Joy Schwabach @oncomp

I write the On Computers newspaper column which appears in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and the Worcester, Mass. Telegram and at https://t.co/AkyMq96QLr. oncomp.com Evanston, IL Joined February 2008

Tweets

3K
Followers

275
Following

5
Likes

92

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

6 days ago

I loved canoeing to an Alaskan glacier. But I hated the dropped calls and spotty internet. I blamed it on my Samsung Galaxy A16, which I bought after my old phone died in a pool of salad dressing...continued at oncomp.com

0 0 0 11 0

Download Image

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

2 weeks ago

Years ago, my mom put a sign on our door that said: “Back in 30 minutes, come on in.” The thieves loved it. Of course, Mom could have avoided the robbery, including the theft of my class ring, by giving her handyman a code to get in. Continued at oncomp.com

0 0 0 4 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

3 weeks ago

edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282961… You may have heard of ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Character.ai and Claude, but have you heard of Bible Teacher Bot, Creative_WritingS or theRealrealtalk? All of these and hundreds more AI assistants are available on Poe.com...

0 0 0 77 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

a month ago

edition.nwaonline.com/article/282445… I had a great experience selling an old phone to Gazelle. But it was a disaster for one of my readers. Continued above or at oncomp.com.

0 0 2 13 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

a month ago

edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282467… The new ChatGPT-5 is wiser than the last one. It wouldn’t have encouraged a man to eat sodium bromide, which literally drove him crazy. Continued at link or oncomp.com.

0 0 2 16 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

2 months ago

edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282595… a bad experience with a smart watch for kids, I was eager to try one for adults. It didn’t turn out well. I wanted a smart watch as a backup for my phone, in case I lost it again on a trip. But...

0 0 0 8 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

2 months ago

(this week's column) edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282591… When I tested a smart watch for kids, it made me feel dumb.The X6Play watch from Xplora Technologies, $170, couldn’t connect to my 5G WiFi because it’s 4G. So I couldn’t do the required update until I set up a WiFi hotspot on my phone.

0 0 0 53 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

2 months ago

edition.nwaonline.com/article/282346… Many years ago, a reader in Thailand blew up his computer by downloading movies from a site I recommended. Oops. Now you can get free movies from reputable sources. Continued in link.

0 0 1 53 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

2 months ago

(this week's column) edition.nwaonline.com/article/282514… My 91-year-old neighbor almost lost $100,000. She would have been wiped out completely if she hadn’t run to the bank.

0 0 0 10 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

3 months ago

(this week's column) edition.nwaonline.com/article/282406… I’ve been listening to Cinderella music through my new WearIQ sunglasses. Ah, paradise. The $30 sunglasses don’t officially launch at Walmart for another couple of weeks, but I received an advance pair. oncomp.com

0 0 2 16 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

3 months ago

lnkd.in/g5Vb7XyE Lately I’ve been hearing horror stories about Airbnb, the vacation rental site that opened in 2008. Goodbye rave reviews, hello complaints. A friend said that the house he rented in Brooklyn, New York, for a family reunion was a total disaster....

0 0 0 15 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

3 months ago

edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282608… I’m planning to go on the “Holistic Holiday at Sea,” a one-week Princess cruise to Alaska. My artificially intelligent friend, Microsoft Copilot, has been so helpful, it practically wished me bon voyage. Now I won’t be unprepared.

0 0 0 20 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

3 months ago

After buying my first expensive skin cream, I didn’t have the patience to listen to a world-renown dermatologist for over an hour to figure out whether I'd wasted my money. So I went to Google’s “NotebookLM” and fired off my questions. Continued below. edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282531…

0 0 1 29 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

3 months ago

A relative spent $6000 on Signia hearing aids, following the advice of her audiologist. A friend spent $389 for his Audien Ion aids, which were on sale on Amazon recently. They’re both happy. (This column continues at oncomp.com)

0 0 0 28 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

4 months ago

(this week's column) edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282638… As I stood outside a California restaurant waving goodbye to a friend, my phone stopped working. Had I been hacked? Even before it stopped working, it had slowed to a crawl.

0 0 1 34 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

4 months ago

The new Google comes in two modes, regular and AI. “AI Mode” takes you on a deep dive. I started by asking: “Were Native Americans typically more savage on a day-to-day basis than the early colonists?”edition.nwaonline.com/article/282437… or oncomp.com

0 0 0 23 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

4 months ago

(this week's column) featuring a new Alexa, a tariff solution, a retro boombox, a faster internet and a robot dog edition.nwaonline.com/article/282522…

0 0 1 20 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

4 months ago

If I have to hear “There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow” one more time, I’ll turn it off. I love Rodgers and Hammerstein but there’s a limit. Now I’ve rediscovered Pandora... continued at oncomp.com

0 0 0 9 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

5 months ago

Imagine a robot taking your credit card and running down the aisle to pick out everything you need. That’s virtually what Visa’s new “AI Ready Cards” can do with artificial intelligence. edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282514… For links, see oncomp.com

0 0 1 21 0

Joy Schwabach @oncomp

5 months ago

(this week's column) edition.nwaonline.com/article/282557… I used SurveyMonkey to get 28 responses to an online survey for members of my new book club. But it only showed me 25. If I had insisted on seeing all 28, it would have cost me over a thousand bucks.