{"id":6177,"date":"2023-11-28T17:02:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T17:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/?p=6177"},"modified":"2023-12-01T14:43:53","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T14:43:53","slug":"11-28-2023-make-the-most-of-airplay-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/2023\/11\/28\/11-28-2023-make-the-most-of-airplay-2\/","title":{"rendered":"11\/28\/2023: Make the most of AirPlay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Make the most of Apple AirPlay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Plus: Save your old Google accounts, text from your Mac, and neat new AI tools<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Jared Newman<\/div>
|<\/div>
November 28, 2023<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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Of all the ways Apple tries to trap you in its ecosystem, AirPlay is the one I find the stickiest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While AirPlay isn’t the only way to stream content from your phone or tablet to other devices, Apple executes it so well that I find myself using it regularly. It’s always the biggest thing I miss while using Android devices (though there’s a workaround for that, as I’ll explain shortly).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though I’ve sung AirPlay’s praises before<\/a>, I’ve yet to delve into all the neat things you can do with it. Let’s rectify that with a list of useful AirPlay tips and tricks.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Read the full column<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Sign up for a paid subscription to get in-depth tech advice features from me every week, including this week’s column on AirPlay tips and tricks. You can read the full newsletter\u2014plus archives of every previous issue<\/a>\u2014with a seven-day free trial<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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Need to know<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

More YouTube ad block annoyances:<\/strong> Since last week, some users of Mozilla’s Firefox browser have been complaining of a a five-second delay<\/a> when loading YouTube videos. Google has denied that it’s going after Firefox users, and instead says the delay stems from its recent crackdown on ad blockers<\/a>. Strangely, though, some users say they’re experiencing the issue without any ad blockers installed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strangely, delay doesn’t seem to affect everyone, and Mozilla says there’s no evidence that YouTube is targeting Firefox in particular. Even so, users were able to circumvent it with a separate extension<\/a> that can tricks YouTube into thinking the user is running Chrome instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a niche issue, but I bring it up anyway because it reminds me of how overzealous DRM harms legitimate customers<\/a>. Meanwhile, extensions such as Fadblock<\/a> continue to skirt YouTube’s restrictions without issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check your old Google accounts:<\/strong> Back in May, Google announced that it would start deleting inactive accounts<\/a>\u2014meaning those that haven’t been touched in more than two years\u2014on December 1. That date is soon approaching<\/a>, so it’s good time to check up on any addresses you’ve set up for backup or junk mail purposes. Simply reading an email, watching a YouTube video, or accessing Google Drive files for the account should be enough to keep it alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google does say that it will give users ample warning before it deletes their accounts, but you might not get those messages unless you’ve set up a recovery phone number or email address that you actually check. Check out Google’s instructions on how to do that<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tip of the moment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Text from your Mac:<\/strong> By default, Apple’s Messages app for MacOS lets you send and receive texts from other iPhone users via iMessage. But with a quick settings tweak, you can also bring standard text messages to your Mac, letting you converse with Android users and get two-factor authentication codes without looking at your phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s how: On your iPhone, head to Settings > Messages. Select “Text Message Forwarding,” then select your Mac from the device list. Note that both devices must be signed into the same iCloud account for this to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about Windows?<\/strong> As I’ve written previously<\/a>, Microsoft’s Phone Link app<\/a> supports sending and receiving messages from an iPhone, but only for one-on-one conversations, and you won’t get images or a full message history. (Android users, meanwhile, should just use the web version of Google’s Messages app<\/a>, which works on Macs and PCs alike.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now try this<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Talk to ChatGPT:<\/strong> Using ChatGPT’s voice chat feature no longer requires a $20 per month ChatGPT Plus subscription. Just tap the headphone icon in ChatGPT’s iOS<\/a> or Android<\/a> apps, and you can start having a back-and-forth conversation with the AI assistant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike Alexa or Siri, ChatGPT doesn’t pull real-time information from the web, so you can’t ask things like “Who won the Giants game yesterday?” It also sometimes gives wrong answers<\/a>. It is, however, a great conversationalist, able to engage in lengthy discussions on all kinds of topics. That makes the voice chat feature an especially strong fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summarize huge documents:<\/strong> Elsewhere in the AI world, Anthropic’s Claude AI<\/a> can now summarize documents of up to roughly 150,000 words<\/a>, equivalent to a 500-page book. Just click the attachment button in Claude’s chat window, then try uploading a lengthy PDF document (like, say, a classic book<\/a> or some academic research<\/a>). You can request an overall summary of the document or ask specific questions and follow-ups about its contents. Truly wild stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Further reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n