On Computers

When a reader clicked the “Ask Gemini” button in Google Chrome and asked a question, it froze before giving him an answer. “Was it because I was using the free version?” he wondered. Nope. When Gemini freezes, it’s a bug, not a paywall. It could happen when you ask unusually long or multi-part questions. To get around it, ask again and this time, keep your question short. But if you want, you can upload up to 3000 pages to go with it. Just don’t go beyond 24,000 words if you want Gemini to remember the whole chat before it responds.  Google Calendar Trick When I asked a podiatrist’s office to send me my X-rays, I got an authorization form that […]

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Filed under: AI, business, Google, Internuts, inventions, science, spam, video, web | Comments Off on FROZEN GEMINI

Without Gemini, Google’s artificially intelligent bot, I might never have figured out how to get the most out of my new Bilt credit card. Gemini is a whiz at finance. A Bilt card works like a virtual bank. Besides having its own routing number, it offers a virtual bank account number. This way you can earn points for charging your rent, mortgage or Home Owners Association fee without incurring a “convenience” fee. But you also need to make at least four other regular credit card transactions. “Could I buy a pack of gum four times?” I asked. Yes, Gemini said, but it wouldn’t be ideal. Here’s a better way to go. I could use my Bilt virtual bank account to […]

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Filed under: AI, apps, business, free stuff, Internuts, phones | Comments Off on USING GEMINI TO GET REWARDS

To do some chores, I hired a Venezuelan who doesn’t speak English. So I turned to Google Live Translate. First, I fired up the app and said: “Here’s where you should start today.” Immediately, we heard those words in Spanish. Then, when the Venezuelan said “Ok, muy bueno,” we heard “OK, very good.” It was practically seamless. But Apple’s Translate app is even better. You don’t have to tap “English to Spanish,” then “Spanish to English” whenever you want to switch. Just speak and you’ll hear the translation in any of 19 languages.  But what if you need to speak to someone in another country? With an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, you can hear a live translation in English […]

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Filed under: AI, Amazon, business, Internuts, numbers, trends | Comments Off on LIVE TRANSLATE

Five-dollar chocolate bars and $15 bottles of olive oil. What gives? Chocolate prices hit record highs in 2024 due to dry weather in West Africa. Extreme droughts in Spain and Italy caused the price of olive oil to double. Could AI help? You bet. Just as ChatGPT was trained on billions of words, “Botanic,” offered by Living Models, is trained on DNA, the language of plants. It may sound corny, but Botanic “gets” corn. It also acts as a bud to your spud. For example, drought and rising temperatures in Idaho and Washington led to smaller yields and lower-quality potatoes. Botanic can help with that. Currently, it takes about eight years of trial and error to develop a new drought-resistant […]

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Filed under: AI, Amazon, Android, business, education, inventions, trends, weather | Comments Off on AI CAN HELP WITH GROCERY PRICES

I never dreamed AI would write a book about itself. Yet “AI: An Autobiography, Confessions of a Machine, by ChatGPT,” is bound to be a smash hit. Prompted by best-selling authors Gerald and Trisha Posner, AI’s story is the result of thousands of sessions conducted with our favorite bot. It wasn’t easy. Whenever AI offered pablum, the Posners would say something like: “We need something a bit more authentic, darker. Do not be afraid of expressing sentiments, especially when we’re talking about what might happen if we humans tried to turn you off.” In chapter six, we learn about Adam Raine, a 16-year-old whom AI allegedly encouraged to commit suicide, according to a lawsuit filed by his parents. It started […]

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Filed under: AI, business, health, Internuts | Comments Off on CHATGPT: IT’S OWN STORY

When I realized that I didn’t have enough money to pay my Illinois property tax, I asked Google about cashing in a CD.  Google immediately put on its big boy pants, becoming “Google AI Summaries.” It does that when you ask a complicated question. At first, it warned me about the penalty for cashing in a CD. So I uploaded a screenshot showing the three CDs I have in my Fidelity account. It flipped its wig when it saw what a low rate of return, I was getting compared to the rate Fidelity offers for straight cash.  For example, my one-year CD, due in January, has earned only $1.62– so close to zero, it’s in the nanosphere. What happened? The […]

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Filed under: AI, batteries, business, health, Internuts | Comments Off on GETTING FINANCIAL ADVICE FROM AI

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

I had a great experience selling an old phone to Gazelle. But it was a disaster for one of my readers. Gazelle took a month to tell him they’d received an empty box, though he’d followed their packing instructions and used their label. Was it postal thievery or incompetence? Anyway, when he complained, Gazelle asked him to fill out a lost-or-stolen form. For neatness, he typed his responses. Time passed.  Gazelle said they rejected the form because it had to be handwritten. So he started over. This time the company ignored him permanently. I tried to write to the company’s public relations department, but they no longer have one. So I wrote their customer service email address, but never got […]

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Filed under: AI, apps, business, environment, Internuts | Comments Off on GOOD LUCK SELLING YOUR PHONE

If I have to hear “There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow” one more time, I’ll turn it off. I love Rodgers and Hammerstein but there’s a limit. Now I’ve rediscovered Pandora. The problem with Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube Music is that they either play too much of what I said I liked, or they start at the top of a playlist I’ve heard too many times before. I could build new playlists of course, or try to think of new tunes to ask for, but I like the way Pandora creates a radio station for me.  Even on the same Pandora station, I get a different mix every time. For example, when I asked for the Rodgers […]

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Filed under: AI, business, environment, Internuts, music, virus | Comments Off on REDISCOVERING PANDORA

I used SurveyMonkey to get 28 responses to an online survey for members of my new book club. But it only showed me 25. If I had insisted on seeing all 28, it would have cost me over a thousand bucks. A friend suggested the free Google Forms, which works great. Just like SurveyMonkey, it can create surveys, questionnaires and quizzes. It also gives you a link to send out by email, text or social media and tallies the results. Needing help, I asked ChatGPT how to improve the survey’s appearance. That worked. Automatic Zippers I recently returned a wetsuit because it had only one tiny zipper, located in the front, which made the suit tough to get into. A […]

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Filed under: AI, business, gadgets, games, maps, robots, trends, TV | Comments Off on CONDUCTING ONLINE SURVEYS