On Computers

I have an ugly red blotch on my arm from a recent skin cancer surgery which will soon be on display at a formal wedding. What’s the best concealer? I went to the website TiraMuisu.ai to ask my new beauty bud. This artificially intelligent bot suggested Dermablend “Quick Fix” to make it blend in and setting powder to keep it from smearing when I’m hugging. But according to Google Gemini, by not recommending a third product, TiraMuisu goofed up. “If you put a flesh-toned makeup straight over the concentrated purple-red spot we see in your image,” it said, “the darkness will likely bleed through or turn the makeup gray.” Uh oh. A gray blotch sounds almost as bad as a […]

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Filed under: AI, apps, health, science, video, Windows | Comments Off on AI BEAUTY BUD

“What women’s club role should I choose?” I wondered. To help me answer this, I enlisted the help of an artificially-intelligent board of directors. The result was stunning. In our fascinating back-and-forth discussion, a consensus emerged. The same technique could be used to get advice for starting a new business, raising a child or moving to Timbuktu. PC World offers the exact steps. Here they are. First, go to your favorite AI website or your favorite AI app, whether it’s ChatGPT or something else. (I prefer Claude AI over ChatGPT, though both are great.) Second, type in a question. Third, add the following statement, including everything that’s shown below between the quote marks. “I want you to act as my […]

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Filed under: AI, health, science, security, trends | Comments Off on GETTING ADVICE FROM AN AI TEAM

A reader named Sam told me he has a problem. His Windows computers aren’t playing nice with each other. Unlike his iPad and iPhone, they’re never in sync. “I have two laptops,” Sam said. “Both are HPs. If I post something on a spreadsheet downstairs, I want it to share the same info to the upstairs laptop, which is hooked up to a printer.” But it’s not happening. Here’s the answer. Keep your documents, spreadsheets and presentations in your Microsoft OneDrive folder. Then any changes you make while you’re working on one computer are automatically reflected in the other, no matter where in the world you are. For a visual demonstration, go to YouTube and search on “Move files to […]

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Filed under: AI, Android, Internuts, science, video | Comments Off on THAT SYNCING FEELING

There’s been a ton of publicity about Elon Musk’s competitor to Wikipedia, “Grokipedia.”  Whether you think it’s good or bad may depend on your politics. The new encyclopedia was inspired by Larry Sanger, who co-founded Wikipedia with Jimmy Wales in 2001 and coined the name. Sanger says that Wikipedia is “broken beyond repair.” Its neutrality is gone.    To test for bias on both Wikipedia and Grokipedia, Sanger asked ChatGPT to rate 10 controversial pages, including the ones for President Donald Trump, white privilege, the January 6 attack and alternative medicine. According to ChatGPT, Wikipedia bias is heavy, severe, or wholly one-sided in six out of 10 of these, while Grokipedia is entirely neutral three out of 10 times. It’s only […]

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Filed under: AI, electronics, science, web, Wikipedia | Comments Off on GROKOPEDIA VS. WIKIPEDIA

According to Mom, I’m part Cherokee. But both Ancestry.com and 23andMe say I’m not.   Perhaps neither service has enough Native Americans in their database to diagnose Indian DNA.Years ago, I read that one of these services got the Irish all wrong by only testing for the red hair gene. They forgot about all the Irish with black hair. Wearing my buckskin vest and rattling my tom toms, I turned to MyHeritage.com. It says that my great, great grandfather was born in Arkansas but ended his life in “Indian Territory,” the future Oklahoma. Of course, Great Great Grandpa may have been one of the thousands of white settlers lured by the Oklahoma land rush, which gave Indian land to whites. […]

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Filed under: AI, health, Internuts, science | Comments Off on INDIAN BLOOD

I’m terrible at programming. But with artificially intelligent help, I can hack it.  At the website Claude.AI, I learned how to make a text-based adventure, the kind familiar to those who remember when DOS was king. Though Claude did nearly all of the work, I was able to add my own story line.  First Claude explained that it was crucial to check off a certain box when downloading Python, the free programming language available at python.org. Naturally, I forgot to check that box. But then the Microsoft Store app in Windows popped up, with the word “get” next to Python 3.13. Claude said this version would make installation even easier. Then he gave me everything I needed to know to […]

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Filed under: AI, apps, computers, Internuts, kids, science | Comments Off on CLAUDE CODE

My 91-year-old neighbor almost lost $100,000. She would have been wiped out completely if she hadn’t run to the bank. The scam started when she clicked on a message that appeared to be from PayPal. It told her she owed $500 and asked her to call. Unfortunately, she let the person who answered the phone take control of her computer. It didn’t seem odd to her, because Apple tech support often does that, with great results. But this was not Apple.  When her web browser automatically filled in the password for her online bank account, the scammer was able to initiate a funds transfer. But something he said reminded her of a previous scam. So she hung up and called […]

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Filed under: AI, GPS, robots, science, security, virus | Comments Off on ALMOST SCAMMED

I’ve been listening to Cinderella music through my new WearIQ sunglasses. Ah, paradise. The $30 sunglasses don’t officially launch at Walmart for another couple of weeks, but I received an advance pair. Besides music, the frames are great for podcasts and audio books. My Jane Austen novels sound fabulous. The frames are large on my face, just shy of dorky. But the colors are cool: dusty blue, black, “chalk,” and brown. The tint on the lens is so light, they hardly look like sunglasses, though they offer UV protection. The privacy is great: No one can hear what I’m listening to unless they’re within three feet of me. Since they’re water resistant, I could theoretically listen while floating on a […]

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Filed under: Amazon, gadgets, health, keyboards, phones, science, video | Comments Off on MUSIC TO MY EARS

I gave only a temporary email address to Sharper Image, but they started bombarding my Gmail account immediately, three times a day. It started happening right after I signed up for “Email on Deck.” The purpose of a temporary email address is to shield your main address from view. Theoretically, after an hour or a day, the temp address vanishes, taking all spam with it. But what happens if the temp service sells your data? You get inundated. It’s better to sign up for a second regular service. Besides Gmail, I use AOL, Yahoo and Xfinity. I don’t bother looking at these accounts until I know that a coupon or something special has arrived. This works well. New Features Coming to […]

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Filed under: business, computers, email, Google, science | Comments Off on AVOIDING EXCESS EMAIL

A reader asked me how he might safely donate a computer to a local refurbishing group. “Our son-in-law takes the hard drive out and destroys it with a hammer,” he said. “Is that the best way?” Unless you have business secrets or a celebrity past, you probably don’t need to destroy or remove perfectly good equipment. Instead, try the free Windows program “Eraser,” which uses Department of Defense-level data destruction algorithms to get rid of files permanently. For Macs, there’s “Clean My MacX Shredder,” $40. Both are highly recommended by TechRadar. But for most people, a factory reset is enough. Even for an expert, it would take specialized software to restore your files after a reset, which often doesn’t work. […]

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Filed under: 3D Printing, AI, apps, art, career, printer, robots, science, security, text messaging, trends, voice recognition | Comments Off on GIVING AWAY OLD COMPUTERS