On Computers

Recently, I went to a big chicken dinner at my sister’s house, where I happened to be staying. The issue was: “What shall Health Nut Joy have?” So I asked Microsoft Copilot. First, I told my artificially-intelligent sous chef about the stuff in the pantry and fridge. Then I asked it to come up with an oil-free, salt-free, sugar-free, vegan recipe. It gave me three choices. The first was “Italian Broccoli–Brussels Sprout Pesto Bowl.” The second was “Mexican Sweet Potato–Black Bean Tacos.” The third was “Moroccan‑Style Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tagine.” There was one complication. I had to make my dish early, or my brother-in-law, a true chef, wouldn’t have the time or space to create his own masterpieces. […]

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Filed under: AI, games, Internuts, photos, photoshop | No Comments »

A reader named Karl sent me a newspaper column that raged against data centers and artificial intelligence. He hoped I’d give him a different point of view. We sure need one. In April, Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, was targeted in an attempted firebombing with a Molotov cocktail at his San Francisco home. Apparently, the suspect thinks AI poses grave risks to humanity. But so far, technological progress is the reason that we’re all still here. Thanks to technology, in the past 100 years, the average human lifespan has doubled, and the average per capita income worldwide has tripled, adjusted for inflation. Child mortality has come down by a factor of ten. There’s less […]

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Filed under: AI, gadgets, games, Internuts, inventions, kids, numbers | Comments Off on DATA CENTER BLUES

I used to dread resetting my computer to fix something major. But Claude AI taught me a new trick that makes everything easy. “Peggle,” my favorite game of all time, recently stopped working. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it. I also asked Microsoft’s Copilot AI for help, but it sent me on a wild goose chase, directing me to uninstall a driver, run compatibility mode and try some complicated codes in the Command Prompt, or what we used to call DOS. Frustrated, I turned to Claude AI. Claude said my Peggle problem was likely caused by the latest update from the “Windows Insider Preview,” a beta version of Windows 11. It directed me to Microsoft.com to get a well-tested version […]

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Filed under: AI, health, Internuts, phones, trends | Comments Off on EASY PC RESTORATION

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

Some lawyers abuse AI, by allowing it to cite fake cases. But BrentWorks has a solution.  Unlike AI, its “CiteSentinel” tool doesn’t guess if a case is real, then lie about it when confronted. It cross references cases against verified legal databases, by scanning a legal brief and identifying every string of text.  Here’s one it would have caught before it ever went to court. In 2023, a man sued an airline after a metal cart struck his knee. His legal team used ChatGPT to generate arguments. The result was six fake citations. Even so, the team couldn’t resist turning to AI again when the judge asked for verification. Later, they had to pay a $5000 fine and send a […]

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Filed under: AI, Internuts, kids, news, passwords, photos, trends, wearables | Comments Off on AI AND THE LAW

There are now artificially intelligent reviewers inside the Amazon phone app that can chat with you about Amazon products. They’re folksy and fun. To test it, I tapped the app on my phone, then looked up the Ninja Kitchen System, a blender and food processor in one. After I tapped “Hear the Highlights,” my AI hostess introduced herself, then introduced Sofia, an AI culinary expert. While they were talking, I tapped the raise-your-hand icon to ask a question. “Are the reviews good?” I asked and up popped a “you’re next” sign. “Joy’s asking about the reviews,” the hostess replied. “Do customers actually like this thing?” The culinary expert said that 83 percent of Amazon buyers thought that the Ninja was […]

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Filed under: AI, Amazon, browsers, Internuts, photos, photoshop, security, video, virus | Comments Off on TALKING AMAZON APP

Big data centers use a huge amount of electricity. But that’s changing. Someday soon, we won’t have to pay higher electricity prices because AI is hogging our power. AI’s new Large Language Models are saving energy, because processing happens locally on our devices rather than via power-hungry remote servers. For example, PrismML, founded by Caltech scientists, shrinks AI. Instead of giant data centers, their AI models can work on devices as small as the iPhone 17. What’s more, they take up only 1.5 gigabytes and can be downloaded for free at PrismML.com. But PrismML’s “Bonsai” is not for casual users. It’s for tech enthusiasts who want to tinker with their own private AI, as well as developers, researchers and hardware […]

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Filed under: AI, health, how-to, Internuts, robots, security, social networks, Sports | Comments Off on FROM BIG AI TO INVISIBLE AI

Like me, you’ve probably seen buildings that have been empty for years. “Why hasn’t something replaced the old Panera Bread store?” I’ve often wondered. Fortunately, AI is solving this problem. At the website SytesCRE.com, developers, landlords and prospective tenants use a kind of “Tinder for tenants.” But instead of uniting people for love, the way online dating does, Sytes matches developers and landlords with businesses looking for ways to expand, using an AI system called “Rio.” Sytes’s smallest customer is a yoga studio. Its biggest is GoTo Foods, which owns Carvel, Auntie Anne’s, Jamba, Cinnabon, McAlister’s Deli and more. Dutch Bros, Popeyes, and Scooter’s Coffee also use the platform. Landlords can enter an address and instantly see which tenants are […]

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Filed under: AI, health, Internuts | Comments Off on TINDER FOR TENANTS

This is amazing. Robots and drones are now delivering medical supplies and specimens. Ottonomy provides the robot. Arrive AI provides a smart mailbox for pick up and delivery.  Previously, someone had to be there to meet the robot. But with the “Arrive Point,” the robot can drop off a specimen even when the nurses and technicians are busy. The specimen goes into a secure, tamperproof, climate-controlled mailbox. It’s a huge selling point for hospitals because it closes the gap in automation.  The system was first deployed at Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield, Indiana. The staff there said that it significantly reduced the thousands of steps they take daily just to move lab samples.  Drones are partners in the process. They […]

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Filed under: AI, batteries, health, Internuts, math | Comments Off on MAILBOXES FOR ROBOTS