Shira Ovide

New York

Writer of The Tech Friend newsletter

Education: Haverford College; Columbia Journalism School

Shira Ovide writes The Tech Friend newsletter. Sign up here. She is the strategy editor for Help Desk, The Washington Post's team of journalists who focus on the impact of our digital lives and empower us to corral technology to serve our needs. Before joining The Post in October 2022, Ovide wrote the On Tech newsletter for the New York Times. She has also been a technology columnist at Bloomberg Opinion and wrote about technology, finance and the media industry for the Wall Street Journal. Ovide lives in New York.
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Latest from Shira Ovide

AI is coming to Google, whether you like it or not. Here’s what to watch.

Google's new AI search might be a Band-Aid on a structural problem: The internet is a bad place to get good answers.

May 12, 2023

These five apps bring the joy of birds into your life

Twitter has been an essential companion as I learned to love bird watching. Then Elon Musk came for bird nerds like me.

May 9, 2023

You can trust these 5 AI chatbots. Be wary of everything else.

Be curious about AI chatbots but careful about apps or sites that may be making false AI promises.

May 5, 2023

The most popular app in the U.S. deleted mentions of its Chinese owner

The shopping app Temu says it's from Boston and social app Lemon8 says it's based in Singapore. That's true but not the whole story.

May 2, 2023

Public WiFi is safe and 4 other tech fears you can stop worrying about

Don’t waste your energy on these minimal, overhyped privacy and security risks.

April 28, 2023

The do’s and don’ts for sharing the roads with driverless cars

Here's what you need to know about what driverless test cars are like when they hit your town and mix with humans.

April 25, 2023

Never Google ‘free credit report.’ Do this instead.

Never search the web if you're looking for free credit reports. Google ads lead you away from a government-mandated free service.

April 21, 2023

Tech companies don’t deserve your loyalty. Become a free agent.

You're better off if you have the freedom to ditch your iPhone or Windows PC. Here are steps you can take to give yourself tech independence.

April 18, 2023

Hacking your TV remote and 8 other tech tricks we love

Washington Post staff and readers recommend the technologies they love, including an app to settle name debates and closed captioning in live videos.

April 14, 2023

How to file your taxes without selling your soul

TurboTax and H&R Block ask you to give up the ironclad secrecy of your tax return. Why? To help them make more money.

April 11, 2023