On Computers

My great-grandfather was a Cherokee, according to my mom. So I’m one-eighth, I figured. But Ancestry.com and 23andMe say I have no Native American ancestry. Who’s right? To find out, I used MyHeritage’s new GAIA service, powered by artificial intelligence. First I asked it to research my great-great-great-grandmother Jincey Bales, on my mom’s side. GAIA found several family trees that listed her parents’ and siblings’ birthplaces as Red Clay, Tennessee, the last capital of the Cherokee Nation in the eastern United States. One tree lists her as “Tsinvsi,” a name that appears to be Cherokee. Her dad, John W. Craig, is labeled “Cherokee” in another family tree. Yet another tree labels a Craig of the next generation as “Cherokee.” Another […]

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My brother-in-law loves WhatsApp for sending photos to his friends in France. Now there’s something new to try. WhatsApp now lets you enjoy video calls with people who don’t have WhatsApp accounts. It’s much like Zoom, but you get unlimited minutes for free. Only the person starting the call needs a WhatsApp account, and each video call can include up to 32 participants.  Start by sending someone a WhatsApp link, which opens in a browser like Chrome, Safari, or Edge on their computer. Participants may want to open links on their phone’s browser instead, but Meta says it’s designed for computer use. After clicking, you’ll enter a waiting room. The host will admit you when they’re ready. Like Zoom, WhatsApp […]

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Filed under: AI, Amazon, apps, how-to, Internuts | Comments Off on WHAT’S UP WITH WHAT’S APP?

When Google Gemini replaced Google Assistant on a reader’s Android phone, her favorite morning routine disappeared. “Until Wednesday all I had to do was say ‘OK Google’ and it would give me a good morning, tell me the weather and the time and a joke, and read me the news,” Sheila said. “A pox on them all for changing my routines.” Almost as bad, Alexa changed its voice. “Am I too old for all this?” she wondered. “After all, I learned to talk by listening to Franklin Deleano Roosevelt’s fireside chats on an old-fashioned radio console.” No way. She followed my instructions perfectly. To go back to Google Assistant on an Android phone, first open Settings, go to Apps, then […]

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Filed under: AI, Internuts, robots, wearables | Comments Off on AI BLUES

I love the debates at OpentoDebate.org. But if I’m short on time, I use Google Gemini or ChatGPT to summarize the exchange and tell me which side made the stronger case. In one titled “Is America Ready for a Four-Day Work Week?” the majority sided with economist Juliet Schor. That’s because she presented stronger, data-backed evidence from numerous corporate pilot programs that showed immediate benefits to both employee well-being and corporate productivity, Gemini said. She also said that the four-day work week will probably evolve naturally before it’s mandated by law. Her rival, journalist Joanne Lipman, pointed out that many executives, especially in the artificial intelligence community, claim they want a shorter work week but constantly push for longer hours […]

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Filed under: AI, health, Internuts, photos | Comments Off on AI FOR DEBATES

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

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 | Comments Off on COOKING WITH AI

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