Posted on January 31st, 2022 by Joy Schwabach
Thank goodness for plant apps: I tend to under-water, except when I over-water. I don’t fertilize. I only re-pot when the roots are so big and gnarly there’s no dirt left. “Planta,” for iPhone and Android, rescued me. It puts every task on a schedule without being a Nazi about it. On watering day, for example, it will ask me if the soil is still damp. If so, I can snooze the alert. Different plants are on different schedules. For example, my ZZ plant is over three feet high but almost never needs watering. Unfortunately, the free version of Planta only gives watering reminders – no plant identification or care advice. The paid version, for $36 a year, gives you […]
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Filed under: apps, cameras, education, gadgets, Internuts, troubleshooting | Comments Off on PLANT APP PUTS HOUSEHOLD PLANTS ON A SCHEDULE
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 January 17th, 2022 by Joy Schwabach
Ever since Kenny, my favorite tech guru, switched careers, I’ve been hearing moans from the readers who relied on him for help. Here are a few good alternatives. The Central Arkansas public library has online tech lessons, as does YouTube. For the library, you can register for one of their “how to” courses by writing them at digital@cals.org, or by calling 501-918-3068. Everything is free. For more extensive help, try a “TotalTech” membership from BestBuy. It covers computers, TVs, car accessories and more for $200 a year. With that, you get round-the-clock help by phone and chat, as well as discounted prices on stuff you buy from BestBuy. For the stuff you buy, you get free set-up. This includes mounting […]
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Filed under: browsers, gadgets, Gmail, Google, tech support, web | Comments Off on FINDING GOOD TECH SUPPORT
Posted on January 10th, 2022 by Joy Schwabach
For Christmas, my nephew got me a year’s subscription to an app called “Brilliant.” Maybe I’ll end up being as brilliant as he is. Brilliant.org has over 60 “STEM” courses (science, technology, engineering and math.) They include everything from pre-algebra to the paradoxes of infinity. There’s a free version, but it only gives you the first few chapters of each topic. The paid version is $150 a year or $25 a month. It’s an amazing way to learn, taking you up a gentle slope until you’re “thinking like a scientist,” or doing advanced statistics, or in my case, learning “science essentials,” which includes the history of important discoveries. I’m tempted by the cryptocurrency course, which has comic art, but it […]
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Filed under: apps, business, email, Gmail | Comments Off on BRILLIANT APP MAKES US ALL SMARTER
Posted on January 3rd, 2022 by Joy Schwabach
I might have said yes to the cat my neighbor offered me if I’d had “Leo’s Loo Too,” a robotic kitty-litter cleaner from SmartyPear that ships this month. It looks like a miniature dryer. Cat pooh can be dangerous. According to a University of Chicago study, 60 million Americans have “toxoplasmosis,” a parasite you can get from touching it. It causes “intermittent explosive disorder” and increased aggression in humans, experts say. With the Loo Too litter cleaner, a rotating drum separates your fur baby’s pooh and sends it into a carbon-filtered, odor-containing waste drawer. When the drawer is full, a notification on your smart phone tells you it’s time to take out the trash, which is automatically bagged. You’re back […]
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Filed under: apps, computers, gadgets, health, how-to, Internuts, Windows | 1 Comment »
