Good morning! Today we've got a promise from one of the country's biggest stores, an easy trick for finding old photos, and some good news about your phone quietly watching out for you.
In today's issue: Walmart puts a promise about AI and pricing in writing, a simple way to find any photo just by describing it, and how your phone might already be catching scam calls that pretend to be someone you know.
Let's get started.
NEWS
Walmart Promises Its AI Won't Charge You a "Personal" Price
Maybe you've noticed some stores swapping paper price stickers for little digital screens on the shelf. That's understandably made some shoppers nervous — could a store's computer decide to charge you more than your neighbor, based on what it knows about you?
This week, Walmart's CEO, John Furner, addressed that worry head-on in a public letter. He promised the company will never charge two customers different prices for the same item based on who they are, their shopping history, or what time of day it is. “We price the product, not the person,” he wrote.
He also said Walmart's AI shopping helper, called Sparky, won't use anything you tell it to quietly raise your prices or hide cheaper options from you. As for those digital shelf tags: Walmart says they're there to keep the shelf price and the checkout price matching and to update prices faster — not to single anyone out.
Takeaway: If you've heard rumors that “AI is making prices personal,” Walmart has now put its promise in writing that it isn't — worth remembering next time you spot a digital price tag instead of a paper one.
TRY THIS
Ask Your Photos App to Find a Picture for You
If you use Google Photos (the free app that comes on most Android phones and is also available for iPhone) to store your pictures, there's a much easier way to find one than scrolling forever. Instead of hunting for a date, just type — or say — what you're looking for in plain English, like “photos from my trip to the beach” or “pictures of the grandkids at Christmas.”
To try it, open Google Photos and tap the Search icon at the bottom of the screen; if you see an “Ask” tab instead of plain Search, the feature is already turned on for you. If you don't see it yet, tap your profile picture in the top corner, then Photos settings, then Preferences, then “Gemini features in Photos,” and turn on “Ask Photos.”
It's completely free, but Google is still rolling it out region by region, so it may not appear on your phone just yet — if it doesn't, regular search still works fine in the meantime.
Takeaway: Before you scroll through hundreds of photos looking for “that one from the beach,” try just typing a plain-English description into the Photos search bar instead.
STAYING SAFE
Your Phone Might Already Warn You About Fake Calls
Scammers now have AI tools that can make a call look like it's coming from someone you trust, even a family member's real number. Google has quietly built a defense into its free “Phone by Google” app (many Android phones use this as the regular calling app already).
When both you and the person calling you use Phone by Google, and have the newer messaging feature called RCS turned on in Google Messages, the two phones briefly and invisibly check each other before the call connects — and if something looks like an impersonation attempt, you get a warning right on your screen to hang up. It's turned on automatically; you can find its settings under Settings for caller verification or spam protection.
One important caveat: this only catches spoofed calls between two people who both use Phone by Google, so it's a helpful extra layer, not a replacement for the golden rule — if someone calls sounding like a relative in urgent trouble asking for money, hang up and call them back directly using the number you already have for them.
Takeaway: Your Android phone may already be quietly checking incoming calls for impersonation attempts — but always still hang up and call back directly if a call feels urgent or fishy.
Until tomorrow,
EZ AI