On Computers

Recently, a woman told me she was looking for her biological father. “I think your husband, Bob Schwabach, is related to him,” she said. She needed to know the name of Bob’s father. So did her nine siblings, all of whom shared the same sperm donor. But Bob never knew his father’s name either, having spent his childhood in a foster home and orphanage. Sadly, the week before he died in 2020, he sent a note to a possible cousin, but never heard back. Now, thanks to Google Gemini, a competitor to ChatGPT, I may have found him. Gemini focused on a genetic marker called a “centimorgan,” or cM. Looking at three names on Bob’s family tree, Gemini declared that […]

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Three months ago, my history club had a talk on the history and future of robots. The speaker, who has a PhD in artificial intelligence, predicted that five years from now, every home would have one. This sounded incredible at the time. Now it sounds plausible. Back in 1981, an IBM personal computer cost $5000 if you included the monitor and other essentials. But that didn’t stop people from buying them, especially as the price dropped. With robots, the price is falling faster. Now you can get one for $1500 or less. The $1500 Posha is a countertop robot chef with 1000 recipes up its sleeve and counting. In an article in The Verge, I read that it made a […]

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Filed under: AI, apps, Internuts, robots, security, spam, virus, wearables | 1 Comment »

After listening to two teenage girls talk about their Oura rings, I asked them about the battery. “Did you know it’s irreplaceable?” I asked. I didn’t have the heart to add: “When the battery’s degraded, your $499 smart ring will turn into a dumb ring.”  They didn’t seem to care about the battery. They love having their steps counted, their sleep tracked and more, leaving their wrists free for bracelets.  But after two years, the girls may have to charge their golden rings every six hours. After three years, the batteries will probably be kaput. After five years, they will have spent $350 for the Oura 4 monthly subscription and $998 for the original ring and its replacement, a total […]

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A relative spent $6000 on Signia hearing aids, following the advice of her audiologist. A friend spent $389 for his Audien Ion aids, which were on sale on Amazon recently. They’re both happy. The Audien Ion hearing aid system comes with ear domes in two styles and three sizes. The system has four modes, depending on the environment you’re in. These include a normal environment, a noisy restaurant, heavy traffic, or the great outdoors. In each case, the aids reduce background noise and prevent feedback, which happens when the microphone picks up sounds from the speaker. The battery lasts 20 hours before needing a charge. But instead of fumbling with batteries, you just place the aids in their charging case. […]

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Tesla recently announced the Cybercab, a driverless car without steering wheel or pedals. In 2026, this futuristic beast will cost less than $30,000. CEO Elon Musk previously said he would operate a fleet of these robotaxis, and individuals could use their own cars as cyber cabs. But he didn’t mention this at the launch. He did say that the new Cybercab won’t need to be plugged in, thanks to inductive charging. He also announced a new driverless minivan capable of carrying 20 people. But what about Google’s Waymo? It already provides 100,000 rides a week in self-driving Jaguars located in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and has been operational since 2009. Soon, you’ll be able to order a driverless […]

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Filed under: AI, cheap calls, health, robots, spam, word processing | Comments Off on DRIVERLESS CARS

“With the election season going full bore,” a reader wrote, “the robocalls are non-stop.”  I use Magic Jack and haven’t gotten a single one. The Magic Jack gizmo, the size of a thumb drive, replaces your landline phone service with a $43-a-year internet phone service that sounds great to me. Each caller has to punch in whatever single-digit number a Magic Jack voice asks for, and robo dialers can’t do this. So I haven’t gotten any spam since I signed up years ago, though I’m using an old number that used to get a lot of robocalls. Another plus: I like using the landline’s big handset when my sister calls for a long chat. Setup is a snap. First connect […]

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Filed under: AI, cheap calls, games, Internuts, security, shopping, spam | Comments Off on STOP ROBO CALLS

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

I have friends who buy new iPads when theirs run out of storage space. But here’s an easy way to free up space: Offload apps you’re not using. It’s nearly automatic. Tap “Settings,” then “General,” then “Storage.” You’ll see a list of apps. Choose one and tap “offload.” You won’t lose any data associated with it. Besides, you can always tap it again to bring it back. I just saved more than half a gigabyte by offloading iMovie, which I’d only used once. Another way to go is to send photos to your computer. In Windows, when I plugged my iPhone SE into a USB port on my computer, Windows popped up with a message asking me what I wanted […]

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Filed under: cameras, gadgets, Google, Internuts, iPad, iPhone, spam, trends | Comments Off on STORAGE TRICK FOR IPHONES AND IPADS

Are spam calls getting worse? No, but they’re still a nuisance. There were around 54 billion robocalls last year. Fifty-two billion are expected this year. The reduction may be due to recent changes by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC started requiring carriers to verify all incoming and outgoing calls.  Even so, spam calls can be hard to recognize. I once got a call from a guy pretending to represent a local theater group. I should have hung up and called the theater instead of donating. Later I learned I’d been scammed. So the next time someone wants a donation and I’m inclined to give, I’ll hang up and call the organization myself. Here are a couple more tips I […]

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I never thought I’d want music coming out of my glasses. Then Anker sent me their “Soundcore Frames.” Sweet. I love being able to hear all the sounds swirling around me while listening to music on my walk, including birds chirping, friends talking or cars coming. I wish others would wear the Frames too. At my old apartment building, which is 95% students, I’d have to wait while they pulled out their earbuds whenever I started a conversation in the elevator. With the Frames, they would be able to hear me easily.  Setup is minimal.  Connect the Frames to your phone wirelessly by going into Bluetooth settings on your phone, and you’re done. They’ll turn on automatically when you put […]

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