Daily App Advice shows you which paid apps are currently being given away for free in the iTunes App Store. I’ve found many useful free utilities and games here that usually cost between $1 and $10. — MF

Somehow I merged Google contacts from both my work and my personal email with my iPhone contacts and I couldn’t figure out an easy way to bulk delete. This article outlines how to delete multiple contacts at one time using Groups. The app is a little clunky, but it was free, and an added bonus was I was able to also merge duplicates pretty easily. — CD

We got our teenage daughter a LuMee iPhone case. It has LEDs embedded in the perimeter to illuminate your face when you take a selfie. She loves it and the photos really are a lot better looking. — MF

I’ve been dropping my iPhone a lot lately — enough to make me really grateful for my Spigen protective case. It’s slim enough to not feel bulky, and the lip on the front of the case has protected my screen from cracking on 30+ clumsy occasions. The kickstand feature is my favorite. — CD

Our house phone sounds awful and we get poor cell phone connectivity at home. But we have wifi and I’ve started using FaceTime Audio as much as possible to make phone calls. It works on any Apple hardware and the sound quality is crystal clear, even when using cellular data. — MF

Most carriers lock your subsidized phone so you can’t use a 3rd party SIM card with it. This is inconvenient if you want to buy a cheap SIM card in a foreign country. AT&T says they will unlock your phone, but only under certain conditions. I’ve tried before and it’s a waste of time. I gave up and used HangUnlock. It cost $2 and took less than a day. — MF

I’m still waiting for the ideal phone carrier who will let me use my phone anywhere in the world without thinking. True global coverage at reasonable rates. In the meantime I buy sim cards when I am outside of North America. They are cheap and useful. Downside is my phone has a new number. My solution: I put the foreign sim in a second phone, an older phone I no longer use. (We all seem to have one of those. If you don’t a friend will.) That way, my primary phone number still works on wifi in hotels and cafes, but I get full roaming capabilities such as Google maps, web searches, or texting locally on the other phone as I need them. — KK

When texting, at the end of a sentence hit the space bar twice and it will easily put a period in the right place. — KK

For many years, I paid $275 a month for an AT&T mobile phone plan (for a family of four iPhone users). Then I switched to T-Mobile. It’s $175 a month, we get unlimited data, and best of all, international data is free. It’s great to travel to another country and freely use the internet (for maps, reviews, texts, Instagram, etc). Phone calls are also free in Mexico and Canada, and other international calls are usually $0.20 a minute. — MF

If you use 2-factor authentication that sends a text message to your phone to get a code, beware of the port-out scam. This happens when a bad person impersonates you and tricks your phone company into issuing them your phone number. You can prevent this by calling your carrier (dial 611) from your phone and telling them to add a security PIN to your account. Anyone who tries to access your account will be asked for the PIN. Read more about port-out scamming here. — MF

For the past 2 years I’ve been using the free Nomorobo service to stop spam calls on my landlines, and it works fantastically. A few months ago I started using the paid Nomorobo app on my phone, and suddenly all those dumb spam calls have ceased. There are a number of phone spam eliminator apps, but Nomorobo is one that does not scarf up your friends’ phone numbers in order to make its white list. — KK

EBR (Electric Bike Review) is the best place to go if you are thinking of getting an electric bike. One guy, Court Rye, has personally reviewed in depth over 800 ebikes. He has seen and ridden them all, and his knowledge about them is encyclopedic. His reviews are in text and video. These days you can find an e-version of almost any type of bike made, from e-cruisers, electric mountain bikes, folding e-bikes, city riders, cargo bikes and so on. This site will help you sort through them. It respects your attention with minimum of selling and maximum helpfulness. — KK

I upgraded my old Fire Stick media streamer to the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote ($40). Navigating to a show is as simple as pressing the talk button and saying “Play Dreams of Sushi.” It will search all your subscribed media services (Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon Prime) and instantly return what you want. You can also say, “Order Dominos Pizza.” What more could you ask for? — MF

When I make videos where I need to talk to the camera (the audience) I can’t remember what I need to say, so I use this affordable teleprompter. Teleprompters project my visible text on an angled glass that the camera is shooting through. Normally this is a very expensive very cumbersome rig, but the Parrot Teleprompter uses a cheap plastic case, glass mirror, and a selection of lens rings to fit on to many digital cameras. It cleverly uses your smart phone as the screen. For about $100 I got a perfectly useful compact teleprompter mounted on my tripod that worked exactly as I needed. I can deliver my lines easily while directly gazing at the viewers and it looks very natural. — KK

This itty-bitty wireless speaker ($11) is a lot louder than I expected, and the sound is very clear. It’s perfect for listening to music and podcasts in a hotel room, because it takes up almost no room in my luggage. — MF

I don’t get on a plane unless I am wearing Bose QuiteComfort 20 Noise Cancelling earbuds. These squeeze into a tiny super-lightweight pocket when off (unlike the headphone variety), and are simply the best noise cancelling apparatus, period. I routinely wear them the entire duration of a 13-hour flight. I arrive far more refreshed. — KK

I like to listen to podcasts in bed. I also sleep on my side, so earbuds and headphones hurt my ears if I use them. I bought the CozyPhones Sleep Headphones ($18), which is a headband with 1/8” thick cushioned headphones inside. They are comfortable and they roll up for travel. — MF

I use a squid outlet when I travel. In cheap lodging there is often barely one accessible power outlet on the wall and I have lots of things to charge, from camera batteries, to a laptop, to more than one phone. That’s just me. With a travel companion there’ll be even more items to charge. A squid splits the power to four flexible outlets. The flexibility gives more room for devices than a simple power strip. This 2-pack Squid is the cheapest, lightest, smallest one I’ve found. — KKaudiobooks

I’ve tried many ways to extend Wi-Fi through my house. Powerline networking, which creates networks through electrical wiring, works the best. TP-Link has a $58 kit with 2 units. One unit plugs into your wall outlet and router. The other unit can be plugged into any wall outlet in your house to provide Wi-Fi in that area. — MF

The $9 AmazonBasics Adjustable Tablet Stand was just what I was looking for in a kitchen countertop iPad stand. It’s made of sturdy plastic, adjusts quickly, and doesn’t skid or wobble. It can hold any size tablet — even smartphones. — MF