Alexa routines

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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Tags: Alexa, Alexa app, apps, lights, News, reading, routines, tasks, voice command, Word


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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Storage full? How to adjust your photos to save space

Fun fact: Whenever I’m watching a show with Barry that I’m not very into (ahem, “Franklin,” so boring), I open up my photo app and start deleting. It’s my time for a little digital cleanup. 

It’s not just junk filling up storage. High-res photos look stunning, but they eat up so much space on your phone. If you want to scale it back a bit, I’ve got the lowdown for you. You can thank me later because you’ll likely never see that annoying “Storage full” notification again.

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Don’t believe everything you see on Netflix: The latest doc, “What Jennifer Did,” uses AI-generated images to depict killer Jennifer Pan as a fun, bubbly girl. In reality, she paid hitmen $10,000 to murder her parents in 2010. With no AI disclosure during the film, it’s clear the documentary isn’t about historical accuracy — just bringing in more viewers.

2.3 million views on a fake James Bond movie trailer

Now folks are begging for a real version. The phony “Bond 26” vid “stars” AI versions of Henry Cavill and Margot Robbie. The creator used a mix of AI and existing film clips to create the trailer. Fun fact: Remixing film clips generally falls under fair use; otherwise, this trailer would be banned, James banned.

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.

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H2-Oh-no: The White House asked governors to draw up plans to tackle cybersecurity threats to our state water systems. Here’s the problem: Many facilities are underfunded and short-staffed, making a sudden coordinated attack a real possibility. I always have a few cases of water in storage, just in case.

Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” was leaked to Google Drive two days early. Swifties were quick to call it an AI deepfake (paywall link). Surprise, the leak was real. Swifties did get a consolation prize: 15 additional songs. Share this with your favorite Swiftie.

Better late than never: A New York man’s Apple Watch saved his life after a bike crash left him with a baseball-sized lump on his face (don’t click that if you’re squeamish!). He made it home, fainted in the shower — and woke up to his watch alerting 911 of his “hard fall.” Bet he wishes it’d kicked in during the first accident.

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.

Ask Me(ta) anything: Meta just added its AI chatbot to the search bar on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. Ask it anything you’d ask a search engine. Google Search is so dead. Access Meta’s chatbot without logging in at meta.ai.