Don't tell ChatGPT these 3 secrets

April 5, 2024

AI chatbots are handy, but guard your info. Here’s why careful sharing matters.

Weekend update: Eclipse info, email warning, hot new job

Spring has sprung, and I don’t know about you, but I’m gearing up for a big weekend of hiking and biking! Before you clock out for the week, I’ve got three things to put on your weekend radar.

The solar eclipse is on Monday, and NASA has a great interactive map to help make sure you’re in the right place at the right time. Don’t worry if you’re not dead center in the path of totality; you’ll still get a pretty good view of the action.

Continue reading →

Wrap trap: If you get an email promising big bucks to wrap your car in ads, don’t take the bait. Scammers pose as a big brand like Pepsi, send you a “check” upfront, then ask you to send money online to an “installer.” Spoiler: The check bounces and you just paid out of your own pocket.

3 metric tons is the weight of the world’s largest camera

Why so massive? It’s built for photographing space. The 3,200-megapixel camera will be attached to a telescope and has a lens five feet in diameter. Displaying the images at full size will take hundreds of ultra-high-definition TVs.

Want better streaming suggestions? Try these hacks

I watched one episode of “Is it Cake?” on Netflix. Spoiler: Everything is cake, and it’s totally not for me. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s completely wrecked my streaming recommendations — and I’m guessing yours aren’t much better.

Continue reading →

Memory master: Microsoft Edge will soon let you control your browser’s RAM usage with a slider ranging from 1GB to 16GB. For now, the feature’s in beta. Smart idea … but it’s still Edge.

You asked, so I’m sharing more tomorrow! Friday’s podcast and livestream is all about my trip to Japan. I absolutely loved it! Set a reminder for 11:30 a.m. Pacific (2:30 p.m. Eastern), and come say hi on YouTube, Rumble or Facebook.

🌿 Say aloe to my friends: When your plants are stressed, they pop and click in ultrasonic frequencies way beyond our hearing range. They even scream — just not in a way we can hear. If you really screwed up with them, they throw a full-blown tantrum, complete with changing their color and shape and emitting a special scent. Remember that next time you ignore your Ficus.

Buyer beware: A California woman bought hemorrhoid ointment from Facebook — and died after it poisoned her. Tests found “Cao Boi Tri Cay Thau Dau,” mailed from Vietnam, contained a lethal 4% lead. Don’t buy anything related to your health on social media, period.

$1.46 million in a 401(k)

That’s the new “magic number” for retirement. That’s according to a survey of 4,588 Americans. Good news: That’s probably overkill (paywall link) for most families. Fidelity recommends saving 10 times your annual salary by age 67.

🌒 Don’t believe everything you see: The Washington Post (paywall link) says cell service might go down totally for who knows how long with the massive crowds around Monday’s solar eclipse. They even have a “survival kit” plan. By all means, grab a $20 from the ATM — but I highly doubt anything this dramatic could happen with today’s infrastructure.