Smartphones
Use a phone with a user-replaceable battery, not a sealed-in one.
After two years, Sarah’s expensive smartphone barely held a charge for half a day. The manufacturer quoted her $100 to replace the sealed-in battery. Her friend, who had a Fairphone, faced the same issue. He ordered a new battery for $25, and using a simple screwdriver, he swapped it out himself in five minutes. Sarah realized that the sleek, sealed design of her phone was actually a planned obsolescence tactic, forcing a costly repair or a new phone purchase for what should be a simple, affordable fix.
Stop doing brand loyalty. Do choose a phone based on your needs and budget instead.
For ten years, Mark exclusively bought the latest Samsung flagship phone, believing it was the best. He was a “brand loyalist.” But when his latest phone broke, he was short on cash. He did some research and bought a mid-range Google Pixel phone for less than half the price. He was shocked to find that the camera was even better, and the software was cleaner. He realized his brand loyalty had been costing him a fortune and preventing him from discovering products that were a better fit for his actual needs.
The #1 secret for extending your smartphone’s battery life that manufacturers don’t want you to know.
The secret isn’t a magical app; it’s disabling features that constantly poll for data in the background. A user was frustrated with his phone’s poor battery life. He went into his settings and turned off “Background App Refresh” for most of his apps and changed his email setting from “Push” to “Fetch every 30 minutes.” The difference was dramatic. His phone now easily lasted the entire day. Manufacturers want you to have every feature enabled by default, but these background processes are silent battery killers.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the megapixel count of a smartphone camera.
The lie is that more megapixels automatically mean a better photo. A phone company heavily advertised its new 108-megapixel camera. A customer bought it, expecting amazing photos, but found them to be dark and noisy in low light. A competing phone with only a 12-megapixel camera took far better pictures in the same conditions. That’s because the size of the sensor and the quality of the image processing software are far more important than the raw megapixel count. A larger sensor with fewer, bigger pixels can capture more light, leading to a cleaner, better image.
I wish I knew this about the repairability of smartphones when I bought my first one.
I dropped my first smartphone and the screen cracked. I took it to a repair shop and was quoted a price that was almost half the cost of a new phone. The technician explained that because of the way the phone was designed, with everything glued together, it was an incredibly difficult and time-consuming repair. I wish I had looked at a repairability score from a site like iFixit before I bought it. Choosing a phone that is designed to be repaired can save you hundreds of dollars over its lifespan.
I’m just going to say it: You probably don’t need the latest flagship smartphone.
Every year, people line up to spend over $1000 on the latest flagship phone. A tech reviewer compared the latest iPhone to the model from two years prior. For everyday tasks—browsing the web, sending messages, taking photos in good light—the performance difference was almost imperceptible. The “pro” features and minor speed bumps of the latest models are overkill for the vast majority of users. A phone from a year or two ago, or a modern mid-range phone, provides 95% of the experience for 50% of the price.
99% of smartphone users make this one mistake when charging their phone.
The most common mistake is leaving their phone to charge overnight, every night. While modern phones have circuitry to prevent overcharging, keeping the lithium-ion battery at a 100% charge for extended periods puts stress on it and accelerates its degradation. A better habit is to charge the phone in shorter bursts throughout the day, aiming to keep the battery level between 20% and 80%. This simple change can significantly extend the overall lifespan of your phone’s battery.
This one small habit of reviewing your app permissions will change your privacy on your smartphone forever.
A user downloaded a simple calculator app. During setup, it asked for access to her contacts and location. She blindly clicked “Allow.” She later discovered the app was selling her data. She adopted a new habit: once a month, she would go into her phone’s privacy settings and review which apps had access to her microphone, camera, contacts, and location. She was shocked to find how many apps had permissions they didn’t need. This simple privacy check-up gave her back control over her personal data.
The reason your smartphone is so slow is because of all the bloatware.
A user bought a new phone from their carrier and was frustrated by how slow it felt. The reason? The phone came pre-loaded with two dozen “bloatware” apps from the carrier and the manufacturer that she never used. These apps were running in the background, consuming memory and CPU cycles. After spending an hour disabling or uninstalling all of these unnecessary apps, her phone felt significantly faster and more responsive, and the battery life improved.
If you’re still buying a new smartphone every year, you’re losing money and contributing to e-waste.
A person had a habit of upgrading to the newest iPhone every single year, trading in their perfectly good one-year-old phone. This habit cost them hundreds of dollars annually and contributed to the growing problem of electronic waste. Her friend, in contrast, kept her phone for four years. It still performed all the essential tasks perfectly. By breaking the annual upgrade cycle, she saved over a thousand dollars and reduced her environmental impact. Modern phones are built to last far longer than the marketing cycles suggest.
Laptops
Use a laptop with a good keyboard and trackpad, not just powerful specs.
A developer bought a laptop online that had a powerful processor and a lot of RAM. He was excited about its performance. But when he started using it, he hated it. The keyboard felt mushy, and the trackpad was inaccurate and frustrating. His daily experience of using the machine was miserable. His colleague, with a less powerful but well-designed laptop, was much happier. The components you physically interact with every second—the keyboard and trackpad—have a bigger impact on your overall satisfaction than a slightly faster processor.
Stop doing brand worship. Do consider laptops from different manufacturers instead.
For years, a student would only buy laptops from a single, popular brand, assuming they were the best. When it was time for a new one, her preferred brand didn’t have a model that fit her budget. Reluctantly, she looked at other manufacturers like Acer and Lenovo. She found a laptop that had better specs, a better screen, and was $200 cheaper than the equivalent from her usual brand. She learned that no single brand is the best in every category, and being open to alternatives can lead to a much better value.
The #1 hack for speeding up your old laptop that will make it feel like new.
The single most effective upgrade for an old, slow laptop is replacing the mechanical hard disk drive (HDD) with a solid-state drive (SSD). A person had a five-year-old laptop that took minutes to boot up and was painfully slow to open applications. Instead of buying a new one, he spent $50 on a new SSD and cloned his old drive. The difference was astonishing. The laptop now booted up in 15 seconds, and applications opened instantly. It felt like a brand new machine.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about gaming laptops.
The lie is that you need a “gaming laptop” to play games. A student wanted to play games like Minecraft and Valorant. He thought he needed to spend $1500 on a bulky, heavy gaming laptop with aggressive styling. The reality is that many modern laptops with integrated graphics or entry-level dedicated GPUs can handle a huge number of popular games perfectly well. He ended up buying a much sleeker, more portable laptop that still played his favorite games flawlessly, saving him hundreds of dollars.
I wish I knew this about the importance of a good display when I bought my first laptop.
When I bought my first laptop, I only looked at the CPU speed and the amount of RAM. I ended up with a laptop that had a dim, low-resolution screen with poor color accuracy. Staring at it for hours gave me eye strain, and photos and videos looked washed out. I wish I had known that the display is one of the most important components of a laptop. A bright, sharp, color-accurate screen makes every single task, from writing an email to watching a movie, a more pleasant experience.
I’m just going to say it: For most people, a Chromebook is a better choice than a Windows laptop.
A parent was looking for a simple laptop for their child to do schoolwork and browse the web. They were about to buy a cheap, low-end Windows laptop. A friend recommended a Chromebook instead. The Chromebook was faster, more secure from viruses, had a much longer battery life, and was cheaper. For users whose computing needs are primarily web-based—email, Google Docs, streaming video—a Chromebook provides a simpler, safer, and more efficient experience than a traditional Windows machine.
99% of people make this one mistake when buying a new laptop.
The most common mistake is paying for specs they will never use. A person bought a laptop with a top-of-the-line processor, 32GB of RAM, and a powerful dedicated graphics card because they wanted a “future-proof” machine. Their actual usage consisted entirely of browsing the web and using Microsoft Office. They had spent an extra $800 on power they would never touch. The key is to buy a laptop that fits your current and near-future needs, not a hypothetical, power-intensive future that will likely never arrive.
This one small action of cleaning your laptop’s fans will change its performance and lifespan forever.
A user’s laptop was running hot and the fans were constantly loud. The performance was sluggish, especially under load. The reason? Over the years, the cooling vents and fans had become clogged with dust, preventing the laptop from cooling itself effectively. The system was “thermally throttling,” reducing its own performance to avoid overheating. After taking a can of compressed air and carefully cleaning out the vents, the laptop ran cooler, quieter, and noticeably faster. This simple maintenance can prevent permanent damage and extend the life of your device.
The reason your laptop’s battery life is so short is because of all the background processes.
A writer was frustrated that her new laptop’s battery would only last a few hours, even when she was just using a word processor. She opened the task manager and was shocked to see dozens of applications and processes running in the background—updaters, cloud sync clients, and other pre-installed software. By going through and disabling all the unnecessary startup programs and background processes, she was able to nearly double her effective battery life, allowing her to work for a full day without reaching for the charger.
If you’re still carrying around a heavy and bulky laptop, you’re losing portability.
A consultant traveled frequently for work. She was lugging around a heavy, 15-inch laptop with a massive power brick. It was a pain to carry through airports and barely fit on an airplane tray table. She switched to a modern, 13-inch ultrabook. It was half the weight, had a longer battery life, and was still powerful enough for all of her work tasks. The massive improvement in portability and convenience completely changed her travel experience for the better.
Wearables
Use a wearable to track your fitness and health, not as a fashion accessory.
A person bought a beautiful, expensive smartwatch from a luxury brand. It looked great, but its fitness tracking was inaccurate and the battery life was terrible. She rarely used its smart features. Her friend bought a dedicated fitness tracker from a company like Garmin or Fitbit. It might not have been as stylish, but it provided a wealth of accurate health data, had a week-long battery life, and genuinely helped him improve his fitness. The most valuable wearable is the one that provides useful, actionable data, not the one that just looks good.
Stop doing notification overload on your smartwatch. Do customize your notifications to only receive what’s important instead.
A new smartwatch owner was excited to have all his phone’s notifications on his wrist. His watch was constantly buzzing—emails, social media updates, news alerts. It was incredibly distracting and stressful. He was about to stop wearing it. Then he discovered how to customize the notifications. He turned off everything except for text messages from his favorite contacts and calendar alerts. His watch went from being a source of constant interruption to a genuinely useful tool that helped him focus on what truly mattered.
The #1 secret for getting the most accurate data from your fitness tracker.
The secret is to wear it correctly. A runner was frustrated that his new fitness tracker’s heart rate readings were all over the place. He was wearing the watch loosely on his wrist, like a normal timepiece. For an optical heart rate sensor to work accurately, it needs to maintain constant contact with the skin. By simply tightening the strap and moving the tracker a little further up his arm, away from the wrist bone, his heart rate data became significantly more stable and accurate.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the accuracy of sleep tracking on wearables.
The lie is that your smartwatch can accurately measure the different stages of sleep (like REM and deep sleep). While most wearables are pretty good at detecting when you are asleep versus when you are awake, their ability to differentiate between sleep stages is based on algorithms using movement and heart rate, which is not a clinically accurate measure. True sleep stage analysis requires an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure brain waves. A wearable’s sleep data can be a useful guide, but it should not be treated as a medical diagnosis.
I wish I knew this about the privacy implications of wearables when I got my first one.
I was excited by all the health data my first fitness tracker was collecting—my heart rate, my sleep patterns, even my GPS location on my daily runs. I didn’t think about where all that data was going. I wish I had known that I was sending a huge amount of highly personal health information to a tech company’s servers. Understanding the company’s privacy policy and knowing what data is being collected and how it’s being used is a critical step that most new wearable users overlook.
I’m just going to say it: Most people stop using their fitness trackers after a few months.
The story is incredibly common. Someone gets a fitness tracker as a gift or a New Year’s resolution. They are obsessed with it for the first few weeks, constantly checking their step count. But the novelty wears off. They get tired of charging it, and the data starts to feel repetitive. Soon, the device ends up in a drawer. The key to long-term success is to move beyond passive tracking and use the device to actively engage in a fitness program or a community, which provides a more lasting motivation.
99% of wearable users make this one mistake with their device.
The most common mistake is never cleaning it. A user wore their smartwatch 24/7 for a year without ever cleaning the band or the back of the watch. They developed a skin irritation on their wrist. The combination of sweat, dirt, and bacteria trapped under the watch can easily cause this. Taking a moment once a week to wipe down the device and the band with a gentle cleaner is a simple bit of hygiene that can prevent “watch rash” and keep your device from getting grimy.
This one small habit of setting daily activity goals will change your health and fitness forever.
A person wore a fitness tracker for a year but didn’t see any change in their health. The tracker was just passively recording their sedentary lifestyle. She decided to adopt one small habit: setting and trying to achieve a daily step goal. She started with a modest 5,000 steps and gradually increased it. This simple act of setting a clear, achievable goal turned the tracker from a passive data collector into an active motivational tool. It encouraged her to take the stairs, go for a walk at lunch, and make small, healthy changes.
The reason your wearable’s battery life is so poor is because of the always-on display.
A user was complaining that his new, advanced smartwatch barely lasted a single day. His friend, with the same watch, was getting two full days of battery life. The difference? The first user had the “always-on display” feature enabled, which keeps the screen dimly lit at all times. By turning this feature off and relying on the “raise to wake” gesture, he instantly doubled his battery life. The always-on display is a convenient but incredibly power-hungry feature.
If you’re still not using a wearable to track your workouts, you’re losing valuable data.
Two people started a new running program. The first person just went for a run and tried to guess how far and how fast they went. The second person used a simple fitness tracker. She could see her exact distance, pace, and heart rate for every run. This data allowed her to track her progress objectively, see when she was improving, and know when she was pushing herself too hard. The wearable provided the feedback she needed to train smarter and more effectively.
Smart Home
Use a local smart home hub for reliability and privacy, not just cloud-dependent devices.
When a person’s internet went out, their “smart” home became incredibly dumb. They couldn’t turn on their lights or adjust their thermostat because all of their devices were dependent on the cloud. Their neighbor, who used a local smart home hub like Home Assistant or Hubitat, had no such problems. Her automations and controls all ran locally on the hub, so her home continued to function perfectly even without an internet connection. This also meant that her personal data wasn’t being sent to a tech company’s server.
Stop doing a fragmented smart home with devices from different ecosystems. Do choose devices that work together with standards like Matter instead.
A smart home enthusiast had a collection of devices from different brands. He had to use three different apps to control his lights, his thermostat, and his smart plugs. It was a fragmented, frustrating experience. The emergence of a universal standard like Matter changes this. A person building a new smart home can now buy devices from different manufacturers, and as long as they all support Matter, they will work together seamlessly in a single app, creating a truly unified and interoperable smart home.
The #1 hack for creating truly useful smart home automations.
The secret is to focus on automations that remove a minor, daily annoyance. A person was constantly annoyed that their kids would leave the bathroom light and fan on for hours. He set up a simple, useful automation: he put a motion sensor in the bathroom, and if it detected no motion for ten minutes, it would automatically turn off the light and the fan. This one small, “fire and forget” automation solved a real, recurring problem, making it far more valuable than a flashy but useless party trick.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the “intelligence” of your smart speaker.
The lie is that your smart speaker “understands” you. A person asked their smart speaker, “Do I need an umbrella today?” and it correctly said, “Yes, it’s going to rain this afternoon.” The person was amazed by its intelligence. In reality, the speaker didn’t understand the concept of rain or umbrellas. It simply recognized the keywords in the request, sent them to a powerful AI in the cloud which looked up the weather forecast, and then played back a pre-programmed response. It’s a clever trick, but it’s pattern matching, not true intelligence.
I wish I knew this about the security risks of smart home devices when I started.
I was so excited to set up my first smart home. I bought a cheap, no-name smart camera online. I didn’t think about the security implications. A few months later, a security researcher discovered that the camera had a major vulnerability that allowed anyone on the internet to view its video feed. I wish I had known to stick with reputable brands that have a good track record of security updates and to put all of my untrusted smart home gadgets on a separate, isolated guest Wi-Fi network.
I’m just going to say it: The smart home is still a mess.
A tech enthusiast tried to build the “smart home of the future.” He ended up with a mess of competing standards, devices that would randomly go offline, and automations that would work one day and fail the next. He spent more time troubleshooting his smart home than he did enjoying its benefits. Despite years of promises, the smart home is still, for most people, a fragmented and unreliable hobbyist pursuit rather than a seamless, mainstream reality. Standards like Matter aim to fix this, but there is still a long way to go.
99% of smart home enthusiasts make this one mistake when setting up their automations.
The most common mistake is creating automations that don’t have any conditions or overrides. A person created an automation to turn on the lights every day at 6 PM. This was great, except for when he was on vacation and the lights were on in an empty house. A better automation would include a condition: “If it’s 6 PM AND my phone’s location is at home, then turn on the lights.” Building in these conditions and easy ways to manually override an automation is key to making them practical and not annoying.
This one small action of creating a guest Wi-Fi network for your smart home devices will change your security posture forever.
A person connected all of their smart home devices—lights, plugs, and cameras from various manufacturers—to their main Wi-Fi network. When one of those devices was compromised due to a security flaw, the attacker was now on the same network as their personal laptop and all of their sensitive files. By taking the small action of creating a separate “guest” Wi-Fi network on her router and connecting all her IoT devices to it, she isolated them. Now, even if a smart plug gets hacked, the damage is contained to that isolated network.
The reason your smart home is not working properly is because of a weak Wi-Fi signal.
A person’s smart camera in their backyard was constantly disconnecting. Their smart plug in the garage was frequently “unresponsive.” They blamed the devices. The real reason was that their single Wi-Fi router, located in their living room, couldn’t provide a strong, reliable signal to the far corners of their house. By upgrading to a modern mesh Wi-Fi system, which uses multiple nodes to blanket the entire home in a strong signal, all of their smart home devices suddenly became reliable and responsive.
If you’re still manually turning on and off your lights, you’re losing convenience.
A skeptic thought smart lights were a gimmick. His friend convinced him to try them. He set up a simple routine: all the lights in his house would turn off automatically when he said, “Hey Google, good night.” He also set the lights to turn on gradually in the morning as an alarm. He was shocked at how much he loved it. It was a small, daily convenience, but it removed a minor point of friction from his life, and he quickly realized he could never go back to “dumb” lights.
Audio
Use a good pair of headphones or speakers, not just the ones that came with your phone.
A music lover listened to her favorite songs for years using the cheap earbuds that came with her phone. She thought it sounded fine. One day, she tried a friend’s pair of high-quality, over-ear headphones. She was stunned. She could hear details in the music—the subtle bass lines, the crispness of the cymbals, the separation between the instruments—that she never knew existed. She realized she hadn’t been truly listening to her music at all. A good pair of headphones isn’t a luxury; it’s essential for appreciating the art of sound.
Stop doing brand obsession. Do listen to different audio products before you buy instead.
A person was convinced that a certain expensive, heavily-marketed brand of headphones was the best. He bought a pair without ever listening to them. He found the sound to be muddy and overly bass-heavy. His friend, instead of focusing on a brand, went to a store and listened to five different pairs of headphones in his price range from different manufacturers. He chose the one that sounded best to him, regardless of the name on the side. In audio, personal preference is everything, and your ears are the only reviewer that matters.
The #1 secret for getting the best sound quality from your audio gear.
The secret isn’t an expensive cable or a magic accessory; it’s the quality of the source material. A person spent a fortune on a high-end sound system and was disappointed that his music still sounded flat. The reason? He was streaming his music from a low-bitrate service, which was the audio equivalent of watching a low-resolution, pixelated video. When he switched to a lossless audio streaming service or played high-quality audio files, his system came to life, revealing the clarity and detail he had paid for.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about “audiophile” cables.
The lie is that spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on speaker cables or interconnects will magically transform the sound of your system. A company sells “audiophile-grade” cables with exotic materials and marketing claims about improved clarity and soundstage. In double-blind listening tests, even experienced audiophiles are unable to tell the difference between these expensive cables and a standard, well-made cable from a hardware store. As long as the cable is of a sufficient gauge and properly constructed, it will not be the weak link in your audio chain.
I wish I knew this about the importance of a good digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
I plugged my expensive headphones directly into my laptop’s headphone jack. The sound was okay, but a little noisy and flat. I wish I had known that the built-in DAC in most laptops and phones is a cheap, noisy component. A DAC’s job is to convert the digital 1s and 0s of your audio file into an analog signal that your headphones can play. By using a simple, external USB DAC, I was able to bypass my laptop’s noisy internal circuitry, resulting in a much cleaner, clearer, and more detailed sound.
I’m just going to say it: Wireless audio is not as good as wired audio.
Bluetooth headphones are incredibly convenient. But for pure sound quality, a wired connection is still superior. Wireless audio relies on lossy compression codecs to transmit the signal, which means some of the original audio data is thrown away. A discerning listener plugged her high-end headphones directly into her music player and then listened to the same track via Bluetooth. She could hear a subtle loss of detail and clarity in the wireless version. While wireless is great for convenience, for critical listening, wired is still king.
99% of people make this one mistake when setting up their home theater system.
The most common mistake is not calibrating the speaker levels. A person sets up their new 5.1 surround sound system, puts all the speakers where they fit, and starts watching a movie. The dialogue is too quiet, and the rear speakers are too loud. Every home theater receiver has a calibration mode, often with an included microphone. By running this simple, automated setup process, the system can adjust the volume level of each individual speaker based on its position in the room, creating a balanced and immersive surround sound experience.
This one small action of properly positioning your speakers will change your listening experience forever.
A person had a nice pair of stereo speakers for listening to music. He had them placed randomly on a bookshelf, at different heights and angles. The sound was muddy, and there was no clear stereo image. He took a few minutes to learn about proper speaker placement. He placed the speakers so that they and his listening position formed an equilateral triangle, and he put them on stands to bring the tweeters to ear-level. This one small, free action of proper positioning completely transformed his listening experience, creating a clear, focused, and immersive soundstage.
The reason your music doesn’t sound good is because of low-quality audio files.
A person was complaining that the music on their phone sounded tinny and lacked detail, even with good headphones. The reason? They had been ripping their old CDs into low-quality 128kbps MP3 files to save space. These highly compressed files throw away a huge amount of the original audio information. By re-ripping their music to a higher-quality format or subscribing to a lossless streaming service, they were able to hear the full richness and detail of the original recordings.
If you’re still listening to music through your laptop speakers, you’re losing a lot of detail.
A student was studying in his room and listening to his favorite album through the tiny, built-in speakers on his laptop. The sound was thin, tinny, and had no bass. It was a pale imitation of the actual music. His roommate plugged in a simple pair of powered desktop speakers that cost less than $100. The difference was night and day. The music suddenly had depth, clarity, and impact. Laptop speakers are fine for system sounds, but for enjoying music, even an inexpensive pair of external speakers is a massive upgrade.
Drones
Use a drone for capturing stunning aerial photos and videos, not for spying on your neighbors.
A filmmaker used a drone to get a sweeping, epic establishing shot for his independent film, a shot that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars with a helicopter. It elevated the production value of his entire movie. His neighbor, however, bought a drone and used it to hover outside people’s windows. He ended up with a visit from the police and a fine. Drones are a powerful creative tool that can unlock incredible new perspectives, but using them irresponsibly and invading people’s privacy is a quick way to get into serious trouble.
Stop doing reckless flying. Do learn the rules and regulations for flying a drone in your area instead.
A new drone pilot was so excited to fly his new toy that he immediately took it to a local park and flew it high above the trees. He didn’t realize he was in the flight path of a nearby airport. A park ranger saw him and he was hit with a significant fine from the FAA. Before you fly, you must learn the rules. Understanding regulations about where you can fly, how high you can fly, and whether you need to be registered or certified is a non-negotiable part of being a responsible drone pilot.
The #1 tip for flying your drone like a pro.
The secret to professional-looking drone footage is to make slow, smooth, and deliberate movements. An amateur pilot’s footage is often jerky and erratic, as they rapidly move the control sticks. A professional pilot, in contrast, makes gentle, cinematic movements. They will perform a single, slow maneuver at a time, like a gentle ascent or a slow forward push. This discipline is what separates shaky, amateur-looking video from the smooth, breathtaking shots you see in movies.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the ease of flying a drone.
The lie, often shown in marketing videos, is that anyone can fly a drone perfectly on their first try. A person, believing this, took his new drone out of the box and immediately tried to fly it in a tight space. He quickly lost control and crashed it into a tree. While modern drones have incredible stabilization technology, they are still complex aircraft that require practice to master. Understanding the controls, developing muscle memory, and learning how the drone behaves in different conditions takes time and patience.
I wish I knew this about the importance of a pre-flight checklist when I started flying drones.
On my third or fourth drone flight, I was in a rush. I took off and the drone immediately started acting erratically. I had forgotten to properly calibrate the compass. The drone drifted away and I couldn’t get it back. I wish I had used a pre-flight checklist, just like a real pilot. A simple checklist—check battery levels, check GPS lock, check propellers, calibrate compass—takes only two minutes, but it can be the difference between a successful flight and losing a thousand-dollar piece of equipment.
I’m just going to say it: Drones are not toys.
A parent bought a large, powerful drone as a toy for their child. The child, with no experience, flew it recklessly in a public park and ended up crashing it near a group of people. While there are small, indoor drones that are designed as toys, the larger GPS-enabled drones that are popular today are sophisticated aircraft. They have fast-spinning propellers that can cause injury, and if they lose connection or power, they can fall out of the sky. They must be treated with the same respect and caution as any other powerful tool.
99% of new drone pilots make this one mistake.
The most common mistake a new pilot makes is flying with the camera pointed straight down. They are so focused on navigating the drone that they forget about the purpose of the flight: to get a great shot. The result is a boring, top-down video that looks like a satellite map. A good pilot is constantly thinking like a cinematographer, adjusting the camera’s angle and the drone’s position to frame a compelling shot and capture the beauty of the landscape from a unique, aerial perspective.
This one small habit of practicing in a simulator will change your drone flying skills forever.
A new drone pilot was nervous about flying his expensive new drone, especially in challenging conditions. He downloaded a realistic drone flight simulator for his computer. He could practice complex maneuvers, fly in simulated high winds, and even practice what to do in an emergency situation, all without risking his actual drone. This one small habit of practicing in a safe, virtual environment built his muscle memory and his confidence, making him a much safer and more skilled pilot in the real world.
The reason you crashed your drone is because you were flying in high winds.
A pilot took his lightweight consumer drone out on a very windy day. He was able to fly it out with the wind at its back, but when he tried to fly back against the wind, the drone couldn’t make any progress. The wind was stronger than the drone’s motors. The battery eventually died, and the drone was lost. A drone’s ability to handle wind is one of its most important limitations. Always check the wind speed before you fly, and be aware that the wind is often much stronger at higher altitudes.
If you’re still not using a drone for your real estate photography, you’re losing a competitive edge.
A real estate agent was taking photos of her listings with a standard camera. Her photos were good, but they couldn’t capture the full scale of the properties. Her competitor started using a drone. His listings featured stunning aerial photos that showed off the entire property, the beautiful backyard, and the surrounding neighborhood. These compelling, high-impact visuals made his listings stand out and attract more buyers. In a visual industry like real estate, drones are no longer a novelty; they are an essential marketing tool.
3D Printing
Use a 3D printer to create custom objects and prototypes, not just to download and print toys.
A person bought a 3D printer and spent the first month downloading and printing small plastic figurines he found online. It was fun, but not very useful. He then learned some basic 3D modeling. He designed and printed a custom bracket to fix his broken headphones, a replacement knob for his dishwasher, and a specialized jig for a woodworking project. By moving from a consumer of models to a creator of solutions, he unlocked the true power of 3D printing: the ability to create a physical object to solve a real-world problem.
Stop doing failed prints. Do learn how to properly calibrate your 3D printer instead.
A new 3D printing enthusiast was frustrated. Half of his prints would fail, resulting in a tangled mess of plastic spaghetti. He blamed the printer. The real reason was that he had never properly calibrated it. After spending an hour learning how to level the print bed, calibrate the extruder, and tighten the belts, his failure rate dropped to almost zero. A 3D printer is a precise machine, and taking the time to properly calibrate and tune it is the most important step to achieving reliable, high-quality prints.
The #1 secret for getting high-quality 3D prints.
The secret isn’t an expensive printer; it’s a slow print speed. A user was trying to print a detailed model as fast as possible. The result was sloppy, with visible layer lines and poor detail. He reprinted the exact same model, but this time he cut the print speed in half. The result was a beautifully smooth, highly detailed print. A slower speed gives the plastic more time to cool and solidify properly, resulting in a much higher quality surface finish. Patience is the key to quality.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the “plug and play” nature of 3D printers.
The lie, often shown in marketing materials, is that you can take a 3D printer out of the box, press a button, and get a perfect print. A person bought a budget 3D printer and was disappointed when his first prints failed. He discovered that 3D printing is a hobby that requires learning and tinkering. He had to learn how to assemble the printer, level the bed, adjust the temperature settings for different materials, and troubleshoot various issues. It’s a rewarding hobby, but it is not a simple “plug and play” appliance.
I wish I knew this about the different types of 3D printing filaments when I started.
When I first started 3D printing, I only used PLA, a common and easy-to-print material. I tried to print a part for my car, but it warped and melted in the summer heat. I wish I had known about the different properties of other filaments. For a heat-resistant part, I should have used ABS or PETG. For a flexible part, I should have used TPU. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different materials is crucial for printing functional parts that are suited for their intended purpose.
I’m just going to say it: 3D printing is not as easy as it looks.
Online videos make 3D printing look like magic. You click a button, and a perfect object appears. The reality is that there is a steep learning curve. You will have failed prints. You will have to learn about slicer settings, bed adhesion, temperature towers, and a dozen other technical details. It’s a hobby that rewards patience, problem-solving, and a willingness to learn from your mistakes. It’s incredibly rewarding when it works, but it requires a significant investment of time and effort to get there.
99% of 3D printing beginners make this one mistake with their first print.
The most common mistake is trying to print a large, complex model for their very first print. A new user will download a massive, 20-hour print and start it, only to have it fail for some unknown reason. The best way to start is with a small, simple calibration object, like a calibration cube. This prints quickly, uses very little filament, and is specifically designed to help you diagnose any issues with your printer’s settings and calibration. Start small and simple to ensure success.
This one small action of leveling your print bed will change the quality of your 3D prints forever.
The single most important factor for a successful 3D print is a perfectly level print bed. If the nozzle is too close to the bed in one corner and too far in another, the crucial first layer will not adhere properly, and the entire print will fail. A user was constantly having prints peel off the bed. He spent ten minutes carefully leveling the bed, using a piece of paper to ensure the nozzle was the same, perfect distance from the bed at all four corners. This one small action solved 90% of his printing problems.
The reason your 3D print failed is because of poor bed adhesion.
A user started a long 3D print and came back hours later to find a jumbled mess of plastic. The print had detached from the build plate halfway through. The reason was poor bed adhesion. The first layer of the print did not stick to the bed securely enough. This common problem can be solved in a few ways: by making sure the bed is perfectly level and clean, by using an adhesive like a glue stick or hairspray, or by adding a “brim” or “raft” to the print in the slicer software to create a larger surface area for the first layer.
If you’re still not exploring the possibilities of 3D printing, you’re losing out on a revolutionary technology.
A product design company used to spend thousands of dollars and wait weeks to get a prototype of a new product made by a machine shop. They bought a 3D printer. Now, when a designer has a new idea, they can have a physical prototype in their hands the next day. This ability to rapidly iterate on physical designs has completely changed their workflow, allowing them to create better products faster. 3D printing is not just a hobby; it’s a powerful tool for innovation.
Virtual Reality (VR)
Use VR for immersive gaming and experiences, not just for watching 360-degree videos.
A person bought a VR headset and only used it to watch 360-degree videos on YouTube. He was underwhelmed. It felt like a gimmick. His friend encouraged him to try a true, room-scale VR game. The experience of physically walking around in a virtual world, interacting with objects with his own hands, and ducking behind cover was mind-blowing. It was a level of immersion that a passive 360-degree video could never provide. The magic of VR is in the interaction, not just the viewing.
Stop doing VR in a small space. Do make sure you have enough room to move around safely instead.
A new VR user was so excited to play a boxing game that he started it in his cluttered living room. He threw a punch at his virtual opponent and ended up punching his expensive television in the real world. Before you start a room-scale VR experience, you must set up a safe play area. Your VR system will have a “guardian” or “chaperone” feature that lets you draw a virtual boundary. Ensuring you have cleared enough physical space to move around without hitting anything is the most important safety step.
The #1 tip for avoiding motion sickness in VR.
The most effective tip for preventing VR motion sickness is to avoid games with artificial locomotion, at least at first. Motion sickness in VR is often caused by a disconnect between what your eyes are seeing (e.g., you are running forward in the game) and what your inner ear is feeling (you are standing still in your living room). Games that use teleportation or room-scale movement, where your virtual movement matches your real-world movement, are far less likely to cause discomfort for new users.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the “metaverse”.
The lie is that the “metaverse” is a single, unified virtual world that is just around the corner, and that it will look like the slick, corporate promotional videos. The reality is that the “metaverse” today is just a collection of disconnected VR apps and games. There are no universally accepted standards, and the technology is still in its infancy. The grand vision of a persistent, interconnected virtual reality is a science fiction concept that is likely many decades away, if it ever arrives at all.
I wish I knew this about the importance of a powerful PC for VR when I bought my first headset.
I bought a high-end PC VR headset, excited for amazing graphics. I plugged it into my mid-range gaming PC. The experience was terrible. The framerate was low and stuttery, which instantly made me feel sick. I wish I had known that to maintain a smooth, high-resolution experience in VR, you need a very powerful and expensive graphics card. The computational demand of rendering a separate image for each eye at a high framerate is immense, and a standard gaming PC is often not up to the task.
I’m just going to say it: VR is still a niche market.
Every few years, a new VR headset is released, and headlines proclaim that this is the “year of VR.” But the reality is that VR remains a niche hobby for a small group of dedicated enthusiasts. The high cost of the hardware, the physical space requirements, and the relative lack of “must-have” games have prevented it from achieving mainstream adoption. While the technology is impressive, it is still a long way from being a common household device like a game console or a computer.
99% of new VR users make this one mistake.
The most common mistake is trying to play for too long in their first session. A new user will get a VR headset and be so amazed that they play for three hours straight. They end up with eye strain, a headache, and a general feeling of disorientation. It takes time to develop your “VR legs.” It’s best to start with short, 15-20 minute sessions and gradually increase the time as you become more comfortable with the experience.
This one small action of adjusting your IPD (interpupillary distance) will change your VR experience forever.
A person was complaining that their VR experience was blurry and gave them a headache. They had never adjusted the IPD setting on their headset. The IPD is the distance between the pupils of your eyes. Most VR headsets have a physical slider or a software setting to adjust the distance between the lenses to match your personal IPD. This one small action of properly aligning the lenses with your eyes can dramatically improve the clarity of the image and the comfort of the experience.
The reason your VR experience is blurry is because of incorrect lens placement.
A user was constantly frustrated because the image in his VR headset was blurry, especially around the edges. He was wearing the headset like a pair of ski goggles. The reason for the blur was that the lenses were not positioned in the “sweet spot” directly in front of his eyes. By adjusting the straps to properly cup the back of his head and allow the headset to rest lightly on his face, he was able to position the lenses correctly, resulting in a much sharper and more immersive image.
If you’re still not trying VR, you’re missing out on the future of entertainment.
A lifelong gamer was skeptical about VR, thinking it was a gimmick. His friend convinced him to try the game “Half-Life: Alyx.” The experience of physically reloading a weapon, peeking around corners, and interacting with the world with his own hands was a revelation. He realized that VR was not just a new way to look at games; it was a fundamentally new way to be in them. While still a niche, the level of immersion offered by modern VR is a glimpse into the future of interactive entertainment.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Use AR to overlay digital information onto the real world, not just for fun filters on social media.
While fun, the dog-ear filters on social media are a trivial use of AR. A more powerful application is its use for practical information. An electrician used an AR app on his tablet that could recognize a piece of machinery and overlay its wiring diagram directly onto the real-world view. This allowed him to perform a complex repair without constantly looking back and forth at a separate manual. This is the true promise of AR: providing the right information, in the right place, at the right time.
Stop doing gimmicky AR apps. Do look for AR experiences that provide real utility instead.
An AR app that lets you see a cartoon character dancing on your coffee table is a fun, five-minute gimmick. An AR app from IKEA that lets you accurately place a true-to-scale virtual couch in your living room to see how it fits is a genuinely useful tool that solves a real problem. The future of AR is not in short-lived novelties, but in practical applications that help people visualize information, learn new skills, or make better purchasing decisions.
The #1 secret for creating engaging AR experiences.
The secret is to make the virtual objects feel like they are truly part of the real world. This requires a deep understanding of the physical environment. An early AR game would just float a character in the middle of the room. A more advanced experience uses technologies like plane detection and occlusion. It can place a virtual object realistically on your floor, and that object will be correctly hidden (occluded) when it goes behind a real-world object, like a chair. This seamless integration is what creates a believable and engaging experience.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about AR glasses replacing smartphones.
The lie, a favorite of tech futurists, is that we will all be wearing stylish AR glasses that replace our smartphones within the next few years. The reality is that the technical challenges are immense. To create a pair of glasses that are lightweight, have an all-day battery life, are powerful enough for complex processing, and have a bright, high-resolution display is a monumental engineering task. While AR glasses will likely find niche uses in industry, they are a very long way from replacing the phone in your pocket.
I wish I knew this about the technical challenges of AR when I started developing for it.
I had a great idea for an AR game. I didn’t realize how difficult the underlying technology was. My app struggled with tracking the real world, the virtual objects would drift and jitter, and it didn’t work well in different lighting conditions. I wish I had known that building a robust AR experience from scratch is incredibly hard. Leveraging a mature AR platform like Apple’s ARKit or Google’s ARCore, which have solved many of these hard computer vision problems for you, is essential for any developer starting in AR.
I’m just going to say it: The current state of AR is still very limited.
The promise of augmented reality is incredible. But the reality of it today, for most people, is experienced through the small screen of a smartphone. Holding up your phone to view an AR experience is a clunky and unnatural interaction. Until the technology can be integrated into a comfortable and socially acceptable pair of glasses, AR will remain a limited, niche experience rather than the next major computing platform that it has the potential to be.
99% of people make this one mistake when trying an AR app.
The most common mistake is moving their phone around too quickly when the app is trying to detect a surface. An AR app needs a moment to analyze the camera feed and identify a flat surface like a floor or a table to place a virtual object on. A user who waves their phone around wildly will prevent the app from getting a stable view of the environment, and the tracking will fail. A slow, steady scanning motion is the key to a successful AR initialization.
This one small action of scanning your environment properly will change your AR experience forever.
A person trying an AR furniture placement app was frustrated that the virtual chair was floating in mid-air. The reason was that he had just pointed his phone at the floor for a second. The app hadn’t had enough time to understand the geometry of the room. By taking a moment to slowly scan the floor and the surrounding area, he provided the app with the data it needed to build a map of the room. Now, the virtual chair snapped realistically to the floor, creating a much more believable and useful experience.
The reason your AR experience is not working well is because of poor lighting conditions.
An AR app that worked perfectly in a well-lit office was failing to track properly in a dim living room. The reason is that AR technology is fundamentally based on computer vision. The algorithms need to see clear features and textures in the environment to understand the geometry of the world. In very dim light, or on a plain, textureless surface like a white wall, the system can’t find enough feature points to track, and the AR experience will fail.
If you’re still not exploring the potential of AR, you’re losing out on the next computing platform.
A museum created a standard audio guide for their exhibits. A competing museum created an AR app. Visitors could point their phone at a dinosaur skeleton, and an AR overlay would appear, showing the dinosaur’s skin and animating its movement. This engaging, interactive experience was a huge hit with visitors of all ages. While the technology is still young, companies and creators who are beginning to explore the potential of AR now will be the ones who are best prepared to lead on what could be the next major shift in how we interact with digital information.
The Right to Repair
Use your right to repair your own devices, not just throwing them away.
A student’s laptop stopped working. His first instinct was to throw it away and buy a new one. His roommate, however, believed in the right to repair. They looked up a repair guide online, diagnosed the problem as a faulty charging port, ordered the $10 part, and fixed it themselves in under an hour. By choosing to repair instead of replace, they saved hundreds of dollars, learned a valuable new skill, and prevented a perfectly good piece of electronics from ending up in a landfill.
Stop doing manufacturer-authorized repairs. Do support independent repair shops instead.
A person cracked the screen on her phone. The manufacturer’s authorized repair center quoted her $300 for the repair. She took it to a local, independent repair shop, and they were able to do the exact same repair, using a high-quality third-party screen, for half the price. By supporting independent repair, she not only saved money but also helped to foster a competitive market that puts pressure on manufacturers to make their products more affordable to fix.
The #1 secret that tech giants don’t want you to know about repairing your own gadgets.
The secret is that many common repairs are much easier than they want you to believe. A laptop manufacturer’s website made it seem like replacing a battery was a complex process that should only be done by their certified technicians. A user, empowered by the right to repair movement, watched a five-minute YouTube tutorial and successfully replaced the battery herself. Tech companies often use fear and complexity as a tactic to monopolize the repair market and sell you new devices.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about voiding your warranty.
The lie, often hidden behind a “Warranty Void if Removed” sticker, is that opening your device or getting it repaired by a third party will automatically void your warranty. In the United States, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act makes it illegal for companies to void your warranty just because you opened your device or used an aftermarket part. The warranty can only be voided if the company can prove that the modification you made was the direct cause of the failure.
I wish I knew this about the anti-repair practices of some tech companies when I was younger.
When I was a teenager, I tried to replace the battery in my MP3 player. I discovered that the company had used a proprietary type of screw to prevent me from opening it. Even after I found the right screwdriver, I found that the battery was glued to the case. I wish I had known about these anti-repair practices, like using proprietary parts or “parts pairing” (where a new part won’t work unless it’s authorized by the manufacturer’s software). These are deliberate choices made by companies to make repair more difficult.
I’m just going to say it: You should have the right to repair the products you own.
You bought a car. You wouldn’t expect the car manufacturer to tell you that you can only get it serviced at their dealerships or that you can’t use third-party tires. Yet, this is exactly what happens in the electronics industry. The principle of the right to repair is simple: when you buy a product, you own it. You should have the right to access the parts, tools, and information needed to repair it yourself or to take it to a repair shop of your choice. It’s a fundamental issue of ownership and consumer rights.
99% of consumers make this one mistake when their device breaks.
The most common mistake is assuming that it’s unfixable and immediately looking to buy a new one. A person’s coffee maker stopped working. Instead of throwing it away, she searched for the model number online and found a forum where someone had the same problem. The solution was a simple, common fuse that had blown. She ordered the part for two dollars and fixed it. Before you replace something, take a few minutes to see if it’s a common, known issue with a simple fix.
This one small action of learning how to do basic repairs will change your relationship with technology forever.
A person was always intimidated by the idea of opening up her electronic devices. She decided to take one small action: she bought a simple electronics toolkit and learned how to replace the battery in her old smartphone. The feeling of successfully fixing her own device was incredibly empowering. It changed her relationship with technology from being a passive consumer to an active owner. She was no longer afraid of her devices and felt a new sense of agency and self-reliance.
The reason you can’t repair your device is because the manufacturer has made it difficult on purpose.
A farmer’s modern tractor broke down in the middle of a field. He was a skilled mechanic, but he couldn’t fix it. The tractor’s software required a special diagnostic tool and a software key that was only available to the manufacturer’s authorized dealers. This is a deliberate strategy. By locking down the software and restricting access to parts and tools, manufacturers can create a lucrative monopoly on repair, forcing customers into their expensive service network.
If you’re still not supporting the right to repair movement, you’re losing your consumer rights.
Legislators are debating “right to repair” bills that would require manufacturers to make parts, tools, and repair manuals available to consumers and independent repair shops. Large tech companies are spending millions of dollars lobbying against these bills. If you are not actively supporting this movement—by contacting your representatives or supporting pro-repair organizations—you are allowing these corporations to continue to erode your rights as a consumer, leading to more expensive repairs, more e-waste, and less control over the products you own.