KARAOKE SAVES THE DAY

After trying a voice amplifier that screeched, I was on the lookout for something better. I needed to interview a soft-spoken author in front of a large audience. As I was wondering how I would accomplish this, the soft-spoken author dragged an ancient karaoke system out of her closet. Brilliant idea, I thought. Unfortunately, it was missing a crucial part. So I bought the Moyleaf “Karaoke Machine for Adults and Kids,” a portable public address system with colorful disco lights. It looks like a large black lunch box with a bright orange handle, but weighs only 6.65 pounds. It’s about the height of a piece of paper, not counting the handle. I just saw it for $99.99 on Amazon, though […]

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ROBOT TO THE RESCUE

It breaks my heart to hear about lonely seniors. Perhaps a robot would help. The “ElliQ” is smaller than a desk lamp but inspires great testimonials. Some say it’s better than a dog. “She keeps me on my toes,” said one 69-year-old man. “It’s like I’m living with somebody.” Besides playing music and showing you photos on its companion tablet, it records your health vitals and remembers how you felt yesterday before asking you how you feel today. In an emergency, it will call your closest contact. One senior said that the ElliQ got her to exercise and feel appreciated. Others said they started laughing more, because the robot is funny. It engages you in trivia games, displays inspirational quotes […]

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PHONE STORY HAS HAPPY ENDING

After telling you all about my ordeal with Xfinity, I left you dangling.  Now, my new phone service is here, but to get it, I had to learn a big lesson. Don’t sign up for Xfinity phone service over the phone or even at your local phone store. With them, you have to go to the corporate store. That’s what a clerk at my local Xfinity told me. “Why not just call the corporate store?” I asked.   “They don’t have a phone number,” she said. Sure enough, Google listed it as the same 800 number that created my nightmarish runaround. One long bus ride later, I was at the corporate store. They said my phone deal never went through […]

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STOPPING TRACKERS IN THEIR TRACKS

You may think your phone is protecting you from trackers. But is it? Even iPhone users who disable usage sharing aren’t immune. Data is collected from every app except “Health” and “Wallet,” according to the security firm Mysk. Android users fare no better. The average user is tracked 1500 times a day by 150 apps. A free app from DuckDuckGo offers “app tracking protection.” But it’s far from perfect. Even after you switch it on in settings, you’ll see a list of apps that DuckDuckGo won’t touch. I saw 13 of them, including Google Chrome and YouTube. When I tried turning their trackers off, I got a warning. Besides app protection, the DuckDuckGo app offers an “@duck.com” email address, which […]

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BING GETS CHATTY

Bing’s new artificially intelligent search engine, “Bing AI,” is a brilliant conversationalist. So what if it accused Microsoft employees of spying on it? Who cares that it tried to get a newspaper columnist to leave his wife and marry it instead? It’s much less likely to get unhinged now that users are limited to six queries at a time. I find it helpful so far. For example, recently, on the question-and-answer site Quora.com, a child asked me what he should do about his parents. He said they serve only burgers, fries and soda and will not let him consume fruits, veggies or water. I asked Bing AI to help. Bing and I went back and forth together in a thoughtful […]

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JUST CHICKEN FEED

Your garbage isn’t chicken feed. But it could be. All it takes is the right composter. The “Mill Kitchen Bin” converts discarded scraps and leftovers into food for chickens. When the bin is full, the user empties it into a prepaid shipping box and sends it back to the company. Unlike typical composting, the Bin can handle any food, including dairy, meat, grains– even Twinkies. It de-stinks as it turns into soil-ish. Food waste makes up 24 percent of the stuff in landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and its production wastes water, land, fertilizer and energy. Even worse, it makes methane gas. So instead of throwing out your food, why not mail it in? Here’s the catch: Though […]

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THE RISE OF E-BIKES

The first thing I noticed on my recent trip to California was the explosion of e-bikes. They zipped past me on a boardwalk along the ocean. The number of e-bike sales are about double the number of electric car sales, despite a price in the thousands. But for $450, you can get a conversion kit, such as the “Clip,” which will turn any old bike into an e-bike. You can even remove the “e” part of your e-bike when you go inside, to prevent theft. Here’s how it works: When you engage the clip, a small roller transmits torque directly to your front tire, driving you forward without any need for complex sprockets or gears. This so-called “friction drive” is […]

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ARE 5G PHONES WORTH THE UPGRADE?

“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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STORING IDS ON YOUR PHONE

I rarely carry a physical wallet. I prefer the digital kind, such as the new Apple Wallet. With this month’s update to iOS 15, iPhone’s latest operating system, Apple Wallet will store your driver’s license, car keys, boarding passes, tickets, vaccination card and any other form of ID. When you show your digitized driver’s license, it will automatically conceal your home address if you wish. To digitize any document to store in Apple Wallet or elsewhere, tap your phone’s camera app and snap a picture. I store mine using Google’s free app, “Stack” for Android. It makes documents quick to find. No more wasting time rummaging through Google Drive for my driver’s license . Eight U.S. states accept digitized ID […]

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ALEXA’S NEW CELEBRITY VOICES

Alexa has a new trick. You can change her voice to NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal or actress Melissa McCarthy for $5 per voice. Both of them can tell a joke or a personal story, play music, give you the latest weather, and set a timer or alarm, among other things. When I said, “Hey Melissa tell me a story,” she told me about nearly knocking Michelle Obama over by accident. When I asked her to set an alarm for me, she said: “I’m sometimes alarming myself, but I get what you’re asking for.”  Shaq recalled the time his father made him help a homeless man get an apartment and a job. They’re friends to this day.   Start by […]

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