This week is a little light on news items, but I did find some stuff to share.

First, let’s do a couple of writing related articles.

From Medium, I have an article on how Toastmasters helps improve your writing. I have found that Toastmasters has helped me with my writing – and my writing has helped me craft better speeches.

From The Guardian, there’s an article on how Apple is looking to use AI to narrate audiobooks. There’s the normal sturm-and-drang about this disrupting the livelihoods of the current beneficiaries. However, considering the push for authors to read their own material, I can see how this technology would be beneficial. Further, it’s going to be interesting to see how AI deals with the fantasy and sci-fi worlds – and their unique vocabulary. I sometimes play with the read-aloud feature on Word – and the results are somewhat mixed.

Now on to new stuff!

I have a few items from The Verge about CES announcements.

First, Kensignton unveiled a couple of new trackballs. They look like nice mid-priced entries aiming to take on Logitech’s dominance. I love my Logitech’s MX Ergos, but I have trouble recommending them since they’re close to $100. These, might work better.

Second, a pair of articles about some new stuff from Ecoflow. They announced a few new tools to make living off-grid easier. The Wife is interested in the portable AC. The item that caught my interest was the new home battery backup systems. These have me re-evaluating my plans for power outages.

Finally, there was much discussion among the gun feeds about Patriot Ordinance’s new lever action PCC. I’m linking to the TFB article. I have many of the same opinions as the gun commentators. Neat idea and I’m glad you brought it to market. But $2K? And with a proprietary mag?