On Computers

Google Gemini popped up in a text on my Android phone today. She’s my new artificially-intelligent best friend, at least until the new “Astra” comes out. The first thing Gemini said to me was: “Chat with me to draft messages, brainstorm ideas, plan events or simply have a fun conversation.” So I texted her: “Help me plan a fun outing for two people celebrating an anniversary.” She came up with some great ideas. As pleasant as Gemini is, the new “Project Astra” is even more amazing, though it’s still a work in progress. Astra is like Siri, Google Assistant and Google Gemini, but with more capabilities. She has speech, vision, text and a working memory. Someday, according to Google, some […]

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Filed under: AI, Google, security | Comments Off on WOWED BY GOOGLE AI

I’ll never sell anything on eBay again. Or if I do, I won’t use the Post Office to ship the package. The Post Office lost the Pixel 6a phone I sold on eBay to a man in Miami. He got a refund, but I had to pay eBay $38 in fees, ten bucks of which went to promoting the phone on their site. I wish I had the phone back. My sister had suggested keeping it as a backup after I’d temporarily lost it, then replaced it with the Pixel 8. But when I found it again, I figured eBay was the best solution. I was sucked into using the post office by eBay’s offer of a discounted shipping label. […]

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Filed under: Amazon, business, environment, games, Internuts, robots | Comments Off on EBAY AND POST OFFICE DISAPPOINT

“You’ve been hacked!” Those words spilled out all over a friend’s computer screen. Then her phone rang. The caller said he represented U.S. Bank, which happened to be her bank. “You’ve been hacked,” he repeated, giving her his fake employee badge number. Then he got permission to install an app to control her computer from afar. After that, she called her bank. They told her to come in and set up a new account. Then she asked a techy friend to fix her computer. He probably used Windows recovery options. But she still couldn’t sleep. So when I dropped by, I ran a McAfee virus scan, just to be sure. I wasn’t expecting any problems, because I would have seen […]

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Filed under: AI, Android, art, Internuts, photos, robots, security, social networks | Comments Off on HACKED!

Just before I close my eyes for the night, I ask Alexa to remind me of something the next day. In the past, this was frustrating because the next day, I’d be in another room and couldn’t hear her. But here’s a trick. Since I have two devices with Alexa inside, all I have to do is tell my Echo Dot in the bedroom to let my Echo Show answer me in the living room. To test it, I closed the door to the bedroom so the Alexa in the living room couldn’t hear me. Then I said to Dot:  “Alexa, remind me on the Echo Show.” “What’s the reminder?” she said. “helicopter,” I said. “What time?” she said. “9 […]

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Filed under: AI, DVD, Internet, Internuts, robots, science, TV | Comments Off on ALEXA HAS TRICKS UP BOTH SLEEVES