I admit to not being much of a TV watcher, but I do like to listen to music and read and have the TV on in the background as sort of an "electronic fireplace." Some multi-channel streaming services offer nature photography, but they tend to be advertisement based, and even with the sound muted, these ads can be disruptive.

Sony, however, has capitalized on their powerhouse status as both an electronics giant as well as a camera maker, and has combined the two into a nifty, but often overlooked feature on their "smart" TVs.

I bought a Sony Bravia TV last year, and while it packs a lot of features into its 55" size, one thing that's easy for me to overlook is a feature called "Living Decor." This is a built-in app that runs a continuous slide show of landscape photography (or other categories, but I like the landscapes) taken by Sony cameras. The gimmick is that each scene is multiple captures - all by the same camera at the same location - at different times of the day. For example, the picturesque Austrian town of Halstadt during daylight, evening and fog. The camera and lens used is presented in a brief intro and the images are then faded into one another before moving on to another scene.

The photography is impressive, and I find it very relaxing to use when I'm not dedicating 100% of my attention to the television.

Someone asked me to print a program for a play. I had done this before, and it's tricky. I printed in landscape, with the pages folded in the center, printed on both sides. One sheet of paper has both the first page and the last. When printing, you have to specify, "Auto (Long edge binding)" for two-sided printing. Every time I do a program, it's like learning all over again. There's probably a program program, but I always do it from scratch. Someone who is good with the Rubik's Cube would probably do fine with a program.

While AI is an interesting technology in the world of photos, videos, search engines, advertising, etc. etc., and with a myriad of legal and ethical concerns, it is my belief that there is NO SUCH THING as Artificial Intelligence.

I have used AI to produce strange and weird images, and will likely continue to do so...because it's fun!

Before retirement, I was in the IT field for many decades, and back even in the 2000's, the term and delivery of AI was in its infancy. It was the belief then, as now, that AI is produced by humans, humans writing computer programs, and as such takes on the characteristics and leanings of its authors/developers. A computer cannot think, it is just a series of 0's and 1's, created by some human, with a myriad of IF-THEN-ELSE logic. A computer cannot have emotions. When an AI deliverer want his program to react in a certain way, he programs it that way...it is a reflection of the developer. Such it is with AI that has permeated the world today.

While the term and delivery of AI is here to stay, we should always remember that in using AI, we are catering to the whims of the developer(s). We should not assign "intelligence" to a machine that can have no intelligence.

I wish my car's GPS would learn.

It's really a pretty rudimentary program. I tell it where I want to go and it knows where I am so it tries to chart a path for me to take. It knows which the major roads are and which the minor roads are. It sometimes knows which roads are one way.

I have a couple places I want to go that mix major and minor roads. My GPS has a tendency to choose the major roads preferentially. But as a result, it will pick a route that travels on a minor road until I want to get onto a major road. So the GPS takes me straight on the minor road to a stop sign. I then have to navigate onto the major road with a left turn through the stop sign. However, I know that there is a short cut on another minor road that crosses the major road at a traffic light. I always take it. My GPS has to recalculate each time. If it learned, it would be great. That way when I had a similar situation on a path I don't travel frequently enough to remember, it will choose the easier path through the traffic light so I don't have to make a left turn onto a busy highway.

I must admit that my phone does a better job in this regard. It doesn't learn but it knows the difference between a stop sign and a stop light on a major road. The only problem is that it doesn't integrate well with my car GPS. Hopefully the next car I buy will have higher intellegence and better integration between different systems. I would prefer to use the phone because it keeps updates with traffic and road changes. But the interface is so klunky that it's difficult to use it.

I really agree with the comment I have seen posted that the proper use of AI is for the mundane, repetitive tasks of life rather than the creative tasks. The problem is that the mundane repetitive tasks are physical (dishes and laundry) while the creative tasks are mental and don't require hands and feet.

How did they turn out, and where did you have them done?

I went to SFO over spring break to see my grand niece and took a few tours of the area. I got only ONE decent pic of the Golden Gate Bridge and I's like to get it printed, but if I used my printer, the best I'd be able to do would be 18x4". Googling, I closest match I found was that M-pix has a 5x30 paper print available (don't think it's available in metal), but I didn't check the price and I've never used them before. Opinions/suggestions?