Posted on October 9th, 2023 by Joy Schwabach
A reader told me he can’t invite all loved ones to his neighbor’s memorial service because he can only find the guy’s Facebook friends. He wishes every senior would provide good contact information before they pass away. “We neighbors had been caring for him and making arrangements for his last days, which we knew would be soon,” he wrote. “However, he left no address book. He burned out on technology and had not used his cellphone in years.” At least Facebook was helpful. In fact, Facebook is so helpful, I’m tempted to let my late husband’s account go on forever. But this means his old friends will continue to get birthday reminders every year, and his name will still show […]
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Filed under: Amazon, facebook, Google, Internuts, photos, social networks | Comments Off on MEMORIALIZING A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
Posted on May 1st, 2023 by Joy Schwabach
Duolingo, the language app, is now boosted by CHATGPT-4. Thanks to artificial intelligence, it’s rolling out “Role Play.” Role Play drops you into an imaginary scenario in French or Spanish. For example, suppose you’re bantering with a waitress in Barcelona while munching tapas. After your conversation, a robot will tell you how you did. It’s part of the new “Duolingo Max” subscription for iPhone only, which is slowly rolling out across America. In an article in a recent New Yorker magazine, the writer describes her mock session in a French cafe. After some exchanges, she said “I love you,” to the AI machine. When it asked if she would rather spend evenings alone, she said she would if everyone was […]
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Filed under: Amazon, batteries, education, facebook, health, Internuts, video | Comments Off on ROLE PLAYING WITH AI
Posted on February 13th, 2023 by Joy Schwabach
Why are the new over-the-counter hearing aids so much cheaper than the traditional kind? Because you don’t have to pay an audiologist. Two-thirds of a hearing aid’s typical $5000 price goes for an audiologist’s professional fitting, follow-up treatment, and maintenance. But last October, the Food and Drug Administration’s ruling went into effect, allowing you to buy them without a medical exam, prescription, or professional fitting. The Bose company, well-known for home theater and earbuds, gets great reviews for its hearing aids as well. Their over-the-counter “Lexie” models range in price from $749 to $999. Around 97 percent of users say they can hear music better, including treble tones they haven’t heard in years, according to lexiehearing.com. Around 91 percent say […]
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Filed under: AI, facebook, Gmail, health, how-to, Internuts, phones, screen capture, text messaging, trends | Comments Off on EARBUD COMPANIES NOW SELL HEARING AIDS
Posted on September 26th, 2022 by Joy Schwabach
“Is 5G quicker than 4G?” a reader asked. “That would be my only incentive to upgrade.” It depends on the map. T-Mobile has the broadest coverage. Its 5G reaches 9,000 zip codes in over 3,000 cities, more than AT&T and Verizon combined, according to whistleout.com. If you’re in a dead zone, 5G wouldn’t matter. With good 5G, you can experience virtual reality, augmented reality and automated driving. You can download even a full 8K movie in seconds, at top speeds of 20 gigabits per second. With 4G, your best speed is only one tenth of one gigabyte per second. But even that’s fast. It’s enough to enjoy video chatting, movie and music streaming. Did you know that even so-called dumb […]
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Filed under: facebook, Gmail, Google, kids, phones, robots, social networks | Comments Off on ARE 5G PHONES WORTH THE UPGRADE?
Posted on April 25th, 2022 by Joy Schwabach
Years ago, my mediocre piano teacher failed to show up for my lesson, even though we were meeting at her house. I heard she did it to others too. Phooey on her. I can get the best teachers in America online, and they’re cheaper. According to a 2020 report from Thumbtack, the average in-person piano teacher charges between $40 to $100 an hour. I just got 36 lessons for $25 from TheGreatCourses.com during one of their major sales. By using the free Chrome extension from CapitalOneShopping.com, the price dropped to $18. The equivalent from a live teacher would have cost $1440 to $3600. My online teacher, Pamela Pike, won the “Outstanding Teacher Award” from Louisiana State University, among other honors. […]
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Filed under: apps, education, environment, facebook, how-to, Internuts, music, Windows | Comments Off on ONLINE PIANO LESSONS ROCK
Posted on March 14th, 2022 by Joy Schwabach
Which is better for watching movies, a TV or a projector? Years ago, a Moroccan invited me to his apartment to meet his wife and baby. After dinner, we watched a Jacques Tati movie. Rather than use a TV, he projected it from his computer onto a big white wall. It made perfect sense. Why bother with a TV when you can get a movie-size projection? A $100 projector can give you a 10-foot wide viewing area. I saw one from Epson, a quality brand, for $70 on Amazon. But according to CNET, TVs are the better buy, thanks to a rapid drop in prices and improvements in technology. The big ones used to cost upwards of $10,000. Now you […]
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Filed under: apps, cheap calls, facebook, TV | Comments Off on TVS ARE BETTER THAN PROJECTORS
Posted on January 24th, 2022 by Joy Schwabach
Around half a trillion dollars worth of stuff is returned to places like Amazon and Walmart every year. Millions of pounds of it wind up in landfills, but you can make money from the rest. Savvy shoppers buy the returned items at stores like “Dirt Cheap.” Resellers focus on the latest crazes, such as InstaPots, Air Fryers, and massage guns. A couple of nursing school students profiled by NPR’s “Planet Money” say they earn about $800 a week at their local Treasure Hunt store. But they have to endure crazy Black-Friday-like stampedes to get what they want, using binoculars to peek into the store before it opens and heading in the opposite direction of their competitors. An alternative is the […]
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Filed under: Amazon, apps, facebook, magazines, shopping | Comments Off on MAKING A PROFIT FROM AMAZON RETURNS
Posted on December 20th, 2021 by Joy Schwabach
Windows is famous for its startling “blue screen of death.” I got a lighter shade recently. Then my hard drive died. I could have opened my PC, removed the hard drive and installed a new one. Instead, I asked the local repair shop to back up my files on an external drive and install an SSD. The SSD, or “solid state drive,” will be much faster and more reliable. The shop charged $150 for the backup, much more than the $99 fee BestBuy charges. But that’s because the dying drive made it a slow recovery process. BestBuy’s price also varies with the ease of recovery. The shop said that installation of the new drive would cost me $275. So before […]
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Filed under: apps, business, facebook, games, Internuts, TV, Windows | Comments Off on BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH PROVES DEADLY
Posted on November 22nd, 2021 by Joy Schwabach
I had no idea that there were so many things I should have turned off in Windows 10. CNET gave me a list. The worst one is the ability of every app to run in the background, even when you don’t have it open. An app you don’t even care about could be installing updates and sending you notifications, among other actions, hogging your bandwidth and slowing down your computer. To turn it off, type “background apps” in the Windows search bar in the lower left of your screen. When it comes up, toggle the master switch to the off position. Next on the list: Did you know you have a Microsoft ID, tied to your account, that is given […]
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Filed under: art, facebook, social networks, troubleshooting, Windows | Comments Off on TWEAKING WINDOWS 10
Posted on September 27th, 2021 by Joy Schwabach
I sent my favorite 11 year-old a personality quiz based on her favorite Amazon series. Then I made a better one. You’ve probably seen such quizzes on Facebook and elsewhere. Perhaps the most famous is from the New York Times. If you search on the phrase “New York Times quiz how y’all,” it comes right up. It figures out where you’re from based on the words you use. They marked me as a Californian, which is right on target, since I grew up there. One of the words that helped them decide was my use of “crawdad” instead of “crayfish.” But they also figured I’d spent time in Reno, Nevada, which I had, as a college student. To get started […]
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Filed under: Android, batteries, books, browsers, education, facebook, Internuts | Comments Off on MAKING YOUR OWN ONLINE QUIZ