On Computers

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 […]

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

The free Yuka app uncovers the dangerous ingredients lurking in foods and cosmetics. I wish it said “yuck” every time it gave a bad rating. Thanks to Yuka, I decided not to buy Mission’s “Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortillas” ever again. Yuka gave it a dreadful score, with all the reasons outlined. It also suggested healthy alternatives, but best of all, it saves your searches and the ratings, with photos of the scanned products and their alternatives, along with other great info. To start, download and install the free app from the app store, then open it and tap its scan icon. Then scan a barcode. That’s how I found out that Olay’s “Complete Daily Moisturizer,” with sunscreen, which I’ve […]

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Filed under: apps, games, podcasts, robots, troubleshooting, video | Comments Off on FREE APP FINDS RISKY INGREDIENTS IN FOOD, COSMETICS

The world has gone wild for virtual meetings and Zoom video conferencing is gaining competitors fast. The train is leaving the station. A new Zoom competitor, RingCentral, a leading business communications company, is coming out with a new version in April. Recently, we tried another Zoom alternative — the free UberConference.com, which has nothing to do with Uber, the ride-hailing company. Joy’s women’s club recently chose UberConference for their meetings for two reasons. First, participants don’t have to download anything. Second, some people are annoyed by Zoom’s privacy policy. Zoom collects your phone numbers, email addresses, Facebook profiles, info about your use of Zoom and the device and networks you’re using. They also get info from third parties who know […]

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Filed under: Amazon, apps, phones, podcasts, video | Comments Off on HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, KID

Here’s the big reason we get so much junk email. Marketers can see which email we open and respond with an avalanche of new solicitations. If we open email on our phone, as 70 percent of us do,  we might even trigger a call. In the jargon it’s called a “read receipt.” Without your knowing, marketers use these to  tell which email you open. To combat this, we’ve started using “Edison Mail” whenever we’re on our phones.  It works with Yahoo, Gmail, Apple Mail or whatever email service you use, by bringing your mail inside its app.  Besides blocking marketers, Edison neatly categorizes any info about package arrivals, bills and flight changes, while also letting you unsubscribe from any email […]

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Filed under: apps, email, Google, news, podcasts, radio, security, Windows | Comments Off on STOPPING JUNK MAIL

We remember when personal computers first came out. You could build them yourself if you were savvy. That’s what Michael Dell did way back when. He sold them to other college students and the business went on from there. Now there’s a computer that kids can put together. The “Computer Kit Touch” is $280 from Kano.me. Designed for young children, it has a ten-inch screen. Follow a printed storybook to build a portable, touchscreen computer, and attach a keyboard. From there, kids can make apps, art, and games with simple steps. Included apps are Chromium (a web browser similar to Chrome), YouTube, Libre Office (similar to Microsoft Office) and Google Drive; more are available in the app store, such as […]

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Filed under: apps, business, education, electronics, gadgets, how-to, kids, podcasts, search, web | Comments Off on BUILD YOUR OWN

As a special treat for our regular readers, we have nothing to say about Facebook. Meanwhile, back at the ranch … Virtual Reality at the Mall “Virtual Reality” has been over-hyped as a way to experience a movie or game. But it may be about to bring you into the mall. At the Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles last month, six people at a time were allowed into a special room containing a virtual “Alien Zoo.” Those who made the trip viewing other-worldly animals said the 12-minute journey was something like being inside “Jurassic Park.” Participants, wore goggles and backpacks, fended off aliens and in general had a whopping good extra-terrestrial time. The company that set it up […]

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Filed under: Apple, apps, Internuts, podcasts, radio, Virtual Reality | Comments Off on FACING FACEBOOK

Topics: Finding your car, looking out for bogus email, sharing your opinions, and Google Now.

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Filed under: apps, email, Google, podcasts, security, spam | Comments Off on DUDE, WHERE’S MY CAR?

You can get free college lectures at guidetoonlineschools.com/online-classes.

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Filed under: education, podcasts | Comments Off on FREE LECTURES

Lexy.com delivers sports highlights, news updates, science headlines, etc. to your phone.

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Filed under: education, news, phones, podcasts | Comments Off on NOW PLAYING ON YOUR CELL PHONE

We wrote about BlogTalkRadio when it started two years ago. Anyone and every one can host their own radio show for free, simply by registering at the web site: BlogTalkRadio.com.

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Filed under: blogs, podcasts, radio | 1 Comment »