RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | May 19, 2024
It is time to face the inevitable that working later in life is not a reality for most people. As I commented on a Barron’s article last week, you “better have a Plan B or even a Plan C” in case there is a health concern that prevent working later in life. From personal experience, […]
RichC | April 19, 2024
RichC | April 12, 2024
Who isn’t … or more appropriately wasn’t … fond of listening to the interesting and smooth-toned audio that was part of National Public Radio (NPR) in the previous century. I spent an exorbitant amount of time in my car back then and listened to static-riddled politically conservative radio talk shows on AM radio and liberally […]
RichC | March 8, 2024
Google exec Prabhakar Raghavan explained, Gemini “may not always be reliable,” so “we recommend relying on Google Search, where separate systems surface fresh, high-quality information on these kinds of topics from sources across the web.” Google is scrambling to tamp down a political uproar after its recently launched Gemini artificial intelligence app depicted the pope, […]
RichC | November 24, 2023
A week or so ago, I went looking for an image of a Killer Whale (Orca) … and wanted one that had the happy look of a smiling Shamu, etc. It didn’t need to be a “real photo” so thought it would be a simple task for one of the artificial intelligence assistance. Microsoft’s Bing […]
RichC | November 23, 2023
Thanksgiving traces its origins to the 1621 harvest celebration held by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This historic gathering marked a season of abundance and marked the beginning of a tradition that would become a cornerstone of American culture. Thanksgiving serves as a universal reminder to thank our Creator for our […]
RichC | November 2, 2023
Both Brenda and I enjoyed the World Series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks this year. I really didn’t think I was going to get so emotionally involved considering the teams were not ones that I followed through the season … BUT, as with previous October playoff baseball, I did get fired up … […]
RichC | October 27, 2023
“In other news” as the 6PM nightly news talking head would say, Rich broke his Fitbit Versa 2 watchband last night while raking the first drop of the leave this year. Bummer … but thankfully replacements on Amazon are just $7.99 or $9.99 for THREE (two of the three are the wrong colors for me, […]
RichC | September 22, 2023
It is time to start cleaning up my older WordPress blog install and preparing for an eventual update … once again. I’m beginning to realize that part of the problem is that I hang onto old themes that are no longer updated and I continue to tweak them myself. As the components that run WordPress […]
RichC | June 16, 2023
Technology advancements and AI photo and video editing has been around a few years (FaceApp photos) … but some of the newer fakes or clones are a bit “too” convincing (link to a “human generated” one, but not necessarily convincing). 😉 As a society, there’s no turning back once artificial intelligence abilities are here, but […]
RichC | April 28, 2023
Do you trust that Google isn’t using your emails to push advertising to you? Personally I’m thinking this might be a “sleight of hand” considering the cookies and the fact you are signed into your Google account and search are used in advertising. Perhaps they aren’t using the content of Gmail to generate advertising, but […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | 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. […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | July 3, 2020
As often as I gripe about ordering from Amazon or more to the point, complain about their delivery and updating, one would think I would opt for another online ecommerce portal? Unfortunately there aren’t better options or more dependable deliveries. This past week a small order came a day early, yet the app notification that […]
RichC | November 29, 2019
With the advent of decent quality inexpensive home security products and cameras, it has never be easier to keep an eye on “motion” that happens around a business or home. The key for most of us is to find the least expensive quality “small” product … in our case the Wyze cams have beat out […]
RichC | November 16, 2019
Here’s a WIRED article that made me think … although it has a misleading title line, even if that is what caught my attention and started me reading it. When does user-friendliness, algorithms and anticipatory artificial intelligence that is designed to help us make decisions, end up becoming "I don’t need to think at all" […]
RichC | November 8, 2019
We often use the term “Luddite” whenever we refer to people resisting new technology or mechanization. Recently a Wall Street Journal article detailed a timeline of changes as much of the world is faced with yet another wave of robotic automation and artificial intelligence (AI) changing career and taking over many of the jobs we […]