Thursday, July 30, 2026
ChatGPT Talk Mode
There’s a version of using ChatGPT that most people haven’t gotten to yet, one that doesn’t involve staring at a text box and trying to phrase a prompt precisely enough to get a useful response. Voice mode removes that friction entirely. You talk, the AI responds, you follow up and the conversation develops in a way that more closely resembles thinking out loud than filling out a form. Once you’ve used it enough to stop thinking of it as a novelty, the typed-prompt workflow starts to feel like a strange and unnecessarily laborious way to do something that could just be a conversation. This isn’t just a voice-to-text feature. It feels like having a real, fluid conversation. It intelligently waits for you to finish your thought, understands your natural pauses, and doesn’t get thrown off by “ums” or stammers. I can use it while I’m cooking or driving, speaking like a normal human without carefully planning my every word. It’s not just faster than typing — it’s a genuinely more intuitive and useful way to interact with AI. If you’ve been ignoring it, you’re missing out.
[EOP]
How to Handle Signature-Required USPS Deliveries Without Sitting at Home All Day and a PS re USPS Informed Delivery
If you get notice of an item being delivered that requires a signature, you can stew about having to be home to accept delivery or having to go to the post office after two unsuccessful delivery attempts. But wait, if you enrolled in the USPS "Informed Delivery," you can enroll your electronic signature for "signature required" items that supposedly will enable you to stop stewing.
PS re Informed Delivery: There are countless reasons to enroll in USPS "Informed Delivery" and no reason not to. By seeing what mail is to be delivered, you will get notice if there is something that was supposed to be delivered (like a jury summons, refund check, past-due notice, etc.), but wasn't, enabling you to take corrective action.
[EOP]
Waymo Is Back on Phoenix Freeways
As the Arizona Republic reports, Waymo has fixed the software glitch it had and is back on the freeways, making downtown and airport runs Waymo-doable again. One Waymo was heard telling a rider, I'm back baby, I'm back.
[EOP]
United to Offer Blocked Middle Seat Option
The cost has yet to be revealed, United announced a new premium economy option that blocks out the middle seat, which will first be available aboard its Airbus A321XLR jets. The new Economy Plus seating without a middle seat will be available for sale later in 2026, delighting many travelers who dread getting the middle seat on a flight. One row of each Airbus A321XLR aircraft will have custom-designed, permanently fixed tables between the armrests across the open middle seats, allowing extra space for passengers in the window and aisle seats to stretch out. Tables include two indentations for holding drink cups. The extra elbow room through the blocked middle seat is in addition to three inches of additional legroom already offered on the aircraft’s Economy Plus seats.
Rumi's Wisdom
Rumi is one of my favorite 13th Century mystic poets. One of my favorite insights of his goes as follows: "You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop." Makes you think.
[EOP]
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Digital Safety Travel Tips
This cnet article has good advice re staying safe digitally when travelling. Two of the points are particularly compelling: Be careful about using public wi-fi and be careful about using third-party travel booking sites. I never use public wi-fi and I never use third-party travel booking sites, and I'm not kidding and not exaggerating.
[EOP]
Hydrogen Peroxide Might No Longer Be the Go-To First-Aid Treatment
As this article reports, for many, hydrogen peroxide used to be the go-to treatment for minor scrapes and cuts, but that has all changed. And while it may not be the best choice for first aid, the clear chemical compound has safe uses in your home that you may not have considered. According to the Cleveland Clinic, hydrogen peroxide is water with an extra oxygen molecule, and that extra boost of oxygen gives it “serious cleaning and germ-killing power.” Not only can it kill bacteria, but it works as a stain remover, too. However, Dr. Pickering Beers says that hydrogen peroxide is no longer recommended for wound care because it irritates the skin and can actually prevent the wound from healing. “It can do more harm than good,” Beers said. Cleaning a wound with just soap and water is best, then apply an antibiotic ointment, the Cleveland Clinic recommends. So, if you're out hiking with a friend, and he pushes you down on a steep part of the trail, and is kind enough to take you to [person's identity cloaked for privacy concerns], don't let them put hydrogen peroxide on your scrapes. But if they do, you still might heal up just fine and quickly.
[EOP]
Apple Knows Its Customer Base
Apple is again the largest company by market cap, which has topped $5 trillion. It knows what it's doing. It's a marketing mega-force. Apple knows that its customer base is willing to spend several hundred dollars more for a phone than customers for Android phones. With its phone prices rising, Apple is unveiling a leasing/upgrade program where it looks to its customer base that it's a money-saver. There are niches where leasing makes sense even with the imputed interest rate (e.g., EVs where the technology changes fast), it's hard to see where Apple's new offerings are one of them given that the technological advances of smartphones have been trivial over the past several years and look to be so at least in the short-term and medium-term if not the long-term. All I can say is, party on, dudes.
[EOP]
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