MAKE AI WORK SMARTER
Asking ChatGPT to write your emails is so two years ago.
Generative AI tools are now going beyond the basic text-prompt phase. Take Google’s NotebookLM, an experimental “AI research assistant” that lets you upload not just text but also videos, links and PDFs. It will provide a summary of the content, answer questions about it, and even make a podcast-like “AI overview” if you want it to — all while organizing your original sources and notes.
Photo: Reuters
As AI tools advance, expect more features like this to be baked into everyday software. All the usual caveats of using AI apply: the responsibility for factchecking lies with you.
BREAK FREE OF THE ALGORITHM
If you’re stuck in a feedback loop of samey music or TV recommendations, go for a refresh. Some platforms, such as Netflix, let you delete your viewing history, which will help clear the slate (select “hide all” under “viewing activity” for a do-over).
Spotify is harder to crack: you’ll need to train it into offering a broader selection by diversifying your listening. Choose playlists that focus specifically on new music, or go old school and ask friends for their tips. Use the “private session” mode or select “exclude from your taste profile” to keep your guilty pleasures (or your kids’ nursery rhymes) from infecting future recommendations.
LEARN TO SPOT AI VIDEO
Manipulated videos, or “deepfakes,” might already be old hat, but you can expect to see more entirely AI-generated videos as text-to-video tools enter the mainstream.
OpenAI’s Sora and Meta’s Movie Gen are continuing to be developed, with impressive (or concerning, depending on your stance) results. Look for watermarks that show a video is AI-generated, and watch out for telltale mistakes, such as errors in anatomy or weird physics. Most importantly, use context clues: if something seems particularly shocking, unlikely, or out of place, be on guard.
LOOK UP, LOOK OUT, MAKE A BACKUP
So-called “snatch thefts” are at a high, with the equivalent of more than 200 such robberies occurring across England and Wales each day. Thieves, often on bikes or mopeds, grab phones to sell overseas. There’s not much you can do in the moment, but you can slightly soften the impact by making sure anything important on your phone is backed up. Many manufacturers offer to automatically sync all your files to a cloud service; alternatively, you can find options for specific media in the relevant phone or app settings.
TACKLE THE TECH DRAWER OF DOOM
Everyone has one: the drawer (or cupboard or box) of discarded devices, broken electronics and tangled cables hoarding valuable metals. Make this the year you reclaim the space from your unwanted e-waste. If your old stuff is in good nick, you can also try selling or donating it; remember to wipe personal data from laptops and phones by doing a factory reset or removing the hard drive.
A vaccine to fight dementia? It turns out there may already be one — shots that prevent painful shingles also appear to protect aging brains. A new study found shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20 percent. The research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is part of growing understanding about how many factors influence brain health as we age — and what we can do about it. “It’s a very robust finding,” said lead researcher Pascal Geldsetzer of Stanford University. And “women seem to benefit more,” important as they’re at higher risk of
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
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