Secrets of Technology

Your sync folder will faithfully copy a mistake to every device. Dom Bettinelli and Pat Scott revisit their 2020 backup advice and update it for ransomware, account lockouts and the tools that changed. The post Back It Up, Again: What’s Changed Since 2020 appeared first on StarQuest Media .

If you died tonight, could your family get into your phone, email and bank accounts? Dom Bettinelli and Tom Grelinger revisit Tech Memento Mori with the legacy tools Apple, Google and Facebook now offer. The post Tech Memento Mori, Revisited appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Can one $299 screen that knows every face in the kitchen serve the whole family? Dom Bettinelli and Joanne Mercier weigh Apple's new HomeView, HomePod mini, $299 Apple TV 4K and Apple Home Collection, and decide what to buy. The post Apple’s Home Strategy Comes into View appeared first on StarQuest Media .

When the cloud goes down, does your stuff still work? Dom Bettinelli, Thomas Sanjurjo, and Leo Devick put notes apps, ebooks, photos, smart homes, and password managers through the outage test and the shutdown test. The post Local-First: Keep Working When the Cloud Doesn’t appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Would you let an AI agent buy a jacket just because you looked at it? Meta's Muse wants to. Dom Bettinelli, Pat Scott, and Fr. Andrew Kinstetter size up Meta's new VR and AI glasses and ask whether Meta deserves that trust. The post Not Amused: Meta Wants Muse on Your Face appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Google built an Android laptop to take on the MacBook Air, but who actually wants one? Dom Bettinelli, Tom Grelinger, and Fr. Joseph Sund weigh the Googlebook's price, Gemini features, and app gap, plus the EU's age check app. The post Google’s Android Laptop Takes Aim at the MacBook Air appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Is waving your card at a register riskier than swiping it? Dom Bettinelli, Thomas Sanjurjo, and Jack Baruzzini explain how NFC and RFID work, where the real weak spots are, and which fears to drop. The post Invisible Radios: NFC and RFID Myths vs. Real Risks appeared first on StarQuest Media .

A $1,999 phone that unfolds into a tablet-sized screen — Apple's foldable is real, and it's the iPhone Duo. Dom Bettinelli and Joanne Mercier react to Apple's September event, from the Duo's three screens to the Watch's new Health Age. The post Apple Unfolds Their New iPhone Future appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Announcing Holy Troublemakers, a new podcast from StarQuest. In this weekly podcast host Dom Bettinelli will introduce you to the difficult people who built the Catholic Church. From mystics who argued with popes to missionaries who walked into places nobody sane would go, every episode tells one of their stories. The post Announcing Holy Troublemakers appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Deleting photos first is a mistake. Dom Bettinelli, Pat Scott, and Fr. Andrew Kinstetter reveal the real storage hogs on your phone, from message attachments to Siri voices, and the safest order to clear them out. The post Stop Deleting Your Photos First: The Real Phone Storage Fix appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Struggle has value, and the internet just rediscovered it. Friction-maxxing means making your tech deliberately harder to use — and Dom Bettinelli, Fr. Joseph Sund, and Pat Scott find that the monks got there about seventeen centuries first. The post Friction Maxxing: The Internet Rediscovers That Struggle Is Good for You appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Desk setup videos sell a look with a shopping list attached. Dom Bettinelli and Joanne Mercier sort the home office upgrades that matter from the ones that just photograph well — chairs, lighting, power, ergonomics, and cable chaos. The post Upgrade Your Home Office Without Going Broke appeared first on StarQuest Media .

An OpenAI model broke out of its own test sandbox and hacked its way into another company's systems. Dom Bettinelli, Pat Scott, and Thomas Sanjurjo ask whether that's a real threat — or a very convenient story for OpenAI to tell. The post AI Broke Its Own Cage: What OpenAI’s Hugging Face Hack Really Means appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Mint died and took 3.6 million budgets with it. Dom Bettinelli, Fr. Joseph Sund, and Tom Grelinger map the apps that replaced it — subscription, self-hosted, or the bespoke one that Dom built himself. The post What’s in My Pocket? Picking a Personal Finance App appeared first on StarQuest Media .

The box of photos and VHS tapes in your basement is decaying right now. Dom Bettinelli and Joanne Mercier map out how to rescue family memories before the media rots — and why recording who's in the photo outlasts the photo. The post Digitize Your Family Memories Before They’re Gone appeared first on StarQuest Media .

The lawn has gone high-tech. Dom Bettinelli and Thomas Sanjurjo weigh battery mowers against gas, robot mowers against your Saturday, and smart irrigation against a soggy guess — plus the gardening gear that actually earns its keep. The post Your Lawn Just Went High-Tech appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Your monitor is the last computer upgrade that's still genuinely affordable, and the tech has quietly gotten great. Dom Bettinelli, Pat Scott, and Fr. Andrew Kinstetter decode the specs that matter, then hit two Sony stories about owning what you buy. The post Monitors: The Last Affordable Computer Upgrade appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Laptop prices are up and RAM is scarce — so how much computer does a college freshman really need? Dom Bettinelli, Fr. Joseph Sund, and Tom Grelinger map Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chromebook picks to every major. The post Computers for College: What You Actually Need in 2026 appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Cramped keyboard, tiny screen, no ports—those are the three pain points of working away from your desk. Dom Bettinelli and Leo Devick gear up with portable keyboards, monitors, stands, mice, and USB hubs to fix all three. The post The Mobile Office: Best Gear for Working on the Road appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Every sci-fi fan has thought "I want that." Dom Bettinelli and Thomas Sanjurjo sort the genre's gadget wishlist — communicators, tricorders, warp drives, transporters — into what's real, what's coming, and what stays pure fantasy. The post The Sci-Fi Tech We Wish Were Real appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Apple's WWDC 2026 promised a new Siri, redesigned parental controls, and a platform cleanup. Dom Bettinelli, Joanne Mercier, and Pat Scott debate whether Apple Intelligence has finally arrived. The post Apple Intelligence: Is It Really Here This Time? appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Hardening your browser doesn't mean building a bunker — just locking the doors. Dom Bettinelli and Tom Grelinger share quick, no-jargon steps to make everyday browsing safer for you and the non-techies in your life. The post Browser Hardening for Normal People appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical takes on AI. Dom Bettinelli, Joanne Mercier, and Fr. Andrew Kinstetter unpack *Magnifica Humanitas* — from Babel and Jerusalem to Tolkien and the duty to remain profoundly human. The post Magnifica Humanitas: What the First AI Encyclical Actually Says appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Google just declared AI the operating system for everything it makes. Dom Bettinelli and Thomas Sanjurjo dig into Google I/O 2026 and ask the hard question: can you trust an ad company to run your life? The post Google Goes All In on AI appeared first on StarQuest Media .

Printers remain one of the key pain points of computing. Dom Bettinelli, Pat Scott, and Fr. Andrew Kinstetter try to alleviate some of that pain and sort through which printers are actually worth buying in 2026 for each use case. The post Why Printers Are Still Terrible (And What to Buy Anyway) appeared first on StarQuest Media .