ChatGPT for Teens Adds Smarter Study Tools and Safeguards

ChatGPT for Teens Adds Smarter Study Tools and Safeguards

ChatGPT for Teens gives students guided learning tools while adding age-appropriate protections and optional controls for families. Here is what changes for teen accounts and how parents can configure the experience.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 22, 2026

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ChatGPT Is Growing Up With Its Youngest Users.

A teenager who asks ChatGPT to solve an algebra problem may need more than a final answer. 

They need help understanding why the answer works, where their reasoning went wrong and how to solve the next problem independently.

Here’s a Cool Tip: Link your teen’s account and schedule Study Hours.

ChatGPT for Teens is designed around that distinction.

Introduced in August 2026, the experience combines learning features such as Study Mode, quizzes, visual explanations, homework reminders and scheduled Study Hours with additional protections for users ages 13 through 17.

Users who report an age between 13 and 17, or whose accounts OpenAI estimates belong to someone under 18, are automatically placed into the teen experience. 

ChatGPT is not intended for children under 13, and OpenAI requires parental consent for users ages 13 through 17.

Find Fascinating Places Most Travelers Miss

Find Fascinating Places Most Travelers Miss

Atlas Obscura helps you find unusual museums, roadside oddities, historic sites, natural wonders, and overlooked attractions near home or on your next trip. Its interactive map, mobile apps, custom lists, and community recommendations make it easier to venture beyond the standard tourist stops.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 21, 2026

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Most travel searches lead to the same landmarks, restaurants, and heavily promoted attractions. 

That works when you want the essentials, but it can leave some of the most memorable places completely off your itinerary.

Here’s a Cool Tip: Use Atlas Obscura to find the places ordinary travel searches miss.

Atlas Obscura takes a different approach. 

Its community-supported travel guide focuses on unusual places, overlooked history, scientific curiosities, architectural oddities, local legends, distinctive foods, and attractions that rarely appear in conventional travel guides.

You can search the website without an account, explore an interactive map, find places near your current location, and read the stories behind each discovery. 

Create an account to build custom lists, save places you want to visit, and track locations you have explored.

How to Send Encrypted Texts Between iPhone and Android

How to Send Encrypted Texts Between iPhone and Android

Supported iPhones and Android phones can now exchange RCS messages with end-to-end encryption instead of relying on less-private SMS or MMS. A visible lock tells you when a conversation qualifies for the added protection.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 20, 2026

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The color of a message bubble no longer tells the whole story.

For years, conversations between iPhone and Android users often fell back to SMS or MMS. 

These older technologies lack end-to-end encryption and many features people expect from modern messaging apps.

RCS improved cross-platform texting with higher-resolution photos and videos, typing indicators, delivery receipts, read receipts, reactions, and better group conversations. 

One major privacy feature, however, remained missing from conversations that crossed the iPhone-Android divide.

Here’s a Cool Tip: Check for the lock before sending private information.

In May 2026, Apple and Google began rolling out end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging between supported iPhones and Android phones. 

Eligible messages and attachments are encrypted while traveling between participating devices.

The feature is particularly valuable for families, workplaces, schools, and travel groups divided between Apple and Android. 

Everyone can continue using the phone’s regular messaging app instead of moving the group to another service.

Windows 11’s Latest Updates Make Bluetooth More Reliable

Windows 11’s Latest Updates Make Bluetooth More Reliable

Windows 11’s latest updates aim to make Bluetooth audio less frustrating, especially for users who rely on wireless earbuds and headsets every day. If your headphones have been slow to pair, flaky on calls, or inconsistent with mute controls, this is one update worth checking.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 19, 2026

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Bluetooth on Windows has long had a reputation for occasional pairing glitches, dropped connections, and microphone quirks. 

That can be more than annoying when you are joining a work call, taking an online class, or trying to listen privately in a busy room.

Here’s a Cool Tip: Update Windows 11, then re-test your Bluetooth headset.

Recent Windows 11 updates appear to improve several of those pain points. 

Microsoft’s June 2026 optional update and July 2026 Patch Tuesday update include notable Bluetooth improvements, including faster AirPods pairing, better Beats Studio Pro microphone reliability, steadier LE Audio behavior, and improved mute synchronization on supported headsets.

Connect Everyday Apps to Google Gemini and Cut Daily Task Friction

Connect Everyday Apps to Google Gemini and Cut Daily Task Friction

Connecting third-party apps directly to Google Gemini lets you book tickets, discover local events, review meeting notes, and manage files without hopping between separate tabs.  Here is how to link newly added apps, configure individual permissions, and call any connected service directly from your prompt window.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 18, 2026

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Switching between your inbox, event apps, cloud storage, and music player to complete a single task wastes valuable focus. 

When an AI assistant operates in isolation, you still carry the burden of copying data, looking up confirmation numbers, or checking calendar openings manually.

Here’s a Cool Tip: Type @ in any Gemini prompt to summon a specific connected app and pull real-time data straight into your chat.

Google has expanded its Connected Apps library (formerly known as Extensions) to link external services directly into Gemini chats. 

The latest wave of integrations adds services including Ticketmaster, Fever, GetYourGuide, Wix, Granola, Otter.ai, Pandora, and iHeartRadio alongside staples like Spotify, OpenTable, WhatsApp, and Google Workspace.

Let a ChatGPT Pet Keep Watch Over Your Work

Let a ChatGPT Pet Keep Watch Over Your Work

The ChatGPT Pets feature adds an animated companion that can show when work is running, waiting for input, ready, or blocked. Here is how to choose a pet, wake it, create a custom character, and understand what works in the desktop app, on the web, and in Codex CLI.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 16, 2026

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When ChatGPT is handling several tasks, the hard part is not always starting the work. 

It is noticing which chat finished, which one needs a decision, and which one ran into trouble.

Here’s a Cool Tip: Wake a ChatGPT Pet to keep an eye on active work.

The Pets feature turns routine status checking into a playful visual shortcut. 

In the desktop app, an animated companion can float above other windows and reflect activity across your chats. 

Select the pet to return to ChatGPT, or select an item in its activity tray to open the chat that needs attention. 

On the web, the pet stays inside supported ChatGPT Work chats and serves mainly as a visual companion.

The feature is optional, and changing the pet does not change ChatGPT's intelligence, personality, answers, or task performance. 

It changes the presentation of activity, not the underlying work.

Turn Off the Visible Watermark on Google Gemini AI Images

Turn Off the Visible Watermark on Google Gemini AI Images

Google now allows you to turn off visible watermarks on AI-generated images, videos, and media files directly in your account settings. Here is how to disable the visible corner sparkle overlay so your downloads stay clean and ready for presentations or personal projects.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 15, 2026

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Generating graphics and illustrations with artificial intelligence has quickly become a standard part of modern productivity. 

However, Google Gemini has traditionally stamped a visible sparkle badge into the corner of generated pictures, forcing creators and professionals to crop or edit their files before putting them into slide decks or social feeds.

Here’s a Cool Tip: Turn off the visible media watermark in Gemini Settings to download clean graphics instantly.

Google has introduced an official setting that lets users turn off the visible watermark on AI generations across supported accounts.

Take a Peaceful Drive With Slow Roads

Take a Peaceful Drive With Slow Roads

Slow Roads turns your web browser into an endless scenic drive with no races, deadlines, or destinations. Choose a vehicle, customize the surroundings, and take a leisurely digital road trip whenever you need a change of pace.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 14, 2026

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Most online games demand quick reflexes, complicated controls, or a commitment to winning. 

Here’s a Cool Tip: Take a five-minute drive on Slow Roads.

Slow Roads asks much less of you: choose a vehicle, point it toward the horizon, and drive.

The free web experience generates new roads and scenery as you travel. 

There is no fixed route to memorize, no leaderboard to climb, and no finish line to cross.

You can control the vehicle, activate one of the driving-assistance modes, adjust the environment, or simply watch the landscape roll past. 

There is no account to create and no software to install when you use the browser version.

It feels less like a traditional racing game and more like a miniature road trip waiting in a browser tab.

5 Hidden Windows 11 Features That Save Time Every Day

5 Hidden Windows 11 Features That Save Time Every Day

Windows 11 includes several built-in tools that can make everyday tasks faster, cleaner, and less frustrating. These five overlooked features help you copy smarter, organize your screen, capture better screenshots, focus longer, and reach system tools quickly.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 12, 2026

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If you use Windows all day, you probably spend more time than you realize switching between apps, copying bits of text, grabbing screenshots, and digging through settings. 

The good news is that Windows 11 already includes several tools that make these little tasks easier.

Here's a Cool Tip:  Learn These Five Windows Shortcuts and Put Windows 11 to Work.

The catch? 

Many of them are hidden behind keyboard shortcuts, tucked inside system apps, or sitting in menus most users rarely open.

None of these tips requires extra software or a paid subscription. Most take just a few seconds to learn.

Let Google Maps AI Find and Order Your Dinner

Let Google Maps AI Find and Order Your Dinner

Google Maps can now handle multi-step restaurant ordering directly through conversational prompts. By combining Gemini AI models with route data and merchant partners, Ask Maps lets you build and place food orders while you travel.

By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor

August 11, 2026

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Deciding what to eat after a long workday often feels harder than it should. 

You open one app to check restaurant ratings, another to compare menus, and a navigation map to see if the location sits anywhere near your evening commute home. 

By the time you finish toggling between screens, dinner feels like an obstacle course.

Here’s a Cool Tip: Tell Ask Maps What You Crave and Let AI Handle Your Takeout Order.

Google is streamlining that hassle by turning its navigation assistant into an active ordering agent.

Instead of doing all the legwork yourself, you can describe exactly what you want to eat, where you are headed, and any dietary restrictions you have. 

The app finds an open spot, builds your custom order, and prepares your cart for checkout.