We make things simple
You pick up your phone to reply to one message. Forty minutes later you are watching a video of a man restoring an old chair. The message is still unsent. We have all done this, and none of us planned to. Luckily, the same phone has very good tools to stop it. Why does this …
Working from home sounded like a treat when most of us first started. Now it is simply part of the week, and the novelty has worn off. The doorbell rings, the cooker whistles, the kids come home, and somehow it is four o'clock. The fix is not more willpower. It is a space your brain …
It is raining most days now, and your phone goes everywhere with you. One dash from the auto to the front door is all it takes to get it soaked. Is my phone waterproof? Almost certainly not, though it may be water resistant, which is not the same thing. Water resistant means it can survive …
Most of us now do all our work on a laptop, at the office and again at home. By evening the neck is stiff, the eyes are tired, and half the day went in switching between windows. What is wrong with the laptop screen? Nothing, except that it is small and it sits too low. …
Nobody enjoys the monthly run for toilet rolls, shampoo and detergent. You usually notice something is over at the exact moment you need it. The fix is not to shop faster, it is to stop deciding every month. Why automate groceries at all? Household staples never really change. Same soap, same rice, same kitchen rolls, …
The flight is delayed, and the first thing you look for is the free Wi-Fi. Airports, cafés, malls, hotels, hospitals — give a mobile number, punch in the one-time password (OTP), and you're online. It feels like a small gift. What's the problem? Everyone does it. The moment you connect, you are on the same …
Every winter the same photograph comes back: Delhi under a grey blanket. Then someone at home asks whether we should finally buy an air purifier. How is air quality measured? India uses the National Air Quality Index, or AQI. It is one number from 0 to 500, and lower is better. The scale runs Good, …
You are at the counter, and the shopkeeper points at a QR code taped to the wall. You scan it, you pay, you walk out. No cash, no card, no signature. That habit started with mobile wallets. What is a mobile wallet? A mobile wallet is an app that holds a small amount of your …
At some point, every one of us has dropped a phone. The lucky ones pick it up and find nothing wrong. The rest of us get that spider web across the screen. How do screens actually break? Almost always in a small careless moment. Pulling the phone out of a tight pocket, or dropping it …
Your phone shows "No Service" for a couple of hours. You assume it is a network problem, or the monsoon. Sometimes it is neither, and someone else is using your number. What is SIM swap fraud? Your mobile number gets moved onto a new SIM card that a fraudster is holding. Your SIM goes dead, …