Jackie
sent from LadyJackiesIphone
On 11 Mar 2023, at 3:30 p.m., Cearbhall O'Meadhra===========================================================
<cearbhall.omeadhra@xxxxxxx> wrote:
FB-Exchange 11th. March 2023
Attendance: 11
On a very chilly, rainy morning, all were in great form with very real hairy
dog stories. Joking apart, this seems to be a big problem for guide dog
owners. Jackie added her snippet about a Kamikaze crow that spent all day
attacking her window. Even the vacuum robot is at a loss in these situations.
Ger mentioned that Google is bringing out a new version of ChatGPT, called
Bard, that is believed to be even better than the original. See Dominique's
email to the list on this item. The Google Home Pod costs about €300 which
prompted a discussion on whether Alexa does much more than Google.
After some discussion, the group heard that, Overall, Alexa tends to work
better in homes with lots of other Amazon-supported devices. However, Google
Assistant often understands voice commands better, which makes everyday tasks
and browsing easier.
It has been virtually impossible to access the official ChatGPT web site, due
to over one million users online every day.
Jackie reported that Audible UK removed 3 books from her library without her
consent and restored all three credits to her account.
Ger asked if he could download an audio book from Audible without having
registered as a user. The meeting affirmed that he could do so but that he
would be charged the full commercial price of the book amounting to some
€30 or more. In contrast, after signing up to Audible, he would get a
number of tokens which would amount to a fee of €7 per book. It was
recommended that he register in the usual way, without making any payment so
that he could take the introductory offer of one free purchase. If he was not
satisfied with the service, he could then signoff again. If he was satisfied
with the service, he could go ahead and confirm his membership for the full
range of tokens.
The members discussed various other book libraries such as BorrowBox, Calibre
and Overdrive from the NCBI.
NCBI has launched its own YouTube channel for cooking hints. Unfortunately,
the channel is not available with Alexa.
Jackie finds that the Zuzanka app makes it easy to locate expiration dates on
food products and converts them to text ... This is the world's first expiry
date scanner and costs €34.99 for a lifetime subscription.
Ger spoke about Lookout by Google and explained that it is a free smartphone
app for Android devices. It can automatically read and scan text, recognise
products and describe objects using Talkback. Here is a useful link to a
fuller description:
https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/9031274?hlÿ
Martin mentioned that Eir is advertising its mobile service for €10 per
month. On the other hand, Vodafone is raising its monthly charge by 11%
Several members found that the sign in procedure in Zoom has become
inaccessible. The edit box does not allow editing of the user name. Ken tried
deleting the zoom app and reloading it but the problem persisted. Pat
reported the same problem in a number of other apps on the iPhone. He
suggested that it might be an Apple issue rather than Zoom. This will be
followed up.
The meeting ended.
All the best,
Cearbhall
m +353 (0)833323487 e: cearbhall.omeadhra@xxxxxxx
--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
www.avast.com
===========================================================
The fb-exchange mailing list
Manage account,
List Page: https://www.freelists.org/list/fb-exchange
Archive: https://www.freelists.org/archive/fb-exchange
To unsubscribe: log onto the List page and select "Unsubscribe".
Administrative contact: insight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
===========================================================
