Technology

The step I take to clear my inbox every January

Published

2 days ago

January 3, 2025

The step I take to clear my inbox every January

Right now, I’m sitting here beaming because my inbox is empty. Really! Did I read and reply to every single message? Well, no. I’m not an “Inbox Zero” person. Watch this quick video if you have no clue what that means.

Before I took back control, I had 409 unread emails. But I have a trick to starting each year with a clean slate. You can do it, too!

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THE BIGGEST WI-FI MISTAKE YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE MAKING

Clear out your inbox

You could try sorting your emails into a maze of folders, but who has the time for that? Here’s a surprisingly easy fix to start the new year right: Archive your inbox. It’s like a magic wand for your digital clutter!

What’s email archiving, you ask? Picture this: A digital vault where every email you’ve ever sent or received is safely stored, complete with attachments. No more scrolling endlessly through a jam-packed inbox!

So, are you ready to beat the email bloat? Here’s your quickstart guide to mastering your inbox with the power of archiving.

Archiving your inbox is the quickest way to ease your email burden going into the New Year. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)

Steps to archive emails in Gmail

Open your Gmail account on a computer and click the Inbox folder on the left.
Above your emails, there’s an empty checkbox. Click the small arrow next to it, and choose All to get the conversations visible on your screen.
To select all emails, click Select all [number] conversations in Inbox, then hit the Archive icon. (It looks like a folder with a downward-pointing arrow.)

Gmail will take some time to process your request, so be patient. You may have to do this step a few times to get everything.

Once you’ve archived a message, you can hit All Mail to the left, under “Inbox” and your other email folders, to find it. Search by a term you know was in the email or by the sender.

Filters 101: How to sort your Gmail like a pro

Using Apple Mail? Here’s what to do

Open the Mail app on your Mac. Look through your inbox or other folders and find those emails you want to stash away. Click on an email to select it, or, if you’ve got a bunch, hold down Cmd and click each one you want to archive.
Got an Archive button (it looks like a small box) on your toolbar? Click that and you’re golden. No button? Click Message at the top, then choose Archive from the dropdown. For a shortcut, hit Ctrl + Cmd + A to send those emails right into your archive.
To see your archived emails, head to the Archive folder in the sidebar under “Mailboxes.” Got more than one email account? Each has its own “Archive” folder.

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How to archive emails in Microsoft Outlook

Outlook doesn’t put archived messages into a separate folder. Instead, they’ll go straight to a data file you can access whenever you want.

Select File > Cleanup Tools > Archive, then hit Archive this folder and all subfolders. Choose the folder you want to archive (in this case, your inbox).
Under Archive items older than, enter a date. For example, you may want to archive everything from before 2012. Then, check the box that says Include items with “Do not AutoArchive.” Click OK, and you’re good to go.

You’ll see emails disappear from your inbox and subfolders. Find them again under the “Archives” heading.

RELATED: How to make sure emails you want to see don’t end up lost in spam

Photo of a man that opened a phishing email.

You can archive emails in GMail, Outlook, and even Yahoo. (Photo by Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)

Got a Yahoo email? Here’s what to do

Hold your mouse over Inbox in the left panel, and click the dropdown arrow that appears. From the options, choose Clean Your Inbox.
A pop-up window will appear. Choose Archive emails. Be warned, this might take a while.

Want to take a message out of the archive? Open the “Archive” folder, tap on the email you want and select Restore to Inbox.

Smart tech how-to: Save precious voicemails and text messages

Worried you missed something?

Archiving isn’t the same as deleting. It’s like putting stuff in a storage box. Even if you archive emails, they can be subpoenaed for legal cases. I don’t give legal advice, so consult a lawyer if you have any questions.

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Technology

This pixel light grid can show you the weather (and the price of Bitcoin)

Published

6 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

This pixel light grid can show you the weather (and the price of Bitcoin)

Govee is launching a new pixel light grid that can display art, animations, and live data. The Gaming Pixel Light lets you upload your own images and GIFs to display or choose from 150 different data sources, letting it provide live updates on the weather, Bitcoin prices, NBA scores, and more.

You can also sync the display to games you’re playing by hooking it up to Govee’s HDMI sync box or play 8-bit tunes that sync to the pixel grid using the built-in speaker. Naturally, there’s an AI component as well — an accompanying app can generate new pixel art for you using Govee’s “AI Lighting Bot.”

You can generate pixel art with Govee’s “AI Lighting Bot.”

Image: Govee

The Gaming Pixel Light is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. You can wall-mount the screen or place it atop a table or desk, making it seem like a neat little addition to a gaming room or office.

Along with this pixel light, Govee is announcing the Table Lamp 2 Pro — an LED-packed tabletop lamp with a 2.5-inch JBL speaker that syncs up lighting with your music. The portable device has 210 independently controlled LED beads and 600 lumens of brightness. When it’s not synced with your music, you can customize the lighting yourself or choose from 100 preset scenes.

The Table Lamp 2 Pro comes with a 2.5-inch JBL speaker.

Image: Govee

The lamp works with Matter, Google Assistant, and Alexa and comes with a rechargeable battery. You can also link two lamps together for a “full stereo surround experience.” Govee says it will release the Gaming Pixel Light and the Table Lamp 2 Pro in the second quarter of 2025, but it didn’t provide any pricing information.

Technology

Create custom visuals on your iPhone with Image Playground in iOS 18.2

Published

6 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

Create custom visuals on your iPhone with Image Playground in iOS 18.2

Apple’s new Image Playground feature is an excellent addition to the iPhone, allowing you to easily create custom visuals.

This innovative tool transforms simple text prompts into images or animations in seconds, opening up a world of creativity right at your fingertips.

Image Playground feature on iPhone (Apple)

Ensure compatibility before you start

Before diving in, ensure your iPhone is compatible. Image Playground works on:

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iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max
All iPhone 16 models

Image Playground feature on iPhone (Apple)

GET ORGANIZED: NEW IOS 18 CALENDAR FEATURE

How to update software to 18.2 or later on iPhone

To access Image Playground, update to iOS 18.2 or later:

Open Settings
Tap General
Select Software Update
Tap Update Now
Enter your passcode and agree to terms
Wait for the installation to complete

Steps to update iPhone software (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

IOS 18’S NEW TEXT FORMATTING AND EFFECTS IN MESSAGES

How to use Image Playground

Once updated, locate the Image Playground app icon on your home screen. It looks like a cute animal in a soap bubble. The app uses Apple Intelligence to combine concepts, text descriptions and people from your photo library to create stylized images. Here’s how to use it:

Open the Image Playground app
Where it says “Describe an image,” go ahead and type a prompt describing the image you want (e.g., “A cat wearing sunglasses”) or add a suggestion from the list
Hit Enter and watch as Image Playground generates your image
Swipe through to select the image you want to use

Steps to use Image Playground feature on iPhone (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

You can click the three horizontal dots in the circle in the upper right of the screen to copy, duplicate or add caption
Tap Done when satisfied
Click the share icon (up arrow in the square) in the bottom left to share
You can share via AirDrop, Message or Email, or copy or save image to your iPhone.

Steps to use Image Playground feature on iPhone (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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Want to make it even more special?

You can create images based on your contacts. Here’s how:

Open the Image Playground app
Click the plus sign in the app.
Tap “Choose Photo.”
Click on the photo you want to use.
Customize it by typing what you want to add (like adding a hat) in the “Describe an image” field.
Tap the up arrow.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

Steps to use Image Playground feature on iPhone (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Swipe through the images to choose the one you like.
Tap the selected image and click Done.
Tap the “share icon” (up arrow in the square box) in the lower left of the screen to AirDrop, message or email the image.
You can also copy it or save it to your device.

Steps to use Image Playground feature on iPhone (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

SECRET TRICK TO SEND A TEXT MESSAGE AGAIN WITH IOS 18’S NEW “SEND LATER” FEATURE

Kurt’s key takeaways

Image Playground allows anyone with a compatible iPhone to produce unique, personalized images in seconds. While the results may not always perfectly capture reality, the technology is likely to improve over time. This feature opens up new possibilities for digital expression and storytelling right from your pocket.

What fun and creative things do you think you could make with Apple’s new Image Playground feature? Let us know what you think by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter

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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

YouTuber Legal Eagle is suing over PayPal’s Honey extension

Published

14 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

The proposed class action lawsuit was filed December 29th in California’s Northern District Court by Stone’s Eagle Team LLP and several other YouTubers’ businesses. It accuses Honey of intentionally replacing creators’ affiliate links with its own, even if it’s not offering shoppers a benefit, depriving creators of money in the process.

The complaint alleges that PayPal’s practice violates California’s Unfair Competition Law and constitutes interference between creators and their business partners. The plaintiffs are seeking to represent anyone who was part of an affiliate program and had their link “redirected to Paypal as a result of the Honey browser extension.” Class action status has not yet been certified by a court.

Honey operates by offering to find coupon codes through its browser extension. The MegaLag video last month describes how when shoppers interact with its pop-up offers at checkout, it replaces existing affiliate cookies with its own in the background and gets credit for the sale, whether it actually found a coupon or not.

The complaint lists other ways PayPal is allegedly claiming affiliate commissions. That includes offering users rewards through its Honey Gold Program and encouraging them to “Get Rewarded with PayPal,” which prompts them to check out using PayPal.

PayPal’s VP of corporate communications Josh Criscoe acknowledged to The Verge in our story last month that it’s following “industry rules and practices, including last-click attribution,” which the lawsuit agrees is a standard practice that credits the most recent affiliate with a sale at checkout. The plaintiffs argue Honey is using that standard practice in a way that’s “deceitful and clandestine,” luring users into clicking useless pop-ups that insert its code. We’ve reached out to PayPal for a statement on the lawsuit.

Lawyers are asking the court to make PayPal pay damages to creators and to permanently forbid it from swapping its own affiliate attribution at checkout. They’ve set up a website inviting other creators to join the lawsuit.