Today's case
Your Car Has a Screen. Your Fan Needs a Lawyer.
Funny complaints, useful answers, and the occasional rant about modern life.
The Car Stereo Wants Your Login
Putting music on in the car used to involve a radio knob, a little static, and maybe a CD under the seat. Now some dashboards want to know who you are first.
Spilled Ink
Life gets ridiculous. Bill draws conclusions.
Fresh Spills
▶ AUDIO
Google Put Free Textbooks in Gemini Notebook. Check the Title Before You Celebrate.
Students can now add hundreds of textbooks to Gemini Notebook and use them to make quizzes and study guides. Whether it helps with *your* class depends on which book you need.
▶ AUDIO
Black Friday Used to Be a Friday
The bargain hunt once meant newspaper circulars, a shopping list, and a line outside the store. Now the line has moved onto the calendar.
▶ AUDIO
ChatGPT Is Adding Account Switching to Its Phone Apps. Your Chats Aren’t Coming Along.
If you keep separate work and personal accounts, this saves some logging in and out. It does not combine your chats or let you share a paid plan.
▶ AUDIO
The Shopping List Used to Be the Whole System
A grocery list once told you what to buy. Now it can hand the job to an assistant, which means you may need to check what it thinks you meant by “milk.”
▶ AUDIO
The Self-Checkout Got One Item. Police Got the License Plate.
A reported shoplifting at a New Jersey Wawa included a stop at self-checkout. The transaction was unusually selective.
▶ AUDIO
I Just Want Less Air Blowing in My Face
Some cars put the fan controls on a touchscreen. A knob used to handle this job without asking anyone to look at a menu.
Pick your poison
AI Without the BS
AI news that matters, ChatGPT tricks, prompts, platform comparisons, useful features, hype checking
Bill Figures It Out
Specific answers to surprisingly annoying questions.
Bill’s Soapbox
Opinion, society, politics, culture, personal viewpoints, heavier subjects and things you simply want to say
Blotter Breakdown
The weekly real police-blotter stories with SpillbyBill commentary and sarcasm
Modern Life Is Ridiculous
Everyday nonsense, observed at full volume.