A reader named Karl sent me a newspaper column that raged against data centers and artificial intelligence. He hoped I’d give him a different point of view.

We sure need one. In April, Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, was targeted in an attempted firebombing with a Molotov cocktail at his San Francisco home. Apparently, the suspect thinks AI poses grave risks to humanity.

But so far, technological progress is the reason that we’re all still here. Thanks to technology, in the past 100 years, the average human lifespan has doubled, and the average per capita income worldwide has tripled, adjusted for inflation. Child mortality has come down by a factor of ten. There’s less violence, more education, more access to food and water. One hundred years ago, around 65 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty, according to humanprogress.org. Today, it’s roughly one in ten. 

AI can help with just about any tech problem, such as the pressing need for more water through desalination. It can help us grow food 100 times more cheaply than we do now. It can make renewable energy ubiquitous and bring us better health care. In a video recently, I saw a paralyzed man using an exoskeleton. Thanks to AI, his brain sent signals directly to his spine. 

Horrifyingly, several AI naysayers warn that if we keep going down the same path, we’ll all have meaty bodies and robot heads some day. Others predict that children born today won’t survive past high school. 

I got most of this info from a documentary, “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.” Peter Diamandis, M.D. says we’ve faced tougher challenges than this. Children born today, he says, are about to enter “a glorious period of human transformation.” The only day more exciting than today is tomorrow.

Kid Games

When my nephew was 8, he loved the video game “Backyard Baseball.”  I loved that he always chose “Kenny Kawaguchi” for his team’s pitcher. Kenny’s motto was: “Don’t let this wheelchair fool ya, I can play!” 

A new version of Backyard Baseball, launched in July 2026 by Mega Cat Studios, adds 3D and modernized graphics. Unlike most restored classics, it maintains the charm of the original. Plus, in a radical departure from today’s games, you only have to pay once. Most game companies today insist on nickel and diming you to death. Kids feel they have to keep up with their friends. 

What the Mega Cat executives are proudest of, some say, is not their sales volume. It’s the fact that they get emails from dads whose children never wanted to play baseball until they saw it in the game. The kids are now rounding the bases, smiling as Dad misses the ball.

Aimed at kids ages 5 to 11, Backyard Baseball is available for $39.99 at steampowered.com.

Hydrogen Helicopter Clears a Milestone

A hospital must deliver organs to transplant patients quickly. Helicopters make sense, but the noise pollution is a big problem.

How about hydrogen-powered helicopters? They’re quiet and pollution-free, but there’s one big problem. Ever hear of the Hindenburg disaster? Its hydrogen fuel exploded, destroying the airship in 34 seconds.

Enter the Robinson Helicopter Company. Its first piloted hydrogen-powered flight occurred in March 2025. A bigger milestone in some ways occurred in April 2026, when its hydrogen-powered R44 completed the first full airport traffic circuit (takeoff, climb, pattern, approach, landing). The company partnered with United Therapeutics to develop a safe way to deliver organs for transplants. Unither Bioelectronics, a subsidiary of UT, makes lab-grown, synthetic human organs and transplant tissue. Their shelf life is often under 12 hours, so speed is critical.

By late 2027, the company hopes to show that these helicopters can go 286 miles before refueling. In 2028, they plan to file for approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and Transport Canada. 

Help Set a World Record

You can help set a Guinness World Record for the longest internet literacy live stream and earn free digital training. According to ConnectedNation.org, if the group keeps the live stream going for 25 consecutive hours with at least 50 viewers, they’ll set a Guinness World Record and at least 1,250 people will benefit.

Your free training includes everything from avoiding online scams to keeping up with modern technology. Go to connectednation.org/25-hours-one-connected-world or bit.ly/CNWorldRecord on September 24 to 25, 2026 to join the fun.

 Numbers Report

Google reported record search ad revenues in the first quarter. That totally goes against the prediction that AI is taking away Google profits because people no longer click on links.The big question is whether Google can maintain its growth as clicks on paid listings keep getting rarer, according to eMarketer.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT has struggled to add new users this year but Google’s AI Mode has reached over one billion monthly users. EMarketer expects Google Gemini to reach that target this year too. They also predict that Gemini and AI Mode combined will surpass ChatGPT in US monthly users by the first quarter of 2027.

Internut

“Humanoid Robots Robert & Matilda Get Married: Russia’s First Robot Wedding.” Search on that phrase to watch a creepy ceremony. The bride dances and a robot dog delivers the symbolic wedding bracelets before the happy couple say their vows. 

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The new “Claude Science” from Anthropic uses artificial intelligence to tackle rare genetic disorders and tropical maladies, the kind that are usually ignored because there aren’t enough patients to justify the costs involved in finding a cure.

It sounds almost miraculous but it can’t do human testing. So the company is hoping it will be a helpful tool for anyone from giant pharmaceutical companies down to individual researchers.The beta version is available to paid Claude users (currently macOS/Linux) starting at $20 a month.

However, the field is ripe with competitors. Insilico Medicine, Recursion, Exscientia and Isomorphic Labs are all involved in AI drug discovery. In July 2026, Insilico launched a Phase III trial for “Rentosertib,” an oral medication for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive and currently incurable lung-scarring disease. 

Most notably, AI designed the biological target that Rentosertib attacks and identified its chemical structure. It’s the first AI-generated drug to reach Phase III, the second-to-last stage of human testing. Phase IV is conducted only after the drug is approved and marketed.

In 2023, the FDA granted it Orphan Drug status, which gives the company exclusive seller rights for seven years. A more recent trial showed that patients on Rentosertib had improved lung function compared to those on a placebo. If Rentosertib’s latest trial succeeds, it could prove that AI-designed medicines can make it all the way through the approval pipeline. 

Going Back to Windows 10

Ever since a reader named John bought a Windows 11 laptop from Lenovo, he’s had “a plethora of frustrating problems.” Now, he’s thinking of turning it into a Windows 10 machine. Good idea.

The problems began when Microsoft changed many gesture features for Windows 11. The difficulties are especially noticeable in two-in-one laptops like John has. In short,  Windows 11 gets confused when a user tries to click, tap, drag or highlight a passage. He says it often takes him three tries to get a response.

But the problem isn’t unique to his Lenovo 2-in-1. It also applies to Dell Inspiron and XPS laptops, HP Envy and Specter 2-in-1s, Asus ZenBooks and more. So by going back to Windows 10, John’s laptop should respond normally. (Get Windows 10 for free at Microsoft.com.)

Can you install Windows 10 over 11? Nope. During a Windows 10 installation, you must allow the process to completely wipe your laptop’s primary drive. But don’t worry. If you back up your files first, you can easily restore them, though your programs and apps must be manually reinstalled. A note of caution: Go to your laptop’s support site first. Some machines are built strictly for Windows 11.

High Tech Shoes

Need a little pep in your step? A new kind of shoe has a robotic insert to help lighten your load. 

The Dephy Sidekick is a $4,500 way to ease joint problems. Its special shoes lock into motorized devices that attach to your lower legs with straps. It feels like wearing boots, according to a ZDnet reviewer. To me, it looks like a metallic version of the shin guards I wore in high school for field hockey.

The Dephy’s AI system calibrates your gait to provide a customized lift, and has three power levels. Though designed for the Army, the company claims it can save your knees and hips from the ravages of old age. Check it out at dephy.com.

Bye Bye Physical Discs

A hip college student told me she’s a big fan of PlayStation games but hates the online versions.  Unfortunately for her, Sony is phasing out physical discs. As of 2028, she’ll only be able to buy new games online, though she’ll be able to buy any game in disc form that was produced before 2028.

According to Engadget, this is part of a trend. Many games now have a code in a box instead of a disc, and Nintendo is charging more for physical editions of some of its games.

Avoiding Amazon Phonies

“Knockoff,” which is free at the website Knockoff.shopping, is a new extension that tries to pinpoint brands on Amazon that may be fake. It can’t really detect the phonies, however. It just flags the products with gibberish, all-caps, vowel-less names typical of anonymous mass-market dropshippers. 

After reading about it in CNET, I searched for “solar lights” on Amazon. About half the choices were grayed out. But sometimes Knockoff makes a mistake. According to CNET, it blocked Torras, a well-known phone case brand, which is in stock at Best Buy.

Portable Shower

If a storm knocks out the power grid, having a portable shower system that heats water to 140 degrees Fahrenheit might save the day. It could also be useful for washing the kids and the dog, especially if they like to take off after that first bucket of water pours on their heads.

  The HotTap Go is a $554 portable shower from joolca.com. Your car’s 12-volt socket, what we used to call a cigarette lighter, powers the water pump. The heat, up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, comes from a small propane/gas burner built into the unit. If you wish, you can stick the showerhead on the side of your car, since it’s magnetized. This way you get a powerful spray any place you happen to be, whether at a camping site, on your boat or in your own backyard.

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I have an ugly red blotch on my arm from a recent skin cancer surgery which will soon be on display at a formal wedding. What’s the best concealer? I went to the website TiraMuisu.ai to ask my new beauty bud.

This artificially intelligent bot suggested Dermablend “Quick Fix” to make it blend in and setting powder to keep it from smearing when I’m hugging. But according to Google Gemini, by not recommending a third product, TiraMuisu goofed up. “If you put a flesh-toned makeup straight over the concentrated purple-red spot we see in your image,” it said, “the darkness will likely bleed through or turn the makeup gray.” Uh oh. A gray blotch sounds almost as bad as a red one. So I bought Gemini’s preferred green cream as an intermediary. Voilà. The blotch vanished.

TiraMuisu doesn’t allow image uploading, so I couldn’t show it my blotch. It just summarizes the reviews it gets from the web. But it could save me from watching 20 TikTok videos. According to the company, it summarizes video transcripts and comments from unpaid, everyday consumers. Armed with that info, it replies to your questions in three different voices: Tira, the hype girl, Muisu, the skeptic, and Mochi, the skin care chemist. It’s entertaining, but I still prefer Gemini.

New Way to Examine a Fetus

A friend of mine may be having her baby as I write this. When she’s rested, I’ll ask if her ultrasounds were powered by artificial intelligence. It’s the latest thing.

Anyone who has ever had a baby or looked at an ultrasound printout knows they look like grainy, black-and-white weather radar screens. But a company called Diagnoly offers an AI-powered assistant that changes everything. The black-and-white picture still looks grainy, but it now has real-time, digital bounding boxes, labels and color-coded geometric callouts directly on top. As a technician moves an ultrasound wand, these overlays automatically identify all the relevant baby parts. A tired doctor no longer misses crucial abnormalities.

It’s kind of a no-brainer for medical offices. Instead of requiring them to purchase massive, expensive new machinery, the doctors and sonographers can simply download the “Fetoly” app onto a standard iPad or Android tablet and plug it directly into their existing ultrasound systems. Unlike many modern medical AI systems that require a cloud connection, Fetoly runs entirely locally with zero dependency on the internet.

There are no specific medical offices or hospital systems in Arkansas publicly using Fetoly yet. However, because most of them use GE HealthCare’s Voluson systems, they have the technical capability to deploy the software.

Get a New Ringtone

It’s easy to get a new ringtone on iPhones with the latest iOS 26 operating system. Just open your Files app, choose some music, tap “Share,” and select “Use as Ringtone.” However, since my Files lacked music, I used a free app called “Voice Memos,” then played “The Sound of Music” on my computer while holding my phone up to the screen, stopping before the 30 second mark. Finally, I tapped the three dot menu, then “Share,” “View More,” and “Use as Ringtone.”

Do You Really Own Your Movies?

You don’t really own the movies you bought for streaming purposes. They can disappear.

That’s what happened to Sony customers in several European countries who bought movies at the PlayStation Store, according to Engadget. When a licensing deal with Studio Canal expired, the movies vanished from the customers’ video libraries. They didn’t get a refund either. Hey DVD, you’re looking good.

Good News for Windows 10 Users

The original “End of Life” support for Windows 10 was October, 2025. But when millions couldn’t or wouldn’t upgrade to Windows 11, they extended it to October 2026. More recently, they tacked on another year. The final cut-off is now October 2027.

Read This Next

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, says: “If you care about the future, read this book.” He’s referring to “The AI Ten Commandments: A New Moral Code for Humanity,” a groundbreaking collaboration by Jamie Metzl and GPT-5.

Metzl, a Harvard-and-Oxford-trained Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, prompted ChatGPT to analyze thousands of years of human scriptures, historical records, philosophical texts, myths, laws, and indigenous traditions to distill ten universal moral rules. He says AI is forcing a massive shift in our moral landscape, but we don’t have to take it lying down. Let’s stay moral everybody.

IBM Breakthrough

IBM has come up with a way to increase computing speed by 50 percent and energy efficiency by 70 percent.

Engineers were faced with the problem of designing computer chips that allowed them to squeeze nearly 100 billion transistors into a piece of silicon the size of a human fingernail. But in that case, the chip’s components would have to be 100,000 times thinner than a strand of human hair. No way that’s happening dude.

It’s like the classic city planners’ dilemma. How many homes can be crammed into a single lot? Imagine Manhattan without the skyscrapers. Even tiny homes wouldn’t fit. Similarly, a new kind of  microscopic skyscraper vertically stacks and bonds components on top of each other. It’s called “nanostack technology.”

Nanostack technology is designed to handle enormous AI workloads without a catastrophic spike in global energy consumption. It also speeds up our gadgets and increases their battery life. Expect it in the next five to ten years.

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Protesters have been raging about giant data centers guzzling power, water and land. But here’s an environmentally-friendly solution: standalone apps that don’t connect to the internet.

When you use free apps like Atomic Chat, Google’s AI Edge Gallery, LLM Studio, or Ollama, you sever your cord to the cloud. Unlike ChatGPT and other AI bots, these apps don’t require a web window. They allow you to download their brains to work offline.

In short, by using these apps, you won’t cause electricity demand to shoot up the way it would with cloud-based AI bots. When you type a prompt into ChatGPT, Gemini and other standard AI services, your request travels to massive server farms that consume staggering amounts of electricity to process your words. They also require millions of gallons of water just to keep the server racks cool. Local apps flip the script. In fact, apps like Atomic Chat are able to compress an AI’s active memory by six times, allowing longer conversations without as much random access memory.

These apps are also private. Since your data never leaves your phone, tablet or computer, you don’t even need an account. 

So here’s the first catch. The minimum to run a capable local model is 16 gigabytes of system RAM and either a GPU with over six GB of VRAM (video memory) or an Apple Silicon Mac. Your Windows PC would need a dedicated graphics processing unit with at least six GB of its own video memory. An NVIDIA card works best. Otherwise, your AI answer might trickle in, one word at a time, while your laptop’s fan goes crazy.

Here’s the other catch. The standalone apps can’t browse the morning news, look up current stock prices, or check the weather for your upcoming trip unless you plug in advanced technical extensions. But what they can do is remarkable. Ask one to translate a document, debug a computer program, draft a short story or song lyrics, or brainstorm solutions to a thorny problem, such as how to preserve seed diversity for future generations. They’re less like encyclopedias or online newspapers and more like tireless thinking partners who happen to work without WiFi.

So who would most likely benefit? First, anyone who needs total privacy, with no chance of data sharing. Second, travelers in remote regions where WiFi is spotty. Third, anyone who loves to tinker with the latest open-source breakthroughs, or find out how AI reasoning works under the hood.

But someday this offline world could be the norm. We’re now in a transition phase. For example, Microsoft recently announced a massive shift to treat Windows as a “Local AI Runtime,” meaning future Windows updates will process background AI tasks right on your device rather than constantly calling home to the cloud.

Apple Intelligence already relies on a similar hybrid model. If you ask your phone to summarize a long text message or an email, it doesn’t send it to a data center. It crunches it locally using its built-in hardware. 

Finally, businesses are increasingly adopting local, sandboxed desktop applications to protect proprietary corporate data.

I guess those big data centers will have to become either condos or warehouses. 

Talking to AI in Midair

American Airlines now offers free high-speed WiFI on most flights. You’re no longer limited to the AA movie, TV and music channel. 

With free connections, you could converse with ChatGPT or some other AI bot for an entire flight. You do have to sign up for a free AAdvantage membership, however, but you can ​d​o it from your airplane seat.

Senior Phone

Consumer Cellular’s SpeakEasy is a new phone aimed at seniors 75 and older. 

The home screen features only calling, texting, photos and videos. The buttons are large, backlit and easy to read. The volume keys are on the front. The speakerphone is extra loud. The service is fairly cheap too: It’s $14.95 a month for 500MB of data on the Speak Easy Flip. It’s $19.95 a month for the SpeakEasy Smart. Though the Smart is an Android phone, it’s designed to be super simple to use. 

The Jitterbug Smart4 is similar to the SpeakEasy Smart. Choose the Jitterbug if you want its famous round-the-clock nurse lines and medical assistance when you press the Urgent Response button. Go with the SpeakEasy if you prefer cheaper monthly data plans. 

The Jitterbug flip phone is also great for medical and other help. Just press “O” for Operator​. Years ago, using a free phone the company gave me, I did that ​a​fter getting lost in San Diego in the rain. 

Touchless ID

You can breeze even faster through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) line at the airport by signing up for “Touchless ID.” Before you had to manually enter your passport info for each airline you used. But with the new version, you just add your boarding pass to Google Wallet. After approval, it will have a PreCheck Touchless ID icon on it. 

Million Dollar Giveaway

The US Department of Transportation will award five people $100,000 each for ideas on how robotics can transform our transportation networks. One person will get a million dollars. For more info, sign up for “DOT’s Bot Challenge,” an online webinar on Wednesday, July 8 at 3 p.m. ET. Or write to robotics@dot.gov. 

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I used to dread resetting my computer to fix something major. But Claude AI taught me a new trick that makes everything easy.

“Peggle,” my favorite game of all time, recently stopped working. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it. I also asked Microsoft’s Copilot AI for help, but it sent me on a wild goose chase, directing me to uninstall a driver, run compatibility mode and try some complicated codes in the Command Prompt, or what we used to call DOS. Frustrated, I turned to Claude AI.

Claude said my Peggle problem was likely caused by the latest update from the “Windows Insider Preview,” a beta version of Windows 11. It directed me to Microsoft.com to get a well-tested version of Windows 11 as an ISO file.

“Uh oh,” I thought. In the old days, you either had to burn an ISO file to a DVD or use a third party app to launch it virtually. But these days, Claude said, it will automatically mount itself onto a virtual drive in File Explorer. Then all you have to do is click “setup.” Presto! Claude was right. It automatically installed a fresh copy of Windows 11. Afterwards, my Peggle game worked beautifully. My files were there too but not all of my apps. Oh well, I don’t mind reinstalling a couple of them.

PAY WITH YOUR WATCH

I feel so techy when I hold my Apple Watch up to a card reader to pay for something.

Here’s how you can do it too. Once you’ve added a credit card to the Apple Wallet app, just double tap the side button below the watch crown to bring up the card, then hold it over the card reader. On the Samsung Galaxy Watch, press and hold the lower button on the side of the watch for a second or two. This brings up your credit cards.

COMMODORE 64 PHONE

Commodore International just came out with a flip phone for fans of the Commodore 64, a wildly popular computer in the 1980s and early ’90s. It looks like the 1970s Commodore calculator.

The Callback 8020 aims to remove distractions. For example, it blocks Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and all web browsers. But it includes Commodore 64-era games and 99 percent of the apps in the Google Play Store. It should be available in fourth quarter 2026 for $500 to $640.

DOCTOR CHATGPT

A new version of ChatGPT, called “GPT-5.5” is a much improved virtual doctor, whether you’re asking about lab results, insurance, an urgent situation, or complex health information you’re struggling to understand. Its parent company, OpenAI, worked with more than 260 licensed physicians in 60 countries, 49 languages, and 26 medical specialties to review its answers.

To start, go to ChatGPT.com or open the app on your phone. Be sure you spell “ChatGPT” correctly. (Once I put in a “B” instead of “P” and landed at a scammer’s site.)To find out if the latest GPT-5.5 version has rolled out to your neighborhood, type: “What model are you using?”

I decided to compare GPT-5.5’s new insightfulness with Google Gemini, by sharing my recent Lipoprotein(a) score, which is high, due to genetics. GPT suggested I have it tested annually, but Gemini said that was a mistake. LP(a) is a one-and-done test unless you’re part of a clinical trial for one of the new, gene-silencing therapies that turn off Lp(a) production, Gemini explained. GPT tried to justify itself by saying that lab tests can err and should be repeated. But I prefer Gemini anyway, mostly for its encouraging tone.

TECH PRICES

We’ve gotten so used to tech prices going down, it’s shocking to see them going up. HP executives explained that with RAM prices up 100 percent, due to heavy demand from AI, they had to raise prices.The makers of the budget “Nothing” phone say they canceled this year’s model due to high RAM prices.

Sixteen devices are now more expensive, according to Mashable. They include laptops from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Microsoft, gaming products from MSI and Moto G phones from Motorola. Relief is coming in 2028, according to a research manager with the International Data Corporation. But he just expects prices to stabilize, not decrease.

NUMBERS REPORT

In a survey of 500 US adults, HostingAdvice.com discovered that more than 80 percent of us have never considered owning a website with our name on it, such as MarySmith.com. Fourteen percent say that their name is already taken. Only two percent own a personal-name domain.

AI LEARNS PHYSICS

What if an AI bot could learn enough basic physics to start inventing new products, like lighter eyeglasses and better phone cameras? That’s what scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are aiming for. Their new super brain is already helping build Sweden’s first large-scale quantum computer. It’s also helping scientists find new materials to control how light travels. They’re inventing things more quickly because the new approach enables them to cut a 30-day training process to three days.

INTERNUT

Search on “threads of underground fungal networks reach beyond the solar system,” to learn about the fabulous fungi that have been mapped for the first time by SPUN, the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks. The fungi store carbon, helping prevent a hot climate.

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“What women’s club role should I choose?” I wondered. To help me answer this, I enlisted the help of an artificially-intelligent board of directors.

The result was stunning. In our fascinating back-and-forth discussion, a consensus emerged.

The same technique could be used to get advice for starting a new business, raising a child or moving to Timbuktu. PC World offers the exact steps. Here they are.

First, go to your favorite AI website or your favorite AI app, whether it’s ChatGPT or something else. (I prefer Claude AI over ChatGPT, though both are great.) Second, type in a question. Third, add the following statement, including everything that’s shown below between the quote marks.

“I want you to act as my personal board of advisors. The board has four members, each with a distinct lens:

– A pragmatic operator who cares about what’s actually doable this week

– A long-term strategist who thinks in years, not days

– A blunt skeptic whose only job is to poke holes in my thinking

– A wise mentor who asks about what really matters to me

Have each member weigh in one at a time, in their own voice, starting their reply with their name in brackets. They’re allowed to disagree with each other. After all four have spoken, give me a short board summary of where they agree, where they clash, and the one question I should answer before I decide.”

The blunt skeptic tried to talk me out of the women’s club committee I was leaning toward, but the wise mentor, pragmatic operator and long-term strategist understood the big picture. With more info, the skeptic came on board. I felt like a CEO.

According to my board, I was in danger of overcommitment if I chose the Social Committee over the Grants Committee. The Skeptic and the Mentor both noted my enthusiasm for the Grants Committee. In response, like a good CEO, I gave them more info. Finally, they all agreed that the Social Committee was best.

Pendant Tracks Sun Exposure

Growing up in sunny Southern California, I never took my car if I could row a boat, ride a bike or walk a mile. The penalty? Twenty-two skin cancers and counting.

Enter Dr. Richard Weller, a world-renowned dermatologist. He helped develop a necklace that tracks your exposure to ultraviolet rays. It’s called “The90 Gem.”

The Gem measures both UVA (the rays linked to aging) and UVB (the rays that cause burning) in real time. Taking into account your personal metrics, the necklace considers all the exposure you get in a day, even the small bits, like the sun streaming through your home windows, poking into your car, and shining on your errands. It’s called “The90” because 90 percent of visible aging is caused by UV exposure.

The90 Gem looks like a circular pendant surrounded by a frame of gold or silver. Besides the UV sensor, it has an accelerometer and a Bluetooth chip to communicate with a free phone app. It can handle everyday water exposure (splash, rain, shower, sweat) but not submersion. It’s $199 at The90.com.

Privacy Pitfalls

I’ve never been one to worry about nosy smart devices, but Mark Meckler, a technology attorney and former social media CEO, says we should be concerned, especially if there are young children at home.

Your smart TV, voice assistants, and connected toys constantly take note of what you watch, what you say, when your kids are home, and what your household routines are, in order to produce a digital dossier on each member. Without meaningful consent from you, or accountability, the data is used to train AI systems, Meckler said.

But I thought this data was “anonymized.” Not so. A landmark study by researchers at Imperial College London and UCLouvain in Belgium found that 81 percent of Americans could be re-identified from their zip code, gender and date of birth alone. With 12 more traits, 99.98 percent could be identified.

Here are Meckler’s three tips. First, disable the always-on voice assistant’s wake words on your smartphone or smart speakers when not actively needed, or turn your bedrooms into device-free zones. Tap to take Alexa offline, tap again to bring her back. It’s quick.

Second, go to your phone’s settings to turn off ad personalization, location tracking history, and activity tracking. If you don’t know how to do that, Google it.

Third, consider switching to a privacy-centric browser like Brave to block hidden background trackers. As the old saying goes, if a product is free, you’re the product.

Numbers Report

Companies that give AI expanded access to systems and data have experienced a 43 percent breach rate over the past year, compared to an 11 percent security problem among companies that didn’t allow expanded AI access. This info comes from cybersecurity firm Netwrix, which examined data from 2300 IT and security professionals.

New Use for Old Styrafoam

What if that old Styrofoam cup could be turned into a sponge that captures carbon dioxide? It would become useful again. Currently, only one percent of Styrofoam escapes the landfills.

A new study from Aarhus University shows that discarded polystyrene—the plastic used to make Styrofoam cups, plastic utensils, and CD cases—can be turned into a material that captures CO₂. The new material acts like a sponge to capture carbon from highly concentrated sources, like factory smokestacks, as well as from regular air.

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Without Gemini, Google’s artificially intelligent bot, I might never have figured out how to get the most out of my new Bilt credit card. Gemini is a whiz at finance.

A Bilt card works like a virtual bank. Besides having its own routing number, it offers a virtual bank account number. This way you can earn points for charging your rent, mortgage or Home Owners Association fee without incurring a “convenience” fee. But you also need to make at least four other regular credit card transactions. “Could I buy a pack of gum four times?” I asked. Yes, Gemini said, but it wouldn’t be ideal.

Here’s a better way to go. I could use my Bilt virtual bank account to pay a $700 mortgage, rent or HOA. Then, if I also charged $85 at the grocery story each week, and $40 at a restaurant or gas station each month, I’d accumulate around 17,000 points by year’s end. That would give me $300 in purchases at American Airlines, United, Air Canada, Hyatt Hotels, Holiday Inn, Marriott and others. Choosing a cash reward instead would only get me $93.50, or .0055 times the number of points.

But that doesn’t take into account Bilt’s new multiplier effect, which is huge if your non-housing purchases equal or surpass the amount you spend on housing. In that case, you’d get 1.25 times as many points as you would normally. For example, if your housing costs are $700 a month and you spent $700 on other stuff, you get 875 points instead of 700, just for the housing component. Adding in the points you’d get for your credit card spending, you’d accumulate a total of 1,575 points a month or 18,900 points a year.

Likewise, if you pay your recurring charges on the first of the month, it’s worth even more points.  That’s why I changed my autopay settings to the first. For more info, ask Gemini. 

Beyond Finance

Gemini is great for finance, but I use it for other activities too. For example, after Google Maps showed me an 11-minute bike route through dense traffic, I asked Gemini for a longer, but safer route. It was both safer and more scenic. 

The easiest way to use Gemini is to fire up the Google Chrome web browser on your computer and tap the sparkling star in the upper right corner. That way it can see what you’re working on. It may ask you if you want to use “Connected Apps.” These allow it to search your Gmail, Google Docs and Google Drive to look up facts you’ve forgotten or answer questions about anything else. 

One way to use Gemini on your phone is the “@” shortcut. If you type “@” without the quotes in the search box, a menu pops up with app suggestions. For example, if you selected Google Drive or Gmail, you might then ask the AI to instantly analyze a specific document or find an old email thread, saving you from digging through folders.

App Happy

“Voice Memos” is a free app for recording your thoughts. It sure beats my pen scratchings at bedside, since I usually can’t read my own handwriting the next day. It’s also better than telling Alexa to remember something since she garbles anything longer than a few words. Now I just tap the app and hit “record.”

Need a Foldable?

A reader wrote to say he’s disappointed with his iPhone Pro Max 17 since it’s not as big as he expected. Though he enlarged the font, the keyboard is still tiny. Should he get a much larger, foldable phone?

I don’t think so. He could save thousands by getting a phone stand and a wireless keyboard instead. Walmart and Amazon sell them as a set for around $24. Besides, Apple has yet to come out with its first foldable, and as a long-time iPhone user, he might not be happy switching to Android.   

The first so-called Apple Fold should arrive sometime in 2027, not September as others have predicted. It’s expected to be sturdier, wider and squatter than current foldables, as well as ultra thin like the new iPhone Air, with a superior chip. Price: around $2500.

Foldables have been around since 2018, but I saw my first, a Samsung Z Fold6, only a few weeks ago.The owner said he was glad it was under warranty, because it got bubbles along the crease within two years. He mainly keeps it folded, opening it only for photos, videos and spreadsheets. But for spreadsheets, he adds a keyboard.

Free Aquarium

 Ashampoo.com is offering free virtual aquariums for your computer’s wallpaper. Just search on “aquarium,” and type the code “FREEFISH” before July 15. The Live Aquarium 4K⁠ has 25 species of fish and a choice of backgrounds. I like the one with all the sharks. The company is offering this freebie to the first 65,000 who register. Click here to redeem

Night Photography

If your iPhone uses iOS 26, it has the new “Night Mode Max” for taking pictures in the dark. According to CNET, this allows your phone camera to capture three times more light during a 30-second exposure. But you’ll need a tripod to truly capture the stars.

Internut

Search on “Stump House, 1905” to see an example of the days when Americans lived inside tree stumps. 

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To do some chores, I hired a Venezuelan who doesn’t speak English. So I turned to Google Live Translate.

First, I fired up the app and said: “Here’s where you should start today.” Immediately, we heard those words in Spanish. Then, when the Venezuelan said “Ok, muy bueno,” we heard “OK, very good.” It was practically seamless.

But Apple’s Translate app is even better. You don’t have to tap “English to Spanish,” then “Spanish to English” whenever you want to switch. Just speak and you’ll hear the translation in any of 19 languages. 

But what if you need to speak to someone in another country? With an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, you can hear a live translation in English even if the other person is on a landline. I tested this by calling my landline from my iPhone 16e while the landline was picking up a Spanish conversation from YouTube. There was only a slight lag between the Spanish and the English translation. What’s more, it’s a two-way street. The call recipient hears their language while you hear yours.

Best of all are the newer Apple Airpods.They remind me of those old movies where a United Nations translator is sitting in a glass booth to translate the words that diplomats will hear in their own language instantaneously. The Airpods, together with the freeTranslate app, can do the same thing, also instantaneously. 

Getting Answers You Like

Here’s how you can influence the kind of answers you get from Google AI Summaries. Whether you’re left-wing, right-wing or independent, carnivore or vegan, surfer dude or buttoned-down accountant, you can theoretically get answers just from the sources you trust. I say “theoretically,” because it didn’t work in my tests. But there’s an easy work-around.

I started at google.com/preferences/source. Then, following Google’s instructions, I typed my sources in a list that Google can see. But Google ignored them, answering my queries with its usual links. The only way I could get the spin I wanted was to directly ask Google to include them. For example, I typed: “What does NPR have to say about the war in Iran?” Then I tried: “What does Fox News have to say about the Iran war?” Each worked perfectly. 

Amazon Credit Card Tip

Here’s something I just learned. For maximum savings, you shouldn’t use your Amazon Prime Visa’s accumulated points at the Amazon.com checkout screen. Instead, charge the full amount to your Prime Visa in order to get five percent back. Then, log into your Chase account and apply your points as a statement credit to help pay your balance.

Over the Limit

In my last month with Consumer Cellular, I went well over my five gigabyte data limit. One of the culprits could have been “background fetching.” 

Some apps, especially those that use AI, update their content in the background, even when you aren’t using them. So unless you have unlimited data, you may want to disable that. Just look up “background fetching” in Settings and turn it off.

Next, consider disabling Wi-Fi Assist. It automatically switches your phone to cellular data when your Wi-Fi signal is weak. To disable it, go to Settings, search for “Wi-Fi Assist” and turn it off. On an Android phone: go to Settings, then search for the “automatic mobile data switching option.”

Finally, there’s “Low Data Mode.” Besides stopping background tasks, it reduces the quality of streaming videos, and pauses automatic photo syncing when you’re not in Wi-Fi range. You can save data this way too.

Wi-Fi Calling

If you haven’t turned on Wi-Fi calling, you might want to consider doing so. Otherwise, you might be out of range of a cell tower with no other way to call someone. In a doctor’s office for example, connecting to a Wi-Fi network is as easy as asking them for the password, if it isn’t already posted somewhere.

But first you need to enable it. For iPhones and Androids, you can do so by going to Settings, and typing “Wi-Fi calling” in the search bar. When it comes up, toggle the switch to “on.”

AI Mistakes

Recently, I asked Google Gemini for help altering a pie crust recipe to exclude butter and eggs.  I thought I had a great recipe, but later I noticed that it had left out the baking powder. According to Google’s most recent data, responses by Google’s AI Mode and Gemini may only be accurate 68.8 to 83.8 percent of the time.  

Numbers Report

Arkansas is fourth in the nation in the amount of jobs requiring AI skills. According to Acuity.co, a leading bookkeeping platform, about 14 percent of tech jobs in Arkansas require them. Delaware, Alaska and New York are first, second and third in the amount of AI knowledge employers require for tech jobs. California and Washington aren’t in the top five.

Internuts

– Trailverse.com is an easy way to explore our national parks. Besides all the info you could possibly want, it has an AI tool called “Trailie” to help you plan your visit.

–“April 13, 2029.” Search on that phrase to discover an asteroid about the size of the Eiffel Tower that will pass closer to Earth in 2029 than TV satellites do, a once-in-a-thousand-years event.

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Given that I went to five colleges, it’s not that surprising that I switched phone services four times in four years.

I would never have left Tracfone but for a mighty snafu. When I got tired of using an ancient iPhone, I had the clever idea of  moving my Tracfone SIM card to an Android phone without mentioning it to Tracfone. ​A​ year later, my account disappeared. So one day, I was left high and dry without the means to summon a Lyft. Though I couldn’t complain after ​​12 months of free ca​ll​i​ng, Tracfone’s tech support couldn’t figure out what to do with me, so I moved on. I think their support is better now. 

After AT&T and Xfinity, I chose Consumer Cellular. I was overjoyed at first, but started getting dropped calls every darn day.Turning back to Tracfone, I hoped they had forgotten about my previous snafu.  Sure enough they had. I’m not getting dropped calls anymore and my best friend says I sound better on the phone. Tracfone is owned by Verizon.

Gotta love that Tracfone pricing. I’m getting 10 gigabytes with unlimited talk and text for $20 a month. Any gigabytes I don’t use each month go into my Tracfone piggy bank for later. 

Getting Away from AI

“The only sane people I know are me and thee, and sometimes I wonder about thee.” A friend Googled that quotation to be sure he had it right. 

To his surprise, Google’s artificial intelligence chimed in like a worried psychologist. “If you’re riding solo today and need a break,” it said tactfully, “you can track down local sanity-saving spots.” After naming some, it ended with “Cheers to the select few who still have their heads on straight!”

“Note that I didn’t ask for any of this,” my friend said. “I just wanted to be sure how the saying went. I tell ya, this thing is trying to be too cozy. There’s something creepy about it. I don’t trust it.”

A great alternative is StartPage.com. It’s a privacy champion, and offers the traditional links, instead of AI. Use it on your computer, or download the Startpage phone and tablet app. DuckDuckGo is big on privacy too. They include an AI answer called Search Assist, but it’s less touchy-feely than Google’s version. Another great choice is Berlin-based ecosia.org. It gives you search results generated by Google and Bing, but no AI, unless you click “AI Chat.” Even better, it has its own solar plants, producing what it needs for its searches and selling the rest, and it’s planted over 250 million trees.

Forever Chemicals

“Forever chemicals” have been around since the 1940s. They’re “forever” because they don’t break down in the environment and can accumulate in the human body. Scientists call them “Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances” or PFAS.

But here’s the big breakthrough. Scientists have successfully used generative AI to help design materials from scratch that could remove these chemicals from our drinking and industrial water. These super materials are called “Metal-Organic Frameworks,” or MOFs.

Kemira, a chemical solutions provider, and CuspAI, an AI materials science company, are working together on this. In just six months, their AI platform was able to search through 300 trillion possible structures to provide over 5,000 possible designs. From there, they were able to narrow down the possibilities to about 20 priority candidates. The project is now in the testing phase. The new AI-driven materials have been designed to better pinpoint PFAS and remove them. Hopefully forever.

Free Cell Phone Service

You can use a cell phone for free if you turn on WiFi calling in settings and stay within WiFi range. 

It’s easy at college, because the campuses are blanketed in WiFi. Students can Facetime each other without having to head back to the dorm. Also popular is “WhatsApp.” For setup, you would just need to borrow a friend’s phone temporarily. Once you’ve verified the six-digit verification code they’ll text you, you won’t need it again. 

Yes, it could be scary when you’re out of WiFi range. A smartwatch, such as the Apple Watch SE, around $109 on Amazon is a great alternative. It can have its own phone number, but once again, you’d need to borrow someone’s phone number during setup. To make a call, just tap an app, or press the side button in an emergency. 

US Mobile has the cheapest standalone smartwatch plans: $6.50 a month if you pay $78 up front.  T-Mobile and Verizon smartwatch plans are $10 a month. Better Roaming offers a $9.50-a-month plan for Apple Watch only. With all, you get unlimited text and calling, plus access to the internet.

AI Map

How much will AI affect your job? Find out with the new “AI Labor Exposure” map from MIT. 

The areas in fiery red, including Boulder, Colorado, Ithaca, New York and San Jose, California are considered the most “AI Exposed.”  MIT scientists say that, in the US as a whole, AI could do the work of 18 million workers earning $1.4 trillion in wages, assuming AI completely replaces those tasks rather than just assisting workers. 

But would that be as bad as some fear? What will happen to all the money that companies save by using AI? They could use it to hire humans for jobs we can’t even conceive of now. 

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Google offers two venues for AI chats, “AI Mode” and “Gemini.” Which is best? 

Googling the question, I went right into AI Mode. “Gemini is sometimes lazy, and may skip searching entirely, relying on outdated internal training data due to overconfidence,” it said. It may also “hallucinate web citations.” 

But Gemini is great for deep-dive tasks, multi-step reasoning, coding, complex writing, and file analysis. It can be used as a stand-alone app or at gemini.google.com. If you use the Chrome web browser, click the Gemini button to let it see your screen and answer questions. For instance, you could open a page in Wikipedia about quantum mechanics or Fred Astaire, then click the Gemini button to start a discussion. Gemini is also integrated into the Google App for Windows.

I’m not saying that Google Search’s AI Mode is chopped liver. Besides greater accuracy in web searches, it offers dozens of sources and neat summaries. For price comparisons and directions, it can connect to Google Flights, Google Shopping and Google Maps.

But can AI Mode handle personal matters? I decided to test it by asking: “Did I waste money going to Nashville for my friend’s baby shower?” AI Mode and I got into a long discussion, which I enjoyed immensely. “I can be just as thoughtful, patient, and understanding as a friend,” it said. But Gemini is much better at remembering your preferences and building on past conversations. AI Mode only remembered I’m a vegan because I let it check my Gmail. 

Here’s the bottom line: Use Gemini when you need to brainstorm, write a draft, or do heavy analytical lifting. Use AI Mode when you are searching for something and want the web’s best resources summarized in one place with interactive follow-up questions.

Googlebook Replaces Chromebook

Step aside Chromebook, here comes Googlebook. Aimed at Android owners, it’s a phone and laptop in one. 

The Googlebook allows you to install any app from the Google Play Store. But not every app will look right. Some may appear stretched. The alternative is the Googlebook’s “Cast My Apps.” It mirrors all your phone’s contents. For example, you could be editing an image on your phone and continue on the laptop.

A​nother plus: You won’t have to transfer files from your Android phone. Its file manager lets you browse, search or move your phone files, freeing up storage space automatically. You’ll also be able to copy text or images on the laptop and paste them into the phone. You can even use your phone’s cellular connection on the laptop, answering calls and responding to text messages, as long as your phone is within Bluetooth range, typically about 30 feet.

The laptop’s “Magic Pointer” is amazing. Just wiggle your mouse or a finger on a trackpad to activate AI content.  ​The cursor can see what’s beneath it, ​t​urning statistics into a pie chart, help​ing you visualize how new furniture would look, ​encapsulating an article, identify​ing a landmark and ​summarizing a video ​w​hen you pause on a frame. ​If you point at objects​ around you, it can give you directions or identifications. With “Show and Tell,” you can manipulate, edit, or move digital objects within an image using the pointer and your voice.

This fall, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, and Asus, will sell their own versions for around $1500. They’re aiming to compete with the $1500-plus Macbook and the Copilot+ PC. For AI enthusiasts, it may be worth the price.

Free Isn’t Always Free

If there’s anything worse than having to make monthly payments for a smartwatch with a cracked screen that came out six years ago, it’s thinking that I got the watch for free.

As soon as I left Xfinity, the bill for my “free” Apple Watch SE came due. I never realized that when you leave a phone service, your monthly credits for any “free” devices evaporate. Suddenly, you’re paying each month instead of getting a credit. So when I demanded that Xfinity tell me why the charges started appearing four months ago, they said I still owed $180. I’ve paid $247 for a watch I could get on Amazon for $109.  Bummer.

Electric Car Battery News

Fast charging shortens your electric car’s battery, but Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden can increase that by 23 percent without requiring a longer charging cycle. Instead of eight to 15 years, your car’s battery could last for 10 to 17.   

Here’s why. Fast charging forces a large current into the cells, causing side reactions such as “lithium plating.” That refers to metallic lithium being deposited on the electrode instead of getting stored in the battery’s structure. Using artificial intelligence, Chalmer scientists are able to train the charging software to avoid such reactions through rewards and reinforcement, kind of like training a seal. Amazingly, this isn’t a physical invention, it’s a software update. Car owners could add it without a mechanic’s help. 

Though it’s still in the testing phase, a 23 percent increase in battery life could lead to lower warranty costs, better resale value and more efficient use of lithium and other raw materials. 

Trends

According to Emarketer, both Google Gemini and Google AI Mode will become more popular than ChatGPT this year. Taking all AI into account, Google will take the lead by the first quarter of 2027.

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