Enable This Feature on Your AT&T Phone to Prevent SIM Swapping Attacks

Enable This Feature on Your AT&T Phone to Prevent SIM Swapping Attacks

If you're an AT&T customer, you can turn on a new security feature that prevents your phone number from being moved to a different device without your knowledge, exposing your data to cyber criminals in the process. The feature, called Wireless Account Lock, is now rolling out to all AT&T users.

SIM swapping (also referred to as SIM jacking) is a form of phone hacking—and one that's especially dangerous. In this type of attack, threat actors reroute your cell number to another SIM card on a different phone, meaning all of your calls, texts, and two-factor authentication codes are visible to someone else.(This is one of several reasons why you should avoid SMS authentication whenever possible.)

SIM swaps require convincing your cellular service provider to transfer your number to a new SIM, which hackers accomplish by impersonating you with information they've gleaned from a phishing attack or data breach. They may even attempt to trick or bribe someone at the company to make this switch. As Bleeping Computer outlines, SIM swapping attacks have proliferated over the last few years and affected customers at carriers like T-Mobile and Google Fi.

How Wireless Account Lock protects your data

Wireless Account Lock prevents certain changes from being made on your AT&T account while the setting is active, meaning no one (not even an AT&T employee) can transfer your number to a new SIM card. When enabled, Wireless Account Lock prevents the following:

  • Upgrading a device

  • Changing a SIM card or eSIM

  • Initiating a phone number transfer

  • Adding a new line

  • Changing billing info

  • Changing authorized users

  • Changing phone numbers

If you have a business account, the account administrator can choose to exempt lines or select specific lock functions to turn on or off.

How to enable AT&T Wireless Account Lock

You can turn on Wireless Account Lock via the myAT&T app under Services > Mobile Security > Wireless Account Lock. Select Continue, choose the account you want to lock or unlock, and swipe to complete. AT&T Prepaid customers can choose the number they want to lock from the myAT&T app, select Continue, then go to Profile & Settings > Account Info & Preferences > Wireless Account Lock > Turn on or Turn off. You'll need to validate the change with an SMS code.

The setting applies to all devices and lines on your AT&T account, including phones, tablets, wearables, hotspots, and laptops.

Note that both T-Mobile and Verizon already offer security features—called SIM Protection—to prevent SIM swapping attacks to both prepaid and postpaid customers. If you use either of these carriers, you can enable this feature on your line via the appropriate website or app.



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I Previewed These Emotion-Tracking Smart Glasses, and They Seem Weirdly Useful

I Previewed These Emotion-Tracking Smart Glasses, and They Seem Weirdly Useful

We know smart glasses can play podcasts and put an AI assistant in your ear, but what if they knew what you were feeling? That's the idea behind Emteq Lab's Sense glasses. They're not on the market yet, but the end goal is a lightweight pair of specs equipped with sensors that read minute changes in users' facial muscles, all with the goal of detecting real-time mood shifts to unlock insights into health, eating habits, and more.

Emteq is one of a growing number of companies in the field of "affective computing," technology designed to recognize, interpret, process, and/or simulate human emotions. For good or ill, the future is likely to be packed with the stuff.

How do emotion-sensing glasses work?

Smart Sense Facial Expression Readout
Credit: Emteq

The technology behind Emteq's emotion-tracking glasses is sophisticated, but the concept is straightforward: the glasses' inward-facing sensors monitor the electrical activity of your zygomaticus muscle group (smiling muscles), the corrugator supercilii group (forehead muscles), as well as the muscle groups that control your brow, and combines that information with heart-rate and head movement data, then puts it all together into a real-time record of your emotions you can access on your smart phone.

That's the idea, anyway. Whether any machine can accurately interpret what emotions for everyone through facial muscle movement is a complex question. Research indicates that basic emotions like happiness, sadness, surprise, and disgust are expressed facially in similar ways across cultures, but cultural influences and individual differences affect how we display emotions. Some people have poker faces. Some people laugh when they're scared. And anyone can smile when they're feeling blue.

Use cases for emotion-sensing glasses

I recently spoke with Emteq's CEO Steen Strand and saw a demo. The Sense glasses prototype seems to work as advertised in a normal-looking pair of eyeglass frames. The eventual vision for the technology spans everything from virtual meetings to mental health monitoring to dietary tracking.

Making virtual meetings more "natural"

"When we're in a conversation, you want to see my face, I want to see yours. We can react to each other," Strand said. "If you want to do that virtually, you have to know what my face is doing." The idea is that expression-sensing glasses could make avatars and virtual interactions more "real" by putting what's on your real face onto your digital face.

For some kinds of virtual conversations, this would be amazing, but what if I want to not look bored during a meeting? Either way, existing VR technology can do something similar, but according to Strand, Emteq's tech provides a better solution. "A lot of existing technology, particularly in VR, is just more heavy on power and computing," Strand said. "We're using these very lightweight, low-power sensors that just look at a little tiny part of your face, and from that we can infer what your whole face is doing."

Mental health

A constant monitor of real-life emotions could provide an additional diagnostic tool for mental health professionals, according to Strand. "The gold standard for diagnosing depression right now is a questionnaire," he said. "Not only does that have inherent bias, it's also a sliver in time. How you feel at one moment could differ from how you feel an hour later," but a constant record of emotions would, presumably, be more revelatory of one's mental state.

For people who have trouble knowing what emotion their face is displaying, whether because of a physical condition like facial paralysis or a mental health concern like autism, emotion-sensing glasses could provide a window to a sense that most of us take for granted.

Healthier eating

Maybe the most concrete application for Sense glasses involves monitoring eating habits. These specs can track chewing patterns, bite frequency, and eating speed—metrics that research links to weight management and digestive health. "You can tell how many chews you had that meal, how many bites, the spacing between your chews and bites," Strand said. Some research has tied the speed of eating to calorie consumption at meals, so in theory micromanaging your chewing could help with weight loss goals, if it doesn't drive you crazy first.

For people struggling with healthy eating or who have medical conditions requiring careful dietary monitoring, this could be useful. But it risks turning every meal into a performance review.

The bigger questions: privacy and humanity

Emteq Sense Glass
Credit: Emteq

With any novel technology, a logical question is "how might this be used to further enshittify our daily lives?" There's no shortage of dystopian hypotheticals here, as this is with any kind of affective computing. Imagine what advertisers and marketers would do with a record of how consumers feel about everything they see and experience, all day, every day. How much worse would algorithms get if they knew exactly how you felt about that TikTok? What if an employer had a real-time readout of which workers are smiling and which are furrowing their brows? Imagine how an oppressive government could use this tech against its citizens.

It's probably unfair to pin those big ideas onto a smart glass monitor technology, and Strand says Emteq isn't pursuing the collection and selling of general emotional data. "Our philosophy now is, that's medical grade personal data that doesn't get shared," Strand said. But promises about data handling have a way of "evolving" as companies grow and face financial pressure.

When will Sense glasses be available to the public?

As for when you'll be able to get your own chewing-and-feeling-monitoring specs, the short answer is, in the future, maybe. "Sometime next year, you'd expect us to put something out," Strand said. "We're still debating whether or not we're gonna go straight to consumer. There are lots of different ways to go to market with the tech. And so we're still balancing some of that out."



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In My Spin Class, Playlists (and BPMs) Are More Important Than You'd Think

In My Spin Class, Playlists (and BPMs) Are More Important Than You'd Think

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The other day, I got a fun email from cycling app Join, announcing that after analyzing over 13,000 publicly available spinning playlists, the company had gained some insights into just how crucial beats per minute (BPM) are for cycling workouts. As a spin teacher, I know all about that, but I still found it fun to see which songs crop up most often for people who are creating their own playlists. In the past, I've written about crafting a great cardio playlist, but a spin playlist is another beast entirely. If you want to replicate the spin class or Peloton experience yourself, here's what you need to know.

What's the deal with BPMs?

When I started teaching four years ago, I was purely a vibes-based instructor. I found songs that were fun, engaging, and loud, then compiled them into a 45-minute playlist, choreographed a little movement to go with them, and thought I was killing it. But I started paying more attention in other people's classes when I took them and joined a few online communities for instructors and, before I knew it, I was thinking much harder about beats per minute, cardio zones, and the overalls goals of every class. Did you know that many major gyms actually pay their instructors for an extra hour every week to account for the time it takes us to come up with our playlists? I didn't until I started teaching and at first, I thought it was nice, but excessive. Now that I do spend serious time applying science to my playlists, though, I think it's quite fair.

Science? Yes, science! Studies have been pretty clear about the effects of faster music on exercise duration, intensity, and efficiency: When BPM is up, so is heart rate, especially in a spin class, where you can more easily match, as I am always reminding my students, "your feet to the beat." On a treadmill, you can't always smack your sole down on the belt with every beat; it could be dangerous. Strapped into the humble, low-impact stationary cycle, though, you absolutely can, which means you can push your heart rate up into different cardio zones. There's even a word for this: Entrainment is the phenomenon that occurs when your body naturally syncs up with rhythmic stimuli.

Everyone's cardio "zones" are a little different, but the way I like to think of it, Zone 1 is 50% to 60% of your maximum heart rate, Zone 2 goes up to about 70%, Zone 3 goes up to about 80%, Zone 4 to 90%, and Zone 5 to 100%. Warming up in Zones 1 and 2 before spending serious time in 3 and 4 and a few teeny-tiny bursts into Zone 5 is just perfect.

To be clear, you're not expected to smash your foot down on every single beat. You can go half-time or double-time. So, you might want to aim to sustain a BPM around 130, but that won't consistently translate to 130 revolutions per minute (RPM) of the pedals. Instead, it'll be about 65 RPM. That's normal. According to the studies linked above, even hearing faster-paced music while you work out can increase your exertion and perception of it.

All together, then, I try to keep the bulk of my playlist songs within a range of 120 to 180, varying the resistance I'm asking for with each (which impacts the RPM). You might find that you can go a lot faster for a longer period of time or that you are struggling to keep up in those ranges. Taking a standard spin class can help you out, since instructors tend to design their playlists to meet people right in the middle of the different fitness abilities that might be represented in the room.

Choosing the best BPM for your workout

If you're crafting your own playlist, start with slower songs, stuff the middle of your playlist with faster ones (and keep your resistance low) and medium-slow ones (for high resistance), and throw in a super-fast track that you can match the beat of in 10- or 15-second intervals. Program in some recovery periods, too. I like to choose songs in which the chorus gets faster and the verses are a little slower, so we move back and forth while keeping—you guessed it—our feet on the beat. The recovery periods are built-in that way. Finish up with some slower songs.

You'd think it would be easy to hear a song and recognize if it's "fast" or "slow," but that's not always the case. You can use websites to help you identify the BPM of a given song. I like the aptly named SongBPM.

You can also find inspiration from other people. That investigation I mentioned before is a good place to start. Join found that the most popular spinning song is "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. According to SongBPM, it has a BPM of 137. The average BPM of the most popular songs in that dataset is around 127.98. My participants really love when we do "Money on the Dash (Sped Up)" by Elley Duhé (150 BPM) or "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!" by Vengaboys (138). In fact, if you're stuck, you can follow my personal spin playlist, which I update every other day.

Things to keep in mind

Don't freak yourself out about all of this. As long as you're on the bike and moving, you're doing great—and I remind my participants of that all the time. If you get too caught up in your BPM, RPM, and all the science and zones, you can get distracted from the relatively simple task of just working out, and that's not ideal. If you're struggling to create a playlist that works for you, take a few spin classes to see what instructors are doing—but again, don't worry too much. It's more important that you find songs you enjoy riding to and that actually get you on your bike than targeting the ideal heart rate zone and crafting a science-driven playlist. That will all come in time.



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The Best Early Prime Day Deals on Tools Right Now

The Best Early Prime Day Deals on Tools Right Now

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Summer is DIY season, and if you have some projects planned, you might have noticed that the price of tools can add up quickly. Luckily, whether you’re working on a vehicle or a rain collection system, there are some good deals from Amazon on tools ahead of Prime Day.

Cordless tools

A good cordless tool set will make DIY projects easier to accomplish and save you some time as well. If you already have a set and are looking to expand, or you want to start a tool set, these will keep your DIY momentum going through the summer.

  • The DeWalt 20-volt cordless drill set is on sale for $99, 38% off its regular price. This set comes with a drill, a 2-amp-hour battery, a charger, and a tool bag. This is a perfect starter set, as this tool can be used for drilling holes as well as driving hardware, and it comes with a battery so it’s ready to use straight out of the box.

  • The DeWalt 20-volt cordless impact driver set is on sale for $99, 38% off its usual price. This set comes with a quarter-inch impact driver, a 2-amp-hour battery, a charger, and a tool bag. This is a good addition to your cordless set if you already have a driver, as it allows you to drive fasteners into tougher material with less effort because of the impact assistance. You can also use this tool as a drill with a bit designed for a quarter-inch impact chuck, making it a versatile tool for a home DIY kit.

  • The Makita 12-volt material cutter is on sale for $98, 58% off its typical price. The set comes with a material-cutting multitool, a 12-volt, 2-amp-hour battery, a charger, and a tool bag. This tool can be used to cut rubber, vinyl, and carpet, making it great for flooring, heavy-duty upholstery, and arts and crafts projects.

  • The Milwaukee cordless 18-volt random orbital sander is on sale for $102.20, 37% off its regular price. This is a “bare tool” deal, so it doesn’t come with a battery or charger, but it does have a dust collection attachment and a couple of medium-grit sanding discs to get you started. This is a good tool for finishing woodworking projects.

  • The DeWalt 20-volt cordless tire inflator/compressor is on sale for $109.94, 39% off its typical price. It’s a tool-only deal, so it doesn’t come with a battery. This is a good addition to a home garage shop or roadside emergency kit, and can be used to inflate car and bike tires.

Bits, wrenches, and drivers

You never truly appreciate the power of having the right-sized wrench or socket until you’ve gotten 90% of the way through removing a panel on your HVAC system to perform some maintenance, only to discover that you can’t undo the last three nuts. A good socket set can help you get through most common home and vehicle maintenance, and is indispensable if you want to save money on handyman costs by tackling chores yourself.

  • The Craftsman 159-piece mechanics tool set is on sale for $99, 41% off its regular price. It comes with three ratchet handles, a set of metric sockets and wrenches, a set of SAE sockets and wrenches, a hand driver with an assortment of bit types, a set of bit extensions and adapters, and a toolbox. This is a good set to start out with for most DIY auto maintenance, as well as for projects around the house like changing filters or assembling furniture.

  • The Craftsman 230-piece mechanics tool set is on sale for $99, 50% off its regular price. This set comes with a range of both metric and SAE sockets, a set of metric and SAE wrenches, three ratchet handles, a hand driver with an assortment of bits, ratchet extensions and adapters, a set of socket-drive fastener bits for screws, a set of hex wrenches, and a three-drawer tool box. This is a good set to build a top-notch DIY tool kit for your home shop, and can work for driving most types of fasteners.

  • The Craftsman two-driver set is on sale for $4.98, 50% off its typical price. This set is just one Philips head and a flat head screwdriver. This is a basic set, good for building a home maintenance kit or a go bag for when you want to DIY on the road.

  • The Makita 100-piece impact driver bit set is on sale for $24.99, 55% off its regular price. The set comes with a variety of driver bit types, including Phillips, flat head, and star tip, as well as a bit extension for reaching into tight spaces. This is a good set to cover most common hardware types and sizes you will come across for woodworking, repair, and maintenance projects.





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TP-Link’s Top-Rated Mesh Wifi System is $100 Off Right Now

TP-Link’s Top-Rated Mesh Wifi System is $100 Off Right Now

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If your home wifi is starting to buckle under the weight of remote work, smart gadgets, and 4K streaming, TP-Link’s Deco BE63 might be the kind of upgrade that gives everything some breathing room. Right now, the two-pack of this mesh wifi system is priced at $349.99, down from $449.99. That's a solid $100 discount for a setup that gets you Wi-Fi 7, which is the newest and fastest wireless standard out there. You’re also getting coverage for up to 5,800 square feet, which is plenty for most homes. Plus, each unit in the pack has four Ethernet ports and a USB port, which gives you more flexibility than a lot of other mesh systems that cost just as much or more.

Setup is fairly simple through the Deco app, which also gives you control over parental settings, guest access, and smart home devices. You’ll get free network security and parental controls, including age-based filters, website blocking, and the ability to schedule internet breaks with a Bedtime setting. If you want extras like SafeSearch, YouTube Restricted Mode, activity logs, or stronger protection for smart home devices, there are paid HomeShield tiers. The Advanced Parental Controls version runs $2.99/month or $17.99/year, while Security+ is $4.99/month or $35.99/year. The highest plan, Total Security, adds antivirus tools, a VPN, and a password manager for $69.99 in the first year (rising to $129.99 after that).

As far as performance goes, the BE63 is one of TP-Link’s best-reviewed mesh systems to date. It's designed to handle serious speed with tri-band wifi, meaning it broadcasts over three different frequency bands, including a newer 6GHz band that can deliver cleaner signals if your devices support it. Even if they don’t, the system still pushes strong speeds on the standard 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. That said, it doesn’t support ultra-fast 10-gig Ethernet like its pricier cousin, the Deco BE85, but unless you’re running a high-end workstation setup, you probably won’t miss it. PCMag gave the BE63 an Editors’ Choice and called it the best mesh system of 2024, which makes this discount feel more worthwhile if you’ve been waiting to future-proof your setup.



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The Best Early Prime Day Tech Deals Under $25

The Best Early Prime Day Tech Deals Under $25

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Prime Day 2025 starts next week, but the early deals are already here. While Target, Walmart, and Best Buy are starting their competing sales this weekend, Amazon's won't officially kick off until July 8, but you can already find early deals on Amazon devices, like this 75-inch QLED TV going nearly 50% off.

But if you're looking to spend a bit less but still score a bargain, consider these early Prime Day tech deals under $25.

Wired Ear Buds for iPhone with Built-in Remote to Control Music, Phone Calls, and Volume
Apple EarPods Headphones
Apple EarPods Wired Headphones With Lightning Connector
$15.96 at Amazon Amazon Prime
$19.00 Save $3.04
10mm Drivers with Big Bass, Bluetooth 5.3, 30H Long Playtime, Water-Resistant, 2 Mics for AI Clear C
Soundcore by Anker P20i Earbuds
Soundcore by Anker P20i True Wireless Earbuds, 10mm Drivers with Big Bass, Bluetooth 5.3, 30H Long Playtime, Water-Resistant, 2 Mics for AI Clear Calls, 22 Preset EQs, Customization (White)
$24.99 at Amazon Amazon Prime
$39.99 Save $15.00
AI-powered Fire TV Search, Wi-Fi 6, stream over 1.5 million movies and shows, free & live TV
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K AI-Powered Streaming Stick
$24.99 at Amazon Amazon Prime
$49.99 Save $25.00
Keep Track of and find Your Keys, Wallet, Luggage, Backpack, and More.
Apple AirTag
Apple AirTag
$22.99 at Amazon Amazon Prime
$29.00 Save $6.01
10000mAh 5V/3A Power Bank, USB C in&out High-Speed Charging Battery Pack
INIU Portable Charger
Iniu High-Speed Portable Charger Power Bank
$15.98 at Amazon Amazon Prime
$21.99 Save $6.01
Smallest Alexa speaker, Fits in any room, Charcoal
Amazon Echo Pop
Echo Pop Alex Smart Speaker (2023)
$39.99 at Amazon Amazon Prime
Portable Wireless, IPX5 Waterproof, Up to 20H Playtime, TWS Pairing, BT5.3, for Home/Party/Outdoor.
Bluetooth Speaker with HD Sound
Bluetooth Speaker with HD Sound, Portable Wireless, IPX5 Waterproof, Up to 24H Playtime, TWS Pairing, BT5.3, for Home/Party/Outdoor/Beach, Electronic Gadgets, Birthday Gift (Black)
$19.99 at Amazon Amazon Prime
$34.99 Save $15.00
Flat Extension Cord with Multiple Outlets, 8 AC Outlets with 4 USB Ports (1 USB C), Charging Station
Tessan Tower Surge Protector Power Strip
Tower Surge Protector Power Strip 10 ft, TESSAN Long Flat Extension Cord with Multiple Outlets, 8 AC Outlets with 4 USB Ports (1 USB C), Charging Station with Surge Protection, for Home Office Dorm
$23.79 at Amazon Amazon Prime
$29.74 Save $5.95
10,000mAh Wireless Portable Charger, PD 20W Fast Charging Battery Pack with USB-C for Magsafe
UGREEN Magnetic Power Bank
UGREEN Nexode Magnetic Wireless Power Bank Fast Charging, 10000mAh MagSafe-Compatible Portable Charger PD 20W USB-C Battery Pack Compatible with iPhone 15/14/13/12 Plus/Pro/Pro Max/Mini
$22.99 at Amazon Amazon Prime
$34.99 Save $12.00

Earbuds

Wired earbuds are very early 2000's, but on the other hand, they never run out of batteries. If you're still rocking an iPhone 14 Plus or below (or an iPhone SE 3rd generation), you'll be able to pick up some official Apple EarPods Headphones with a Lightning connector for $15.96 (originally $19), or one with USB-C connector for a few cents more.

If you prefer wireless earbuds but don't want to overpay for something you might end up losing, the Soundcore by Anker P20i are a solid pair with some impressive features for their $19.99 price (originally $39.99). You get Bluetooth 5.3, 3o hours of battery, water resistance, and a full EQ with its companion app.

AirTags

You don't need to be a spy to have tracking devices. As an Apple user, you can let AirTags use Find My to track anything that you can put these devices on. Right now, Amazon has single AirTags for $22.99 (originally $29).

Amazon devices

If you have a TV that isn't smart, or you don't like its OS, you can get the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for $24.99 (originally $49.99). It supports Dolby Atmos audio, almost all the HDR formats, Amazon Luna and Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming, Wi-Fi 6, and you can install Kodi to virtually watch anything for free.

The Amazon Echo Pop is Amazon's most budget-friendly smart speaker. You can use the multi-room music feature if you have multiple speakers in different rooms, so grab a few: You can get one for $21.99 right now (originally $39.99).

Portable phone chargers

I recently lost my INIU Portable Charger while traveling in Europe. Luckily, it was at the end of my trip and it had served its purpose well, saving my phone's battery (and therefore my life) multiple times. You can get one now for $15.98 (originally $21.99).

All iPhone users, in my opinion, should own a Magsafe portable charger. The cool thing about this one is that it's magnetic and sticks to the back of your iPhone. You can get the Ugreen Magnetic Power Bank for $22.99 (originally $34.99).

Outdoor speakers

If you're looking for a cheap portable outdoor speaker that can get wet, consider the BolaButty Portable Speaker, currently going for $19.99 (originally $34.99). It's waterproof with an IPX5 rating and will last 20 hours before running out of juice.

Surge protectors

I use surge protector power strips on most nightstands or table tops around my home, but I always look for the ones with the flat head so I can have my furniture rest against the wall without damaging the cable. This Tessan 12-in-one Tower Surge Protector Power Strip has eight outlets and four USB ports currently going for $23.79 (originally $29.74).



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The Out-of-Touch Adults' Guide to Kid Culture: The 'Dusting Challenge'

The Out-of-Touch Adults' Guide to Kid Culture: The 'Dusting Challenge'

This week’s Out-of-Touch guide is brought to you by the letter "M" for misinformation. We have TikTok challenges that probably don’t exist, hacks for not paying back your student loans that definitely won't work, and a meme videos about bacon and avocado that has nothing to do with food, all meant to illuminate the dark chasm between what adults think is happening and what’s actually going on. So let's grab a flashlight and let's go!

TikTok tricks for getting rid of student loans

If your college-age kid thinks they’ve discovered a cool hack to get out of paying student loans, they haven’t. There are a bunch of videos like this one that purport to demonstrate "one cool trick" to get out of repaying money the government lends for education. Two of these four tricks flat out won’t work. The other two could work, but the cure may be worse than the disease.

Disputing student loan charges: You can challenge your student loan debt (or any debt) with credit reporting agencies. The agencies might temporarily remove the debt from your report until the dispute is settled, but you have to keep paying during the dispute period, and you will almost definitely lose. Then the loan will reappear on your credit report.

Filing a privacy report:  Some contend that the recent activity of DOGE violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and that loan-holders can use that violation to discharge student debt. They can’t, and there (probably) wasn't a violation of FERPA. A lawsuit is in progress to determine if DOGE violated the Privacy Act of 1974, but FERPA applies to schools distributing private info, not federal agencies. Here’s how Andrew Miltenberg, who defends college students as a partner at Nesenoff and Miltenberg, put it: “It is complete fiction that at this moment in time you can get your loans forgiven for a FERPA violation.”

Never leaving school: Since the repayment schedule for subsidized federal student loans doesn’t begin until six months after you finish school, theoretically, one could continue to stay in school at least half-time and never pay anything back. This one is legit, but requires adopting an entire lifestyle, and if you keep borrowing for more school, you keep locking yourself in further to education. And what has education ever done for anyone? 

Just not paying it back: This isn’t advisable as it will kill your credit rating, but they can’t throw you in jail, you know? At least not yet.

Why is everyone saying “Bacon Avocado”?

If you hear your kids saying “bacon avocado” lately, do not be alarmed. It's not a new drug or sexual practice. They're not planning to make you a sandwich either. Bacon avocado is a harmless meme that’s taking off on TikTok. It’s a bait-and-switch video format that works like this: You post a video promising to say “bacon avocado” is quickly as possible. Then you slow down the playback to reveal a different message.

The secret words can be anything from advice:

To a personal ad:

to random vulgarity:

If you’d like to see more, there are a ton of bacon avocado videos here.  

What is “The Dusting Challenge”?

If you hear your kid talking about “The Dusting Challenge,” you should be alarmed—but you probably won’t hear them talking about it. Like many media reports of “dangerous online challenges,” going viral, what’s actually "going viral" is the hysteria, not the challenge. Like most reports of online dangers, this is a mix of tragedy with misinformation. The tragedy: On June 1, Arizona 19-year-old Renna O’Rourke died of “sudden sniffing death syndrome” from inhaling computer dusting spray to get high. The misinformation: Media sources are reporting that the death was part of a “TikTok trend” or “an online trend” called “The Dusting Challenge.”

Even though some sources report “Dusting Challenge” videos are getting “millions of views,” I can't find any such videos on TikTok. There are reposted news reports about “the dusting challenge on TikTok,” but no videos of kids participating in something called “The Dusting Challenge” or encouraging each other to inhale computer dusting spray. TikTok locks down harmful content quickly these days, besides, so framing something as “The XXXX Challenge” isn’t even a thing anymore. A more realistic perspective: Kids have always huffed things to get high (spray paint, airplane glue, etc.), it's dangerous and stupid, but kids do dangerous and stupid things without a social media campaign encouraging it.

What does IWEL mean?

A new acronym is growing in popularity on TikTok comment sections this week. IWEL means “I wouldn’t even lie.” Another variant: IWL, or “I wouldn’t lie.” So “IWEL” is in. “No cap” is out.

It’s interesting how many youth slang words are meant to convey the idea of telling the truth—no cap, dead ass, etc.— as if in response to the misinformation being spread everywhere, by everyone. 

In a broader sense, IWEL is the latest “internet only” acronym that include classics like “LOL” (“laughing out loud) and newer entries like YWLTSMHBYC (“you will live to see manmade horrors beyond your comprehension") OK, kids aren’t really using that last one, but they should be. 

(If you’d like more definitions of current slang, check out my glossary: “’Aura Farming,' 'Huzz,' and Other Gen Z and Gen Alpha Slang You Might Need Help Decoding.”)

Viral video of the week: Black widow vs. Venus Flytrap

Unlike the dubious challenges and bogus hacks above, this week’s viral video delivers exactly what it promises: pure results. The problem with many burning internet questions is that they can't ethically be tested—who’s going to volunteer for "100 men vs. one gorilla?”  That's what makes insect YouTuber TerraGreen's video so satisfying. In Black Widow vs. Venus Flytrap, he takes the age-old debate of poisonous spider vs. carnivorous plant and settles it with real experimentation. He also tests flies and crickets against cheap flytraps versus expensive ones as a bonus. Spoiler: It ends exactly how you'd expect, with black widows being trapped and digested by flytraps. It’s not like spider venom works on plants. But ultimately, any excuse for footage of flytraps munching on spiders is good enough. 



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This Amazon Luna Controller Is Currently Under $40 for Prime Members

This Amazon Luna Controller Is Currently Under $40 for Prime Members

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If you’re already using Amazon’s Luna cloud gaming service or thinking about trying it, this controller deal is worth considering. The Amazon Luna Controller is currently $39.99 for Prime members, which is its lowest price to date according to price trackers.

Normally listed at $69.99, this controller isn’t required to use Luna, but it’s clearly built with the platform in mind. Unlike standard Bluetooth controllers, it connects to Amazon’s servers over wifi, which supposedly helps reduce input lag by 17 to 30 milliseconds. That might not sound huge, but for fast-paced games, it can make a real difference.

The design is familiar and comfortable. It has a similar feel to the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, with offset analog sticks, A/B/X/Y face buttons, and a solid build that feels responsive in hand. There’s a Luna button in the center that lights up when the controller is active, along with a built-in microphone button for Alexa support, a headphone jack at the bottom, and a USB-C port for wired use. It runs on two AA batteries, which are included in the box, and it also supports rechargeable AA batteries if you already have a set. A USB-C cable isn’t included, but most people likely already have one.

If your primary use is Amazon Luna, the wifi setup allows you to switch between devices such as Fire TV, tablets, and browsers without needing to reconnect the controller each time. Once it’s set up through the Luna Controller app, it just works, making the experience smoother. You can also use it as a standard Bluetooth controller on Windows, though it requires a separate driver download. PCMag recently re-evaluated this controller and gave it an “Excellent” rating after Amazon improved its Bluetooth support. All in all, if you’re invested in Luna or want a solid controller that can handle cloud and local play, it’s one of the more practical add-ons you can get.



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