The Distant Librarian

If it's worth sharing, it's worth saving - Wayback to Facebook

I don't know why this particular solution didn't initially resonate with me, other than my doggedly wanting to link to THE ORIGINAL source, but with the recent demise of my locally-hosted instance of ShareNews, I've been searching for other ways to circumvent Facebook's ban on sharing news sites.

I discovered a couple of solid commercial options in ShareKit and Rebrandly that I'll keep in my back pocket, but I prefer not to pay if I don't have to. (side note: news links shared through Bit.ly and any customized rebrands of it are also blocked by FB) Next up was a locally-hosted version of YOURLs, but just as I was about to deploy that I realized the solution had been there all along, even as already noted by me:

Send the link to the Internet Archive using the Wayback Machine browser extension, then paste the resulting URL into Facebook. This method has the advantage of ensuring your newsworthy article is saved for others to view in perpetuity, should it disappear from the original location for any reason.

The extension is available for FF, Safari, Chrome and Edge, and also as an app for iOS and Android, so this should cover pretty much any platform on which you prefer to work.

Here's a quick screencast showing it in action. It's actually faster than my previous solution. The only potential drawback is that FB bans all links from the Internet Archive, but I'm sure lots of folks have been using this option since the ban began, and they haven't yet, so fingers crossed!

Oh, and other options include posting a news link to a social media site such as Mastodon or Twitter, then posting the link to that post into FB, but then you lose the open graph data that makes the post so much more fulsome. Metadata FTW!

Generative AI courses for your mom

I know it's cliché, but I AM actually trying to help my mom understand Generative AI a little more (hi, mom!).

I just completed this free course, and recommend it as a gentle introduction to generative AI: Destination AI: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. It will require an investment of time, though maybe not quite the 6 hours it claims. The only big drawback is that if you fail a quiz, you'll have to wait a full 24 hours before you can re-take it. That said, you CAN move on to another module even if you don't pass the quiz, so not that big a deal.

What will you learn?

• What AI really is (and what it’s not!).
• The impact of artificial intelligence on the workplace and on society as a whole.
• Go behind the scenes of an artificial intelligence project and get familiar with concepts like deep learning and machine learning.

What if your mom's a teacher? I haven't actually taken this course, but Google offers Generative AI for Educators, which is shorter, at only 2 suggested hours.

You’ll learn how to use generative AI tools to:

• Save time on everyday tasks like drafting emails and other correspondence
• Personalize instruction for different learning styles and abilities
• Enhance lessons and activities in creative ways

Launching ChatGPT Voice Chat on an iPhone 12 with back-tap

In today's issue of Ethan Mollick's One Useful Thing, I learned that the iPhone 15 has a unique button I hadn't paid any attention to - the action button. He mentioned how the action button can be used to launch a voice chat with ChatGPT, and I found instructions at TechCrunch. But I only have an iPhone 12!

I knew the iPhone has a feature called Shortcuts, but I'd never really found a use for them. I also recalled that there are a couple of accessibility features on the iPhone that allow actions to be performed by, for instance, double-tapping the back of the phone. I asked Perplexity how to recreate the action button thing on my older phone, and got the following excellent instructions:

Based on the search results provided, here's what you can do with the Back Tap feature on your iPhone 12 to launch a voice chat with ChatGPT:

## Using Back Tap to Launch a ChatGPT Voice Shortcut

The search results indicate that the Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap feature on iPhone allows you to assign various actions to a double or triple tap on the back of your device. [3]

You can use this to launch a custom Shortcut that starts a voice conversation with ChatGPT, without having to unlock your iPhone or use Siri. Here's how:

1. Create a new Shortcut in the Shortcuts app called "ChatGPT Voice" that includes the "Start Voice Conversation" action from the ChatGPT section. [1][2][3]

2. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. [3]

3. Select either "Double Tap" or "Triple Tap" and choose the "ChatGPT Voice" shortcut you just created. [3]

Now, whenever you double or triple tap the back of your iPhone 12, it will automatically launch the ChatGPT voice conversation mode, allowing you to speak your questions and get responses from ChatGPT without having to unlock your device or use Siri. [1][3]

This provides a quick and hands-free way to access ChatGPT's voice capabilities directly from your iPhone 12, using the built-in Back Tap accessibility feature. [3] The search results provide detailed steps on how to set this up.

Citations:
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3fOIE_CJXI
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/shortcuts/comments/181uy7r/chatgpt_voice_shortcut/
[3] https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-replace-siri-with-chatgpt-iphone/
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1702w4p/how_to_replace_siri_with_chatgpt_as_your_voice/

Works like a charm! (though as I read that response, I do have to admit it's not actually a hands-free way to access ChatGPT's voice capabilities, but I'm just fine with that.)