GEMINI SAVES THE DAY
I didn’t expect Google Gemini to be business savvy. But it taught me how to get my money back from an unscrupulous chiropractor.
I was roped into paying over $3,400 for back adjustments I didn’t need and foot therapy I did. Somehow the guy convinced me that an invisible malady would overtake my back if I didn’t endure 24 sessions.
Although I was fooled by the X-rays of my spine, Gemini wasn’t. It said that my variation from the norm was so slight that the way I was standing might have contributed to it. Besides, I have zero back pain and no stiffness. “The spine adjustments sound like a scam, and nothing to do with your problems. They are just trying to milk you,” said New York Times best-selling author and board-certified physician Joel Fuhrman, M.D., after I showed him the X-rays.
Next, I texted the chiropractor’s office to tell them I was canceling but got no response. So I called them up. The receptionist said someone would call me back in five minutes, but no one did. Gemini encouraged me to call back in late afternoon and gave me a script. That did it. They promised a refund. But if the money doesn’t land in my account in seven business days, I will protest. Gemini said I could dispute the charge with my credit card company for services I hadn’t received.
ChatGPT health
When you go to ChatGPT.com or launch the app on your phone, look for the word “Health” in the menu. ChatGPT Health began rolling out to U.S. adults in July 2026. It allows you to connect your medical records and discuss them with ChatGPT. This discussion can also include fitness information from Apple Health on your iPhone, if you agree.
The long back-and-forth with “Chatty” (ChatGPT) led me to explore new options, like SoftWave TRT (Tissue Regeneration Therapy). Chatty also pointed out that I had a referral to a foot and ankle surgeon, which somehow I missed. Fortunately, I also learned that going to a surgeon doesn’t necessarily mean surgery. We even had a discussion about gym shoes.
AI finds witnesses
These days, police officers may not need license plates to find witnesses to a crime. Flock is testing an artificial intelligence system that can find them without that, according to Wired Magazine.
Thanks to Flock’s new AI software, OS Investigate, camera data can be combined with case files and other records to uncover the names, home addresses and relatives of potential witnesses. To start, an officer might say: “Find me witnesses based on the vehicles most seen in Central Park in the last two days during the hours of 9 p.m. to midnight.” But these features are still in the testing phase, so they may be left out of the final product.
Meanwhile, 46 communities have canceled Flock contracts, 20 have rejected proposed contracts, 19 have deactivated Flock cameras, eight have removed cameras and 12 have paused or suspended programs, according to a group calling itself “DeFlock the USA.” But that still leaves 90,000 Flock cameras all over the U.S., as well as the Motorola equipment that works with Flock.
Photo courtesy of ars technica
Mosquito-Zapping Drone
A mosquito-zapping drone from Tornyol weighs less than a golf ball. Though only 1.4 ounces and still a prototype, it uses sonar to detect mosquitoes by their distinctive wingbeat, then whams them with its propellers.
Unfortunately, in the company’s demo, it targets a moth, which is much larger, slower and easier to catch. In addition, it has to sit on its charger 90.9% of the time just to make a three-to-five minute flight, according to calculations made by New Atlas.
There’s also a cost consideration. You either pay $1,100 or sign up for the $50-a-month subscription plan. But I love the basic idea and it’s impressive that it was backed by Y Combinator, a premier technology accelerator that invests $500,000 in early-stage companies.
Amazon Drone Deliveries
Look up in the sky. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s an Amazon drone! Here comes your package.
Amazon’s delivery fleet will reach nearly 500 cities and towns by the end of this year, according to Digital Trends. That’s up from 11 currently.
The deliveries are free for Prime members on orders totaling $50 or more. If the order totals less than that, it’s $2.99 per delivery, and non-members pay $4.99. Packages can’t weigh more than five pounds, but more than 60 percent of Amazon’s most frequently purchased items qualify, including groceries, electronics, cosmetics, and medications.
There’s been some bad publicity, however. A drone struck a crane in Arizona in October 2025 and cut through an internet cable in Texas in November. Competitors include Google Wing, which has already made over one million deliveries by drone, and Zipline, with over two million across four continents.
Internut
“New sodium ion battery stores twice the energy and desalinates seawater.” Search on that phrase to read about a breakthrough. Scientists used to think the water in a battery causes damage. But scientists from the University of Surrey discovered that by leaving water in sodium vanadate hydrate, a cathode material, they could nearly double its charge capacity, speed charging and keep it stable for hundreds of cycles. The researchers also showed that the system could remove salt from water while operating.