It started off with a gift

April 19, 2024

It started off with a gift: Kids are renting out their spare computer power to AI companies. Not a hard sell, when they’re offering Fortnite skins and Roblox gift cards. Here’s what your kid won’t realize: Their machine is being used to create AI porn, and they’re automatically opted in. Make sure none of the computers in your home are signed up to sites like Salad.

Tags: AI (artificial intelligence), cards, companies, computer, computers, Fortnite, gift, gift cards, home, kids, renting, Roblox, Salad

Printer friendly

Don’t trust AI for these 4 things

I used AI recently to write a birthday note, plan a trip to Hong Kong and program my robot. But this tech is still in the infant stages and it has some major blind spots you need to know about.

Ask things like “How many basketballs would you have to stack up to reach the moon?” all day. (It’s 1,595,524,852 by the way.) But when it comes to these four Ps, you’re better off skipping the chatbot.

Continue reading →

📴 The sound of silence: Maybe you’re in a library or a quiet meeting. On your Apple device, activate Siri as you normally would and immediately swipe down on the volume slider. Like magic, Siri goes mute, offering only text-based responses.

Instead of letting your million-dollar idea slip away, record it. Voice Memos (a built-in app on Apple and Android) has your back. Bonus: You can say, “Hey, Siri, take a voice memo” or “OK, Google, take a voice memo.”

Have old photos to scan? Before you do, wipe off any dust or fingerprints with a soft cloth to get the clearest scan possible. Give your scanner a dusting while you’re at it.

You can count on me: There’s a new option in Google Docs to display your file’s word count as you type. Hit Tools > Word count > then check the box next to Display word count while typing. Pro tip: Highlight a sentence or paragraph to see how many words are in just that section.

Cmd + spacebar: This Mac shortcut opens Spotlight, an incredibly powerful tool for finding documents quickly, opening apps or searching the web right from your desktop.

Windows key + . (period) or Windows key + ; (semicolon): This opens the Emoji Panel, allowing you to insert emojis into any text field.

That’s why you’re coughing: You can monitor air quality without downloading anything new. Just open Google Maps and search for your location. You’ll see an Air Quality option in the layers menu. So handy.

Use your webcam as a scanner: On Mac, open Photo Booth. Place your doc in front of the webcam, then hit the red photo icon. It will appear in the bottom right. Drag the new file onto your desktop for safekeeping. On a PC, open the Camera app, line up your doc and hit the white camera icon. Click the pic that pops up, then tap the three dots in the upper right. Choose Open folder. Done!

Adds up: You’re doing some math on your calculator app and one wrong tap ruins it all. Not anymore. Swipe to the right or left to delete the last character. My high school math teacher called me average. How mean.