Posted on September 29th, 2025 by Joy Schwabach
When a new dentist said I needed a crown, I was suspicious. But should I have been? “You’re not being paranoid at all,” said TheRealRealTalk, an artificially-intelligent chatbot available at Poe.com. “Your Spidey-sense is tingling for a good reason! Here’s the deal: New practice owners often have massive loans to pay off, and suddenly everyone needs crowns. Funny how that works, right?” The new dentist wanted to rush the surgery because she was going on pregnancy leave a few days later and claimed I could have a cracked tooth in a few weeks. But I decided against it. A week later I asked for X-rays to be emailed to me so I could use them to get a second opinion. […]
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Filed under: AI, Apple, gadgets, iPhone, security, TV | Comments Off on ASKING AI FOR DENTAL ADVICE
Posted on September 22nd, 2025 by Joy Schwabach
I loved canoeing to an Alaskan glacier, kayaking around islands and river rafting past eagles after a hike in a rainforest. But I hated the dropped calls and spotty internet on board the Discovery Princess. I blamed it on my Samsung Galaxy A16, which I bought after my Pixel 8 phone died in a pool of salad dressing. After Googling “problems with the Galaxy A16,” my suspicions were confirmed. For the entire week on the “Holistic Holiday at Sea,” my phone had problems making calls and connecting to the internet. Meanwhile, my iPhone-owning friends connected everywhere but the elevators. For one wild minute, I considered getting the new iPhone 17 when I got back home. But I don’t need its […]
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Filed under: AI, Internet, iPhone, phones, storage | Comments Off on JUMPING SHIP
Posted on September 15th, 2025 by Joy Schwabach
Years ago, my mom put a sign on our door that said: “Back in 30 minutes, come on in.” The thieves loved it. Of course, Mom could have avoided the robbery, including the theft of my class ring, by giving her handyman a code to get in. But smart locks weren’t a thing back then. So I got excited when Nuki sent me their Smart Lock. It didn’t work with my condo’s deadbolt, but my techiest friend was happy to try it out. His door didn’t even have a deadbolt, but he bought one for $16. After installing it, inserting the Nuki was “a piece of cake,” he said. “You could do it.” A smart lock is great for a […]
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Filed under: AI, apps, books, business, gadgets, security, Windows | Comments Off on THE PERFECT LOCK
Posted on September 6th, 2025 by Joy Schwabach
You may have heard of ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Character.ai and Claude, but have you heard of Bible Teacher Bot, Creative_WritingS or theRealrealtalk? All of these and hundreds more AI assistants are available on Poe.com, a project created by Quora, my favorite question-and-answer site. I tried it out by going to Poe and clicking on the BibleTeacher-bot. “What’s a good lesson to draw from John 14?” I asked. It gave me a great answer. Next, I found Creative_WritingS, by doing a find-in-page for the word “Creative.” I asked it to come up with an ending for a friend’s novel about three Confederate soldiers returning from the war. The AI bot’s writing was cheesy and amateurish. But when I asked it to […]
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Filed under: AI, environment, gadgets, robots | Comments Off on POE.COM HOUSES HUNDREDS OF AI CHATBOTS
