On Computers

After buying my first expensive skin cream, I instantly felt buyers’ remorse. Had I wasted my money? The answer is “yes.” My education began when I spotted a YouTube video titled: “Number One Skin expert: three biggest myths about anti-aging, collagen and sunscreen, by Professor John McGrath.” McGrath is a professor of molecular dermatology at King’s College, London and editor of the British Journal of Dermatology. His research transformed our understanding of genetic skin disorders and vitamin D’s role in skin health.  OK, so that’s awesome, but I didn’t have the patience to listen to McGrath for over an hour. So I went to Google’s “NotebookLM” to get a summary of it, then fired off my questions. You can do […]

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Filed under: AI, crytpocurrency | Comments Off on SAVE TIME AND MONEY WITH NOTEBOOK LM

Have you ever received a printed card a day before Christmas or Hanukkah, too late to respond? I have. Electronic greetings to the rescue. I’ve just been trying out Ashampoo’s new PhotoCard 3, $22 for Windows. To start, choose a design, then click an empty space to upload your photos, or snap a picture from a webcam connected to your computer. Next click “create” to share it on Facebook, by email or by printing it out. For more elaborate, multi-page cards, I like Punchbowl e-greetings for $45 a year. They allow you to add a short video recorded live as well as a gift card from many stores. Jacquie Lawson cards are also gorgeous and less expensive than Punchbowl. Their […]

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Filed under: Amazon, apps, crytpocurrency, games, science | Comments Off on LAST MINUTE GREETINGS

I love listening to books in Amazon’s Audible app. Many of the voice actors dramatize the scenes so well, it’s like listening to a play. But times are changing, thanks to artificial intelligence. Now you don’t have to ask Meryl Streep to come into the studio since you already have a sample of her voice. Audible can clone it with AI. But will the clones be able to perform the full range of characters? For example, when Jonathan Cecil read P.G. Wodehouse, he could convincingly switch from a young man’s role to that of an old woman. Currently, Audible is only inviting a small group of US-based narrators to train AI to replicate their voices. But if this thing takes […]

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Filed under: AI, Amazon, apps, art, crytpocurrency, Internet, security | Comments Off on AUDIBLY AI

“This morning it took about four minutes to download the newspaper,” a reader wrote. “Usually, it’s only seconds.” Neither of us could figure it out, so he called his internet service, Xfinity. They said the problem was his wiring. But why, he wondered, would his download speed be 20 Mbps one day and 500 Mbps the next? After a runaround, he gave up on Xfinity and signed up for AT&T’s fiber optics service. He’s very happy with it. I like AT&T too. But I switched to Xfinity last summer when I found an unbeatable deal: internet service for $5 a month and cell service for $15 a month. But I had a heck of a time getting Xfinity to acknowledge […]

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Filed under: apps, crytpocurrency, Google, phones, scanners, shopping | Comments Off on BOOSTING YOUR INTERNET SPEED

I left my phone in a Lyft on the way to the airport. But Google Voice, the free phone service, saved me. Using the airport’s free WiFi on my laptop, I went to Voice.Google.com and typed in my friend’s phone number, to say that I’d arrived. Alternatively, I could have used the Google Voice app, though on a Windows machine you need to go to the website instead. Either way, the call quality is excellent. The great thing is, Google Voice lets you call anyone. With apps like Facebook Messenger, your recipients must use the same service. For the next six days, I was happily phoneless. But I still wanted to find the darn thing. So I Googled “Find My […]

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Filed under: Amazon, apps, books, cheap calls, crytpocurrency, Google, how-to, Internuts, security, training, video | Comments Off on GOOGLE VOICE SAVES THE DAY

Here’s something to compete with Amazon’s $999 Astro robot. It’s a robot pet that acts adorably like a dog. “Loona” scratches and sneezes at the start of the day. When she sees you, she gets excited, turning in a circle, stomping her paws and making happy sounds. Stroke her head and she gets even happier. Standing 6.8 inches high, her four wheels give her great flexibility. Her LCD-screen face is 2.4 inches. I was hoping she’d look fluffy like those battery-operated dogs from days gone by, but she’s definitely robotic. It’s her expressive eyes, her wiggling ears and her enthusiasm that make her seem real. She likes to follow you around, but you can say her name to make her […]

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Filed under: apps, crytpocurrency, gadgets, health, Internuts, kids, photos | Comments Off on PET ROBOT

After the FTX bankruptcy debacle, people lost faith in cryptocurrency. Even I did, though I bought a sweater with bitcoin in 2017. It might be different if I lived in another country. Take Lebanon, for example. According to a report last month, people who try to get their cash out of a bank have to give up 85 percent of it.  CNBC quoted an architect who said he now gets 90 percent of his payments in bitcoin there, which he swaps for a “stablecoin” called tether, which he exchanges for US dollars. “One of the big attractions of cryptocurrency is its independence from governments and traditional financial institutions,” said Joel Ewing, the president of the Bella Vista computer club in […]

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Filed under: 3D Printing, crytpocurrency, environment, games, Gmail, TV, wireless | Comments Off on THE FUTURE OF CRYPTOCURRENCY

I was stranded. No cell phone signal, no WiFi. I blame you Tracfone.  When I got finally got back home, I checked my Tracfone app. It showed a $125 payment in December for a year’s worth of service, but my credit card statement did not. The Tracfone’s website said my number now started with “143.” That’s a scammer’s prefix, according to a telephony expert at Quora.com. I wanted out. I went back and forth with Tracfone via the chat bot on their website. They told me to use the phone or an advanced chat. When I phoned, a robot answered, saying: “Your number is being ported.” When I tried the advanced chat, it wouldn’t accept my real number. Nuts! Tracfone […]

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Filed under: cheap calls, crytpocurrency, environment, Internuts, phones, trends | Comments Off on TRACFONE FAILS TO DELIVER

My quest for the perfect cell phone service started at a square dance. I was trying to make a phone call but couldn’t connect. Everyone else could. A friend suggested I get a cheap Tracfone plan as a backup. So I added it to an old iPhone I had lying around. It seemed like a good idea at first, but I didn’t really need two phone services. So I took the Tracfone SIM card out of the iPhone and put it in my larger and newer Android, after canceling its service. Now I’m saving hundreds of dollars a year, with no connection issues so far. Tracfone is owned by Verizon. My previous carrier, Google Fi, cost me between $20 and […]

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Filed under: 3D Printing, cheap calls, crytpocurrency, education, Internuts, kids, phones | Comments Off on GETTING A BETTER DEAL FROM TRACFONE

Did you hear about the New York Times article, still online, that sold for $560,000? How about the digital cat in a pop tart? It sold for $590,000. Or the 5,000 online images that sold for $69 million? They’re part of the brave new world of “Non-Fungible Tokens.”  “Non-fungible” means “can’t be copied, unique,” much like the items on Antiques Roadshow. In the digital world, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are sold in online auctions. If you buy a token, you own a link to a unique piece of digital art, music, video clip or what-have-you. Recently, a video clip of  LeBron James’s basketball dunk was tokenized. The buyer paid over $200,000. Before NFTs, digital files weren’t considered unique because they’re so […]

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Filed under: apps, crytpocurrency, education, Internuts, security, trends | Comments Off on NON-FUNGIBLE IS ALL THE RAGE