Since 1996 · The difference is people
WebUser
Plain, honest, useful writing about using the modern web. AI, hardware, and digital life — for people who use the web every day, helping you get the most from it.
This week: a new ChatGPT for everyone, a fake 'prove you're human' trap, and 8GB laptops make a comeback
OpenAI's latest model reaches free users and still isn't infallible, a bogus CAPTCHA tries to talk you into running malware, and mid-range laptops slide back to 8GB of RAM at the same price — with a way to check each one yourself.
Read this week’s digest →A Friday read on what actually happened across AI, hardware, and the web. Curated, not chased. If nothing mattered, we'll say so. Browse every week →
AI for people
Tutorials and honest guides for using AI at work, without the hype. For people who use the tools, not build them.
- Extinction is the easy story
The week's headlines are all about whether AI ends us. That's the dramatic question — and the one that lets us off the hook. The nearer question, the one we can still answer, is what deal we're making with these machines: what stays ours, what we hand over, and what still has to be earned.
- How scammers know your name
When a message knows your email, an old password, or where you shop, it feels like proof it's genuine. It isn't. Where that information really comes from — and what actually keeps you safe.
- How to check an image before you believe it
AI can make almost anything look real, so 'it looks real' has stopped being proof. A few seconds of 'where did this come from?' protects you better than trying to spot the fakery.
- How to tell if a company really means it when it says AI is good for you
AI adverts want you to feel something about a company. Here's a simple test that tells you whether there's anything real underneath the good feeling.
Practical hardware
Buying guides and reviews for the machines normal people actually use. What you need, not what the marketing says.
- How to buy a laptop you'll still be happy with in three years
A buying framework that stays true as products change — what actually matters, and what the marketing oversells.
Digital life
Living well with the tech you carry and rely on — your time and attention, where your files really live, and what you actually own and pay for.
- When 'prove you're human' is the trap
A fake 'prove you're human' check is doing the rounds — one that tells you to press a few keys to verify. Those keystrokes run hidden malware. One rule spots every version of it, and there's a clear step to take if you've already followed along.
- My Digital Life: the camera came back, and the thing people are escaping is the phone
Actual cameras are selling again for the first time in nearly two decades, and it's teenagers leading it. A look at why — and what leaving your phone in your pocket gives you.
- Keep your own copy
The photos, documents and creations you keep in someone else's app aren't really yours until you've saved a copy of your own. Services retire, accounts close, 'unlimited' ends — and a copy you hold is the one that survives.
- Why it's so hard to put your phone down — and what actually helps
A couple of minutes turns into an hour, then two. It isn't just teenagers — the apps are engineered to be hard to stop, and none of us self-regulate as well as we think. One old habit is quietly making a comeback as the answer.