Q&A: Squeeze more life out of an old phone

Q. My iPhone 5 is starting to run slowly, but I’m not ready to upgrade. What can I do?

A. Here’s a little tech trick you can use to get it to run faster. Running a quick restart will give it a boost. Just hold the “Home” button until you see the message “Slide to Power Off.” Then hold the “Home” button again for about five seconds. This will refresh your phone’s homepage and reload your apps so they’re run better. Click here for six more iPhone tricks you should start using.

Protecting your kids’ online

Q. I’m worried about what my kids are doing online. I don’t want to spy, but want to know they’re safe. What can I do?

A.  One of the easiest things you can do is change the browser your kids are using when they surf the web. I recommend trying Yippy. It’s a browser that’s specifically designed to block adult content. Plus, Yippy doesn’t collect personal information that could be compromised by hackers, so your kids also have privacy. Click here to learn more about Yippy and other browsers that don’t track you.

Troubleshooting computer problems

Q. Whenever my computer acts up, my IT guy tells me to reboot before he’ll even look at it. Why is that?

A. It may sound too simple to be true, but the reality is that rebooting can really fix the issues you’re experiencing. This is because many computer issues are temporary glitches that are resolved when your computer restarts. Of course, rebooting won’t fix everything. If you have an issue with your hardware or have a virus, count on additional troubleshooting. Next time, before you call your IT guy, check out these tips for troubleshooting common computer problems.

More ways to make money at home

Q. I heard you talk about Uber on your radio show as a way to earn extra money. Are there other ways, too?

A. To make money at home, be honest about what you’re good at. If you’re artistic, you can sell handmade items on Etsy, or even Handmade at Amazon. If you like taking photos, you can sell your photography on sites like Imagekind or FineArtsAmerica. There are also sites like Fivrr where you can pick up little jobs that people need, like writing social media posts or business data entry.

Keeping track of all your bills

Q. My son just moved out of the house, and I’m trying to teach him about managing money. I don’t want him to ruin his credit. Help!

A. Parents want to look out for their kids in every way possible, but as kids grow up, we can’t always be there to hold their hands. Luckily, when it comes to learning to be responsible with money, there’s an app that can help your kids out. It’s called Prism. It lets you store the details of all of your bills and their due dates in one place, and it even sends reminders so your payments won’t be late.

Finding deals online

Q: There are so many places to shop these days. How can I tell I’m getting a good deal?

A: Finding great deals is actually easier than ever if you’re using technology to your advantage. Set Google Alerts for your favorite brands and include keywords like sale, discount, closeout, etc. If you set an alert, Google will email you when it finds something online that matches your search term. You can also compare prices from other retailers at the click of a button.

On the Kim Komando Show, the nation's largest weekend radio talk show, Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today's digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters and more, visit her website at Komando.com or send her an email. 

ACLU joins Microsoft suit against DOJ

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft got an ally in its lawsuit against the Justice Department Thursday.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a motion to join Microsoft's effort to challenge DOJ gag orders that prevent the tech company from telling customers when the government has ordered it to turn over data.

The ACLU is a Microsoft customer. Microsoft filed its lawsuit in April, one of a number of legal challenges the Redmond, Wash., company has mounted against growing law enforcement requests for its cloud-based consumer data.

“A basic promise of our Constitution is that the government must notify you at some point when it searches or seizes your private information,” said Alex Abdo, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “Notice serves as a crucial check on executive power, and it has been a regular and constitutionally required feature of searches and seizures since the nation’s founding.”

Microsoft spokesperson David Cuddy said the company "appreciates the support from the ACLU and many others in the business, legal and policy communities who are concerned about secrecy becoming the norm rather than the exception.”

Requests from law enforcement agencies for access to users' personal information routinely flood tech companies that store vast amounts of data in the cloud. Massive data centers run by Microsoft, Amazon and other big tech companies allow businesses and individuals to access email, photos and other content from multiple devices, wherever they are.

Law enforcement officials say that access to such data is critical to fighting crime and terrorism.

Using the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the U.S. government is increasingly targeting such data, according to Microsoft, which says the government has mandated secrecy in 2,576 instances over the past 18 months. People would know if the government went through their filing cabinet or their hard drive, but are unaware when their privacy in the cloud is intruded upon, they argue.

The 1986 law was written before the Web was born and long before Americans started sending, receiving and storing so much of their personal communications and documents on the Internet.

Microsoft alleges the Electronic Communications Privacy Act violates users' Fourth Amendment right that a search be reasonable and Microsoft's First Amendment right to talk to its users.

"Notably and even surprisingly, 1,752 of these secrecy orders, or 68% of the total, contained no fixed end date at all. This means that we effectively are prohibited forever from telling our customers that the government has obtained their data," Microsoft chief legal officer Brad Smith wrote in an April blog post when the suit was announced.

Tech companies increasingly are being drawn into legal battles with federal agencies over access to consumer information. A broad swath of major technology names filed amicus briefs on behalf of Apple during the iPhone maker's protracted battle with the FBI earlier this year over access to the smartphone used by one of the San Bernardino killers.

Apple has flirted with Hollywood before: analysis

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple's dalliance with Hollywood and rumors of a studio play have circulated even before Toy Story hit the big screen in 1995.

A report Thursday that Apple considered a bid for Time Warner, owner of Warner Bros., HBO and other media properties, should not come as a surprise. The Financial Times, citing unnamed sources, said Apple exec Eddy Cue broached a deal with Olaf Olafsson, head of corporate strategy at Time Warner. The talks were preliminary, however, and did not involve Apple CEO Tim Cook or Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, the report said.

Apple and Time Warner declined to comment on the FT report.

Like a glowing ember, the news has repeatedly surfaced, said Richard Greenfield, media analyst at BTIG Research.

Flash back to late last year, when Variety reported Apple held exploratory talks with Hollywood executives about creating its own original programming. In March 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported Apple was in talks with CBS, ABC, Fox and other broadcasters to offer a TV bundle in the fall available via Apple TV.

Had the Time Warner talks escalated and reached fruition, it could have led to exclusive, original content for an Apple entertainment service, Edward Jones analyst Bill Kreher said in an interview Friday.

Sense a trend?

Rumors of Apple's fascination with the entertainment industry stretch back at least two decades to Steve Jobs' stewardship of Pixar Animation Studios, the computer-animation film studio that was once a piece of Lucasfilm. Toy Story, the first film from Pixar, was not only a mega-hit but a cultural touchstone.

Jobs, who concurrently ran Apple and Pixar for several years, made no secret for his love of enduring, family-oriented entertainment content during a 1996 interview while I was a tech reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. When asked to name his favorite brands, he answered, without hesitation, Disney, Lucasfilm and Sony.

"When you make a Fantasia (1940), people remember it from generation to generation," Jobs said in an interview at KQED studios in San Francisco. "You make a personal computer, and it's obsolete in six months to a year."

"Classics are timeless," he said.

Pixar in many ways redefined — perhaps surpassed — the Disney model for critically- and commercially-acclaimed content for all ages. Disney thought so much of Pixar, it bought it for $7.4 billion in 2006, making Jobs the largest Disney shareholder at the time. Jobs had it both ways: Influence in making films that resonated for decades while overseeing the product lineup at Apple.

Today, the creation and distribution of content — video or music — in the digital age is critical to Apple's future. Whether through AppleTV, iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iPod Touch or Apple Watch, a subscription service leveraging the content of a studio could mean potential billions of dollars in sales and a more diverse product portfolio.

A corporate marriage of Apple and HBO, for example, could lead to the creation of an unprecedented library of content across programming for sports, news, film and kids via Apple's digital ecosystem, more than 1 billion iOS devices, Apple Stores and cable television.

Apple has made this bet before — a $3.2 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics in 2014 — with mixed results. The accord led to the creation of Apple Music, the second-largest service of its kind, behind Spotify's 30 million paid subscribers. But with 13 million paid subscribers, the nearly 1-year-old service has fallen short of the lofty expectations of analysts.