On Computers

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

When I left my computer at a repair shop earlier this year, I never thought for a moment that they would snoop through my stuff. Then I saw a report from the University of Guelph in Ontario, quoted by Malwarebytes.org. It showed that technicians from six of the 12 shops they investigated had delved into personal data. Two of them copied the user’s stuff to their own drives, including photos and financial information. Most of the shops also asked customers for their login password, even when they didn’t need it. But my local Gadgetworks never asked for mine. To be on the safe side, however, I’m using VeraCrypt, a free download from Sourceforge.net, to encrypt any sensitive files. After installation, […]

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Filed under: gadgets, mouse, photos, security, tech support | Comments Off on TECH REPAIR SHOP SNOOPERS

It takes a lot of gumption for a small company to put their smart speaker up against Google’s and Amazon’s. But the $349 “Mark II” from Mycroft.ai is a big disappointment. It looks like a retro TV, roughly five by five-by-five inches. On its cheery display, it shows the temperature, date and time, plus the answers to your questions, often with a small picture. I love the look. But its voice assistant, Mycroft, is a dud compared to Google and Alexa. When I said “play music” I got nothing. When I asked for a bread recipe, I got a picture of an album by the group “Bread.” When I asked for a definition of “optometry,” it didn’t know. When I […]

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Filed under: Amazon, electronics, gadgets, Google, Internuts, photos, tech support | Comments Off on MYCROFT CAN’T COMPETE WITH ALEXA OR GOOGLE

Scammers are now adding hoaxes to legitimate text messages. It’s getting easier to be fooled. Recently, a friend of mine got a legitimate text about her furniture delivery. It asked her to choose a date. When none of the dates worked for her, she wrote down the number listed in the text, to get more options. What made it suspicious? She couldn’t just tap it to initiate a call like you normally can on a cell phone. And the guy who answered said: “How old are you?” When she said “70,” he said, “You sound so young, like you’re 30.” Then he added: “I’ll need your credit card number.” “Why should I give you that?” she asked, before hanging up. […]

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Filed under: environment, Internuts, Microsoft, photos, spam, text messaging, word processing | Comments Off on FAKE TEXTS LURK INSIDE REAL ONES

My black and white pictures of a 1970s newsroom came vividly alive after I let palette.fm colorize them for free. All I had to do was upload my photo and watch it fill with color. I couldn’t believe how those old days became vibrant. A friend tried it with his childhood Christmas photos. At first, his shirt came out green instead of blue. Then he tried one of the palette.fm filters, and the true blue came out. But the web browser may also make a difference. In his tests, Firefox did a better job than Chrome or Vivaldi. I didn’t like any of the Palette.fm filters, preferring the unfiltered version. The browser didn’t matter much either. But I got slightly […]

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Filed under: books, drones, gadgets, Google, Internuts, phones, photos | Comments Off on COLORIZE YOUR BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS

There’s a new social network in town. It’s called “Stimulus.” They had me with “cash giveaways.” So far, Stimulus has given out over $100,000. In their welcome message, a middle-aged guy with a strong Italian accent says: “You’re like me. You’re tired of all the fake accounts that spoil all the fun. Stimulus is a happy social network where brands and generous people give away money to earn attention. Brands need attention to grow, people need money to live. Stimulus helps both.” I was sold. I clicked on a post saying “don’t forget your lima beans,” and was immediately entered into a $500 giveaway. Winners will be announced in three days. Next, I clicked on 10 more giveaways. Each one […]

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Filed under: apps, Internuts, kids, Kindle, photos, science, social networks, Windows | Comments Off on A NEW STIMULUS

Netflix is trying to crack down on the 100 million customers worldwide who get free movies by signing in with a friend’s username and password. But a new service called Gowd lets you buy your Netflix sign-in credentials from strangers. Gowd is like eBay for TV. Sellers choose their own prices, starting at 50 cents a month. When I looked, Apple TV Plus was 50 cents but there was a waitlist. A Disney/Hulu/ESPN bundle was $5, Netflix was $5, and Amazon Prime was $2. The site has every service you’ve ever heard of and then some. To start, register at Gowd.com and put a dollar or two into you account. I signed up for PeacockTV for $1, and enjoyed the […]

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Filed under: apps, cameras, photos, troubleshooting, video | Comments Off on GOWD COMPETES WITH NETFLIX

A new top-of-the line Chromebook, coming out in mid-October, reminds me how much better Chromebooks are compared to Windows or Macs, if you mostly work online or use Android apps. For $500, you can get the Acer “Vero 514” Chromebook. It’s powerful, has a great display, and should last many years. It has a 12th-generation Intel Core processor and charges to 50 percent in 30 minutes. Much of it is made from “ocean-bound” or recycled plastic. It has standard screws, so you can easily open the device to upgrade it instead of buying a new one. If you compare a Chromebook with a Windows PC that shares the same specs, you’ll find the Chromebook loads websites quicker. For example, the […]

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Filed under: computers, Internuts, photos, science, security | Comments Off on CHROMEBOOKS CONTINUE TO AMAZE

My nine year-old Okidata color laser printer spews pale pink ink all over my documents and makes a black streak on the side of every page. Should I dump it or have it fixed? The Okidata tech support guy said the drum is busted, done in by the cheap toner I bought. I’d been buying knockoff toner from Amazon ever since I discovered that a full set of certified Okidata cartridges costs over $400. But those cartridges can print 6,500 pages in magazine quality, perfect for my greeting cards. The cheap toners don’t last and have lousy color, in my experience. In December, for example, I spent $55 on a set from “EasyPrint.” Six months later, one of the four […]

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Filed under: Amazon, games, Google, Internuts, photos, printer, text messaging, word processing | Comments Off on CHEAP TONER RUINS LASER PRINTER

After 11 years, my friend’s computer conked out, due to a hard drive failure. I tried to talk her into replacing it with a refurbished PC. No dice. Her first thought was taking it to a repair shop. Angie’s List said it would cost $300 for the drive and installation.  Not only did that sound like too much, but an 11 year-old all-in-one PC with a bad hard drive is likely to have other problems. So she got an HP Elitedesk 800 G1 desktop, which came with a monitor and mouse for $324 from Walmart. I was glad to see it had eight gigabytes of RAM and an Intel i5 processor. (You can compare processors at CPUboss.com.) Unfortunately, the Elitedesk […]

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Filed under: computers, email, Gmail, Internuts, photos, TV | Comments Off on BUYING A RENEWED PC