Rick's Daily Tips

How to stop ads from following you around the Internet

Posted on November 9, 2026

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Have you ever noticed how ads for products or services you recently checked out online start following you from website to website as you browse the Internet?

If so, you know how Interest Based Advertising works even if you weren’t aware that it exists.

In a nutshell, Interest Based Advertising is a technology that allows advertisers to keep showing you ads for products and services you’ve shown an interest in even after you’ve moved on to a different website.

[Read more…]

Scam alert: Beware the dangerous ‘Hacked Account’ email scam

Posted on November 8, 2026

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Well, it’s another day, and that means yet another dangerous scam from times past is making the rounds yet again.

This scam is called the “This Account Has Been Hacked” scam, and it’s back to spreading like crazy via regular email.

Although there are very slight variations in the wording and the types of claims being made in the emails, the scam typically works like this: [Read more…]

3 ways to shop online without using a credit or debit card

Posted on November 6, 2026

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Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

I’m often asked if it’s possible to shop online without having to use a credit or debit card. Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is yes. In fact, there are at three easy ways to do it.

While it’s true that most internet retailers are set up to accept credit and debit cards by default, but there are indeed other ways to pay that don’t require you to give the retailer your card info: [Read more…]

How to keep characters consistent across AI video shots

Posted on November 6, 2026

Creating an AI-generated video with a consistent character across multiple shots can be challenging. A character might look slightly different between scenes, with changes to facial features, hairstyles, clothing, or other visual details.

These inconsistencies can make a video feel disconnected, even when each individual shot looks convincing.

One way to improve consistency is to use reference images to guide video generation. Instead of describing a character from scratch for every scene, you can provide a visual reference that helps establish the character’s appearance. Tools such as MixVio’s reference-to-video tool illustrate how an image can guide the video creation process. [Read more…]