Screen protectors, Amazon Drive, ChromeOS on old laptops, text-to-speech

As AI (artificial intelligence) is used more and more on the internet, here is an interesting use: translating jargon into more understandable English. There is an extension Chrome titled Jargon. It appears to have a “limited free trial offer” —no indication if or when that will change. Visit explainjargon.com.

If you like to choose a book by reading the first page, try recommendmeabook.com. It gives you a random first page, and if you like it, you can click to reveal the title and author.

Screen protectors and MacBooks don’t really play well together. The screens have an invisible anti-glare coating that will likely be damaged if you try to peel off the protector. Also, many of the glass screen protectors are too thick, preventing you from fully closing the lid. And depending on the thickness of a keyboard cover or protector, you might be leaving marks on your screen.

It seems like Microsoft is tired of their Windows 10 forever, already broken with Windows 11. They have strongly hinted that they will be returning to releasing a major new version every three years or so. So, Windows 12 in the fall of 2024?

I hope that anyone using Amazon Drive has learned that the service is closing by the end of 2023. You do have alternatives—for example, Amazon Photos. Prime members get free photo storage, and non-Prime members can store up to 5 GB of photos.

Find webcams, some with music, others with live ambient sound at montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams.

Find the most notable person at a specific place on the globe at tjukanovt.github.io/notable-people, with data pulled from Wikipedia and Wikidata.

Old laptops and over 400 different systems are now officially supported to run ChromeOS Flex, converting old hardware into, essentially, Chromebooks. This might be the best way to “make” a cheap travel laptop out of an older laptop. You can even run ChromeOS Flex from a USB installer stick to see if you like it before you install it. You can get more info at chromeenterprise.google/os/chromeosflex.

If you haven’t tried text-to-speech on your smartphone, you may be surprised to learn that you can have many things read to you out loud. I wish both iOS and Android didn’t bury that accessibility feature so well, as it is a wonderful way to have articles and books read to you when the audio version isn’t there. It will sound mechanical, but you may find it useful. The iOS and Android have different instructions, so Google to find out how to get to it on your phone.