On Computers

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

I think Venmo failed me. It looks like I may be out $150. Venmo is an app that lets you pay friends electronically. But my friend said she never got the money. So why did my bank deduct the $150 from my account? The bank said that was Venmo’s problem. When I called Venmo, I got a recorded message: “Venmo cannot cancel a payment sent to a registered payee. Only if the payee agrees can it be refunded.” But my friend won’t agree to cancel something that never happened. Even her bank told her to steer clear. I tried going to Venmo.com for more info, but my Malwarebytes Browser Guard flagged it as unsafe. I had to turn the guard […]

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Filed under: AI, digital, environment, games, Google, trends, YouTube | Comments Off on VENMO DISASTER

I accidentally got into a car with a stranger in Chicago at night. I thought the guy was a Lyft driver. Lyft and Uber have a problem. The drivers ignore your pick-up address. Instead, they use GPS. When you’re standing next to skyscrapers, GPS makes mistakes. When I was on S. Michigan Ave., for example, the Lyft driver’s map showed me on E. Adams St. “Where are you?” I texted the driver. “I’m right around the corner on Adams,” he said. On Adams, I saw one car, right where he said he’d be. I got in. The driver asked me where I wanted to go. “Don’t you see my destination in your app?” I asked. He looked confused. “Do you […]

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Filed under: AI, Amazon, apps, art, Internuts, numbers, trends, wireless | Comments Off on GETTING INTO THE WRONG CAR

Everyone and his dog are saying how uncomfortable the new Apple Vision Pro headset is. But what else would you expect when you strap a pound-and-a-half object to your face? Apple hasn’t revealed the exact weight yet, but 1.5 pounds is a good estimate, says tech expert David Pogue. If the weight doesn’t get to you after 20 minutes, the motion sickness and eye strain will. Or so say the people who returned the $3500 product, according to theVerge. Newbies may be wondering exactly what the Vision Pro does. Basically, it combines both virtual reality and augmented reality. When in VR, you’re totally immersed in a setting other than the one you’re actually in. When in AR, you can still […]

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Filed under: AI, gadgets, screen capture, trends | Comments Off on APPLE VISION PRO: A HEAVY WEIGHT ON YOUR FACE

Floppy disks, a creation of the 1960s, will never die. Or will they?In a video that went viral this month, a Chuck E. Cheese employee is seen loading a 3.5-inch floppy into a computer. The floppy is used to send data to animate Chuck E. Cheese and his robotic friends. There are many other entities that use floppies as well. Even our military does. The US Air Force operates six Boeing 747-200 airplanes, each 36 years old, that get updates from floppies. Two of these are Air Force One planes. Airbus, the European rival to Boeing, aswell as some business jets, also use floppies. Why don’t they upgrade to USB sticks, SD cards, or wireless transfer? It would cost thousands […]

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Filed under: AI, Google, photos, storage, trends, wireless | Comments Off on LONG LIVE THE FLOPPY DISK

It’s getting difficult to tell a legit email from a fraud. Recently, I took a foolish chance. I clicked on a link in an email that appeared to be from Amazon. The website I landed on showed the address “Amazon.com” at the top. It even had one of those security locks. But it wasn’t Amazon. The site said that my Amazon credit card had been unlinked from my account. It asked me to call Amazon’s number, an obvious red flag. Amazon never lists its number. Lesson: If in doubt, always go to the company’s website. Never click a suspicious link. According to retired FBI special agent Jeff Lanza, these kinds of frauds are increasing. Over 15 million Americans have been […]

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Filed under: AI, books, gadgets, security, trends, virus | Comments Off on PHISHING WITH BAIT

Why are the new over-the-counter hearing aids so much cheaper than the traditional kind? Because you don’t have to pay an audiologist. Two-thirds of a hearing aid’s typical $5000 price goes for an audiologist’s professional fitting, follow-up treatment, and maintenance. But last October, the Food and Drug Administration’s ruling went into effect, allowing you to buy them without a medical exam, prescription, or professional fitting.  The Bose company, well-known for home theater and earbuds, gets great reviews for its hearing aids as well. Their over-the-counter “Lexie” models range in price from $749 to $999. Around 97 percent of users say they can hear music better, including treble tones they haven’t heard in years, according to lexiehearing.com. Around 91 percent say […]

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Filed under: AI, facebook, Gmail, health, how-to, Internuts, phones, screen capture, text messaging, trends | Comments Off on EARBUD COMPANIES NOW SELL HEARING AIDS

The web is abuzz with “ChatGPT,” a new search engine. Some say it’s better than Google. It took only five days to reach a million users. In answer to your queries, ChatGPT can write poems, essays, opinion pieces and programming code. One of its answers explained how World War I contributed to World War II. But it doesn’t chat. When I complimented it, it got confused. To start, go to chat.openai.com and sign up for a free account. Take a look at the sample searches. They’re OK, but things get much more interesting when your queries get quirky. I asked it to “write bedtime instructions for toddlers in the style of the King James Bible.” It came back with: “And […]

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Filed under: gadgets, Internuts, search, trends | Comments Off on THE NEW GOOGLE?

The first time I tried the OpenSwim headset from Shokz, I found myself wanting to swim longer and faster. It literally brought music to my ears. But I had a heck of a time getting it adjusted properly. First I jumped in the pool, then tried to stuff my ponytail and headset under my cap. It makes a kind of ring around the back of your head, using bone conduction technology to bring the sound to you.  But I kept adjusting not just the fit, but the volume. It seems louder underwater, though it had to compete with my splashes. The second time I tried the OpenSwim, I thought “phooey.” I just couldn’t get it adjusted right. Of course, it’s […]

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Filed under: gadgets, Internuts, social networks, trends, Wikipedia, word processing | Comments Off on SWIMMING TO THE BEAT

When I spilled orange juice on a Macbook it died. Apple said it couldn’t be fixed. But if that happens to the new Google “Framework,” I could just swap out the bad part. The $999 “Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition,” by Google, is made of replaceable components. It’s part of the “right to repair” movement, which is all about do-it-yourself (DIY). Instead of buying a new laptop, you could theoretically keep upgrading the parts forever. Each component has a QR code that takes you (or your repairman) to DIY guides for replacing or upgrading. At 2.8 pounds, the Framework weighs the same as a Macbook Air, and is similar in size. Unlike the Macbook, its basic memory can be upgraded from […]

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Filed under: computers, environment, games, Internuts, trends, Wikipedia | Comments Off on NEW CHROMEBOOK LETS YOU SWAP PARTS