This iPhone charging feature is facing scrutiny: report

An iPhone charging feature aimed at reducing a user's carbon footprint is reportedly receiving criticism. 

Clean Energy Charging is built into recent versions of the tech giant's iOS 16 software. In October, Apple called on the global supply chain to decarbonize by 2030.

It was released in an October update, but has recently faced scrutiny.

"I turned off clean energy charging to increase my carbon footprint. I believe in feeding trees," Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted in February. 

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According to The Washington Post, Clean Energy Charging is on by default – though it's not the first time Apple has done that. 

"I’m glad Apple is working on dynamic charging to shift to low carbon hours," Tim Latimer, CEO of a geothermal power company called Fervo Energy, tweeted. "But the way they rolled it out isn’t great: limited awareness, default position is opted in."

"We should demand better transparency and choice for clean energy solutions, or it’s going to backfire," he said.

Apple says the phone can selectively charge when lower carbon-emission electricity is available. When the ability is enabled and the iPhone is connected to a charger, it gets a forecast of the carbon emissions in the local energy grid and uses it to charge the phone during times of cleaner energy production.

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Clean Energy Charging is available only in the United States. The feature does not engage if charging habits are variable or the user is in a new location. 

"Because of this and to get the carbon-emission forecast for your area, some location settings must be turned on for Clean Energy Charging to activate. Your iPhone doesn't send any of the location information that it uses for this feature to Apple," Apple said.

If a user needs to have a phone fully charged sooner, they can touch and hold the notification on the Lock Screen that says when the iPhone will be fully charged when using the setting and then hit Charge Now.

To turn off the feature entirely, go to Settings, click Battery, select Battery Health & Charging and turn off Clean Energy Charging.

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5 best apps to determine how much a bottle of wine gifted to you is worth

Receiving a bottle of wine from a loved one or friend always feels great. Yet, if you are honest, don't you ever wonder how much they spent on that bottle?

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Or you may have asked yourself the question, "should I open this now?" What if it’s an expensive bottle and you want to save it for a special occasion, or it could be the perfect bottle you could regift when you head to someone else's house.

While it is generally considered impolite to check the price of a gift that someone has bought you, and that includes a bottle of wine brought to you by a guest, if you do want to satisfy your curiosity and check how much money someone spent on a bottle of vino for you, here are five great apps that can help you do it.

iPhone: 4.8 stars (at time of publishing) 

Android: 4.6 stars (at time of publishing) 

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Wine-Searcher is a great app that allows you to find, compare and buy wines. All you have to do is scan the label on a bottle of wine you're looking at, and it will give you critic scores, prices, grape and region information, and where you can buy the wine. You can also type in the name of a bottle you're thinking of and read all about it.

When it comes to purchasing a bottle, the app will give you stores nearest to you where you can buy at the best value or tell you how to buy online. You can even rate and review your favorite wine bottles. This app is available for both iPhone and Android devices.

MORE: EARN MONEY BY BUYING GIFT CARDS

iPhone: 4.9 stars (at time of publishing) 

Android: 4.7 stars (at time of publishing) 

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Vivino allows you to scan any wine label to see which wines to buy and which to leave on the shelf. You also can scan any wine list when you're out at a restaurant to see the rating and review of each wine on the list so that you can pick the one you want to drink for the night.

The app will track and organize the wines you scan and rate, creating a fun chart to showcase your wine experiences. This will allow you to discover new wines and see how you rank against your friends and the Vivino community. This app is available for both iPhone and Android devices.

iPhone: 4.7 stars (at time of publishing) 

Android: 4.2 stars (at time of publishing) 

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With the Delectable app, you can follow top sommeliers, winemakers and wine pros to make sure you are always buying the best wine. It allows you to buy wine right from your phone, and the best part is that the Delectable team will deliver the wine right to your doorstep.

All you have to do is take a photo of the wine bottle label, and within seconds, you will get reviews and tasting notes, all for free. This app is available for both iPhone and Android devices.

iPhone: 4.6 stars (at time of publishing) 

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This app is currently only available for iPhone users and acts as your wine assistant. It will give you recommendations for food and wine pairings, special occasions and personalized wine picks.

It gives you a question-and-answer interface to find the perfect bottle for you by using artificial intelligence to learn about your wine preferences. Plus, you can still use its wine bottle scanning feature and leave ratings and reviews for bottles you've tried.

iPhone: 4.8 stars (at time of publishing) 

Android: 3.9 stars (at time of publishing) 

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Wine.com is the biggest online wine store out there and also includes a wide assortment of other spirits. You can browse all their options with their extensive filters and sorting features, as well as scan bottles you're looking at to view the pricing, ratings and tasting notes.

They also offer quick delivery services, or you can schedule a pickup from over 17,000 locations they offer throughout the country.

Plus, you can use the app's Chat feature to speak with the experts at Wine.com if you're having trouble choosing what to buy. This app is available for both iPhone and Android devices.

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Now you can double-check how nice that bottle of wine is before that cork gets unscrewed for just any crowd, and while it's generally true that the more is spent on a bottle of wine, the higher the quality will be, there are still some ways to find a good-tasting bottle of wine at a lower price point.

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Have you ever looked up the price of a bottle of wine that someone gave you? Let us know.

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Eli Lilly Reduced The Price Of Insulin To $35 Per Month. This Guy Tweeted It Into Existence (Sort Of).

Writer Sean Morrow, pretending to be pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, tweeted “insulin is free now” in November. Now it almost is.

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Air Force signs $65M deal with startup to test 'sustainable' fuel production

The startup Air Company announced Tuesday that it had won a contract from the Department of Defense Innovation Unit and the U.S. Air Force for its AIRMADE "sustainable" aviation fuel. 

"This will enable the production of on-site fuel, reducing emissions [and] offering a safe fuel source," the company said on Twitter.

The $65 million deal for testing production comes after Air Company CEO Gregory Constantine told Axios action was taken following a successful jet test flight last year than ran solely on unblended sustainable aviation fuel.

The contract will allow Air Company to test whether it can make that fuel in remote locations and it includes certain milestones related to the number of gallons Air Company will produce.

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Air Company makes the sustainable aviation fuel from carbon dioxide pulled out of the atmosphere. The startup also turns carbon into perfume and hand sanitizer. 

"The contract is tiered out over the next several years," a spokesperson told TechCrunch, noting that Air Company aims to work with the Air Force to produce "tens of hundreds of gallons," and later "tens of thousands of gallons," of jet fuel.

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The company told the website that it exclusively uses renewable electricity to produce its fuel, which the Air Force Research Laboratory said was "net carbon neutral" in a November release. 

The Air Force’s Project Fierce previously partnered with the laboratory, Air Company and the Hsu Education Foundation to create and test a fully synthetic "drop-in" replacement jet fuel from captured carbon dioxide and water. The unmanned flight test team at the Hsu Educational Foundation executed the first flight demonstration with the synthetic jet fuel. 

The Air Force has used sustainable aviation fuels – that require blending with traditional fossil fuels – since 2008. 

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People Are Thirsty For TikTok’s Hottest Ceramicists

“Sometimes my question is, Is the audience really there for your work? Or are they there for the video?”

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TikTok Will Automatically Limit Screen Time for Kids and Teens to 1-Hour Per Day

TikTok says every account held by a user under the age of 18 will have a default 60-minute daily screen time limit in the coming weeks.

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How to password-protect your email messages

Do you ever wish your emails could be extra-secure so they can't be opened by just anyone?

Whether you're sending private messages containing sensitive or personal information, or you just want to be sure no one else sees what's on the other end other than the recipient you intend, it's time to password-protect your emails.

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Password-protecting an email involves setting a password or passphrase to prevent unauthorized access to the email. This typically involves encrypting the contents of the email with the password so that anyone who tries to access the email without the correct password will not be able to read its contents.

Encryption locks the content of the email so that the intended recipients are the only ones who can read the email.

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Hackers often prey on standard or unsecured email using tools that can intercept and read through email looking for personal data such as credit card numbers and identifiable names to harvest.

More: Unwanted emails flooding your inbox? Here’s what you can do.

You can send messages and attachments with Gmail's confidential mode to help protect sensitive information from unauthorized access. You can use confidential mode to set an expiration date for messages or revoke access at any time. Recipients of the confidential message will have options to forward, copy, print and download.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. On your computer, go to Gmail

2. Click

Compose

3. In the bottom right of the window, click Turn on confidential mode (which looks like a lock)

4. Set an expiration date and passcode. These settings impact both the message text and any attachments:

5. Click Save

6. Then compose your email and added the person's email address that you are sending it to and push send.

If you're using Gmail with a work or school account, you may need to contact your admin to make sure you can use confidential mode.

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How to send a password-protected email using Outlook on your PC

You can use the built-in encryption feature that comes with Microsoft 365 Outlook.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. If you are a Microsoft 365 subscriber, open Microsoft Outlook and click on "New Email" to create a new message

2. In the "Options" tab, click on "Encrypt" in the "Tags" section

3. If you want to protect the email with a password, click on "Set Permissions" and select "Encrypt-Only"

4. Click on "OK" and then click on "Send" to send the email.

Note: When the recipient receives the email, they will need to enter the password that you set in order to view the message. Keep in mind that the recipient will also need to be using an email program that supports encryption in order to view the encrypted message.

Additionally, the Encrypt-Only feature (the option under the Encrypt button) is only enabled for subscribers (Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise users) that also use Exchange Online. Also, Microsoft 365 Message Encryption is part of the Office 365 Enterprise E3 license.

UNWANTED EMAILS FLOODING YOUR INBOX? HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO

Yahoo Mail sends email securely while in transit to the recipient via Transport Layer Security, but it does not protect an email message with a password. AOL similarly does not easily encrypt email either. That is why many people opt to use a third-party robust encryption email solution.

As I have said before, StartMail is a great email provider if you are looking for a secure and user-friendly email service with advanced features and spam protection. 

Follow these steps to send a password-protected email:

Important: Recipients can see the messages you sent with a password for up to 28 days. The replies from recipients to your password-protected emails are also encrypted.

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Check out my ranking for the best private and secure email servers for this year by heading over to CyberGuy.com and searching "Best Private and Secure Email Providers" by clicking the magnifying glass at the top of my website.

For more of my tips, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by clicking the "Free newsletter" link at the top of my website.

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