Posted on June 26th, 2023 by Joy Schwabach
I just got the phone and internet deal of a lifetime: $5 a month for internet service, $15 a month for cell. But first I embarked on a tortuous journey through the Xfinity labyrinth. Like a character in Kafka’s “The Castle,” I encountered nothing but friendly people, eager to speed me on my way while bogging me down in a bureaucratic slurry. For example, I had to call back after the first lengthy chat, and was told that an agent would call me in seven to 10 hours, which turned into 24. The second time, I chatted with an agent for 44 minutes just to correct the typo I’d made in my address and to find out if I were […]
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Filed under: AI, gadgets, Internuts, phones | Comments Off on GETTING A GOOD INTERNET AND PHONE DEAL
Posted on June 19th, 2023 by Joy Schwabach
Nothing beats swimming while an orchestra plays in your head. I’m talking about the new Run Plus waterproof headphones sent to me from Mojawa. The headphones work well on land too. They’re like a thin cable that wraps lightly around the back of your head, with loops for your ears. I tried something similar from Shokz six months ago, but had trouble getting my long hair plus headphones inside my swim cap. A friend suggested I wear the headphones outside my cap. That works great. Thanks to bone conduction technology, I don’t have to line up the ear loops to my ears. The sound quality is excellent, even in water, though my splashing interferes with the tunes somewhat. To get […]
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Filed under: AI, books, gadgets, iPad, music, phones, security | Comments Off on SWIMMING TO THE MUSIC
Posted on June 12th, 2023 by Joy Schwabach
I just tried the latest version of Google. You can try it too. It’s great. This is not Google Bard, the artificially intelligent chatbot I wrote about recently. It’s a brand-new Google, a mix of Bard and traditional searching. To find it, go to labs.withgoogle.com and click “join the waitlist.” You should be on in a week. Once in, go to labs.withgoogle.com in Chrome or a Chrome-based browser. Then click on an example and type a follow-up question. I went from a conversation about “why dogs like tennis balls” to an explanation of the affection they feel for their owners. Here’s what’s great: You get the info without having to click links or leave the page, but the links are […]
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Filed under: 3D Printing, gadgets, phones | Comments Off on A NEW GOOGLE
Posted on June 5th, 2023 by Joy Schwabach
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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Filed under: AI, apps, art, education, gadgets, robots, security | Comments Off on STOPPING TRACKERS IN THEIR TRACKS
