If you’re planning on giving or selling an old phone, make sure you follow all of these steps to completely wipe off your data.
Endangered emojis: What's in and what's out
How about something light and fun today? We’ve come a long way from :-) and :-( to express ourselves in texts, emails and other written forms of communication. And more than 10 years since we got lots of the emojis we still use today, some of your faves might be totally out of fashion.
Does sending the peace sign make you look lame? ✌️ Is the thumbs-up played out? New data on emoji usage just dropped and I’m spilling the tea. ☕
Endangered species
Subscription design service Superside analyzed the usage and search volume of the top 100 emojis worldwide. Here are the 14 most endangered emojis (aka those losing popularity), in order of endangerment:
👌 😳 🙌 🙈 ✌️ 💁🏻♀️ 😏 💕 💘 😎 😱 😜 😞 😄
- In both the U.S. and the U.K., the smirking face 😏 is the most endangered overall. Makes sense — it looks a little creepy.
- In France and Germany, the “face screaming in fear” emoji 😱 is out.
- In Thailand, the “OK hand” emoji 👌 is a relic.
Text in the city
They even go by city. The “OK hand” emoji 👌 is the least popular in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Miami and Oakland. Noted.
In El Paso, Texas, the “flushed face” emoji 😳 is the least popular. The “smiling face with open mouth and smiling eyes” emoji 😄 is the most popular there, though, making it an outlier compared to other cities on the list. I kinda like it! Looks like a real smile.
What’s the most endangered emoji in almost every city? The “information desk person” 💁, which most folks use to mimic a hair flip when they’re feeling a little sassy.
Elevate your emoji game
If you’re thinking, “Oh, no, I use all of those!” I’m not judging … but your kids might be.
🛤️ Stay safe: Fitness app Strava’s Heatmap feature shows popular workout routes … but it also broadcasts your location. This is fine in a busy city but risky on secluded paths. Keep your routes private: Go to Settings > Privacy Controls > Map Visibility and uncheck Contribute your activity data to de-identified, aggregate data sets.
How I got my cell phone number off the internet
We talk to Darius from Incogni, who tells us how you can remove your personal data from the internet. Plus, a family claims an Amazon driver stole their cat, people are yelling a lot at Siri, and there’s a new sober dating app.
⚠️ 2.9 billion records leaked: Background-check company National Public Data may be responsible for one of the biggest data breaches in history. A lawsuit claims their negligence exposed 2.9 billion Social Security numbers, full names, addresses and so much more on the Dark Web. We all need to freeze our credit. Steps here.
$75 million
Record ransom, paid to ransomware gang Dark Angels. This fairly new gang goes after some of the largest companies in the world. Once they’ve hacked into a database, they send a ransom note threatening to expose the stolen data on their site, Dunghill Leak. They say they’re “making the world more secure.” I’ll tell you one thing they’re definitely making: A boatload of money.
Uh, who even goes to Rite Aid?
Apparently the pharmacy chain Rite Aid just found out about a “little” data breach they had … back in 2017.
💸 Wads up? Cash App is paying out a $15 million settlement, up to $2,500 per person. You qualify if your account info was part of a data breach or if someone made fraudulent withdrawals or transfers between Aug. 23, 2018, and Aug. 20, 2024. Submit your claim form by Nov. 18, 2024.
The U.S. Justice Department is suing TikTok: Why? For violating children’s online privacy laws. They say the app with ties to Communist China collected data from millions under the age of 13, let them interact with adults and gave them access to 18+ content. Oh, and when parents asked for these accounts to be deleted, TikTok refused.
Android data: The Google Fit app can use your phone to track basic metrics without you knowing about it. This data might get shared with other health apps you think are only tracked by your smartwatch. To check: Profile > tap the Gear icon > Manage data and access > App permissions.
⚕️ Proceed with caution: Epic Systems, the huge health care software company that makes roughly $5 billion annually, says you’ll soon be able to import your medical records to apps of your choice using your Epic credentials. Sounds convenient, but think twice: You can’t control who these apps will sell your data to. Next thing you know, your life insurance premium skyrockets.
AI + Chrome: Check out the new stuff rolling out with the latest Google Chrome update. Lens lets you select part of a page or tap on an object in an image to ask questions about it. Tab Compare gathers product data from your open tabs into one table. And you can search your browsing history using normal language, like “What’s the Mexican restaurant I ordered from last week?” Update your desktop app to get these features.
HDMI cable data grab: Security researchers found a new way hackers can spy: Electromagnetic radiation. By feeding signals into an AI model, they can reconstruct everything on a screen with 70% accuracy — enough to decipher passwords. The good news? It’s incredibly hard to pull off and requires a signal-capturing device inside your home.
Another health care data breach: This time, it’s HealthEquity, a tech company that runs health savings accounts. Criminals got their hands on 4.3 million people’s names, numbers, addresses and payment info. What’s strange, though, is that no malware was spotted during the investigation, and there’s been no ransom demand yet.
This doesn’t make cents: Honda, Hyundai and GM sold driving data for pennies. A letter to the FTC revealed data broker Verisk paid Honda 26 cents per car and Hyundai 61 cents per car. The info was then sold again to auto insurers. Hello, higher premiums. Opt out by going into your infotainment system’s Settings and looking for Data Privacy or Data Usage.
Your scammer could be a victim too
There’s a massive cyberfraud industry exploiting people through slavery and kidnappings. If you’ve got a connected car, your data might be sold for pennies. Plus, we meet Ben Chin, the Candy Crush champ who beat 15 million players to win $500,000!
📱 Android app fix: Is an app crashing or behaving weirdly? Try clearing its cache. Go to Settings > Apps and select the app you want. Now tap Storage & cache or Storage and tap Clear cache. Don’t hit Clear data — that’ll delete your app settings and login details and reset the app to the default install.
⛔ I hate when tech companies do this: Firefox’s new default feature, “privacy-preserving ad measurement,” actually gives your data to advertisers. Turn it off. Click the three-line icon in the top right corner, followed by Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll to Website Advertising Preferences, and disable Allow websites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement.
✈️ You can opt out of airport facial recognition scans: Stand away from the camera, present your ID and say something like, “I opt out of biometrics. I want the standard verification process.” It could save you from a data breach or misidentification as a criminal suspect. Both have happened.
Wonder if an app is safe? Some 98% of kids’ education apps share data with third-party advertisers. AppMicroscope.org sifted through almost 1,800 apps to let you know which ones are good or bad for privacy.