On Computers

Given that I went to five colleges, it’s not that surprising that I switched phone services four times in four years. I would never have left Tracfone but for a mighty snafu. When I got tired of using an ancient iPhone, I had the clever idea of  moving my Tracfone SIM card to an Android phone without mentioning it to Tracfone. ​A​ year later, my account disappeared. So one day, I was left high and dry without the means to summon a Lyft. Though I couldn’t complain after ​​12 months of free ca​ll​i​ng, Tracfone’s tech support couldn’t figure out what to do with me, so I moved on. I think their support is better now.  After AT&T and Xfinity, I […]

Read more

Filed under: AI, environment, phones | Comments Off on CHANGING PHONE SERVICE AGAIN

Little kids love to pretend they’re on a phone call, even on a landline that isn’t plugged in. Now they can have their own landlines. It all started when a bunch of parents decided to surprise their kids with a “Tin Can” phone at Christmas. The kids, who had been told they had to wait to get cellphones until they were at least 13, were ecstatic, especially the girls. Through landlines, they discovered the joy of the mysterious ring. Was it Grandma or a friend from school? They knew it had to be someone on their parents’ approved list, but it was thrilling nonetheless, especially if the caller left a voice message. The landline taught them to communicate without screens […]

Read more

Filed under: apps, environment, government, kids, phones | Comments Off on LANDLINE PHONES FOR KIDS

“Do these AI glasses do anything special for seniors?” I asked a clerk in a Meta store. “No,” he said. But an 86-year-old reader named Sheila set the record straight. She says her Meta Ray-Ban Gen 2 glasses help her cope with macular degeneration. Sheila, a retired teacher, isn’t blind, but has difficulty seeing clearly. She got interested in Ray-Bans because of a friend who has a blind son. He said they helped more than anything else he tried.  After purchasing the AI glasses, her first step was to ask them to call out the temperature on her thermostat. Next she asked the glasses to guide her through the settings on her washing machine, dryer, microwave and toaster oven. When […]

Read more

Filed under: AI, environment, health, Internuts, troubleshooting | Comments Off on AI GLASSES FOR VISION AND HEARING IMPAIRMENT

After I put soapy water in the blender, which I placed on the stove to get it out of the way, I turned it on to clean it. Foam poured out all over, which I quickly mopped up. Moments later, while sitting at my desk, I smelled something funny. Then I saw smoke. When pressing down to mop up, I’d accidentally turned on the burners. The base of my blender melted while a dish towel smoldered and threw out sparks. The whole place stunk. What ever happened to knobs on stoves? The air was so bad I had to open the doors to my balcony and front door. Thankfully, I’d just bought the AirDoctor 4000 to clean my condo. In […]

Read more

Filed under: AI, environment, Internuts, podcasts, radio, robots, shopping, Windows | Comments Off on AIR DOCTOR

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 […]

Read more

Filed under: AI, environment, gadgets, robots | Comments Off on POE.COM HOUSES HUNDREDS OF AI CHATBOTS

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 […]

Read more

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 […]

Read more

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

Here are some of the strangest and most amazing things to come out of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month. Ride and Fly A flying moped is coming to a driveway near you in 2026. You could be pedaling one moment and taking off into the air the next. The Rictor Skyrider X1 flies at a maximum speed of 62 miles per hour for 40 minutes. Thanks to artificial intelligence, it takes off and lands on its own and plans the optimal route. According to the company, it lands safely even if an engine fails, in which case, a parachute pops out. Thank goodness for AI. Without it, I might smash into the top of a skyscraper. […]

Read more

Filed under: AI, analytics, cameras, environment, gadgets, health, Linux, monitors, robots | Comments Off on VEGAS ELECTRONICS SHOW FEATURES FLYING MOPED, SOLAR UMBRELLA

I think Venmo failed me. It looks like I may be out $150. Venmo is an app that lets you pay friends electronically. But my friend said she never got the money. So why did my bank deduct the $150 from my account? The bank said that was Venmo’s problem. When I called Venmo, I got a recorded message: “Venmo cannot cancel a payment sent to a registered payee. Only if the payee agrees can it be refunded.” But my friend won’t agree to cancel something that never happened. Even her bank told her to steer clear. I tried going to Venmo.com for more info, but my Malwarebytes Browser Guard flagged it as unsafe. I had to turn the guard […]

Read more

Filed under: AI, digital, environment, games, Google, trends, YouTube | Comments Off on VENMO DISASTER

“I lost 10 pounds in 10 days,” said a reader, after describing a Facebook scammer who ruined his account. “I want to cut my throat.” It all started when he obeyed a fishy text from Facebook Messenger. Immediately, his Facebook account was taken over, and the bait was sent off to his friends, then to their friends in an ever-widening circle. One guy lost $1200. Another was pressured into giving $2000. The reader lost access to his email account as well. “Want your account back?” screamed the scammer in large letters. “I want you to go away,” said the reader. “Pay me,” he demanded. Even I got the infected message, since I’m Facebook friends with the reader. It read: “I’m […]

Read more

Filed under: electronics, environment, facebook, Internuts, security | Comments Off on SCARY SCAMMER