Rappin’ Lisa

April 22, 2024

Rappin’ Lisa: Microsoft’s new AI tool, VASA-1, animates still images into videos loaded with facial expressions, head motions and lip movements that match a speech or song. Here’s a video showing the Mona Lisa rapping. Microsoft is delaying the release of this tool, though, because it makes creating deepfakes too easy.

Tags: AI (artificial intelligence), Deepfakes, facial expressions, Images, song, tool, video, videos

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Watch out for the new ‘ghost hackers’

Imagine if this happened to you: Your spouse passes away, and a few weeks after the funeral, you get a message from them that says, “Hi, I hope you’re having a great day.” Other friends report getting similar messages from your spouse. Some messages offer big returns on crypto investments.

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15 websites you’ll wish you knew about sooner

It’s been way too long since I shared a big list of handy websites. Dig in, and I’ll bet you’ll find at least a couple you just have to visit. (And none are advertisers — just sayin’.)

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WHAT? Your iPhone has a hidden way to make calls sound clearer. To turn on Voice Isolation, answer a call, then swipe from the top right corner of your screen to open the Control Center. Tap Mic Mode > Voice Isolation.

$9 an hour is the pay for AI nurses

Over 40 health care companies are already using NVIDIA and Hippocratic AI nurse bots to perform risk assessments, remote patient monitoring, new medication onboarding and more. The median pay for human nurses in the U.S. is $39 an hour.

Secret (hand)shake: Try this next time you mistype something. Shake your phone quickly, and it’ll undo your most recently entered text. Works on Android and iPhone. You know, I’m really good at all this smartphone tech — I think I found my calling!

Alexa routines: Automate tasks like turning on lights, reading the news and starting the coffeemaker with a voice command. Set it up via the Alexa app by navigating to More > Routines, then create a routine with the trigger word(s) and the actions you want.

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Make your own custom T-shirts: Print photos, designs, logos — you name it — on special heat-transfer paper (50% off today). Then, place the image on a shirt using an iron, and just like that, you have a special gift!

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

Try AI in Google Chrome: Turn it on by going to Chrome > Settings > Experimental AI. Now, you’ll get writing help and tab organization. Nice.

WORD UP: You’re typing away and realize you’ve had Caps Lock enabled. Ugh. In Microsoft Word, hit Shift + F3. You’ll shift between all caps, first letter capitalized and no caps. Too bad this trick doesn’t work in Google Docs.

Secret Agent Man (or Woman): Keep your phone number hidden all the time with a quick change in its settings. On an iPhone, tap Settings > Phone > Show My Caller ID. Toggle it off. On Android, the option is called Hide Number. Don’t be surprised if no one answers, OK?