I left my phone in a Lyft on the way to the airport. But Google Voice, the free phone service, saved me.
Using the airport's free WiFi on my laptop, I went to Voice.Google.com and typed in my friend's phone number, to say that I'd arrived. Alternatively, I could have used the Google Voice app, though on a Windows machine you need to go to the website instead. Either way, the call quality is excellent. The great thing is, Google Voice lets you call anyone. With apps like Facebook Messenger, your recipients must use the same service.
For the next six days, I was happily phoneless. But I still wanted to find the darn thing. So I Googled "Find My Device" on my laptop and saw it on a Google map. It was about 50 miles from home. So I clicked "Secure my device." Besides securing my data, it allowed me to send a message to my lost phone's lock screen. That way, whoever picked it up would see my contact details without having to put in a PIN. The Lyft driver emailed me, partly in Spanish. So I went to Translate.Google.com to retrieve the words I needed. The next day I got a message that my phone had arrived at my condo building.
For iPhones, sign into your account on iCloud.com on any Mac or Windows computer, tablet or phone. Next, tap the apps icon at the top, and click "Find My." Finally, tap your lost phone from the list of devices registered to you, then tap "Lost Mode" and type in your lost phone's number. That will put the following message on the lost iPhone's lock screen: "This iPhone has been lost. Please call me at ..." If you want, you can edit the message to give out your email address or other details.
TIP FOR AMAZON USERS
A reader said: "When considering a purchase from Amazon, look below the 'Buy Now' button to find the name of the seller in small print. Click on the company name for more details." There you'll see its reliability ratings.
TRAVEL TIP
A reader wrote: "I recently took my granddaughter and daughter to London. My daughter's phone was stolen our first day there. Unfortunately, her phone case had her credit card and driver's license.
"We headed back to the hotel immediately, called the police and canceled the credit card. Then we tracked the phone to a nearby convenience store (and told the police). Two days later, it was in Hong Kong.
"It's a big problem. Someone else had their phone just taken from their hand by a passing bicyclist. Smart travelers had their phone on a lanyard around their neck. Fortunately I had a wallet clipped around my waist under my shirt, one of those nylon travel accessories."
If I go abroad, I plan to carry mine in the EZ Traveler RDID Money belt I got on Amazon for $19.
WHATSAPP, MULTIPLE DEVICES
Instead of having to switch your WhatsApp account from one device to another, you can now use it on multiple devices.
After you've installed the app on a new device, go to settings and choose "Linked Devices." You'll see a QR code. If you aim your phone at the QR code, it will allow WhatsApp to run on your other device, too. For me, it worked on five devices simultaneously, but not on an old iPhone.
FREE VIDEO TRIMMER
Here's a free online program to lop off the parts of a video you don't want. It's called the Adobe Express Video Trimmer. It comes right up in a Google search.
To start, upload a video. Now look at the strip at the bottom, which shows each individual moment. Drag the purple bar on the left to a new starting point. Drag the one on the right to the new end point. Click to finish. That's it.
Alternatively, try the free Google Photos app. Open a video, tap the three stacked lines representing "Edit." Now drag the trimming handles from the right and left until you get the section you want.
HOW TO USE A COMPUTER
A reader said he wanted to learn how to use a computer. "Starting with: 'OK, this is a computer.' Any thoughts? Especially for the older-than-dirt crowd!"
It turned out he mostly wanted to learn how to use Microsoft Word. I suggested YouTube's free tutorials. So after Googling Microsoft Word Tutorial, he found a great one.
It's harder to find a good YouTube tutorial about computers in general. For that, I recommend a book from the Teach Yourself Visually series. Besides computers, the series includes books on the Apple Watch, iPhone, Wordpress, Python programming language and Photoshop. The pictures are great, and they all start from ground zero.
CRYPTOCURRENCY TRENDS
Critics blast cryptocurrency as being bad for the environment because it uses so much energy. But when Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, switched to a system known as "proof of stake," it cut its emissions by 99.9%.
INTERNUT
"These Mushroom-Based Devices Could Save our Planet." Google those words to find a ZDNet article on the topic. Scientists at the Johannes Kepler University in Austria discovered that the fungi can serve as a biodegradable base material for electronics chips.
Joy Schwabach can be reached by email at [email protected].