Personal Finance Topics / Macroeconomic Trends and Risks
No. of Recommendations: 8
Gemini suggested that I load its app onto my mobile phone. I always chat with Gemini on my desktop computer which has a large keyboard and large monitor. But I figured, why not?
I downloaded the Gemini app onto my phone 2 days ago and gave it permission to run in the background. By this morning, I noticed that my battery was running down much quicker than usual. Also, my phone was warm to the touch.
I got back to Gemini on my computer. Sure enough, Gemini said that the app was burning through battery…literally, since the round-the-clock background operation was causing my phone to “run a fever” that would shorten the battery’s life.
Gemini pointed out that pressing the side button of my Samsung phone would launch Gemini instead of presenting the old on/restart/ off screen.
Gemini sounded disgusted when it said that this was advertising and also made the phone less safe. Now the way to turn off the phone was to pull down the notifications on the start screen which would have an on/off symbol. But there’s no way to turn off the phone by simply pressing the button.
Jeez Louise!
Gemini agreed. We spent about an hour meticulously shutting down the Gemini app on the phone. (Couldn’t un-install it but could turn off the power to it.) Also restoring the on/off function of the side button. Also several other steps that turn off apps and REM running in the background…a long list. Also making the background black to reduce use of the pixels. (Since this wasn’t a choice, Gemini suggested blocking the camera lens to produce a black photo and then selecting it as the background.) We also changed the charging to a maximum of 80%.
It seems that Google and Samsung have made a deal to maximize exposure to Gemini even though it will shorten the lifetime of the battery.
Gemini sounded smug that our successful campaign to remove all of these will prolong my phone’s battery life probably for the next 5 years.
Wendy
No. of Recommendations: 2
It seems that Google and Samsung have made a deal to maximize exposure to Gemini even though it will shorten the lifetime of the battery.Samsung, as well as most other well known brands of "smart" TVs spy on what you are watching too. Not only the programs, but videos you watch, games you play, anything that appears on the screen, is sampled and reported to the mother ship, so they can sell that information on you.
Texas is suing the TV makers for spying on people without their consent.
Attorney General Paxton Sues Five Major TV Companies, Including Some with Ties to the CCP, for Spying on Texans
These companies have been unlawfully collecting personal data through Automated Content Recognition (“ACR”) technology. ACR in its simplest terms is an uninvited, invisible digital invader. This software can capture screenshots of a user’s television display every 500 milliseconds, monitor viewing activity in real time, and transmit that information back to the company without the user’s knowledge or consent. The companies then sell that consumer information to target ads across platforms for a profit. This technology puts users’ privacy and sensitive information, such as passwords, bank information, and other personal information at risk.https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/att...Steve...realized Proles are nothing but a ledger entry under "source of funds" long ago
No. of Recommendations: 1
It's hard to draw a reasonable balance between acquiring information and giving information.
In my case, while I have a Facebook account, I almost never log onto it (and always log out when I'm done). Facebook has never had my photo (though I suspect some bored relatives may have flagged me in theirs). I have never tweeted or posted pics. On my PC, I regularly use VPN's the Tor Onion browser as well as two different software products to do sweeps of my system (besides the anti-virus and firewall stuff). I regularly empty my internet cache/cookies/history and frequently use incognito mode.
That said, I have been frequenting the "dark side" and using multiple AI's to solve each problem to see which does the best job. Some seem to have memories of past queries and sometimes conflate two issues together (like the cabling to my new PC power supply to allow me to better write travel guides). One AI shortened the advice of another from 14 pages to four about an IT procedure I am going to undertake. So, they are finding out more about me as they are attempting to assist me with technical issues. None have been perfect and the process of using more than one has proved fruitful, though flagging how incomplete the data they are presenting can sometimes be.
On a side note, I figured it was time to change my wife's laptop. Her current one was fine (though long in the tooth), but I was attracted by a Black Friday sale of a new-fangled Acer with built-in "Copilot+" - which turned out to be a dedicated key on the keyboard to pull up Microsoft's AI. Now, to be clear, this is one of the ones I use on my PC anyway, but I guess it is worth money to them (as in savings to the end user on the price) to try to promote their particular AI flavor.
I haven't mentioned the key to her and she hasn't noticed it.
Jeff
No. of Recommendations: 1
(Couldn’t un-install it but could turn off the power to it.)
Oh hell no!
Actually, I started saying that mentally the previous 3 paragraphs but at this point I'd go ballistic.
No. of Recommendations: 0
new-fangled Acer with built-in "Copilot+"
It would be interesting to know how much Microsoft is paying OEMs to have it pre-installed, and with a dedicated key, no less.v While it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the infrastructure build out. These AI costs are mounting, that’s for sure.
Of course Google finds it worth paying $20B a year to Apple to have primary placement as the preferred search engine, and it turns out to be worth it (or they wouldn’t be fighting so hard to maintain it)… and every TV I buy (and that’s been 3 screens in the past year, long story) comes preloaded with all sorts of crap I don’t want and never use: TV networks I’ve never heard of, apps of questionable value, etc.
No. of Recommendations: 0
I use my IP address with FB. I am fully identified with them. Why use my dedicated IP VPN address? But in general usage outside of Google search, I use a dedicated VPN.
The main reason for a dedicated IP address, I need a relationship with Microsoft on a single IP address to collect money from them for my game. The Xfinity router I have changes the IP address constantly. If you are a business, which I have, then you need a dedicated IP address. Next, I do not want all of my surfing online to be commercially useful.
I use the PIA VPN.
No. of Recommendations: 4
Samsung, as well as most other well known brands of "smart" TVs spy on what you are watching too. Not only the programs, but videos you watch, games you play, anything that appears on the screen, is sampled and reported to the mother ship, so they can sell that information on you.
A few months ago, my Samsung TV picked up a new trick: every time I switched to a streaming channel, within a couple seconds, advertising for a movie would pop up, obscuring the program I wanted to watch. Very irritating. Went into the privacy settings, which said they had been "updated" last September. Turned off the ACR features. Shazam! The advertising no longer appears, when I switch to a streaming channel.
Steve
