‘Food Mood’ robot’s world combos no flash in the pan

A robot from Google’s “Food Mood” creates interesting recipes based on any two countries you choose.

The 193-country list makes for some interesting combinations. I made “Beetroot Symphony,” a great yogurt-beet dip that combined the cuisine of Latvia and India. My other combos include Barbados and Tonga; Grenada and Turkey; Saudi Arabia and Australia; Moldova and Namibia; Japan and Peru.

To try it yourself, search on the phrase “Google Food Mood.” When you land on the page, take a look at the recipe Google found for you. If it looks good, click “let’s cook.” If not, click on any or all of the keywords to customize your next recipe. You can change the countries, the serving size, and the type of meal. Meal types include starters, soups, main courses and desserts. Click the edit icon to limit the results to vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free or a combination of those. You can also add three of your own ingredients. That’s handy if you want to use up what you have. Many recipes use grams instead of ounces, but a Google search can quickly convert them.

I wouldn’t have thought of making a dip out of cashewmilk yogurt, cooked beets, curry powder, walnuts and more. It’s delicious. The picture shows a bright purple dip with a swirl of yogurt, a few walnuts and a cilantro garnish. As with most of my cooking experiments, I had to tweak the recipe a bit. Instead of beetroots, for example, I used only beets, then discovered that in Britain, beetroots are the same as beets. My Moldavian/Namibian combo needed even more tweaking. To save it, you can click “print,” then choose “PDF” if you want to save paper.

FINDING STUFF

Though I saved my new Beetroot Symphony recipe to the Windows downloads folder, I’m likely to forget where I put it. Fortunately, I can use the search bar in the lower left of my screen to find it.

Speaking of the Windows search bar, I used to use File Explorer, which can be painfully slow. With the search bar, you can quickly narrow the results by choosing “Documents,” “Apps,” “Web,” or “More.” The “More” category includes photos, music and more. For more details, see “How to find any file on Windows,” at theVerge.com.

PAY WITH YOUR PALM

I recently walked into Whole Foods Market without a credit card, cash or phone. But all I had to do was hold a palm over the scanner. It made me feel so free.

I signed up months ago, but now Amazon has made it a quicker process. Start by going to One.Amazon.com. You’ll be asked to scan both palms and link them to a payment method. When you’re ready to pay at a store, tap “pay with palm” at the register, then hover your palm over the palm reader. According to Amazon, the system has a 99.9999% accuracy rating.

SUNGLASSES/ READING GLASSES

What if your sunglasses could turn into reading glasses with the swipe of a finger? That’s the magic of the 32°N Muir Black Frame, $849 from 32northglasses.com.

Here’s how they work, according to the Verge: Your finger swipe sends an electrical signal, bringing close-up objects into focus, by changing the state of millions of tiny pixels. If you reverse the swipe of your finger — going from ear to temple instead of temple to ear — you can choose from three settings: very close, medium or a little more distant.

A square section in each lens has a sweet spot, giving you a reading view. When it’s active, everything else within the square is blurred. Users say they can only see about five lines of a text message at once.

THE NEW GOOGLE

The new Google will give you more than a list of links.

You’ll also get a summary at the top, generated by AI.

I signed up for it many months ago, but now it’s rolling out to everyone, albeit slowly. Google wants to test it first, to make sure everyone’s on board.

If you want to sign up now, go to labs.withGoogle. com. When you get to the site, scroll down until you see “Search Powered by Generative AI,” and click “Get Started.” On the next screen, click “Join Search Labs.”

ROBOT NEWS

■ “This humanoid robot currently holds the world record for speed.” Search on that to see the new Unitree H1. It can go 3.3 meters per second, climb stairs, carry heavy loads and walk over uneven environments. If you kick it, it won’t fall over.

■ “This four-legged robot learned parkour to better navigate obstacles.” Search on that phrase to see “Anymal,” a dog-like robot that can move rapidly through a construction site and other uneven terrain. It easily navigates a destroyed building in a disaster area.

■ “This drone is key to learning about oceans.” Search on that phrase to see a video of Hydrus, a fully autonomous underwater drone that makes underwater data capture more detailed and accessible. Though we know less about the ocean floor than we do the surface of Mars, Hydrus is changing things. According to Mashable, it builds underwater 3D maps to inspect marine life and structures. It also gave us more info about a shipwreck 197 feet below sea level in Perth, Australia than we’d ever known before.