Joy Schwabach

I write the On Computers newspaper column which appears in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and the Worcester, Mass. Telegram and at

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

A reader named Karl sent me a newspaper column that raged against data centers and artificial intelligence. He hoped I’d give him a different point of view.

We sure need one. In April, Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, was targeted in an attempted firebombing with a Molotov cocktail at his San Francisco home. Apparently, the suspect thinks AI poses grave risks to humanity.

But so far, technological progress is the reason that we’re all still here. Thanks to technology, in the past 100 years, the average human lifespan has doubled, and the average per capita income worldwide has tripled, adjusted for inflation. Child mortality has come down by a factor of ten. There’s less violence, more education, more access to food and water. One hundred years ago, around 65 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty, according to https://t.co/hdHWmB8AdT. Today, it’s roughly one in ten.

AI can help with just about any tech problem, such as the pressing need for more water through desalination. It can help us grow food 100 times more cheaply than we do now. It can make renewable energy ubiquitous and bring us better health care. In a video recently, I saw a paralyzed man using an exoskeleton. Thanks to AI, his brain sent signals directly to his spine.

Horrifyingly, several AI naysayers warn that if we keep going down the same path, we’ll all have meaty bodies and robot heads some day. Others predict that children born today won’t survive past high school.

I got most of this info from a documentary, “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.” Peter Diamandis, M.D. says we’ve faced tougher challenges than this. Children born today, he says, are about to enter “a glorious period of human transformation.” The only day more exciting than today is tomorrow.

Kid Games
When my nephew was 8, he loved the video game “Backyard Baseball.” I loved that he always chose “Kenny Kawaguchi” for his team’s pitcher. Kenny’s motto was: “Don’t let this wheelchair fool ya, I can play!”

A new version of Backyard Baseball, launched in July 2026 by Mega Cat Studios, adds 3D and modernized graphics. Unlike most restored classics, it maintains the charm of the original. Plus, in a radical departure from today’s games, you only have to pay once. Most game companies today insist on nickel and diming you to death. Kids feel they have to keep up with their friends.

What the Mega Cat executives are proudest of, some say, is not their sales volume. It’s the fact that they get emails from dads whose children never wanted to play baseball until they saw it in the game. The kids are now rounding the bases, smiling as Dad misses the ball.

Aimed at kids ages 5 to 11, Backyard Baseball is available for $39.99 at https://t.co/LXcTr4oTD4.

Hydrogen Helicopter Clears a Milestone
A hospital must deliver organs to transplant patients quickly. Helicopters make sense, but the noise pollution is a big problem.

How about hydrogen-powered helicopters? They’re quiet and pollution-free, but there’s one big problem. Ever hear of the Hindenburg disaster? Its hydrogen fuel exploded, destroying the airship in 34 seconds.

Enter the Robinson Helicopter Company. Its first piloted hydrogen-powered flight occurred in March 2025. A bigger milestone in some ways occurred in April 2026, when its hydrogen-powered R44 completed the first full airport traffic circuit (takeoff, climb, pattern, approach, landing). The company partnered with United Therapeutics to develop a safe way to deliver organs for transplants. Unither Bioelectronics, a subsidiary of UT, makes lab-grown, synthetic human organs and transplant tissue. Their shelf life is often under 12 hours, so speed is critical.

By late 2027, the company hopes to show that these helicopters can go 286 miles before refueling. In 2028, they plan to file for approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and Transport Canada.

Help Set a World Record
You can help set a Guinness World Record for the longest internet literacy live stream and earn free digital training. According to https://t.co/EBUPJEftLW, if the group keeps the live stream going for 25 consecutive hours with at least 50 viewers, they’ll set a Guinness World Record and at least 1,250 people will benefit.

Your free training includes everything from avoiding online scams to keeping up with modern technology. Go to https://t.co/PeB7RTMzRb or https://t.co/9w1qFv5j3p on September 24 to 25, 2026 to join the fun.

Numbers Report
Google reported record search ad revenues in the first quarter. That totally goes against the prediction that AI is taking away Google profits because people no longer click on links.The big question is whether Google can maintain its growth as clicks on paid listings keep getting rarer, according to eMarketer.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT has struggled to add new users this year but Google’s AI Mode has reached over one billion monthly users. EMarketer expects Google Gemini to reach that target this year too. They also predict that Gemini and AI Mode combined will surpass ChatGPT in US monthly users by the first quarter of 2027.

Internut
“Humanoid Robots Robert & Matilda Get Married: Russia’s First Robot Wedding.” Search on that phrase to watch a creepy ceremony. The bride dances and a robot dog delivers the symbolic wedding bracelets before the happy couple say their vows.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

https://t.co/y1cesClciM and https://t.co/AkyMq97oAZ The new “Claude Science” from Anthropic uses artificial intelligence to tackle rare genetic disorders and tropical maladies, the kind that are usually ignored because there aren’t enough patients to justify the costs involved in finding a cure.

It sounds almost miraculous but it can’t do human testing. So the company is hoping it will be a helpful tool for anyone from giant pharmaceutical companies down to individual researchers.The beta version is available to paid Claude users (currently macOS/Linux) starting at $20 a month.

However, the field is ripe with competitors. Insilico Medicine, Recursion, Exscientia and Isomorphic Labs are all involved in AI drug discovery. In July 2026, Insilico launched a Phase III trial for “Rentosertib,” an oral medication for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive and currently incurable lung-scarring disease. 

Most notably, AI designed the biological target that Rentosertib attacks and identified its chemical structure. It’s the first AI-generated drug to reach Phase III, the second-to-last stage of human testing. Phase IV is conducted only after the drug is approved and marketed.

In 2023, the FDA granted it Orphan Drug status, which gives the company exclusive seller rights for seven years. A more recent trial showed that patients on Rentosertib had improved lung function compared to those on a placebo. If Rentosertib’s latest trial succeeds, it could prove that AI-designed medicines can make it all the way through the approval pipeline. 

Going Back to Windows 10

Ever since a reader named John bought a Windows 11 laptop from Lenovo, he’s had “a plethora of frustrating problems.” Now, he’s thinking of turning it into a Windows 10 machine. Good idea.

The problems began when Microsoft changed many gesture features for Windows 11. The difficulties are especially noticeable in two-in-one laptops like John has. In short,  Windows 11 gets confused when a user tries to click, tap, drag or highlight a passage. He says it often takes him three tries to get a response.

But the problem isn’t unique to his Lenovo 2-in-1. It also applies to Dell Inspiron and XPS laptops, HP Envy and Specter 2-in-1s, Asus ZenBooks and more. So by going back to Windows 10, John’s laptop should respond normally. (Get Windows 10 for free at https://t.co/6jtXaIRS57.)

Can you install Windows 10 over 11? Nope. During a Windows 10 installation, you must allow the process to completely wipe your laptop's primary drive. But don’t worry. If you back up your files first, you can easily restore them, though your programs and apps must be manually reinstalled. A note of caution: Go to your laptop’s support site first. Some machines are built strictly for Windows 11.

High Tech Shoes

Need a little pep in your step? A new kind of shoe has a robotic insert to help lighten your load. 

The Dephy Sidekick is a $4,500 way to ease joint problems. Its special shoes lock into motorized devices that attach to your lower legs with straps. It feels like wearing boots, according to a ZDnet reviewer. To me, it looks like a metallic version of the shin guards I wore in high school for field hockey.

The Dephy’s AI system calibrates your gait to provide a customized lift, and has three power levels. Though designed for the Army, the company claims it can save your knees and hips from the ravages of old age. Check it out at https://t.co/edBSNNDp2k.

Bye Bye Physical Discs

A hip college student told me she’s a big fan of PlayStation games but hates the online versions.  Unfortunately for her, Sony is phasing out physical discs. As of 2028, she’ll only be able to buy new games online, though she’ll be able to buy any game in disc form that was produced before 2028.

According to Engadget, this is part of a trend. Many games now have a code in a box instead of a disc, and Nintendo is charging more for physical editions of some of its games.

Avoiding Amazon Phonies

“Knockoff,” which is free at the website https://t.co/kLvjPGDRsl, is a new extension that tries to pinpoint brands on Amazon that may be fake. It can’t really detect the phonies, however. It just flags the products with gibberish, all-caps, vowel-less names typical of anonymous mass-market dropshippers. 

After reading about it in CNET, I searched for “solar lights” on Amazon. About half the choices were grayed out. But sometimes Knockoff makes a mistake. According to CNET, it blocked Torras, a well-known phone case brand, which is in stock at Best Buy.

Portable Shower

If a storm knocks out the power grid, having a portable shower system that heats water to 140 degrees Fahrenheit might save the day. It could also be useful for washing the kids and the dog, especially if they like to take off after that first bucket of water pours on their heads.

  The HotTap Go is a $554 portable shower from https://t.co/GBM435AxHh. Your car’s 12-volt socket, what we used to call a cigarette lighter, powers the water pump. The heat, up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, comes from a small propane/gas burner built into the unit. If you wish, you can stick the showerhead on the side of your car, since it’s magnetized. This way you get a powerful spray any place you happen to be, whether at a camping site, on your boat or in your own backyard.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

https://t.co/4OLKKXYPIu 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 https://t.co/IAIZeMgZS2 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 red one. So I bought Gemini’s preferred green cream as an intermediary. Voilà. The blotch vanished.

TiraMuisu doesn’t allow image uploading, so I couldn’t show it my blotch. It just summarizes the reviews it gets from the web. But it could save me from watching 20 TikTok videos. According to the company, it summarizes video transcripts and comments from unpaid, everyday consumers. Armed with that info, it replies to your questions in three different voices: Tira, the hype girl, Muisu, the skeptic, and Mochi, the skin care chemist. It’s entertaining, but I still prefer Gemini.

New Way to Examine a Fetus

A friend of mine may be having her baby as I write this. When she’s rested, I’ll ask if her ultrasounds were powered by artificial intelligence. It’s the latest thing.

Anyone who has ever had a baby or looked at an ultrasound printout knows they look like grainy, black-and-white weather radar screens. But a company called Diagnoly offers an AI-powered assistant that changes everything. The black-and-white picture still looks grainy, but it now has real-time, digital bounding boxes, labels and color-coded geometric callouts directly on top. As a technician moves an ultrasound wand, these overlays automatically identify all the relevant baby parts. A tired doctor no longer misses crucial abnormalities.

It’s kind of a no-brainer for medical offices. Instead of requiring them to purchase massive, expensive new machinery, the doctors and sonographers can simply download the “Fetoly” app onto a standard iPad or Android tablet and plug it directly into their existing ultrasound systems. Unlike many modern medical AI systems that require a cloud connection, Fetoly runs entirely locally with zero dependency on the internet.

There are no specific medical offices or hospital systems in Arkansas publicly using Fetoly yet. However, because most of them use GE HealthCare's Voluson systems, they have the technical capability to deploy the software.

Get a New Ringtone

It’s easy to get a new ringtone on iPhones with the latest iOS 26 operating system. Just open your Files app, choose some music, tap “Share,” and select “Use as Ringtone.” However, since my Files lacked music, I used a free app called “Voice Memos,” then played “The Sound of Music” on my computer while holding my phone up to the screen, stopping before the 30 second mark. Finally, I tapped the three dot menu, then “Share,” “View More,” and “Use as Ringtone.”

Do You Really Own Your Movies?

You don’t really own the movies you bought for streaming purposes. They can disappear.

That’s what happened to Sony customers in several European countries who bought movies at the PlayStation Store, according to Engadget. When a licensing deal with Studio Canal expired, the movies vanished from the customers’ video libraries. They didn’t get a refund either. Hey DVD, you’re looking good.

Good News for Windows 10 Users

The original “End of Life” support for Windows 10 was October, 2025. But when millions couldn’t or wouldn’t upgrade to Windows 11, they extended it to October 2026. More recently, they tacked on another year. The final cut-off is now October 2027.

Read This Next

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, says: "If you care about the future, read this book." He’s referring to “The AI Ten Commandments: A New Moral Code for Humanity,” a groundbreaking collaboration by Jamie Metzl and GPT-5.

Metzl, a Harvard-and-Oxford-trained Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, prompted ChatGPT to analyze thousands of years of human scriptures, historical records, philosophical texts, myths, laws, and indigenous traditions to distill ten universal moral rules. He says AI is forcing a massive shift in our moral landscape, but we don’t have to take it lying down. Let’s stay moral everybody.

IBM Breakthrough

IBM has come up with a way to increase computing speed by 50 percent and energy efficiency by 70 percent.

Engineers were faced with the problem of designing computer chips that allowed them to squeeze nearly 100 billion transistors into a piece of silicon the size of a human fingernail. But in that case, the chip’s components would have to be 100,000 times thinner than a strand of human hair. No way that’s happening dude.

It’s like the classic city planners’ dilemma. How many homes can be crammed into a single lot? Imagine Manhattan without the skyscrapers. Even tiny homes wouldn’t fit. Similarly, a new kind of  microscopic skyscraper vertically stacks and bonds components on top of each other. It’s called “nanostack technology.”

Nanostack technology is designed to handle enormous AI workloads without a catastrophic spike in global energy consumption. It also speeds up our gadgets and increases their battery life. Expect it in the next five to ten years.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

(this week's column) https://t.co/tHxRghhL4p or https://t.co/AkyMq97oAZ

Protesters have been raging about giant data centers guzzling power, water and land. But here’s an environmentally-friendly solution: standalone apps that don’t connect to the internet.

When you use free apps like Atomic Chat, Google’s AI Edge Gallery, LLM Studio, or Ollama, you sever your cord to the cloud. Unlike ChatGPT and other AI bots, these apps don’t require a web window. They allow you to download their brains to work offline.

In short, by using these apps, you won’t cause electricity demand to shoot up the way it would with cloud-based AI bots. When you type a prompt into ChatGPT, Gemini and other standard AI services, your request travels to massive server farms that consume staggering amounts of electricity to process your words. They also require millions of gallons of water just to keep the server racks cool. Local apps flip the script. In fact, apps like Atomic Chat are able to compress an AI’s active memory by six times, allowing longer conversations without as much random access memory.

These apps are also private. Since your data never leaves your phone, tablet or computer, you don’t even need an account.

So here’s the first catch. The minimum to run a capable local model is 16 gigabytes of system RAM and either a GPU with over six GB of VRAM (video memory) or an Apple Silicon Mac. Your Windows PC would need a dedicated graphics processing unit with at least six GB of its own video memory. An NVIDIA card works best. Otherwise, your AI answer might trickle in, one word at a time, while your laptop’s fan goes crazy.

Here’s the other catch. The standalone apps can’t browse the morning news, look up current stock prices, or check the weather for your upcoming trip unless you plug in advanced technical extensions. But what they can do is remarkable. Ask one to translate a document, debug a computer program, draft a short story or song lyrics, or brainstorm solutions to a thorny problem, such as how to preserve seed diversity for future generations. They’re less like encyclopedias or online newspapers and more like tireless thinking partners who happen to work without WiFi.

So who would most likely benefit? First, anyone who needs total privacy, with no chance of data sharing. Second, travelers in remote regions where WiFi is spotty. Third, anyone who loves to tinker with the latest open-source breakthroughs, or find out how AI reasoning works under the hood.

But someday this offline world could be the norm. We’re now in a transition phase. For example, Microsoft recently announced a massive shift to treat Windows as a “Local AI Runtime,” meaning future Windows updates will process background AI tasks right on your device rather than constantly calling home to the cloud.

Apple Intelligence already relies on a similar hybrid model. If you ask your phone to summarize a long text message or an email, it doesn’t send it to a data center. It crunches it locally using its built-in hardware.

Finally, businesses are increasingly adopting local, sandboxed desktop applications to protect proprietary corporate data.

I guess those big data centers will have to become either condos or warehouses.

Talking to AI in Midair
American Airlines now offers free high-speed WiFI on most flights. You’re no longer limited to the AA movie, TV and music channel.

With free connections, you could converse with ChatGPT or some other AI bot for an entire flight. You do have to sign up for a free AAdvantage membership, however, but you can ​d​o it from your airplane seat.

📷Senior Phone
Consumer Cellular’s SpeakEasy is a new phone aimed at seniors 75 and older.

The home screen features only calling, texting, photos and videos. The buttons are large, backlit and easy to read. The volume keys are on the front. The speakerphone is extra loud. The service is fairly cheap too: It’s $14.95 a month for 500MB of data on the Speak Easy Flip. It’s $19.95 a month for the SpeakEasy Smart. Though the Smart is an Android phone, it’s designed to be super simple to use.

The Jitterbug Smart4 is similar to the SpeakEasy Smart. Choose the Jitterbug if you want its famous round-the-clock nurse lines and medical assistance when you press the Urgent Response button. Go with the SpeakEasy if you prefer cheaper monthly data plans.

The Jitterbug flip phone is also great for medical and other help. Just press “O” for Operator​. Years ago, using a free phone the company gave me, I did that ​a​fter getting lost in San Diego in the rain.

Touchless ID
You can breeze even faster through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) line at the airport by signing up for “Touchless ID.” Before you had to manually enter your passport info for each airline you used. But with the new version, you just add your boarding pass to Google Wallet. After approval, it will have a PreCheck Touchless ID icon on it.

Million Dollar Giveaway
The US Department of Transportation will award five people $100,000 each for ideas on how robotics can transform our transportation networks. One person will get a million dollars. For more info, sign up for “DOT’s Bot Challenge,” an online webinar on Wednesday, July 8 at 3 p.m. ET. Or write to [email protected].

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

https://t.co/0kpLPA0iLL Topics in this column include fungal networks. I used to dread resetting my computer to fix something major. But Claude AI taught me a new trick that makes everything easy.

“Peggle,” my favorite game of all time, recently stopped working. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it. I also asked Microsoft’s Copilot AI for help, but it sent me on a wild goose chase, directing me to uninstall a driver, run compatibility mode and try some complicated codes in the Command Prompt, or what we used to call DOS. Frustrated, I turned to Claude AI.

Claude said my Peggle problem was likely caused by the latest update from the “Windows Insider Preview,” a beta version of Windows 11. It directed me to https://t.co/6jtXaIRkfz to get a well-tested version of Windows 11 as an ISO file.

“Uh oh,” I thought. In the old days, you either had to burn an ISO file to a DVD or use a third party app to launch it virtually. But these days, Claude said, it will automatically mount itself onto a virtual drive in File Explorer. Then all you have to do is click “setup.” Presto! Claude was right. It automatically installed a fresh copy of Windows 11. Afterwards, my Peggle game worked beautifully. My files were there too but not all of my apps. Oh well, I don’t mind reinstalling a couple of them.

PAY WITH YOUR WATCH
I feel so techy when I hold my Apple Watch up to a card reader to pay for something.

Here’s how you can do it too. Once you’ve added a credit card to the Apple Wallet app, just double tap the side button below the watch crown to bring up the card, then hold it over the card reader. On the Samsung Galaxy Watch, press and hold the lower button on the side of the watch for a second or two. This brings up your credit cards.

COMMODORE 64 PHONE
Commodore International just came out with a flip phone for fans of the Commodore 64, a wildly popular computer in the 1980s and early ’90s. It looks like the 1970s Commodore calculator.

The Callback 8020 aims to remove distractions. For example, it blocks Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and all web browsers. But it includes Commodore 64-era games and 99 percent of the apps in the Google Play Store. It should be available in fourth quarter 2026 for $500 to $640.

DOCTOR CHATGPT
A new version of ChatGPT, called “GPT-5.5” is a much improved virtual doctor, whether you’re asking about lab results, insurance, an urgent situation, or complex health information you’re struggling to understand. Its parent company, OpenAI, worked with more than 260 licensed physicians in 60 countries, 49 languages, and 26 medical specialties to review its answers.

To start, go to https://t.co/qJRzpsxvaf or open the app on your phone. Be sure you spell “ChatGPT” correctly. (Once I put in a “B” instead of “P” and landed at a scammer’s site.)To find out if the latest GPT-5.5 version has rolled out to your neighborhood, type: “What model are you using?”

I decided to compare GPT-5.5’s new insightfulness with Google Gemini, by sharing my recent Lipoprotein(a) score, which is high, due to genetics. GPT suggested I have it tested annually, but Gemini said that was a mistake. LP(a) is a one-and-done test unless you’re part of a clinical trial for one of the new, gene-silencing therapies that turn off Lp(a) production, Gemini explained. GPT tried to justify itself by saying that lab tests can err and should be repeated. But I prefer Gemini anyway, mostly for its encouraging tone.

TECH PRICES
We’ve gotten so used to tech prices going down, it’s shocking to see them going up. HP executives explained that with RAM prices up 100 percent, due to heavy demand from AI, they had to raise prices.The makers of the budget “Nothing” phone say they canceled this year’s model due to high RAM prices.

Sixteen devices are now more expensive, according to Mashable. They include laptops from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Microsoft, gaming products from MSI and Moto G phones from Motorola. Relief is coming in 2028, according to a research manager with the International Data Corporation. But he just expects prices to stabilize, not decrease.

NUMBERS REPORT
In a survey of 500 US adults, https://t.co/Y2WR3FXuaZ discovered that more than 80 percent of us have never considered owning a website with our name on it, such as https://t.co/Y9vGXUPXgW. Fourteen percent say that their name is already taken. Only two percent own a personal-name domain.

AI LEARNS PHYSICS
What if an AI bot could learn enough basic physics to start inventing new products, like lighter eyeglasses and better phone cameras? That’s what scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are aiming for. Their new super brain is already helping build Sweden’s first large-scale quantum computer. It’s also helping scientists find new materials to control how light travels. They’re inventing things more quickly because the new approach enables them to cut a 30-day training process to three days.

INTERNUT
Search on “threads of underground fungal networks reach beyond the solar system,” to learn about the fabulous fungi that have been mapped for the first time by SPUN, the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks. The fungi store carbon, helping prevent a hot climate.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

https://t.co/UYETfipWGi “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 personal board of advisors. The board has four members, each with a distinct lens:

– A pragmatic operator who cares about what’s actually doable this week

– A long-term strategist who thinks in years, not days

– A blunt skeptic whose only job is to poke holes in my thinking

– A wise mentor who asks about what really matters to me

Have each member weigh in one at a time, in their own voice, starting their reply with their name in brackets. They’re allowed to disagree with each other. After all four have spoken, give me a short board summary of where they agree, where they clash, and the one question I should answer before I decide.”

The blunt skeptic tried to talk me out of the women’s club committee I was leaning toward, but the wise mentor, pragmatic operator and long-term strategist understood the big picture. With more info, the skeptic came on board. I felt like a CEO.

According to my board, I was in danger of overcommitment if I chose the Social Committee over the Grants Committee. The Skeptic and the Mentor both noted my enthusiasm for the Grants Committee. In response, like a good CEO, I gave them more info. Finally, they all agreed that the Social Committee was best.

📷Pendant Tracks Sun Exposure

Growing up in sunny Southern California, I never took my car if I could row a boat, ride a bike or walk a mile. The penalty? Twenty-two skin cancers and counting.

Enter Dr. Richard Weller, a world-renowned dermatologist. He helped develop a necklace that tracks your exposure to ultraviolet rays. It’s called “The90 Gem.”

The Gem measures both UVA (the rays linked to aging) and UVB (the rays that cause burning) in real time. Taking into account your personal metrics, the necklace considers all the exposure you get in a day, even the small bits, like the sun streaming through your home windows, poking into your car, and shining on your errands. It’s called “The90” because 90 percent of visible aging is caused by UV exposure.

The90 Gem looks like a circular pendant surrounded by a frame of gold or silver. Besides the UV sensor, it has an accelerometer and a Bluetooth chip to communicate with a free phone app. It can handle everyday water exposure (splash, rain, shower, sweat) but not submersion. It’s $199 at https://t.co/x0ZY2j0VTZ.

Privacy Pitfalls

I’ve never been one to worry about nosy smart devices, but Mark Meckler, a technology attorney and former social media CEO, says we should be concerned, especially if there are young children at home.

Your smart TV, voice assistants, and connected toys constantly take note of what you watch, what you say, when your kids are home, and what your household routines are, in order to produce a digital dossier on each member. Without meaningful consent from you, or accountability, the data is used to train AI systems, Meckler said.

But I thought this data was “anonymized.” Not so. A landmark study by researchers at Imperial College London and UCLouvain in Belgium found that 81 percent of Americans could be re-identified from their zip code, gender and date of birth alone. With 12 more traits, 99.98 percent could be identified.

Here are Meckler’s three tips. First, disable the always-on voice assistant’s wake words on your smartphone or smart speakers when not actively needed, or turn your bedrooms into device-free zones. Tap to take Alexa offline, tap again to bring her back. It’s quick.

Second, go to your phone’s settings to turn off ad personalization, location tracking history, and activity tracking. If you don’t know how to do that, Google it.

Third, consider switching to a privacy-centric browser like Brave to block hidden background trackers. As the old saying goes, if a product is free, you’re the product.

Numbers Report
Companies that give AI expanded access to systems and data have experienced a 43 percent breach rate over the past year, compared to an 11 percent security problem among companies that didn’t allow expanded AI access. This info comes from cybersecurity firm Netwrix, which examined data from 2300 IT and security professionals.

New Use for Old Styrafoam

What if that old Styrofoam cup could be turned into a sponge that captures carbon dioxide? It would become useful again. Currently, only one percent of Styrofoam escapes the landfills.

A new study from Aarhus University shows that discarded polystyrene—the plastic used to make Styrofoam cups, plastic utensils, and CD cases—can be turned into a material that captures CO₂. The new material acts like a sponge to capture carbon from highly concentrated sources, like factory smokestacks, as well as from regular air.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

Want a free virtual aquarium? Type FREEFISH after you click the link below.
https://t.co/kLlV4DpH0R
The Live Aquarium 4K⁠ has 25 species of fish and a choice of backgrounds. I like the one with all the sharks.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

https://t.co/hGFNlTikaj and https://t.co/AkyMq97oAZ Without Gemini, Google’s artificially intelligent bot, I might never have figured out how to get the most out of my new Bilt credit card. Gemini is a whiz at finance.

A Bilt card works like a virtual bank. Besides having its own routing number, it offers a virtual bank account number. This way you can earn points for charging your rent, mortgage or Home Owners Association fee without incurring a “convenience” fee. But you also need to make at least four other regular credit card transactions. “Could I buy a pack of gum four times?” I asked. Yes, Gemini said, but it wouldn’t be ideal.

Here’s a better way to go. I could use my Bilt virtual bank account to pay a $700 mortgage, rent or HOA. Then, if I also charged $85 at the grocery story each week, and $40 at a restaurant or gas station each month, I’d accumulate around 17,000 points by year’s end. That would give me $300 in purchases at American Airlines, United, Air Canada, Hyatt Hotels, Holiday Inn, Marriott and others. Choosing a cash reward instead would only get me $93.50, or .0055 times the number of points.

But that doesn’t take into account Bilt’s new multiplier effect, which is huge if your non-housing purchases equal or surpass the amount you spend on housing. In that case, you’d get 1.25 times as many points as you would normally. For example, if your housing costs are $700 a month and you spent $700 on other stuff, you get 875 points instead of 700, just for the housing component. Adding in the points you’d get for your credit card spending, you’d accumulate a total of 1,575 points a month or 18,900 points a year.

Likewise, if you pay your recurring charges on the first of the month, it’s worth even more points.  That’s why I changed my autopay settings to the first. For more info, ask Gemini.

Beyond Finance
Gemini is great for finance, but I use it for other activities too. For example, after Google Maps showed me an 11-minute bike route through dense traffic, I asked Gemini for a longer, but safer route. It was both safer and more scenic.

The easiest way to use Gemini is to fire up the Google Chrome web browser on your computer and tap the sparkling star in the upper right corner. That way it can see what you’re working on. It may ask you if you want to use “Connected Apps.” These allow it to search your Gmail, Google Docs and Google Drive to look up facts you’ve forgotten or answer questions about anything else.

One way to use Gemini on your phone is the “@” shortcut. If you type “@” without the quotes in the search box, a menu pops up with app suggestions. For example, if you selected Google Drive or Gmail, you might then ask the AI to instantly analyze a specific document or find an old email thread, saving you from digging through folders.

App Happy
“Voice Memos” is a free app for recording your thoughts. It sure beats my pen scratchings at bedside, since I usually can’t read my own handwriting the next day. It’s also better than telling Alexa to remember something since she garbles anything longer than a few words. Now I just tap the app and hit “record.”

📷Need a Foldable?
A reader wrote to say he’s disappointed with his iPhone Pro Max 17 since it’s not as big as he expected. Though he enlarged the font, the keyboard is still tiny. Should he get a much larger, foldable phone?

I don’t think so. He could save thousands by getting a phone stand and a wireless keyboard instead. Walmart and Amazon sell them as a set for around $24. Besides, Apple has yet to come out with its first foldable, and as a long-time iPhone user, he might not be happy switching to Android.

The first so-called Apple Fold should arrive sometime in 2027, not September as others have predicted. It’s expected to be sturdier, wider and squatter than current foldables, as well as ultra thin like the new iPhone Air, with a superior chip. Price: around $2500.

Foldables have been around since 2018, but I saw my first, a Samsung Z Fold6, only a few weeks ago.The owner said he was glad it was under warranty, because it got bubbles along the crease within two years. He mainly keeps it folded, opening it only for photos, videos and spreadsheets. But for spreadsheets, he adds a keyboard.

📷Free Aquarium
https://t.co/tmihg0f71e is offering free virtual aquariums for your computer’s wallpaper. Just search on “aquarium,” and type the code “FREEFISH” before July 15. The Live Aquarium 4K⁠ has 25 species of fish and a choice of backgrounds. I like the one with all the sharks. The company is offering this freebie to the first 65,000 who register.

Night Photography
If your iPhone uses iOS 26, it has the new “Night Mode Max” for taking pictures in the dark. According to CNET, this allows your phone camera to capture three times more light during a 30-second exposure. But you’ll need a tripod to truly capture the stars.

📷Internut
Search on “Stump House, 1905” to see an example of the days when Americans lived inside tree stumps.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

(this week's column) https://t.co/vWsObXVtKj and https://t.co/AkyMq97oAZ

LIVE TRANSLATE
To do some chores, I hired a Venezuelan who doesn’t speak English. So I turned to Google Live Translate.

First, I fired up the app and said: “Here’s where you should start today.” Immediately, we heard those words in Spanish. Then, when the Venezuelan said “Ok, muy bueno,” we heard “OK, very good.” It was practically seamless.

But Apple’s Translate app is even better. You don’t have to tap “English to Spanish,” then “Spanish to English” whenever you want to switch. Just speak and you’ll hear the translation in any of 19 languages.

But what if you need to speak to someone in another country? With an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, you can hear a live translation in English even if the other person is on a landline. I tested this by calling my landline from my iPhone 16e while the landline was picking up a Spanish conversation from YouTube. There was only a slight lag between the Spanish and the English translation. What’s more, it’s a two-way street. The call recipient hears their language while you hear yours.

Best of all are the newer Apple Airpods.They remind me of those old movies where a United Nations translator is sitting in a glass booth to translate the words that diplomats will hear in their own language instantaneously. The Airpods, together with the freeTranslate app, can do the same thing, also instantaneously.

Getting Answers You Like
Here’s how you can influence the kind of answers you get from Google AI Summaries. Whether you’re left-wing, right-wing or independent, carnivore or vegan, surfer dude or buttoned-down accountant, you can theoretically get answers just from the sources you trust. I say “theoretically,” because it didn’t work in my tests. But there’s an easy work-around.

I started at https://t.co/Md7fgMMH5e. Then, following Google’s instructions, I typed my sources in a list that Google can see. But Google ignored them, answering my queries with its usual links. The only way I could get the spin I wanted was to directly ask Google to include them. For example, I typed: “What does NPR have to say about the war in Iran?” Then I tried: “What does Fox News have to say about the Iran war?” Each worked perfectly.

Amazon Credit Card Tip
Here’s something I just learned. For maximum savings, you shouldn’t use your Amazon Prime Visa’s accumulated points at the https://t.co/tOcthhIXUj checkout screen. Instead, charge the full amount to your Prime Visa in order to get five percent back. Then, log into your Chase account and apply your points as a statement credit to help pay your balance.

Over the Limit
In my last month with Consumer Cellular, I went well over my five gigabyte data limit. One of the culprits could have been “background fetching.”

Some apps, especially those that use AI, update their content in the background, even when you aren’t using them. So unless you have unlimited data, you may want to disable that. Just look up “background fetching” in Settings and turn it off.

Next, consider disabling Wi-Fi Assist. It automatically switches your phone to cellular data when your Wi-Fi signal is weak. To disable it, go to Settings, search for “Wi-Fi Assist” and turn it off. On an Android phone: go to Settings, then search for the “automatic mobile data switching option.”

Finally, there’s “Low Data Mode.” Besides stopping background tasks, it reduces the quality of streaming videos, and pauses automatic photo syncing when you’re not in Wi-Fi range. You can save data this way too.

Wi-Fi Calling
If you haven’t turned on Wi-Fi calling, you might want to consider doing so. Otherwise, you might be out of range of a cell tower with no other way to call someone. In a doctor’s office for example, connecting to a Wi-Fi network is as easy as asking them for the password, if it isn’t already posted somewhere.

But first you need to enable it. For iPhones and Androids, you can do so by going to Settings, and typing “Wi-Fi calling” in the search bar. When it comes up, toggle the switch to “on.”

AI Mistakes
Recently, I asked Google Gemini for help altering a pie crust recipe to exclude butter and eggs. I thought I had a great recipe, but later I noticed that it had left out the baking powder. According to Google’s most recent data, responses by Google’s AI Mode and Gemini may only be accurate 68.8 to 83.8 percent of the time.

Numbers Report
Arkansas is fourth in the nation in the amount of jobs requiring AI skills. According to https://t.co/HjjhgBc2ti, a leading bookkeeping platform, about 14 percent of tech jobs in Arkansas require them. Delaware, Alaska and New York are first, second and third in the amount of AI knowledge employers require for tech jobs. California and Washington aren’t in the top five.

Internuts
– https://t.co/oh4TmQnrM2 is an easy way to explore our national parks. Besides all the info you could possibly want, it has an AI tool called “Trailie” to help you plan your visit.

–“April 13, 2029.” Search on that phrase to discover an asteroid about the size of the Eiffel Tower that will pass closer to Earth in 2029 than TV satellites do, a once-in-a-thousand-years event.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

(this week's column) https://t.co/jNZf6RRRK2

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 https://t.co/QKUcxFwtJu. 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 https://t.co/nemeWlLqL8. 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.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

https://t.co/672Vkww0TR
and https://t.co/AkyMq96QLr
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 https://t.co/niQTRqHXc3. 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.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

(this week's column https://t.co/nnHGK2WlPn and https://t.co/AkyMq96QLr)

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 https://t.co/Uack48EtFg 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.

Internut

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

Filed under: AI, Internuts

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

(this week's column, which appears in the Democrat Gazette, AR)
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 https://t.co/1ItCXrpexB 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).

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

(this week's column)
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 https://t.co/h3h3txvjCv, 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 https://t.co/0K0LWA49YI. 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.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

https://t.co/rzopOSm8ux and https://t.co/9RpBm7D7eW

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 https://t.co/lyAYaD8wYT.

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 https://t.co/FlmFYzWnaS. 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.

[Joy Schwabach @oncomp]

https://t.co/fxOAYvOgcN and https://t.co/AkyMq96QLr

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 https://t.co/IORkC6jP34, developers, landlords and prospective tenants use a kind of “Tinder for tenants.” But instead of uniting people for love, the way online dating does, SytesCRE matches developers and landlords with businesses looking for ways to expand, using an AI system called “Rio.”

SytesCRE’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. SytesCRE 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, SytesCRE 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.