THE NEW GOOGLE?
The web is abuzz with “ChatGPT,” a new search engine. Some say it’s better than Google. It took only five days to reach a million users.
In answer to your queries, ChatGPT can write poems, essays, opinion pieces and programming code. One of its answers explained how World War I contributed to World War II. But it doesn’t chat. When I complimented it, it got confused.
To start, go to chat.openai.com and sign up for a free account. Take a look at the sample searches. They’re OK, but things get much more interesting when your queries get quirky.
I asked it to “write bedtime instructions for toddlers in the style of the King James Bible.” It came back with: “And it came to pass that the parents did speak unto their little ones, saying: ‘Now therefore, my dear children, as the night cometh and the sandman doth approach, prepare ye to lay down thy sweet heads upon thy pillows…Close thou thine eyes, and let the gentle embrace of sleep overtake thee.”
Next I asked for “a Shakespeare sonnet on “the joys of plant-based eating.” The poem included: “A feast for eyes as well as tongue and soul… For in these foods, we find our perfect goal.” Answers will vary according to the beliefs evident in your query. Thank goodness, however, it refused my request to write a hymn to Joseph Stalin, thus avoiding the kind of false information that took down Microsoft’s “Tay” and Facebook’s chatbot.
Pornographic Texts
“Can you recommend an app so I can block these crazy, sick people from inundating my cell phone with unwanted messages?” my nephew asked. “I just received one that is really sick, with a pornographic picture. Even if I need to pay, I want this to stop. I have ATT.”
AT&T has a free app called “ActiveArmor.” T-Mobile has one called “Scam Shield.” There’s also the “Nomorobo” app for $2 per month. If you look up your carrier and the words “app to block spam,” you’ll get recommendations.
Six Presents You’ll Wish You Got
This list includes everything you’ll wish you asked Santa for, according to author David Pogue, who appeared in “Holiday Gifts from Techno Claus” on CBS News.
- “Hotdot” handwarmers” Unlike the chemical kind, these can be recharged. They’re in the shape of Twinkies, one for each hand, and they also charge your phone. The pink ones go for $26 on Amazon. The others cost $35.
- “Renpho Smart Jump Rope” lets you analyze your jumping workouts. To avoid interruptions, use the handles without the rope.
- “JBL Clip 3” is a $45 portable speaker. It clips onto your belt, or something near you, like a cabinet handle, and it’s waterproof.
- KJOY Bluetooth App Control LED Sign is a $60, 15-by-4-inch banner that lights up to
display your message. Paste it on your car’s rear window to show off custom texts, emoticons, animations, and patterns. - “Therabody Smart Goggles Eye Mask” is temporarily sold out at therabody.com, despite the $199 price. It diminishes headaches, relieves eye strain and helps you fall asleep. I had to do a Google search to find it, however, because I didn’t see it on their website.
Quantum Trends
Scientists at Chalmers University in Sweden have engineered artificial atoms to help create quantum computers. Quantum computers can solve problems in a day or two that would normally take millions of years. These include breaking the internet by cracking the encryption that protects it.
For more info on quantum technology, do a search on: “The World-Changing Race to Develop the Quantum Computer.” You’ll get a New Yorker magazine article, the best I’ve seen so far. According to one expert quoted in the piece, Google is ahead of China.
In explaining “quantum entanglement,” for example, the writer asks you to imagine that ordinary objects, such as coins, could be entangled. If they behaved like photons do, every time you observed one, you’d affect the other. So if you got “heads,” the other coin would show “tails,” even if it was resting on Pluto. Einstein was the first to describe this phenomenon, but even he was baffled by it. However, it’s been verified. For example, physicist Pan Jien-Wei sent a photon to an orbiting satellite, which was entangled with a photon in Tibet. A third photon on Earth transferred its properties to the one in space using “quantum teleportation.”
Zillow for Ranchers
Ranchers now have a Zillow-like tool for analyzing their land. It’s free at Enriched.ag.
Start by zooming in on a map of the US. Click to draw a box around your real or fantasy farmland. You’ll get charts and graphs showing the grazeable acres, the drought status, the annual forage production and the cumulative precipitation over the years.
Not long ago, the idea of using a computer algorithm to measure the health of your land seemed crazy. But with satellites, cameras, ground sensors, and advances in artificial intelligence, it’s become easy. Recently, Enriched.ag was awarded $9 million in seed money. One of its execs has a PhD in beef cattle production. I didn’t even know that was a thing.
Internut
“MIT scientists made solar panels thinner than human hair.” Search on that phrase to see stickers that turn anything into a solar panel with 18 times the power of traditional panels by weight. These would be great in remote areas, where it’s tough to get power.