Service lets people without smartphones call Uber, Lyft

A few years ago, our friend Ida got a smartphone so she could use Uber and Lyft. We wish there’d been a connection to Go Go Grandparent back then.

Any cellphone will do. And imagine this: You can even call from what’s called a landline, whatever that is. Go Go Grandparent connects you to Uber and Lyft with nothing extra to do on your part. Register at GoGoGrandparent.com. Then call Go Go Grandparent from any phone. Press “1” to be picked up at home. Press “2” to be picked up from wherever you were last dropped off. Press “3,” “4” or “5” to be picked up at one of your usual locations. Press “0” for an operator you can talk to if you’re confused.

The call is transferred to Uber or Lyft automatically. A friend of ours says the first time she did this, the driver thought her name was “Go Go Grandparent Betty.” Other than that, it works fine. The operator tells you the driver’s name and license plate, which is information you’d normally see in your smartphone app. During registration you can sign up to have text messages automatically sent to a friend or spouse, so they know when you were picked up, when you arrived and when you got back home. There is no escape.

Go Go Grandparent charges a 13 percent commission on each ride, which averages about $2.50. Otherwise, it’s the same cost as Uber and Lyft, which are generally cheaper than ordinary taxis. Register online or by calling (855) 464-6872.

SPEEDING UP COMPUTERS

A reader writes, “I want to change over my desktop’s hard drive to an SSD. Prices have really tumbled!” He wondered if he needed to clone the drive.

For those who came in after the movie started, “SSD” stands for “solid state drive,” and it means there are no moving parts; everything is on memory chips. Result: It’s faster than you can blink.

We answered the reader the next day but he’d already found his way. Some of our readers are techier than we are. (He wrote a program for the old Commodore 64 computer back in 1984 and was written up in a magazine.)

For the rest of us, there are great tutorials on the Web about swapping a laptop’s hard drive for an SSD. It’s remarkably simple. We watched a YouTube video called “How to Upgrade Laptop Hard Drive to SSD without Rein-

stalling Windows.” There’s also an article at HowToGeek. com called “How To Upgrade and Install a New Hard Drive or SSD in Your PC.” Or you can get a cloning kit from Amazon for around $24. Search on the phrase “SSD hard drive cloning kit.”

But the big question is, does it really speed up your computer? Our knowledgeable reader says: “As far as performance goes, this is the best $100 I ever spent on a computer. Startup now takes only a few seconds. Heck, the Windows logo screen at the beginning doesn’t even get a chance to get going. Sign in and the desktop is right there, no waiting.” These drives cost anywhere from $29 to $600, the cost depending on the capacity of the drive. But it doesn’t speed up Web browsing. For that you need a fast processor, like the Intel i7, and 8 to 16 gigabytes of RAM.

APP HAPPY

Paris Hilton is using a free

app called Plotaverse to enhance some of the photos she uploads for her 9 million Instagram followers. (That many people remember Paris Hilton?)

Plotaverse creates photos that move and sway. Paris was always good with that. Facebook named it one of the top five photo apps for creating ads. And it currently has more than four million users.

Plotaverse comes in three apps: Plotagraph, Plotamorph and PlotaFX. On their website, we saw a woman with Mickey Mouse ears morph into a man, and a field of flowers come

alive with birds. In an Elle ad, the model’s hair begins to flow as you look at the photo.

The pro versions of the app are $99 a year. But in the Google Play and Apple app stores you can find free versions.

BY THE NUMBERS

Decluttr.com surveyed 1,007 parents in the U.S. to determine how they deal with their children’s smartphones:

In the U.S., 20 percent of children between the ages of 1 and 6 own a smartphone. (What does a 1-year-old say?)

Half of parents agree the

most appropriate age for a child to own a phone is between 10 to 13 years old.

Eighty-three percent say their children spend up to 21 hours per week on their phones. (Good grief!)

Sixty-eight percent of parents have not placed limitations on their children’s smartphones.

One survey respondent said: “My 2-year-old has her own cellphone because she likes to play games and watch YouTube at day care.” Parents should consider getting a refurbished phone, which can always be upgraded after the

peanut butter and jelly attack.