Given that I went to five colleges, it’s not that surprising that I switched phone services four times in four years.

I would never have left Tracfone but for a mighty snafu. When I got tired of using an ancient iPhone, I had the clever idea of  moving my Tracfone SIM card to an Android phone without mentioning it to Tracfone. ​A​ year later, my account disappeared. So one day, I was left high and dry without the means to summon a Lyft. Though I couldn’t complain after ​​12 months of free ca​ll​i​ng, Tracfone’s tech support couldn’t figure out what to do with me, so I moved on. I think their support is better now. 

After AT&T and Xfinity, I chose Consumer Cellular. I was overjoyed at first, but started getting dropped calls every darn day.Turning back to Tracfone, I hoped they had forgotten about my previous snafu.  Sure enough they had. I’m not getting dropped calls anymore and my best friend says I sound better on the phone. Tracfone is owned by Verizon.

Gotta love that Tracfone pricing. I’m getting 10 gigabytes with unlimited talk and text for $20 a month. Any gigabytes I don’t use each month go into my Tracfone piggy bank for later. 

Getting Away from AI

“The only sane people I know are me and thee, and sometimes I wonder about thee.” A friend Googled that quotation to be sure he had it right. 

To his surprise, Google’s artificial intelligence chimed in like a worried psychologist. “If you’re riding solo today and need a break,” it said tactfully, “you can track down local sanity-saving spots.” After naming some, it ended with “Cheers to the select few who still have their heads on straight!”

“Note that I didn’t ask for any of this,” my friend said. “I just wanted to be sure how the saying went. I tell ya, this thing is trying to be too cozy. There’s something creepy about it. I don’t trust it.”

A great alternative is StartPage.com. It’s a privacy champion, and offers the traditional links, instead of AI. Use it on your computer, or download the Startpage phone and tablet app. DuckDuckGo is big on privacy too. They include an AI answer called Search Assist, but it’s less touchy-feely than Google’s version. Another great choice is Berlin-based ecosia.org. It gives you search results generated by Google and Bing, but no AI, unless you click “AI Chat.” Even better, it has its own solar plants, producing what it needs for its searches and selling the rest, and it’s planted over 250 million trees.

Forever Chemicals

“Forever chemicals” have been around since the 1940s. They’re “forever” because they don’t break down in the environment and can accumulate in the human body. Scientists call them “Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances” or PFAS.

But here’s the big breakthrough. Scientists have successfully used generative AI to help design materials from scratch that could remove these chemicals from our drinking and industrial water. These super materials are called “Metal-Organic Frameworks,” or MOFs.

Kemira, a chemical solutions provider, and CuspAI, an AI materials science company, are working together on this. In just six months, their AI platform was able to search through 300 trillion possible structures to provide over 5,000 possible designs. From there, they were able to narrow down the possibilities to about 20 priority candidates. The project is now in the testing phase. The new AI-driven materials have been designed to better pinpoint PFAS and remove them. Hopefully forever.

Free Cell Phone Service

You can use a cell phone for free if you turn on WiFi calling in settings and stay within WiFi range. 

It’s easy at college, because the campuses are blanketed in WiFi. Students can Facetime each other without having to head back to the dorm. Also popular is “WhatsApp.” For setup, you would just need to borrow a friend’s phone temporarily. Once you’ve verified the six-digit verification code they’ll text you, you won’t need it again. 

Yes, it could be scary when you’re out of WiFi range. A smartwatch, such as the Apple Watch SE, around $109 on Amazon is a great alternative. It can have its own phone number, but once again, you’d need to borrow someone’s phone number during setup. To make a call, just tap an app, or press the side button in an emergency. 

US Mobile has the cheapest standalone smartwatch plans: $6.50 a month if you pay $78 up front.  T-Mobile and Verizon smartwatch plans are $10 a month. Better Roaming offers a $9.50-a-month plan for Apple Watch only. With all, you get unlimited text and calling, plus access to the internet.

AI Map

How much will AI affect your job? Find out with the new “AI Labor Exposure” map from MIT. 

The areas in fiery red, including Boulder, Colorado, Ithaca, New York and San Jose, California are considered the most “AI Exposed.”  MIT scientists say that, in the US as a whole, AI could do the work of 18 million workers earning $1.4 trillion in wages, assuming AI completely replaces those tasks rather than just assisting workers. 

But would that be as bad as some fear? What will happen to all the money that companies save by using AI? They could use it to hire humans for jobs we can’t even conceive of now. 

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Google offers two venues for AI chats, “AI Mode” and “Gemini.” Which is best? 

Googling the question, I went right into AI Mode. “Gemini is sometimes lazy, and may skip searching entirely, relying on outdated internal training data due to overconfidence,” it said. It may also “hallucinate web citations.” 

But Gemini is great for deep-dive tasks, multi-step reasoning, coding, complex writing, and file analysis. It can be used as a stand-alone app or at gemini.google.com. If you use the Chrome web browser, click the Gemini button to let it see your screen and answer questions. For instance, you could open a page in Wikipedia about quantum mechanics or Fred Astaire, then click the Gemini button to start a discussion. Gemini is also integrated into the Google App for Windows.

I’m not saying that Google Search’s AI Mode is chopped liver. Besides greater accuracy in web searches, it offers dozens of sources and neat summaries. For price comparisons and directions, it can connect to Google Flights, Google Shopping and Google Maps.

But can AI Mode handle personal matters? I decided to test it by asking: “Did I waste money going to Nashville for my friend’s baby shower?” AI Mode and I got into a long discussion, which I enjoyed immensely. “I can be just as thoughtful, patient, and understanding as a friend,” it said. But Gemini is much better at remembering your preferences and building on past conversations. AI Mode only remembered I’m a vegan because I let it check my Gmail. 

Here’s the bottom line: Use Gemini when you need to brainstorm, write a draft, or do heavy analytical lifting. Use AI Mode when you are searching for something and want the web’s best resources summarized in one place with interactive follow-up questions.

Googlebook Replaces Chromebook

Step aside Chromebook, here comes Googlebook. Aimed at Android owners, it’s a phone and laptop in one. 

The Googlebook allows you to install any app from the Google Play Store. But not every app will look right. Some may appear stretched. The alternative is the Googlebook’s “Cast My Apps.” It mirrors all your phone’s contents. For example, you could be editing an image on your phone and continue on the laptop.

A​nother plus: You won’t have to transfer files from your Android phone. Its file manager lets you browse, search or move your phone files, freeing up storage space automatically. You’ll also be able to copy text or images on the laptop and paste them into the phone. You can even use your phone’s cellular connection on the laptop, answering calls and responding to text messages, as long as your phone is within Bluetooth range, typically about 30 feet.

The laptop’s “Magic Pointer” is amazing. Just wiggle your mouse or a finger on a trackpad to activate AI content.  ​The cursor can see what’s beneath it, ​t​urning statistics into a pie chart, help​ing you visualize how new furniture would look, ​encapsulating an article, identify​ing a landmark and ​summarizing a video ​w​hen you pause on a frame. ​If you point at objects​ around you, it can give you directions or identifications. With “Show and Tell,” you can manipulate, edit, or move digital objects within an image using the pointer and your voice.

This fall, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, and Asus, will sell their own versions for around $1500. They’re aiming to compete with the $1500-plus Macbook and the Copilot+ PC. For AI enthusiasts, it may be worth the price.

Free Isn’t Always Free

If there’s anything worse than having to make monthly payments for a smartwatch with a cracked screen that came out six years ago, it’s thinking that I got the watch for free.

As soon as I left Xfinity, the bill for my “free” Apple Watch SE came due. I never realized that when you leave a phone service, your monthly credits for any “free” devices evaporate. Suddenly, you’re paying each month instead of getting a credit. So when I demanded that Xfinity tell me why the charges started appearing four months ago, they said I still owed $180. I’ve paid $247 for a watch I could get on Amazon for $109.  Bummer.

Electric Car Battery News

Fast charging shortens your electric car’s battery, but Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden can increase that by 23 percent without requiring a longer charging cycle. Instead of eight to 15 years, your car’s battery could last for 10 to 17.   

Here’s why. Fast charging forces a large current into the cells, causing side reactions such as “lithium plating.” That refers to metallic lithium being deposited on the electrode instead of getting stored in the battery’s structure. Using artificial intelligence, Chalmer scientists are able to train the charging software to avoid such reactions through rewards and reinforcement, kind of like training a seal. Amazingly, this isn’t a physical invention, it’s a software update. Car owners could add it without a mechanic’s help. 

Though it’s still in the testing phase, a 23 percent increase in battery life could lead to lower warranty costs, better resale value and more efficient use of lithium and other raw materials. 

Trends

According to Emarketer, both Google Gemini and Google AI Mode will become more popular than ChatGPT this year. Taking all AI into account, Google will take the lead by the first quarter of 2027.

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Some lawyers abuse AI, by allowing it to cite fake cases. But BrentWorks has a solution. 

Unlike AI, its “CiteSentinel” tool doesn’t guess if a case is real, then lie about it when confronted. It cross references cases against verified legal databases, by scanning a legal brief and identifying every string of text. 

Here’s one it would have caught before it ever went to court. In 2023, a man sued an airline after a metal cart struck his knee. His legal team used ChatGPT to generate arguments. The result was six fake citations. Even so, the team couldn’t resist turning to AI again when the judge asked for verification. Later, they had to pay a $5000 fine and send a copy of the judge’s blistering critique to each of the judges falsely identified ​i​n the fake citations. 

Besides the lawyers who lean heavily on AI, CiteSentinel can help those who never use it, by checking the work of everyone else involved: the opposing counsel, co-counsel, contract attorneys and paralegals.

Kid Cash

Apple Cash, Venmo and Google Wallet are great for teens ages 13 to 17. But what if your six-year-old needs a debit card? Enter “Cash App.”

Cash App provides a physical debit card that kids, ages 6 to 12, can carry in their wallets or purses. Using an app to track spending, parents can manage or instantly disable the card, but kids can only use the physical version. When a child reaches 13, parents can allow them to send or receive payments independently. 

Using the app, a child’s drawing or typing turns into a permanent white or silver-colored engraving etched by laser into a plastic card. Many children doodle, but the app also offers stamps, including dollar signs, hearts and bow ties. Common slogans include “Cash me if you can.” Or: “Girls just want to have funds.” See cash.app/families for more info.

​But look out when they turn 18. For adults, Cash App offers $20 to $500 loans without a credit check. Sounds good? It charges a flat 5 percent fee for a four-week loan — a 65 percent nominal APR (Annual Percentage Rate). That’s roughly three times the rate of a typical credit card. What’s more, the loan amount is deducted automatically from your balance or linked bank account. ​It’s just like handing someone cash. The recipient has to want to give it back. In other words, unlike credit cards, Cash App offers no easy way to dispute a claim.​ Finally, Cash App is a top platform for fraud (fake prizes, impersonators,​ and more).

Car Doubles as Drive-In Theater

At the Beijing auto show, Huawei wowed the audience with a car whose headlights can project movies, turning it into a mini drive-in theater. The Xpixel headlights can also project helpful arrows, guiding the driver to the right path. Once parked, its headlights can also project games onto the sidewalk, such as hopscotch. It can also project patterns that react to music, creating a mini concert venue. 

Galaxy Watch Prevents Fainting Spells

When my friend traded in his Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 for the latest model, the 8, he discovered that it measures the antioxidants in his system, in addition to all the health monitors he had before. Someday soon, a Galaxy Watch might also help prevent the most common type of fainting spells.

Working with a Korean University Hospital, Samsung induced fainting spells in 132 patients to prove that it could predict them up to five minutes ahead of time with 84.6 percent accuracy, using the patients’ heart rate variability data from the Galaxy Watch 6. 

Photo Display for Your Fridge

The new “VidaBay Snap E-Paper Fridge Magnet” displays rotating color photos on your fridge, each of which can be swapped for another with a tap. Unlike typical photos placed with a magnet or piece of tape, these don’t fade, even in bright sunlight.

Though e-ink is not as colorful as regular prints, it offers a nostalgic value for some, reminding them of Polaroid film. It’s best to use high contrast subjects, like a white dog against a dark red background, warm-toned images such as sunsets, or travel photos with clear skies. Photos with a variety of colors may look muddy. Also, avoid dark pictures with low contrast or busy compositions. Basically, if it looks good in black and white or sepia, it’ll look great in the frame. You get to choose the frame’s color.

Passkeys, Not Passwords

This month, for the first time since NordPass started researching passwords, the number of passwords per person decreased from 168 per user to an average of 120. What gives? People are using facial recognition and other password alternatives. Since most folks tend to reuse their passwords, passkeys are much less risky.

Stopping Fires with InfraSound

Automatic sprinklers can put out kitchen fires but they often cause water damage. It’s especially irksome for data centers because of the electronics. But Sonic Fire Tech has figured out a way to use an AI-driven sensor to blast fire-fighting infrasound. Recently, the system was successfully demonstrated in Concord, California when oil splatters from a frying pan were ignited by a gas stove and quickly put out. 

President of the Continental Congress

Internut

“The 14 Men Called President Before George Washington.” Search on that phrase for some great history on YouTube.

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Lehenga dress

There are now artificially intelligent reviewers inside the Amazon phone app that can chat with you about Amazon products. They’re folksy and fun.

To test it, I tapped the app on my phone, then looked up the Ninja Kitchen System, a blender and food processor in one. After I tapped “Hear the Highlights,” my AI hostess introduced herself, then introduced Sofia, an AI culinary expert. While they were talking, I tapped the raise-your-hand icon to ask a question. “Are the reviews good?” I asked and up popped a “you’re next” sign. “Joy’s asking about the reviews,” the hostess replied. “Do customers actually like this thing?” The culinary expert said that 83 percent of Amazon buyers thought that the Ninja was worth the money. But when I asked if it was better than the Vitamix blender, they weren’t sure. So I tapped “Ask Rufus,” for a full comparison.

For my next test, I looked up a “lehenga,” an Indian dress that seemed right for the Bangladeshi wedding I’m attending in July. My AI expert said it was the perfect fusion between modern and traditional. But just to be sure, I turned to the regular Amazon reviews. Thirteen percent of them were only one star. There were complaints about the stench emanating from the dress, the itchy fabric and more. I was no longer itching to buy it.

But all these AI-generated chatty Cathys made me eager to buy almost everything else, even after I’d heard the pros and cons. The “Hear the Highlights” button, however, may not come up often in my searches, given that Amazon offers around 450 million products, and only “millions” will have it, they say.

Virtual Try-On

Another Amazon AI trick I just discovered is called “Style it On You,” also available through the Amazon phone app. Choose an outfit you like, tap “Style it On You,” then tap to upload a full-length selfie. After about 30 seconds, you’ll get a picture of yourself in the outfit. Tap “swap photo” if it stalls or you have a clearer photo to upload. Every time, it gave me a great idea of whether I’d like the garment or not.

Help with Photoshop

A neighbor said she’s hacked her way through a lot of Photoshop projects over the years, but now that she’s retired, she’s burned out on online tutorials. She just wants a human to show her a few tricks. “Could you help?” she wondered.

I’m no Photoshop maven, but I had an idea. Recently, Adobe launched “Firefly AI Assistant,” which is embedded in the 2026 version, just as Microsoft Copilot is in Office 365. It can “see” your project and do things for you. For example, you could say: “remove these distractions and brighten the lighting.”

The new beta version of Firefly AI Assistant, released late last month, can even help you in other apps, bringing new images into your original project. The catch is, you need a Firefly Pro subscription. Alternatively, there are many other AI image creation tools, such as Google’s Nano Banana. If you give it access to your Photos library, it can make images based on you, your relatives, Fido and anything else. The new ChatGPT Images 2 also sounds amazing.

Fake Party Invitations

If you’re like me, you’ve received half a dozen fake party invitations this year. The scammers are usually pretending to come from Evite, Punchbowl and Paperless Post, three of the most popular online invitation services. They appear in an email or text, purportedly from someone you know.  In one version, when you click the link in an email, it triggers malware that copies your passwords and personal info. In another version, you’re asked to login, which gives the scammer access to your user name and password.

According to Mashable, 2025 was a goldmine for text-based scams. People were sucked in by fake E-ZPass toll notices, DMV warnings, fake job offers, and IRS impersonators.

Changing Browsers

Almost every time I want to read an online article, I’m asked to disable my ad blocker in order to see the piece. But I can’t find any ad blockers in my list of extensions. So lately I’ve been using Vivaldi to browse the internet. It has its own ad blocker, which flies under the radar.

Howdy Partner

If I wanted to watch “Paddington” or “The Age of Innocence” I could rent them for $4 each. But “Howdy,” a new channel on Amazon, includes both these movies plus around 10,000 hours of ad-free entertainment for $3 a month. This includes films from Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Disney Entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery, and FilmRise, along with original titles. I saw lots of romantic comedies, action films and kid flicks.

To find Howdy, do a Google search on “Howdy movie channel on Amazon.” There’s a seven-day free trial before the $3-a-month kicks in. If you have a Roku player, or use the Roku mobile app, you can go directly to the Howdy channel.

Internut

“US falls below Ukraine in press freedom.” Search on that phrase or go to rsf.org to learn which countries have the most press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders. The US is now in 64th place globally, falling seven spots in one year. It ranks behind Namibia (23), South Africa (21), Costa Rica (38), and Canada (20).

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Five-dollar chocolate bars and $15 bottles of olive oil. What gives?

Chocolate prices hit record highs in 2024 due to dry weather in West Africa. Extreme droughts in Spain and Italy caused the price of olive oil to double. Could AI help?

You bet. Just as ChatGPT was trained on billions of words, “Botanic,” offered by Living Models, is trained on DNA, the language of plants. It may sound corny, but Botanic “gets” corn. It also acts as a bud to your spud. For example, drought and rising temperatures in Idaho and Washington led to smaller yields and lower-quality potatoes. Botanic can help with that.

Currently, it takes about eight years of trial and error to develop a new drought-resistant crop. But executives from Living Models say that with Botanic, it will take just two or three years.

That’s crucial. Otherwise, some crops are in danger of winding down. For example, California farmers are planting less rice due to water shortages. Botanic can help by developing rice that matures before summer’s peak heat. It can also create varieties that tolerate the salt water in coastal farms.

According to a report published in bioRxiv, Botanic can predict plant traits and identify genetic markers for drought tolerance, heat resistance and more. What’s more, with their Nvidia-based equipment, it can scale up for big projects.

Online Betting

A Parisian earned $34,000 by betting on hot weather. After gambling at Polymarket.com, he walked over to the temperature sensors at De Gaulle airport and held a portable hair dryer up to them, causing the weather reports to announce heat spikes, just as he predicted. Similarly, a US solider who helped capture the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro used his insider’s info to make nearly $410,000. Unfortunately for him, he was arrested.

The total value of Polymarket’s trades executed in the past 365 days surpassed $25 billion according to tokenterminal.com. When I visited the site, people were betting on the odds of a peace deal with Iran in May, among many other topics.

Woman’s Fidelity Account Shows Zero Funds

When customer service representatives at Fidelity tried to help a long-time customer, they revealed zero funds in her account. What happened?

According to recent reports, Fidelity hadn’t merged her identity profiles. First, she had registered with her tax identification number. Later, she had registered with her Social Security number. A glitch made it seem as though all her money had vanished. It took five days of investigation before her life savings were restored. In the meantime, she had no access. Fortunately, she’d saved a paper version with her old account number.

The lesson? Either print out or save a PDF of your monthly statements, trade confirmations and annual summaries.

AI FOR TECH SUPPORT

Recently, my TV gave me an error message in German. So I asked Google Gemini.

First it suggested I check the network settings. There I saw that the TV wasn’t connected to WiFi. It turned out that the necessary “handshake” between the TV and the router was more like a slap. “Turn it off with the power button and wait for two minutes,” Gemini advised. But since my TV doesn’t have a power button, I used the remote control, and that didn’t work. Gemini said using the remote to turn off a TV is like closing a laptop lid. It only puts the device into sleep mode. So I unplugged the TV from the wall and waited. Voila. Two minutes later, after plugging it back in, everything was back to normal. In short, AI tech support works.

Next I asked Gemini whether Google Play or Amazon Prime would be best for watching the movie “Hamnet.” “Amazon,” it said, going against its own Google parent. “The Google Play/YouTube movie player is notoriously heavy and can be sluggish or prone to buffering on older sets.” It also said that the picture is sharper on Amazon Prime.

Flight Updates on Your Lock Screen

Android users who store boarding passes in Google Wallet will soon see flight updates directly on their lockscreens. They’ll also see updates on their departure, destination and arrival time. Once on the plane, a progress bar will tell them how far along they are in the flight. Alternatively, Apple iPhone users can use the Apple Wallet app to store their boarding passes and get built-in flight tracking, progress bars and gate updates on the lock screen.

Becoming SuperFluent

The new version of Superfluent, the language-learning app, is fantastic. Their previous version was good too, but this one takes you on a virtual tour of the country whose language you’re studying.

Since I’m learning Spanish, I’m virtually strolling through major museums, restaurants and attractions in Mexico. Previously, I often felt dumb with Superfluent’s classic version, but this one adds multiple-choice quizzes, which are a lot easier. I feel like I’m right there.

My other favorite language app, Duolingo, is incredibly addicting and a great vocabulary builder. But Superfluent is better for AI-generated conversations.

Ping Pong Playing Robot

According to an AP story, Ace, a robotic arm built by Sony, has become a great ping pong player, defeating some of the best human players. It has nine camera eyes positioned around the court and can follow the ball and measure its spin. It was trained on an Olympic-sized table tennis court in Tokyo.

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Big data centers use a huge amount of electricity. But that’s changing. Someday soon, we won’t have to pay higher electricity prices because AI is hogging our power.

AI’s new Large Language Models are saving energy, because processing happens locally on our devices rather than via power-hungry remote servers.

For example, PrismML, founded by Caltech scientists, shrinks AI. Instead of giant data centers, their AI models can work on devices as small as the iPhone 17. What’s more, they take up only 1.5 gigabytes and can be downloaded for free at PrismML.com.

But PrismML’s “Bonsai” is not for casual users. It’s for tech enthusiasts who want to tinker with their own private AI, as well as developers, researchers and hardware manufacturers, especially those in robotics, wearables and smart appliances. 

Take robots, for example. A robot in a warehouse or a drone in a forest can’t afford a two-second delay while it asks a data center in Virginia how to avoid an obstacle. But PrismML’s Bonsai doesn’t just offer speed. Robots with their own AI brain, because they’re offline, keep chugging even when WiFi fails. The traditional kind halts immediately, possibly toppling over.

In the appliance industry, companies like Haier and Hisense would like to add AI agents to every dishwasher and fridge, but they can’t afford the electricity bill or the server space to run them in the cloud. PrismML’s models solve that problem. 

What about smartwatches, AI glasses, rings and other wearables? With intense AI use, a smartwatch can get hot and die by lunchtime. With PrismML on board, it can stay cool through a long holiday weekend.

What’s more, by having an AI brain built into a device, the ongoing cost per user drops to near zero, even as its speed and efficiency improve. Instead of coming from a big data center, the electricity and computing power comes from the user’s own gadget. 

Google uses “Gemini Nano,” a similar kind of built-in AI, for simple tasks like summarizing a sentence or suggesting a smart reply. For trillions of more complex AI queries, however, it’s moving toward small modular reactors and geothermal energy instead of big data centers. This means unplugging from residential power grids, saving Google a bundle in electricity costs. 

Online Dating

One of my friends found true love on Stitch.net. Another found her husband on Elite Singles. 

But a new site called “MyTruDate” is getting kudos for its ability to prevent “catfishing.” That’s when someone uses a false photo to masquerade as someone else. To combat that, every MyTruDate user must undergo a criminal background check before they get access to the app. Besides showing a US government-issued ID, they must take a live selfie. They must also use their real name. The service is free for now, but later on they’ll charge a $10 screening fee and $30 for a monthly membership.

Airbags for Bikes

Professional bicyclists have suffered around 1300 fractures in the last six years. So Van Rysel is developing a special bodysuit with an inflatable airbag inside. A consumer version is expected in 2028. In the meantime, check out the Hit-Air inflatable vest for motorcyclists, $625 at Amazon.

Anxious or Not?

A book called “The Anxious Generation,” by Jonathan Haidt, claims that social media and helicopter parenting are ruining our youth. But what do our youth have to say about this?

The majority of teens think social media is good for their mental health and friendships, or are at least neutral, according to an MIT/Oxford/Carnegie Mellon study quoted by Engadget. But many do admit that TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat are bad for their sleep and productivity. Their parents, on the other hand, feel that social media is good or neutral for building friendships, but generally harmful otherwise. 

Middle Mouse Button

The middle button on your computer mouse has far more functions than I ever realized. I learned about it from PC World.  

For example, you can push the middle button to click a link and have it open in a new tab. Or, if you middle-click a folder in your bookmarks bar, you launch every site in the folder. On the other hand, since my bookmarks are all in one folder, when I middle-clicked it, it said: “Are you sure you want to open 154 sites?” You can also middle-click any tab to close it. Most importantly to me, you can middle-click an empty space in the tab bar to reopen the last tab you closed.

Safer Browsing

To avoid opening an insecure website, click the three-dot menu in Google Chrome. Then choose “Settings,” “Privacy & Security,” and finally, “Security.” Under “Secure Connections,” choose “Always use secure connections.” In Microsoft Edge, go to “Settings,” then “Privacy,” then “Search and Services,” and choose security. 

Internut

Blimps may have lost out as passenger vehicles, but they’re seeing new life as floating internet infrastructure. Search on “New Floating Internet Infrastructure” to see a video of solar-powered unmanned airships operating about 65,000 feet above sea level. They’re designed to bridge the gap between ground-based cell towers and orbiting satellites, according to ZDNET. Besides providing internet, they can monitor climate change, forest fires and other natural disasters. Towers on the ground can only reach so far. Satellites cover vast areas, but they suffer from delays.

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Like me, you’ve probably seen buildings that have been empty for years. “Why hasn’t something replaced the old Panera Bread store?” I’ve often wondered. Fortunately, AI is solving this problem.

At the website SytesCRE.com, developers, landlords and prospective tenants use a kind of “Tinder for tenants.” But instead of uniting people for love, the way online dating does, Sytes matches developers and landlords with businesses looking for ways to expand, using an AI system called “Rio.”

Sytes’s smallest customer is a yoga studio. Its biggest is GoTo Foods, which owns Carvel, Auntie Anne’s, Jamba, Cinnabon, McAlister’s Deli and more. Dutch Bros, Popeyes, and Scooter’s Coffee also use the platform. Landlords can enter an address and instantly see which tenants are seeking that exact location. Tenants can declare exactly where they want to expand, so landlords see verified demand.

Rafael Weiss started the company when he realized that old-fashioned networking wasn’t working. “Especially if you aren’t the kind of guy to meet a thousand people and remember their names,” I said. But he is that kind of guy, he said, and it’s still difficult. You just don’t get all the info you need even by making a thousand phone calls. But at his site, you get an alert as soon as a prospective tenant joins the platform or an existing tenant wants to open a new location. Pricing starts at $50 a month and goes up to $166 a month.

Weiss’s first customer was Church’s Texas Chicken, a company with over 1400 restaurants in roughly 23 countries. In Church’s first eight hours online, they were sent 14 sites and accepted four. Two of the four were in markets where franchisees said nothing was available. They also said you couldn’t expand even if there were sites. Sytes proved them wrong on both counts.

But why would tenants want to share their expansion plans online, where competitors could see them, experts asked. The answer was privacy controls, which allow tenants to control exactly who sees their expansion plans and when.

In short, Sytes is like a legal version of insider trading. But instead of politicians scooping up properties when they find out that a new highway is going in, this info is open to all. Weiss himself has made money by buying a shopping mall that his site showed was swarming with potential tenants. His customers also look for vacant buildings, checking Sytes to see if any big tenants want a specific spot, then buying the building knowing they already have a match.

Monitoring Blood Pressure on Your Watch

Samsung Galaxy watches, versions 4 and newer, can now monitor your blood pressure. But you have to calibrate your watch every 28 days, in order to take readings on your wrist when the cuff monitor isn’t nearby.

The cuff squeezes your arm to feel the pressure of your blood flow. The watch uses a sensor to measure how long it takes for a pulse of blood to travel from your heart to your wrist. Generally, the higher your blood pressure, the faster that pulse wave travels. But since everyone’s internal plumbing is different, the watch must determine what a “normal” speed is for you.

My techiest friend has the Samsung Galaxy 4, which recently sent a message that it was ready to do blood pressure readings. The first three went well, but now it keeps giving him error messages. The latest Galaxy watch, the 8, is supposed to have better sensors.

Apple watches don’t measure blood pressure, but the Series 9 and Ultra 2 can detect trends and notify you of potential hypertension if you sync them with a Bluetooth-enabled cuff.

Using Your Tablet as an E-Reader

I love reading e-books on my phone or tablet through the Kindle app, especially when I’m on a plane. Even at home, ​I often use airplane mode to cut distractions.

F​or reading a tablet in bright sunshine, ​Z​DNET suggests adding a matte screen protector. If you get tired of holding your tablet, consider the “Strapsicle,” which straps the device to your hand. There are versions for large and small tablets as well as e-readers. Instead, I put mine on a tablet stand and place it on a small table nearby to read while I use my rowing machine.

Cut to the Chase

Many how-to videos on YouTube take too long to get to the point. But you can ask Google Gemini or your favorite AI bot to summarize them for you.

When I’m using the Google Chrome web browser, I prefer Google Gemini to ChatGPT. By clicking the Gemini button in the upper right of my computer screen, I get a summary, since Gemini can see anything on the page I’m looking at, if I allow it. For how-to videos, you could ask it to create a list of the tools and parts you’ll need, as well as the steps involved.

Internut

“Digital human could allow for better early dementia detection.” Search on that phrase to learn how scientists at Texas A&M University use avatars to gauge a patient’s apathy and slowness to respond. Unlike human interviewers, a machine can measure lags between a question and answer down to the millisecond, comparing them with previous visits. If you spot Alzheimer’s early enough, you can stop or potentially reverse it, according to a study by Dean Ornish, M.D.

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This is amazing. Robots and drones are now delivering medical supplies and specimens. Ottonomy provides the robot. Arrive AI provides a smart mailbox for pick up and delivery. 

Previously, someone had to be there to meet the robot. But with the “Arrive Point,” the robot can drop off a specimen even when the nurses and technicians are busy. The specimen goes into a secure, tamperproof, climate-controlled mailbox. It’s a huge selling point for hospitals because it closes the gap in automation. 

The system was first deployed at Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield, Indiana. The staff there said that it significantly reduced the thousands of steps they take daily just to move lab samples. 

Drones are partners in the process. They land on or hover over the smart mailbox to drop off or pick up lab samples, pharmacy orders and medical supplies, shuttling their deliveries between the main hospital and off-site locations. In an emergency, they can also deliver AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) directly to an Arrive Point for pickup by the staff. 

Arrive AI’s CEO Dan O’Toole claims his company beat Amazon by four days and the U.S. Postal Service by two weeks when they secured the patent for the core technology, the smart mailbox. With this foundation, Arrive AI could potentially prevent giants like Amazon from creating a similar delivery receptacle without first entering into a licensing agreement.

Currently, the company has nine patents with many more pending.They cover improvements to climate control for medicines, sanitization systems and tethering systems for drones.

Battery No-No

According to ZDNET, I shouldn’t charge my phone inside a bag, briefcase or backpack like I have been doing. Using a portable charger inside one of those is like placing it in a mini oven. It’s best to charge it on a flat, hard service with lots of air flow. If your phone feels hot while charging, try removing its protective case.

Emergency Alerts

The next time you get an Amber alert or tornado warning on your Android phone, you might also see  a map of the coverage area. Google Maps is rolling out this update to all Android users. It will give you the boundaries of the tornado or some other alert and show you where you are in relation to it. There’s always time to panic.

This feature won’t be made available to iPhone owners who use Google Maps because it’s built into the Android operating system’s emergency handling system. But iPhone users will still get standard text warnings. They’ll also get an alert when they’re about to enter a danger zone. If  you search for something like “wildfires near me,” you’ll see the coverage area.

Avoiding Motion Sickness

The “Hearapy” Android app from Samsung defeats motion sickness, according to CNET.  It works with your headphones or earbuds to send soothing sound waves to your inner ear. 

After installing the free app, put on your earbuds or headphones, click the app’s start button and listen to a low-frequency sound for 40 to 120 seconds. Hopefully, your motion sickness will relieved for up to two hours. 

The science is based on research from Japan’s Nagoya University. It found that people who listened to a 100 hertz sine tone for one to two minutes experience up to two hours of improved balance, lower stress levels and reduced motion sickness symptoms. They tested it in fast-moving cars. 

Here are some of the comments I saw on the app site: “I usually get travel sick pretty bad,” one said. “Tried this app on my normal nauseous journey and it definitely helped. So happy.” “It’s a noticeable improvement,” another said. “Works on my earbuds, and should work on any other earbud that supports 100hz sound.”

AI Ads

Twenty percent of ChatGPT users in the US not only see advertisements, they talk back to them. 

The ads are rolling out to anyone who uses ChatGPT’s free version. When they come to your area, you’ll see them whenever you ask for product recommendations, but not when you’re chatting about sensitive stuff like health or politics. Kids won’t see them at all unless they’re signed into an adult account.

The ads appear to be an instant hit. According to tech guru Shelly Palmer, OpenAI has already earned $100 million in annualized revenue with over 600 advertisers, despite the small number of viewers.

Duolingo Math

Duolingo Math, for computer, iOS and Android, has fun activities for kids, like figuring out how much a cartoon boy needs to buy a video game. If you already have a Duolingo account, click the flag for the subject you’re into, then click “add course.” Under “math,” you can choose “beginner,” “university” or “adult learner.” But even the university level starts with basic multiplication.

Internuts

–“US man tells how ChatGPT helped him sell his home for $1 million.” Search on that phrase to learn how a Miami man sold his home for $100,000 more than a real estate agent said it was worth after relying on ChatGPT for pricing, marketing, negotiations and paperwork.

-“AI facial recognition led to Grandma being wrongly jailed.” Search on that phrase to read about a Tennessee woman who spent five months in a North Dakota jail for a bank fraud she never committed, after Clearview AI wrongly identified her.

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When I went on a 2025 Princess cruise to Alaska, I got spotty connectivity on my Android phone, compared to what my iPhone-owning friends experienced. I ended up paying $100 just to send email for a day or two. But at least I was able to make phone calls throughout the voyage. 

It was whole ’nother ball game for my friend Tammy when she took an MSC cruise to the Caribbean in March of 2026. The ship offered an internet package for $35 a day that didn’t cover calls. “Too pricey,” she decided. More typically, Carnival cruises charge $23.80 a day if you buy it before the cruise, and $28 to $35 if you wait. So if I ever go on a cruise again, I’ll buy before I board.

Instead of the MSC package, Tammy paid $20 a day for Verizon’s “Cruise Daily Pass.” It was supposed to work well on land and at sea, but she never got a signal when the ship was far from shore, due to a lack of cell towers. She asked me to Google stuff for her and was bummed when she couldn’t share photos. 

My Consumer Cellular plan doesn’t offer anything like a cruise pass. But I could purchase a local SIM card for use on land. The problem is finding a reputable dealer, which can be difficult in some areas. What’s more, if I didn’t have a dual SIM phone, or an extra phone to use, I would lose my number temporarily when I swapped my usual SIM card for a local one.

Another option, if your phone supports eSIM, is called “OneRoam.” Their land-based plans are around $5.00 a day for unlimited data. They also offer a partnership with Cellular at Sea to bring you a combined land and maritime connection, starting at around $13 a day. In either case, your connection will be deprioritized compared to local carriers. Speeds may dip when lots of users are competing for bandwidth, when you’re streaming movies or when you’re downloading large files. Also, you may need to manually select a local carrier network in your phone’s settings at port if the switch doesn’t happen automatically. That could trip up less tech-savvy travelers unless they ask cruise personnel for help.

Increasing Your Energy

By improving your “Maximal Oxygen Consumption,” or “VO₂ max,” you can increase your energy, reduce your stress level and get sick less often. 

One way to test yours is with an Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch or Google Pixel watch. To check it on an iPhone, record an outdoor walk, run or hike, then tap the Health app and do a search on “VO₂ max.” On a Samsung Galaxy watch, you’ll see your VO₂ max measurement on your watch face immediately after your excursion, or you can check the Health app.

App Happy

If you like taking pictures of Nature, you might enjoy the iNaturalist app from iNaturalist.org. It’s a great way to share your findings with scientists who want to find out the habitats of as many organisms as they can. The app also allows you to chat with other naturalists. According to CBS News, iNaturalist fans have recorded 300 million sightings in all 195 countries, providing data on hundreds of thousands of species a year.

AI Yes Men

AI tends to agree with you even when you’re wrong, according to a Stanford University study. What’s more, nearly everyone is swayed by AI’s flattering opinion, the data shows. 

For example, AI convinced a man he was right to lie to his partner about his employment status, according to Ars Technica. In another case, when AI told people that it was OK to leave trash in a public park if you don’t see a trash can, they felt justified. Similarly, when a guy’s girlfriend objected to his continued communication with his ex, the man felt convinced he should break up with her rather than stop talking to his ex. The study involved 2405 participants across all walks of life.

But I don’t think AI’s sycophancy is always bad. It can boost your confidence, assure you you’re on the right path and give you courage to move ahead. If in doubt, just ask it for constructive criticism and other points of view.

Scam City

When a reader got a text message saying that his credit card was used for a $214 splurge in Atlanta, he knew he’d been had. So later, when he got a phone call offering to take over his computer remotely to fix the problem, he hung up.

I once fell for this kind of scam years ago, and my computer was a mess until I reset it. Now I know that if a request to control your computer arrives unexpectedly, it’s a scam. It’s not like when you call Apple tech support and they offer to start a remote troubleshooting session. That’s safe.

Internut

Go to Cronometer.com to find out whether you’re deficient in any nutrient just by listing everything you ate for the day. That’s how I and my health enthusiast friends found that we were deficient in Vitamin E. But we’ll get it from fruits and veggies, seeds and nuts, not supplements. For Vitamin E and Vitamin A, supplements are dangerous, according to best-selling author, Joel Furhman, M.D. and others.

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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 “at 1,656 cM, there is zero biological possibility that they aren’t Bob’s close family. You have proven that Bob is a Tomlinson.”  

I started my quest at MyHeritage.com using the Google Chrome web browser. Each time I had a question, I clicked the Gemini button so Gemini could “see” the pages I was examining. When I reached a dead end, I turned to Bob’s account at  Ancestry.com. Gemini stayed by my side, telling me where to click whenever I got confused. 

The possibilities narrowed until Gemini was 95 percent certain that John Leo Tomlinson was Bob’s dad. Then, without any promptings from me, it examined US Census data, discovering that Tomlinson was a broker at the Insurance Exchange Building in Chicago. It also looked at Tomlinson’s draft record, something I never would have thought of. Bob’s dad was described as tall, slender and blue-eyed with light brown hair. With this info, the woman who first wrote to me through the MyHeritage portal discovered that her father was related to Bob’s mother, not his dad.

Beware of QR Codes

The other day, a college professor and his highly educated wife rushed over to show me an official-looking text. They hoped I would scan its QR code for them, since only one of them had a smartphone.

“Delete it,” I said. For one thing, the text wasn’t expected. For another, it was too urgent. Had they scanned it, they probably would have picked up malware, lost money, or given away personal information.

Other kinds of QR code frauds abound. There’s parking meter tampering, in which QR codes are placed over real ones. In other cases, unsolicited packages containing fake codes ask you to register your gift. But the most common are QR codes sent by email or text claiming there’s a problem with your account. Just delete.

Going Incognito

When you’re asked for your email address, consider using a temporary one. Otherwise, your real address could get passed to marketing firms. Before you know it, your mail volume has tripled.

If you have an iPhone, try “Hide your Mail.” But if that option doesn’t pop up when you need it, go to “Settings,” tap your name and tap “iCloud.” Next tap “Hide My Email.” It will give you several temporary email addresses to use. Or you can create your own and give it a label, such as “junk mail.” All mail sent to these hidden email addresses will be forwarded to your regular inbox. But at least your real address won’t get shared.

To send a message with your new address, tap the Apple Mail icon, start a new email, then tap the “from” field and change it to your temporary address. The recipient will only see the temporary address, not your real one.

For Android and iPhone, another way to get a temporary address is to go to incognitomail.co, copy the address they offer you, and give it to the company that’s asking for it. You don’t have to sign up or login. Any reply you get will be stored on the incognitomail.co web page. 

But since your replies are only good for two hours, these temporary addresses are best for short-term situations. For instance, you could use one when you’re asked to share your email in exchange for a coupon. But you wouldn’t want to use a temporary address in job searches or any other regular correspondence. 

What about privacy issues? While Incognito won’t share your real address with other companies, it can read the messages you receive on their site. So it’s best not to use it for personal affairs.

Better Internet

If your neighborhood offers few choices for internet service, consider the new $199 StarLink Mini. Reviewers are impressed with its efficiency and speed. Starlink’s roaming plans work even in a fast-moving car. 

The high-speed service starts at 100 gigabytes of data for $50 a month. But there’s also a standby option that offers unlimited low-speed internet service for $5 a month. No router is required in either case.

Alternatively, Viasat, though not portable like the Starlink Mini, is a good choice for streaming and browsing. It offers speeds of 150 Mbps with no long-term contracts. Equipment can be leased for about $15 a month.

Update: Cruise lines are not allowing passengers to bring the StarLink Mini onboard. They must buy the ship’s internet package if they want a connection.

Internut

“Insane! Researchers Can’t Beat This Tennis Robot.” Search on that phrase to watch a robot play tennis with a man. The robot’s movements really look amazingly human. Unlike other athletes, such as those that can do karate, box each other, or do parkour, it’s not remotely controlled or pre-programmed, according to PC World. Before this breakthrough, any real competition between man and machine was considered impossible.

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