footprint: information portability. While university websites offer high visibility as trusted sources, most ECRs on short-term contracts lose web and email access as soon as their contracts expire. This often forces a hasty rebuild of their online presence precisely when they need to navigate critical career transitions.

BART held an event to announce the start of "open payments" last August, meaning that riders can now enter the system by slapping a credit card on the fare gates. That's made possible by the roll out of Clipper II, the Bay Area's modernized fare payment system. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission recently announced that the rest of the Bay Area's transit agencies will switch to Clipper II in December. Included in this move is the reduction or elimination of charges for transferring between systems.

Backstage at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference on Wednesday, Rose explained that he sees the future of social as being more focused on protected online spaces and "micro communities of trusted users." "I just have to imagine that, as the cost to deploy agents drops to next to nothing, we're just gonna see...bots act as though they're humans," he said. "So, small trusted communities, proof of heartbeat - there's an actual human on the other end...is important."

2. "Just put the fries in the bag" - Something to say to someone who is waffling, or talking for way too long. When you want to "Cool story, bro" someone, you say, "Just put the fries in the bag." Shush. 4. "Ohio" - To describe something that's weird, odd, or creepy. If you speak Gen Z, this is basically "backrooms," and if you're more fluent in millennial, it's similar to "creepy pasta."

It sounds like a travel influencer fantasy, but it's actually a smart, legal trick that frequent flyers and digital nomads have been using for years. It's called multi-city ticketing, and it's one of the best-kept secrets in modern travel. By knowing how airlines price routes, you can stretch a single long-haul flight into multiple unforgettable stops exploring entire continents along the way.

The policy changes introduce clearer rules around three main categories of content: online gambling, social casino games, and graphic gaming content. YouTube will expand its enforcement on gambling-related material to include digital goods with monetary value--such as in-game skins, cosmetics, and NFTs--if they are linked to non-Google-certified gambling sites or apps. Also, content that depicts or promotes social casino games--even when no real money is exchanged-- will now be age-restricted to protect younger audiences. YouTube stopped allowing creators to verbally mention or display online gambling services not approved by Google back in March.

Living a chaotic life with ADD, I desperately needed control of my life - everything to do, yet nothing got done. In my search on Amazon for the perfect planner, I kept coming back to this one. Boy, was I glad to have made that choice. I was instantly impressed by the sturdy cover, metal-covered corners, and the elastic band that held the planner together. I saw the pictures ahead of time, and they were true.

Have you ever dreamed of trading your current view for something wildly different-maybe sipping coffee in a quiet town in Portugal, working remotely from a beach in Bali, or hiking the Andes after work in Ecuador? For more and more Americans, living abroad isn't just a fantasy-it's becoming a practical, affordable lifestyle choice. Whether you're a digital nomad, a gap-year adventurer, or someone simply seeking a reset, spending a year abroad can be transformative.

Sometimes a term is so apt, its meaning so clear and so relevant to our circumstances, that it becomes more than just a useful buzzword and grows to define an entire moment," the columnist Kyle Chayka writes, in a review of Cory Doctorow's book "Enshittification.

Teens are telling us loud and clear - they're 'over' forced and unrealistic romantic storylines,

The public-private partnership, dubbed the Crenshaw Community Connectivity Pilot, comes after years of collaboration across government, industry and nonprofits working together. According to the partners, the Wi-Fi accessibility will benefit not only South Los Angeles residents and businesses but also supports people who visit the city for major events and celebrations. In partnership with Destination Crenshaw and Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting (BSL) installed 1.5 miles of underground fiber optic cable

Google is testing showing the option ot track price changes for hotel results by email. We saw Google announce a similar feature back in March but now it is showing in the local hotel pack results in core search. This was spotted by Ethan H. who posted about this on LinkedIn - he told me "this feature was just added to the metasearch section of their GMB listings (not just maps/hotels section)." "We tend to look at these sections daily," he added.

Using the library for as much as I possibly can. I check out CDs and DVDs instead of paying for streaming. I stopped dealing with the hassle and cost of owning a printer and just print/copy at the library when I need to. My library also has access to free online courses that I sometimes take. I also just like to go sit or wander around and have access to a third space where I don't have to spend money.

94% of U.S. households have internet access. This is the highest rate ever recorded by the Census Bureau. The U.S. "offline population" has fallen nearly 70% since 2015, from 26.9 million to 7.9 million households. This is the biggest decade of digital inclusion on record. Only 0.9% - about 100,000 households - still use dial-up Internet. This follows AOL's shutdown of its remaining service in August.

Rod Wave Elite is a popular high school basketball squad that bounces around the country playing exhibition games to crowds of rabid teens and internet celebrities. They're run by a former college hooper turned influencer, Cam Wilder, and are named after the North Star of Southern pain rap, though the Floridian doesn't seem to have anything to do with the team.

To some, being authentic and having an online presence may sound like paradoxical concepts. Those who have found success on the internet, however, know that showing up as your true, unfiltered self is often one of the best ways to build an audience. In a social media landscape that's endlessly abundant with content, posting in a way that's genuine may actually be the key to standing out. In other words: sincerity is in.

YouTube has added a new Shorts feature that makes it easier to manage how much time you're spending watching videos. Mobile users can now set a customizable daily limit that restricts how long they can scroll Shorts feeds, aiming to help viewers better manage their time instead of endlessly scrolling. When a user reaches their time limit, they will receive a notification saying Shorts has been paused for the day. This notification is dismissible, however, so it's on the user to honor these self-imposed restrictions.

Well, actually, we could have. Because we've been doing this since 1997. Here's the thing that's particularly amusing about the great newsletter "revolution" of the past few years: it's being hailed as some brilliant innovation that will save media from the tyranny of social media algorithms and platform dependency. Meanwhile, we've been quietly proving that exact point for almost three decades.

Absolutely. I learned the hard way how devastating data loss can be. There's nothing worse than losing precious photos or a document you've been working on for weeks, just because an external hard drive gave up on life. That's why cloud storage is so valuable -- it gives you the peace of mind that your files are safe in the cloud, even if your computer cuts out.

Imagine you were to go back to school this fall, but instead of taking a typical class like Accounting 101 or Psychology, you signed up for journaling, knitting, or yoga. That's the idea behind TikTok's "fall curriculum" trend, which is all about creating your ideal school schedule - and then enjoying it all season long. On the app, people are sharing their fall curricula, and each one is so cozy and inspiring.

Support for Windows 10 ended just a few days ago, which means those users without a PC supported by Windows 11 are at a crossroads. There are a few options, including switching entirely to either MacOS or Linux. With MacOS, there's the added cost of purchasing a new computer. Should those users decide that they don't want to shell out the money for new hardware, Linux is the only other choice.

If you're sensitive to tech disasters, you might want to look away now: A recent Reddit thread tells the story of an unfortunate user who found 30 years of photos and work locked away and inaccessible in Microsoft OneDrive. The individual made use of their cloud storage account to consolidate files from various hard drives, which had to be discarded due to a move.

From sun-soaked beaches to culture-rich capitals, there are cities where you can live for under $2,000 a month-without sacrificing quality of life. In this guide, we explore 12 global cities where your dollars stretch further than you ever thought possible. These destinations offer affordable rent, great food, walkable neighborhoods, efficient public transportation, and vibrant social scenes. Whether you're a digital nomad, an early retiree, or someone craving a fresh start, these cities deliver big lifestyle perks for a modest price tag.

Technology's impact on adolescents and young boys has been the subject of discussion and concern for decades. This new wave of AI tools has tightened the loop between technology and culture, with technology influencing mindsets and behavior and vice versa. An October 2025 report by Common Sense Media coined the term "digital masculinity" to describe the ways in which masculinity is defined, conveyed, and negotiated online specifically.