Should this be a Tech Friday or ThrowBack Thursday #TBT post?

| December 19, 2024

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is infiltrating almost everything we do on a smartphone, tablet or computer these days. Last week, my X.com feed sent a message that “you should try generating an image of yourself” based on whatever data it collects. I suspect it relies on my profile information, but am not sure what else it […]

Tech Friday: Is there a way to get SiriusXM on an Apple Watch?

| December 13, 2024

Although I don’t have an Apple Watch like Brenda, but I think one is coming my way for Christmas now that I have a modern iPhone (my Fitbit Versa 2 is “still ticking after taking a licking” — old Timex joke). One of the features or apps that does not exist, is an app for SiriusXM.I […]

Archive: Merry Christmas 2024 and a Google “add me” photo test

| December 6, 2024

The annual Corbett Christmas Letter has been reduced to the ubiquitous Christmas card printed by one of the many card producers (below). This year’s card was ordered  before our Thanksgiving famly get-together and unique Google “Add Me” AI feature used in the photo above on Drew’s new Pixel 9. Very impressive — hey, Apple, get […]

Tech Friday: Distrust Artificial Intellegence #AI as we do social media … or for that matter the mainstream media #MSM

| November 22, 2024

This past week, while digging up answers for tax planning for a Barron’s Advisor group that I participate in, I searched for the standard 2024 deduction changes based on age, etc. At the top of my Brave Browser search (their Leo AI engine), which I’ve found helpful several times, pop the summary below:  This recent search […]

Tech Friday: Tinkering with Apple Intelligence summary feature

| November 8, 2024

Apple is finally rolling out the much ballyhooed Apple Intelligence on Apple devices … including my new iPhone 16 Pro Max. Their have been a few laughs from me when it comes to the AI “summary” feature generating a questionable summary (an automotive enthusiast John Rowe’s X.com comments – he does NOT recommend Sunbeam).  On […]

Asking AI about predicting recessions and investing in treasuries

| October 25, 2024

Nobody really knows when the next recession will come, but economists and those of us who monitor investments would really like to know before it arrives. This week while moving a few more dollars to the sideline, at least until after the November 2024 election and until mid-January 2025 (parked in a 3-month CD) … I […]

While playing with NotebookLM’s podcasting feature, I decide to create a couple more AI “Deep Dive” discussions

| October 7, 2024

So let’s just say that I’m impressed with the ability to use Google’s “experimental” AI NotebookLM to not only summarize articles, but also to create fake podcasts (“fake” in search of a better word?) So after preparing a post for Sunday, I mentioned the AI software experiment to my daughter and ask for an article […]

Super crazy, scary AI podcasting with experimental NotebookLM

| October 6, 2024

In September, I read a couple of articles (1 and 2) in the Wall Street Journal talking about coyotes in our suburban and urban America and sent a copy to Drew and Katelyn (their camera just picked up a coyote walking by the girls playhouse – click for video). Anyway, we’ve been seeing them for […]

Tech Friday: Magsafe (MagFast) charging and battery health

| September 27, 2024

Since the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the first Apple phone that I’ve had with induction charging capability, I’ve been curious how to best manage the longevity of the new battery. I’ve generally plugged my iPhones in to charge once a day (overnight) for the last decade or so BUT did use the induction puck […]

Why such a hullabaloo over Heritage’s Project 2025?

| September 22, 2024

The number of times that the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 has come up in conversation recently had me interested to know just what is so good or evil about it. To even have Former President Donald Trump declare he “hasn’t read it or even cares to know what is in it,” yet it still has […]

Remembering 9/11 … with the help of artificial intelligence #AI

| September 11, 2024

In trying to do something a litte different in remembering September 11, 2001, I saw the help of AI just to see what today’s tech tools can offer. Most of us have certain memories seared into our minds of where we were and what we were doing. I found it interesting to see what artificial […]

Apple iPhone 16 Pro: this could be the first preorder for me?

| September 10, 2024

Since July’s “swim with my iPhone 7 Plus,” I’ve been using my friend Jeff’s older backup iPhoneXS (2018). Having a “Plan B” has been most appreciated after my attempt at saving a buck and buying a refurbished iPhone 15 Pro. Thankfully the reseller refunded my “Plan A” purchase in full since it was a struggle […]

Bidenomics, Inflation, Moral Decay and the Cost Of Living

| June 26, 2024

Have you noticed that food, housing and energy aren’t the only things that have gone up in the three-plus years of President Biden and his Bidenomics (heavy government spending AND regulation — especially on energy)? Recent reports have also detailed how insurance rates and property taxes have risen and are rising … by hundreds, if […]

Music Monday: AI finds Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”

| June 17, 2024

While exploring a little bit with a “new found” AI client … Perplexity.AI … I used it to find an oddity from the 1970s for Music Monday by asking: “What decade has the most influential music?“ Based on the search results, there is no clear consensus on the most influential decade for music, as different […]

Tech Friday: Trying Perplexity.AI for better assistance

| June 14, 2024

After chatting with Brenda’s sisters and brother-in-laws about booking flights for a trip together, I mentioned that I was partial to Southwest Airlines. My brother-in-laws are both Delta fliers … and have a long history of booking business travel with the major airlines — I did feel as if I were ruffling feathers (text updates […]

Using Perplexity.AI and the news of the day: Trump Convicted

| May 31, 2024

It is Tech Friday, but because I’ve already prepared and posted, I still wanted to highlight the newsworthy headline story regarding the politically motivated trial against former president and the likely Republican candidate for president, Donald J. Trump. So opted to test the relatively “new to me” AI client (Perplexity.AI) by asking: Can you summarize […]

Music Monday: “Uncle John’s Band” – Grateful Dead

| September 11, 2023

“Nope” … I’m not really a Deadhead, but I do enjoy listening to some of the devoted fan’s music. Last month I save the SiriusXM channel clip to my phone thinking to myself that I should add a Grateful Dead song to Music Monday. So here is Uncle John’s Band, a song written by Jerry […]

Earl’s Sinclair Gas and Auto Service Station – Toledo Ohio #TBT

| August 24, 2023

While visiting with my extended family at my Uncle Sonny’s Celebration of Life earlier this month, a few of us exchanged phone numbers so we could better stay in touch. My cousin Dan forwarded a paper that highlighted my Grandfather Corbett’s Sinclair gas station and Earl’s Auto Service in South Toledo. It was interesting to […]

Pros and Cons for dividend investors using closed end funds

| July 5, 2023

For investors and retirees desiring an income stream from their investments, Closed-End Funds can be pretty attractive. That said, there are  advantages and disadvantages … with some help from ChatGPT. 😉 Advantages of Closed-End Funds (CEFs): Market Pricing Efficiency: Unlike open-end mutual funds, CEFs trade on stock exchanges, allowing their shares to be bought and […]

The Legendary Palm Treo 700p #TBT

| June 29, 2023

While updating a few blog titles that had mis-coded characters on My Desultory Blog, my eye was drawn to an old favorite smartphone post from 2006 — the Palm Treo 700p. See 2006 CAK photo post   The photos started me thinking about this making an interesting artificial intelligence assisted ChatGPT Throwback Thursday #TBT post? The […]

Music Monday: “Kung Fu Fighting” (1974) and Carl Douglas

| June 19, 2023

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Music Monday: The band America and the song “Here”

| May 29, 2023

For Music Monday and for Memorial Day this week I’m letting ChatGPT write the post for the 1971 song “Here” by the British–American (cough, cough) rock band America (formed in London in 1970 by Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley [wrote this song] — at least they are all Americans). 🙃     America […]

Wishing a Happy Mother’s Day to Brenda and Katelyn … and Happy Birthday to my daughter too

| May 14, 2023

Blooming love’s embrace,Mother’s heart, radiant grace,Forever cherished. While listening to a news program a couple of weeks ago, the morning hosts talked about receiving too many long, overly wordy interoffice emails and notes; I assume journalists can be longwinded? A Haiku challenge ensued.  Haiku (俳句) is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. […]

ART-ificial Intelligence generated images can be disturbing

| April 2, 2023

There is growing concern over AI from some of the brightest and best “human” minds in our society today. The more realistic the images (like “Puffy Pope”) and the more they fool even those seeing the AI advancements everyday, the more I’m concerned as well. Sure, artificial intelligence is speeding up our writing, generating canned […]

ChatGPT and Bard AI poetry-writing prowess compared

| March 28, 2023

While experimenting with Google’s Bard last weekend, Katelyn had the AI software write a poem about her husband. Impressive although questionable when it comes to being personal?  For the fun of it, I asked Bard to write a poem about my “Wonderful Daughter” and then sent it back to her for the fun of it. […]

The Chinese Militarization of the South China Sea

| March 16, 2023

The South China Sea has become a hotly contested region in recent years, with multiple countries claiming various parts of the sea as their own. China, in particular, has been actively asserting its dominance over the region by building military structures and increasing its naval presence in the area. The WSJ published a detailed article […]

Embracing Change: How to Thrive in an Ever-Changing World

| March 12, 2023

This past week my son Taylor and I had a father-son dinner together at Chili’s and enjoyed some “desultory” conversation … from the Ukraine-Russia war to ChatGPT. Eventually he commented, “Dad, you should let the AI system write or rewrite your blog posts.”   Hm … how about I just ask the Chatbot to write […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
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