AI ANALYZES YOUR TASTE IN MUSIC

Ever wonder how 79,032 music critics would rank your tastes? Do a Google search on “Pudding Cool: How Bad is Your Streaming Music?” After you sign into your Apple or Spotify account, an artificially intelligent robot will look over everything you’ve been listening to, ask you questions and combine the opinions of experts. “Do you really listen to The Girl from Ipanema by Stan Getz?” it asked me. When I said yes, it said, “Like, ironically?” When I said “no,” it said “cool.” It teased me about my other choices and asked whether I’d rather marry the Tijuana Brass, Glenn Miller or Fred Astaire. Yet my score was 79 out of 100, compared to 21 out of 100 for a […]

Read more

HOW TO PREVENT TECH ADDICTION IN KIDS

When a neighbor’s 12 year-old stayed with me for a week, she stayed up past midnight every night to shop on her phone. Where were parental controls when I needed them? It turned out she was buying cheap items from China. The same $12 necklace from Target was only $1 online, she pointed out to me while we were in the store. Once, she came to me at 2 a.m. to ask if she could use my PayPal password for a $20 shipping charge. Another time, she didn’t go to sleep until 9 a.m. the next day. Short of taking her phone away, I wish I’d had a Gryphon. The Gryphon is a router that lets you strictly monitor how […]

Read more

KINDLE SCRIBE LETS YOU SCRIBBLE ON EBOOKS

I like to highlight passages in my ebooks. But if I get Amazon’s “Kindle Scribe,” I can also add my handwriting to the margins or even all over the page. The new tablet’s 10.2-inch screen, like the Kindle Paperwhite, mimics natural writing on paper. It doesn’t have the bright colors of other tablets, but is great for reading and writing. A basic digital pen is included, and there’s a premium pen for an extra $30. The premium pen has a digital eraser at the top and a customizable shortcut button. Neither one uses batteries. Besides adding handwritten notes to the book you’re reading, with the Scribe you can handwrite your memoir, sign documents, make shopping lists or create art. Your […]

Read more

YOUTUBE BEATS HULU

Recently, my neighbor went into assisted living. The first thing she noticed was the lack of TV channels. Gone were her favorites, like Hallmark. I suggested YouTube TV. YouTube TV has over 85 channels for $65 a month. Its chief rival, Hulu, is $80 a month if you include the ability to skip ads and record 200 hours worth of shows. YouTube TV gives you unlimited recordings and ad skipping for no extra charge. You also get a $10 discount on the first three months after a free trial. CNET tested six streaming services. They agree with me that YouTube TV is the best. However, you might prefer Hulu if you’re a fan of Disney Plus, the History Channel and […]

Read more

LOCATION SHARING SAVES THE DAY

I lost my phone on a bike path the other day when it fell out of my bike basket. I emailed a friend and he knew right where it was. Thanks to Location Sharing in Google Maps, he told me it had been turned in at my condo’s front desk.   To test just how good Location Sharing is, I took long walks with my phone. Most of the time, it was two blocks off, because I kept moving. When I sat on a bench, I could be pinpointed most of the time. If I kept the Google Maps app open, it got even better. But it only became 100% accurate if I asked for directions somewhere, then tapped “start” to […]

Read more

SLEEP TRACKER KEEPS ME UP ALL NIGHT

My first night with Amazon’s $65 “Halo” fitness band was hilarious. I kept waking up to see if I could improve my sleep score. I couldn’t stand to see a “poor” grade. I kept trying to go back to sleep until I got a “fair.” The next night, my sleep score went up to “good,” with eight hours and six minutes of sleep but slightly less rapid-eye-movement than ideal. It also told me how long I took to fall asleep. Last night, it was zero minutes, compared to 14 the night before. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. The funniest thing happened when I took a nap. The app changed my score to “poor” and […]

Read more

GETTING A HUMAN

Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah. Blah! Blah, Blah, Blah. If you say this when you call tech support, you could be practicing a George Gershwin song. But in fact, you want to talk to a person. We got this tip from a savvy reader who told us that if you just keep saying “Blah” when the robot comes on the line and asks you what you want, you’ll eventually get a person. The robot’s initial response will be “I didn’t understand. Would you please repeat it?” Go ahead. Give it more Blah. If you keep at it – not for long – the robot will say “Let me get you someone to help you.” Hallelujah! That’s why you called in the […]

Read more

PICKING UP A TABLET

We bought the newest iPad model because we couldn’t stand getting iPad or iPhone questions from readers without being able to try out the solutions ourselves. We’re happy with the current model but a newer version is coming out sometime this year. The next iPad is rumored to have an anti-reflective coating on the surface. That’s what’s used in telescopes and microscopes. It improves the contrast of the image by eliminating stray light. A triple-rear camera is also expected, for extra wide photos and videos like the iPhone 11 Pro can take. But we’re happy with the current model. It sells for $249 at Amazon, down from $329 at Apple.  What we like best about our iPad is the sound […]

Read more

ROBOCALLS

Over 167 million robocalls are made to Americans each day, according to YouMail. That’s about 61 billion calls for 2019.  Robocalls represent over 50 percent of all phone traffic. They have become the modern equivalent of mail addressed to “occupant.” Some of these calls appear to be coming from your own area code. That’s what really throws people. Because you think, maybe it’s Uncle Max. On the other hand, maybe you don’t want to talk to Uncle Max. We use the “call screen” feature on our two Google Pixel phones to avoid robocalls. But the new Pixel 4 has something better.  The Pixel 4 phone won’t ring at all if it senses a robocall. What happens if it’s not a […]

Read more

YOUR STUFF ON FACEBOOK

Did you ever want to see everything you ever posted on Facebook? You can download all that stuff and it comes in as folders. Double-click and they open up. A surprising bonus is the photos you posted and have long forgotten, are all still there. Go to www.facebook.com/Settings. They’re you’ll see a message which reads: “To download your information, go to “Your Facebook Information.” Click on those words to go there, then click “view” next to the word “download your information.” From there you can either download everything or uncheck the boxes next to stuff you don’t care about. We chose “download all,” and were pleasantly surprised at how organized it was. We first clicked the “Comment” folder and saw […]

Read more