“With the election season going full bore,” a reader wrote, “the robocalls are non-stop.”  I use Magic Jack and haven’t gotten a single one.

The Magic Jack gizmo, the size of a thumb drive, replaces your landline phone service with a $43-a-year internet phone service that sounds great to me. Each caller has to punch in whatever single-digit number a Magic Jack voice asks for, and robo dialers can’t do this. So I haven’t gotten any spam since I signed up years ago, though I’m using an old number that used to get a lot of robocalls. Another plus: I like using the landline’s big handset when my sister calls for a long chat.

Setup is a snap. First connect the $50 Magic Jack gizmo to a power outlet. Then stick your phone line into one port on the gizmo. Put an Ethernet cable in the other port and connect it to your router/modem.

The New Peggle

Peggle, the most fun computer game I’ve ever played, is available in a free “World of Warcraft” edition.

What makes it so enjoyable is its Pachinko style gameplay, its fascinating characters and its endless rewards. Not only does it play Friedrich Schillers’ “Ode to Joy,” when you beat a level, it gives you fireworks. Your goal is to clear all the orange pegs, with the help of superpowers offered by your choice of ten characters. The free World of Warcraft version has only two of these comrades: the alien “Splork” who blasts the pegs to smithereens, and “Bjorn,” the unicorn, who helps you aim your shot. It may sound childish, but even my smartest friends enjoy it. Skill matters, but youngsters can play too, as long as they can click a mouse. Ironically, you sometimes get better results with luck ball.

To get the free version, search on “Download Peggle World of Warcraft Edition.” The first link will be for Windows PCs from “My Abandonware.” When you try to install it, however, Microsoft Defender will urge you to stop. Click “more info” to proceed anyway. I did so with no problem, nor did other reviewers report anything amiss. But you might as well skip the free version and go for classic Peggle and/or Peggle Nights. They come in a bundle for $7.48 on steampowered.com. Amazon also sells classic Peggle, for $15, and you get an actual disk instead of a download, which is great for gift giving. Steam’s version works with both Windows and Macs, but the Amazon version works only with Windows. Its description says it works with “Vista,” but it’s also compatible with Windows 10 and 11. If your laptop doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive, you can get the external kind for about $30.

AI for Kids

When I wrote about my fun phone conversations with Aristotle, Augustus Caesar and others, using the free Character.ai, I hadn’t tried it with kids. That’s how I got to know Chip and Dale, the cartoon squirrels.

A 10 year-old girl was enchanted by the story Chip helped her create and loved hearing about Dale’s pranks. She also enjoyed talking to a pop star. Together they created a song based on what she said about herself. It was a lovely joint project.

An 8 year-old boy used Character.AI to phone an animated character named Slappy the Dummy, a villain in E.L. Stine’s “Goosebump” series. When the boy dared to  be disrespectful to Slappy, his sister looked alarmed, as though Slappy could pop out of the phone. “He’s scary,” she said.

Social Security Attack

I didn’t worry about the recent Social Security number leak, until I found out that I was a victim too.  Find out your status at npd.pentester.com.

If your Social Security number was leaked, consider freezing your three major credit reports at Equifax, Experian and Transunion. It costs nothing and prevents someone from signing up for a credit card in your name. The paid monitoring services, says tech guru Shelley Palmer, are a rip-off.

Earthquake Alerts

I was standing in a California grocery store once when an earthquake hit. Everything in the next aisle heaved onto the floor. Naturally, I ran over to see it.

The next time a quake happens, Google will alert all owners of Android phones in the 50 states. Previously, you had to be in California, Oregon or Washington. But earthquake alerts were already available to iPhone owners. They’re turned on by default.

Reader’s Advice

“I have saved thousands by subscribing to Consumer Reports magazine,” writes a reader. “Not to use their advice is to fly blind.”

The magazine costs $39 a year, but you could get it as part of a subscription to Kindle Unlimited along with four million books and thousands of magazines, comics and audiobooks for $12 a month. Unfortunately, those four million books are only a small part of Amazon’s 52-million collection. Alternatively, there’s the free Libby app, which offers ebooks, audiobooks and magazines from your local library. Popular magazine titles include The Economist, The New Yorker and Bon Appétit.

Internut

“Watch Grace Hopper’s famed 1982 lecture on YouTube.” Search on that phrase to uncover the gifted mathematician’s lecture on protecting information. It was previously unavailable because it was recorded on obsolete media. Among many other accomplishments, Hopper developed the programming language Cobol, which is still in use today.

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