KARAOKE SAVES THE DAY

After trying a voice amplifier that screeched, I was on the lookout for something better. I needed to interview a soft-spoken author in front of a large audience. As I was wondering how I would accomplish this, the soft-spoken author dragged an ancient karaoke system out of her closet. Brilliant idea, I thought. Unfortunately, it was missing a crucial part. So I bought the Moyleaf “Karaoke Machine for Adults and Kids,” a portable public address system with colorful disco lights. It looks like a large black lunch box with a bright orange handle, but weighs only 6.65 pounds. It’s about the height of a piece of paper, not counting the handle. I just saw it for $99.99 on Amazon, though […]

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FREE TECH SUPPORT

No wonder my friend Kenny got out of the tech support business. He charged around $50 per call. Now you can get free tech support without bugging your neighbor. Engadget.com listed the three main services, starting with CyberSeniors.org, which offers free support from volunteers. After you fill out their form, a volunteer will call you. Later, you can ask for them by name. The site also offers “Tech Drop-Ins,” to allow questions via Zoom. SeniorPlanet.org, from AARP, is similar. It’s free even for non-AARP members and offers daily Zoom sessions. Alternatively, you can talk to a tech on the phone any time between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, by calling 888-713-3495. For adults of all ages, there’s […]

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DRAW ME A PICTURE

I asked Google to draw me a frog on a beach, a man with a rose, and a woman in a forest. Presto, they arrived, but not from any website. A robot made them on the spot. It’s all part of the “Search Generative Experience,” or SGE, a free add-on to your regular Google search in Chrome. To set it up, go to Labs.Google.com and scroll down to “Search Powered by Generative AI.” Click “Getting Started,” then enable it. Now every Google query in Chrome will have an optional AI answer plus the usual links. I asked it to “draw a chair on a raft going down Niagara Falls,” and a Mona Lisa in Tahiti. Both were fantastic. But sometimes an image […]

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VIBRATIONS AND HUMS TO CALM YOU DOWN

I normally don’t nap. But when I put the “Sensate 2” on my chest bone, I conk out within minutes. The Sensate 2, which was sent to me for review, looks something like a polished stone, although it’s plastic. Place it on your sternum and feel its vibrations. It quietly buzzes, gently knocks or deeply hums, according to the intensity you choose and the type of session you select. There are 14 free ones. If you want the whole library of sounds, it’s $50 a year. I’m addicted to the free “Forest” with its pan pipes, birds and babbling brooks, which comes through on your phone in the Sensate app. It lasts 20 minutes. The device itself is $299. Many […]

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PLAGIARISM BY CHATBOTS

Artificially-intelligent bots are plagiarizing known authors. It happened to author Jane Friedman, who reports on the publishing industry. A copycat version of her work was reviewed on Goodreads. Friedman told ZDnet that an author she found on Twitter.com has been plagiarized by AI bots 29 times. It could be a growing problem. Suppose, for example, that you insert the text of a published novel into a site like ChatGPT, and ask for it to be rewritten in the bot’s own words. Next you run the result through an AI content detector. If it scores 100 percent, it’s 100 percent fakey-sounding. So you tweak it a bit before uploading to Kindle Direct Publishing. I decided to test this idea myself. I […]

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ROLE PLAYING WITH AI

Duolingo, the language app, is now boosted by CHATGPT-4. Thanks to artificial intelligence, it’s rolling out “Role Play.”  Role Play drops you into an imaginary scenario in French or Spanish. For example, suppose you’re bantering with a waitress in Barcelona while munching tapas. After your conversation, a robot will tell you how you did. It’s part of the new “Duolingo Max” subscription for iPhone only, which is slowly rolling out across America. In an article in a recent New Yorker magazine, the writer describes her mock session in a French cafe. After some exchanges, she said “I love you,” to the AI machine. When it asked if she would rather spend evenings alone, she said she would if everyone was […]

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MAKING A BUSINESS OUT OF AI-GENERATED ART

With Microsoft’s free “Bing Image Creator,” the words you type turn into art. You can even sell the results. It all happens through the magic of “DALL-E2,” a tool invented by the makers of ChatGPT. I envision putting these images on t-shirts, tote bags, posters, blankets and more. But for now, I’m just using them for greeting cards and Facebook posts. To start, go to Bing.com/create. Next, type in a phrase and click “Create.” For a birthday card for my brother-in-law, for example, I typed “golfer celebrating birthday on the course in the style of Van Gogh.” In two of the results, there were facial distortions, but the other two were great.  When I typed: “a picnic on the beach […]

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EARBUD COMPANIES NOW SELL HEARING AIDS

Why are the new over-the-counter hearing aids so much cheaper than the traditional kind? Because you don’t have to pay an audiologist. Two-thirds of a hearing aid’s typical $5000 price goes for an audiologist’s professional fitting, follow-up treatment, and maintenance. But last October, the Food and Drug Administration’s ruling went into effect, allowing you to buy them without a medical exam, prescription, or professional fitting.  The Bose company, well-known for home theater and earbuds, gets great reviews for its hearing aids as well. Their over-the-counter “Lexie” models range in price from $749 to $999. Around 97 percent of users say they can hear music better, including treble tones they haven’t heard in years, according to lexiehearing.com. Around 91 percent say […]

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PET ROBOT

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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NEW PELOTON ROWER VS. OLD-FASHIONED KIND

You’ve probably heard of the Peloton exercise bike. Now there’s a Peloton rowing machine. But is it better than the inexpensive machine my mom bought when I was 15? The Peloton Row, at $3195, costs at least $3000 more than my rower. But it’s a lot fancier. It has a 24-inch high-definition display and a slew of videos with rowing instructors. Instructors can be great. At a rowing class in California, I raced six others indoors, looking up at a big screen to see who was ahead. The class was taught by Xeno Müller, an Olympic medalist. He made me work harder than I ever had before. Peloton says that with every stroke, you’re using 86 percent of your muscles. […]

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