I swear somebody did this gag years ago just with Siri instead of Alexa because Alexa wasn’t a thing yet and that one of us posted it then, but hell if I can find it. So here’s what it might be like if the HAL-9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey had been Echo powered. …
Category Archives: gadgets
Watch A Smartphone Tell You About All The Snooping It’s Doing
We all know (or at least I hope we know by now) that our cell phones are spying on us. But I don’t think a lot of us quite understand just how much they’re doing it. I’m not sure how much this short film is going to do to change that, but it sure does …
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It’s Time For FaceTime, Whether You Have Time For FaceTime Or Not
If you’ve tried to make a Group FaceTime call recently and haven’t been able to, there’s a very good reason for that. Apple has disabled it. Now you can answer for yourself on FaceTime even if they don’t answer🤒#Apple explain this.. pic.twitter.com/gr8llRKZxJ — DEAD FRIENDS™ (@DeadFriendsCHI) January 28, 2019 Basically, somebody discovered what seems to …
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Bell’s Everything Tracking Is Back And Very Slightly Less Creepy
It appears Bell is taking another crack at the tracking every customer’s every move thing that went so well a few years ago. And though the end result still sounds like a whole lot of garbage from a consumer point of view (there’s still nothing in it for customers aside from ads the company thinks …
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New Old People Are Going To Suck
This bit from Lachlan Patterson made me laugh. It’s a good point, too. My generation and the ones after it are going to make for some pretty garbage old people. We have wonderful technology, but it sure does make it easy to take and hang on to a lot of useless photographs.
Expect A Few Less Scammy Calls For A Month Or Two
This is a nice step, but much like the do not call list, I’m sure the assholes as my dad likes to call anyone calling from a number he doesn’t recognize will find a way around it. But if you notice a drop in garbage calls for a while, this is probably why. The CRTC …
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The Post In Which I Get To Use JAWS And Affordable In A Sentence Without Putting The Words Is Not Between Them
I haven’t bought a JAWS upgrade in years. It’s been so many years, in fact, that I can’t even remember the last time that I did. NVDA does pretty much everything I need a screen reader to do while only costing me a small monthly donation that I make by choice, and for everything else …
Hey Google, It’s Time To Tweak The Background Noise Filter Again
Not sure about anyone else, but I’ve about had it with the new Best Buy commercials, the ones that say stuff like “hey Google, play my New Year’s playlist.” The damn things have set our living room Mini off at least four times already. And to make matters worse, it was four times in the …
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Pay TV Comes To Canada. Canada Yawns And Goes ON With Its Day
I didn’t think I was going to post this report about Pay TV’s impending arrival in Canada in 1982, but then it got to the part about costs and complications. Basic cable service could cost you around $8 per month, I was informed as I did my best not to spit tea everywhere. And say …
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Computerized Christmas Shopping In 1962
I wasn’t alive in 1962, so I have no idea whether this computerized shopping assistant was considered amazing at the time. But sitting here in 2018, it seems like quite a bit of rigamarole to go through just to get a few gift ideas. I always have at least a person or two on my …