Issue 13: Friday the 13th Tech Survival Guide ✨
📱Apple Misses, AI Misfires, and Hacks That Actually Help You Through It all!
🧿TGIF-the-13th Techish Fam!
It’s Friday the 13th — a day most people treat like a haunted Roomba. But not me. I love it. It’s the perfect day to sign contracts or buy a lottery ticket (that I’ll never check — because 🤷♀️). Not that I’m superstitious or anything. Okay, maybe a little ‘stitious…
I only get out of bed if the numbers on my alarm add up to 11 (hello, 5:24 AM, we meet again).
I never wear matching socks (not a fashion statement — a life-saving strategy).
I knock on wood like it owes me money.
Here’s the cosmic twist - In astrology, Friday is ruled by Venus, the planet of love and beauty, and the number 13 is tied to lunar cycles and divine femininity. So, rather than bad luck, today’s peak cosmic girlboss energy. 💁♀️
In a world overloaded with algorithms and auto-correct fails, a little ‘stition keeps things human. What stuff are you a little woo-woo about?
Let’s talk about it — and all the other things we have to catch up on today!
In Today’s Lucky #13 Issue:
👀 WW-What-I Don’t-See — where oh where has our little Siri gone…wrong. Apple exec’s announce the biggest iPhone update in years — and it still doesn’t fix Siri. Read on for details, and for the juicy snark that makes these events truly entertaining.🍿
📞The Dumbphone Debate: Have you ever considered giving up your smartphone for a dumbphone? I sure have — and I often use a flip phone on nights and weekends to get my life back. This week Mike breaks it all the down — the good, the bad, and the just plain can’t live without realities in his must-read piece. See below!
My USA TODAY story this week: Can AI finally fix online shopping? A hands-on test of GlanceAI and Google Try-On — here’s why you’ll want to try it yourself!
Genius Smartphone Hacks: Speaking of dumb phones — do you ever wish your Smartphone was well…smarter? Well, it can be, if you know some simple tricks and hacks. In this week’s must-try fun — how to set your phone so you don’t get carsick staring at it on the go and how to set up a QR code to share with all those summer house guests! Pssst, keep scrolling down — there they are! 👇
🦅 Leaving for Alaska at the crack of dawn tomorrow! Heading home to spend time with my family AND do a special summer solstice segment with my Today Show family. Preview below!
Father’s Day Goodies: Don’t miss our personal recommendations on the best gadgets of the season! 🛍️ Read the full story → 🔗
🎥Other tech-ish news you need to know about — around Meta’s new way to violate our privacy, while YouTube’s has a new way to violate our last shred of human decency, and what you need to know about AI right this second.
🎧 Coming Soon…
The Techishly Jenn podcast launch is near — with real talk, real guests, and zero PR fluff. It’s the only tech podcast where someone might say, “This AI tool is great — until it’s not.”
Ready, set, gooooooooo!
🍿 Apple’s WWDC Wrap-Up: iOS 26, Smarter Features, and the Same Old Siri
It’s the biggest iPhone update in years — and somehow, Siri’s still not smart.
At WWDC, Apple previewed iOS 26 (yes, they renamed it to match the year — like a car), showing off flashy features like a “liquid glass” design and smarter tools across Messages, Phone, and even Fitness+. But one thing remains painfully stuck in 2018: Siri.
Apple exec Craig Federighi admitted to WSJ’s Joanna Stern that Siri’s big reboot wasn’t ready: “It didn’t converge quality-wise.” Translation? It flopped.
🚨 What’s Actually New (and Useful):
📞 Spam Call Screening: Your iPhone screens unknown calls and only alerts you if it’s legit. Think: phone bouncer.
🙋♀️ Hold Assist: Your iPhone will now wait on hold for you and ping you when someone picks up. Game-changer.
💬 Group Chat Upgrades: Typing indicators, polls, custom themes — finally, something for your text threads.
🌍 Real-Time Translation: Translate messages and calls on the fly. Great for travel, in-laws, and first dates.
📸 Smart Screenshot Search: Snap a flyer or product and instantly search or shop it.
💪 AI Fitness Coach: A new Apple Watch voice trained on Fitness+ will cheer you on mid-jog.
✨ “Liquid Glass” UI: Glossy, rounder screen elements — pretty, maybe unreadable in the sun.
🤖 Where’s the AI?
Apple calls it Apple Intelligence — a mix of subtle on-device smarts and ChatGPT integrations. It’ll help summarize text, suggest actions, and customize features quietly behind the scenes.
But the real Siri reboot? Still missing.
Apple says it’s rebuilding from scratch. But with OpenAI, Google, and Meta racing ahead, Apple’s slow-and-steady approach feels... risky. The AI race won’t wait.
👀 Bottom Line
This fall, your iPhone will look better and work harder behind the scenes. But if Siri doesn’t seriously level up soon, Apple risks falling behind — and becoming a container for other people’s smarter tools.
📣 My take? The glow-up is real — but the assistant still needs to grow up.
🔗 Read our full story for even more insight on why and how this latest Apple news matters to you.
📵 The Dumbphone Debate: What Mike Learned from Ditching His iPhone
Ever fantasize about chucking your smartphone into a lake and going full flip phone?
Same. I actually keep one on hand for nights and weekends — it’s like a digital detox without the juice cleanse. This week, Mike takes us into his experiment with three of the year’s buzziest minimal devices: the Minimal Phone, Mudita Kompakt, and Light Phone III.
He found that each brought a moment of digital zen — until reality hit. Mike misses FaceTime with mom, Slack pings, and smart-home routine alerts — proving that cold-turkey “off-grid” only gets you so far.
👉 Read Mike’s full breakdown→
I Gave Up My iPhone for the 3 Best Dumbphones — And I Kind of Regret It
My Latest USA TODAY Story:
🛒 AI Shopping Assistants: Still Trying to Help, Feeling like Beta
In my latest USA Today column, I tested two buzzy new tools — GlanceAI and Google’s “Try It On” — that promise to show you how clothes will actually look on you, not a model.
The way it works is: You upload a photo of yourself. The AI styles curated outfits on your image. Not bad. Not perfect. Some outfits slap. Others… not so much.
Right now, it feels like 2011 called and wants its outfits back — but when this technology improves, it will completely change how we shop.
📱 Genius Smartphone Hacks!
You asked for it, you got it! Thank you to my daughter, Jeneva, who reminded me how much these simple hacks I take for granted help people like her NOT PUKE when on roadtrips with Smartphones.
🤢 How to stop your phone from making you carsick:
Turn on “Reduce Motion” in Settings → Accessibility → Motion, switch Safari to dark mode, and turn off “Preload Top Hit.” Also: crank up that text size. You’ll thank me on the next road trip.📶 Create a Wi-Fi QR Code for Houseguests: Avoid yelling your password across the kitchen 12 times a day.
On iPhone:
Open the Shortcuts app → Tap Gallery → Search for “QR Your Wi-Fi” under Shortcuts for Accessibility → Tap Add Shortcut → Enter your Wi-Fi name and password → Boom: Instant QR code to screenshot, share, or AirDrop.
On Android:
Go to Settings → Network → Wi-Fi → Tap your network → Tap the gear icon → Select QR Code or Share → Screenshot it, print it, post it on the fridge like a tech goddess.
✨ Pro tip: Print it out and put it on the fridge — keep it handy for guests, weddings, BBQs, or when your dad “forgets again.”
☀️ Solstice in Alaska
Leaving for Alaska at the crack of dawn tomorrow!
I’m packing my suitcase now for that big segment with the Today Show next week! It’s all about the summer solstice celebration.
You can watch it on Friday, June 20th. We’re doing the entire 9am hour from Alaska and yours truly here gets to represent the Last Frontier with some fun finds—everything from fashion to fish—all from the Land of the Midnight Sun.
What’s really great is that I get to introduce my Today Show family to my Alaska family, including my parents, daughter, aunt, sister, and some really dear friends. Right after the show, we pack up and head down to the family cabins across from Homer for a bigger family solstice celebration. I love, love, love hanging out there and can’t wait to share a little more of that life with you.
📺 Watch a little teaser clip here
Follow along on social for real-time clips and behind-the-scenes moments — and yes, I will be packing all the bug—and bear—spray.
Last, but not least: 😤 Tech That Crossed the Line This Week:
📉 YouTube’s Moderation Meltdown
YouTube now allows half a video to break its own content rules — up from 25% — if it’s deemed “in the public interest.” That includes vaccine misinformation, slurs, and... guillotine metaphors.
Critics say this isn’t about free speech. It’s about engagement. And it’s a slap in the face to human decency.
🧨 Read the breakdown from the NYT
🕵️♀️ Meta’s Privacy Shenanigans (Again)
Meta’s latest “AI personalization” push quietly opts people into training its models on everything they do — including public posts and captions — unless you manually opt out.
Hot tip: Go to your settings and check that box yourself.
🛡️ The Washington Post has the full explainer
That’s it for this lucky Friday the 13th issue. I’ll see you (and please, please, please hope for the sun) in Alaska.
Don’t forget to forward this to a friend — or someone still typing out their Wi-Fi password one painful character at a time.
xo,
Jennifer + Team Techish