Helpful Bing AI search engine is great at conversation

Bing’s new artificially intelligent search engine, Bing AI, is a brilliant conversationalist. So what if it accused Microsoft employees of spying on it? Who cares that it tried to get a newspaper columnist to leave his wife and marry it instead? It’s much less likely to get unhinged now that users are limited to six queries at a time.

I find it helpful so far. For example, recently, on the question- and- answer site Quora.com, a child asked me what he should do about his parents. He said they serve only burgers, fries and soda and will not let him consume fruits, vegetables or water. I asked Bing AI to help.

Bing and I went back and forth together in a thoughtful way. Each time, it showed me the terms it used to search for its answer, each of which was clickable. For example, it translated my first question into a search on the phrase “junk food effects on children” before answering like a friend or counselor would. My response generated a link to a search on “child abuse junk food” before it answered kindly again. Finally, it searched on: “Can a child report abuse to a hotline?” before voicing concern for the situation. Though it’s built on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, it uses a larger database and is more up to date.

In my other tests, it did a good job of writing instructions for toddlers going to bed, in the style of the King James Bible, but was much sterner than ChatGPT. It told the kids to forget about juice, milk, toys or even cuddles from parents. Time to close your eyes, babies! You’re tired!

I also asked Bing to “write a critique of Ulysses S. Grant.” First, it said he wasn’t good at race relations. When I repeated the question, it said he was admired for his commitment to civil rights. It also pointed out that he created the Department of Justice, which prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups. Either answer became a good starting point for my own exploration.

Unfortunately, to get on Bing AI, you have to join the waitlist, which includes mil

lions of people from 169 countries. But you can zoom to the top if you agree to install an app that makes Bing your default search engine and Edge your default browser, at least temporarily. On your computer, go to Bing. com and click “Learn more” under “Introducing the New Bing.” Next, click “Join the waitlist.” Alternatively, scroll past it to check out their sample queries, such as:“Help me plan my anniversary trip,” “help me get fit” and “I need some help with my coding.”

DANCING BABY AND BEYOND

Do you remember the dancing baby animation of 1995? It was the first popular graphics interchange format, or GIF. It arrived a year before the first emoji.

Giphy, a free app, now offers more than 82,000 options in the “funny GIF” category, according to a report by Windstream, an Internet service provider. The second most popular GIF is one that says “Yes,” typically with a celebrity’s face.

When I want to add a GIF, I usually select whatever my phone serves up in the messages app. But Giphy adds variety. After searching for someone saying “Yes,” I chose Oprah Winfrey pumping her fists and saying “Yeah!” Next, I considered the ways I could send it by looking at the row of icons along the bottom of the screen. These included the Messages app, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram and more. For practice, I texted it to myself. Looks great. For non-animated images, I like the free Bitmoji app for iPhone and Android.

THE BEST SELFIE STICK

On a recent vacation, I tried out the $26 Atumtex Selfie Stick and Tripod. The greatest thing about it is that you don’t have to fumble for the camera icon on your phone.

After setting it up as a tripod, you can remove the photo-taking button. When you’re ready, just push the button to take a picture from a distance of up to 33 feet. If you’re in a dense crowd — say a concert or ball game — forget the tripod and hold the stick instead. Leave the button in place and push it when ready.

The stick collapses down to about 8 inches, making it easy to carry, and telescopes out to 31 inches. You can continuously capture up to 15,000 photos on a single charge.

TOO TINY TO READ

If you find yourself squinting at fonts on your phone, here’s how to enlarge things. On an Android phone, tap “Settings,” then “Display,” then “Advanced,” then “Fonts.” In addition, if the icons, the clock and the notifications on your Android seem too small, tap “Settings,” then “Display,” then “Advanced,” then “Display Size.” Move the slider to “Large.” On an iPhone, go to “Settings,” then “Accessibility,” then “Display & Text Size.”

SPAM MASTERPIECE

An artist named Neil Mendoza turned cans of Spam into robots. Each has a keyboard with four keys. They swing into action when their letters are called, then put pig- related words into Aldous Huxley’s classic “Brave New World.” There’s a video of it in action. Search “Meet a Fleet of Artificially Intelligent Cans of Spam.”

APP HAPPY THRIFTING

Here are two good apps for discount clothes. You can also visit them on the web.

■ On Thred-Up, I bought a cute J Crew v-neck sweater for $4.49.

■ On Poshmark, I saw Ugg boots, normally $777, for $25.