ChatGPT, your secret eBay sidekick

You know that thrill of finding something on eBay for way less than it should cost and the “Yes, I am the deal master” feeling? Here’s where ChatGPT or your favorite AI bot shines. It helps you find the hidden gems that no one else is seeing.

Most people search with the obvious keywords. “Vitamix blender.” “Apple Watch.” “Le Creuset pan.” “New iPhone.” But eBay is filled with sellers who spell things wrong, use weird titles or just aren’t great at listings. 

One person might type “vitamx,” another might just say “blender my stupid ex left.” That’s gold if you know how to dig for it with a little help from ChatGPT.

💡 Start with a prompt like this

“Give me 20 alternate ways someone might list a Vitamix blender on eBay, including misspellings, abbreviations or vague descriptions.” You’ll get results like vitamx, vitamixx, high-speed kitchen blender, commercial smoothie maker and vtmx (yes, really).

Some sellers are super casual and just write “expensive blender I never used.” Others might list it under a brand nickname or a model number you’d never think to search for.

You want those listings. Less competition, better deals.

🛒 Copy-pasteable eBay search trick

(vitamix, vitamx, blender pro, smoothie maker, vmix) -parts -broken 

What the heck does all that do?

  • The words in parentheses tell eBay: Look for any of these terms.
  • The minus signs? That’s where the magic happens. They remove listings with certain words.

So:
-parts = No spare parts or “just the lid” listings.
-broken = Keep the busted junk out of your search.

Continue reading

The Oakland AIs: The Oakland Ballers are going full Moneyball 2.0. They’re going to be the first pro sports team to let an AI manager handle in-game lineup, substitutions and field positions. It’s a one-time stunt, but it’s a first for pro sports. Fans used to manage the team via app. They lost. Now it’s the bots’ turn.

$1.5 billion

The biggest copyright payout ever, courtesy of Anthropic. That’s more than some publishers make in a year, and all because Claude was caught with its hand in the pirate library cookie jar. Guess plagiarism does pay, just not in the way Anthropic hoped. If your book was in Anthropic’s pirated dataset, you’re automatically in the settlement class, with attorneys filing the full ~500,000-title list by Oct. 10.

🎬 Adobe Premiere coming to iPhone: The app includes pro tools like multitrack timelines, frame-by-frame editing, 4K support and more. The catch? You’ll need to pay for AI features or extra storage. Preorder it free on the App Store to get it automatically when it drops later this month.

Check sketchy apps on Android: Before installing something from the Play Store, see what info it collects and shares. Open the app page, scroll down and tap Data Safety. You’ll find whether it gathers personal details, photos, location or financial info, and if your data is encrypted in transit. 

Add another Touch ID on iPad: Set up a second finger for easier unlocking. Go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Fingerprints > Add a fingerprint. Bonus: Scroll down to Allow Access When Locked and turn off Control Center, so a thief can’t put your iPad in Airplane Mode. Nice one, right?

⚙️ Chrome has its own Task manager: Just like Windows, Chrome lets you check which tabs are hogging system resources. Go to the three-dot menu (top right) > More Tools > Task manager. You’ll see Memory and CPU use for each tab. If one’s eating up too much, select it and hit End task.

⏱️ Every five seconds, someone’s identity is stolen. Don’t let it be yours. I trust NordProtect for real protection and real alerts. No gimmicks, just results. Get 65% off now while you still can. I switched from LifeLock and saved a ton of money!

🔋 Find power-hungry apps on your phone: On iPhone, go to Settings > Battery and check the Activity chart and Battery Usage by App. On Android, open Settings > Battery > Battery Usage to see the app list. Once you track down the main culprits, cut down their background refresh, notifications or sync times.

🔍 Track down contact info: Type “Jane Doe” with keywords like “email, phone or profile” into Google. If you know where they work, narrow it down with “Jane Doe” site:company.com. For social media, try site:linkedin.com Jane Doe, site:facebook.com Jane Doe or site:instagram.com Jane Doe. Still nothing? Reverse image search.

🗂️ Show hidden files: By default, Windows 11 hides certain system files and app data. But sometimes you need to see them to clean up old folders or fix an issue. Open This PC or any folder, click the three dots at the top and choose Options. In the new window, go to View and toggle on Show hidden files, folders, and drives.

Paying too much for cloud services? Check this out. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or OCI, is built for speed, power and serious savings, without the usual cloud headaches. That’s why some of the biggest AI innovators trust it. Try it for free right now.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Need to take a quick photo? On iPhone, swipe left on the lock screen. On Android, double-press the Power button. No passcodes, no missed shots.

Passwords everywhere can be a nightmare: That’s why I trust NordPass. It securely stores all my logins and fills them in instantly, so I never get locked out. Get NordPass today for $1.34 a month and experience a smarter way to manage passwords!  

🔋 iPhone Clean Energy Charging: By default, your iPhone checks the grid and schedules charging when power is cleaner. That means it may charge slower or delay topping up. Need full power right away? Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging, and toggle off Clean Energy Charging. Bet Apple didn’t tell you that.

Use Guest mode in Chrome: Handing your computer to someone else? Ditch Incognito and go with Guest mode. Unlike Incognito, it’s a totally blank profile, so users won’t see your bookmarks, saved passwords or browsing history suggestions. To access it, click your profile icon in the top right and select Open Guest profile.

Cellphone bill too high? Mine was. I switched to Consumer Cellular. Same nationwide coverage, half the price. Two lines for just $60, plus save $25 with code KIM25. AARP discounts, too. Check it out now. You’ll be glad you did.

Keep your Apple Watch screen awake longer: If the display goes dark too fast, press the Digital Crown and go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Wake Duration. Change it to Wake for 70 Seconds. Now, when you tap the screen, it’ll stay on long enough to actually finish what you’re doing.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: In Gmail on desktop, you can change how closely emails are spaced in your inbox. Go to Settings > Density and choose Default, Comfortable or Compact.

🥕 Musk’s trillion-dollar carrot: Tesla’s board dangled a “bribe Dad to stay home” pay package that could make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, but only if Tesla’s value jumps from $1.1T to a wild $8.5T. If it works, he pockets 423M shares worth $143B today, plus keeps steering Tesla into robotaxis and humanoid robots.