Copilot and Gemini at a price

I knew it was coming; it was clear from the beginning that AI would have to be charged for. The massive efforts made by Microsoft on Copilot, and Google on Gemini, and similarly with the other players, would all at some point need to produce an income stream. Now, after two and a half years, when many of us have experienced the handiness and advantages of AI and are to some extent hooked on it, it is going to be charged for.

As I said, I knew this was round the corner. Surely we all did. Even so, it was a surprise the other day, when I saw that the Copilot icon on my phone had turned grey, and was relabelled 'Copilot (Legacy)'. It still worked the same, at least for my needs - I was researching watches and watch straps at the time - but it felt as if Microsoft had acted rather sneakily. Suddenly the version of Copilot I knew was to have no further development. And anyone using Copilot for something more complex would have to pay. All done suddenly at the end of September, without any great announcement.

And now Google are going to do the same. At least they have given some prior warning, albeit a few days only, although I haven't yet received any email from them about making Gemini a subscription service. 

Concerned, I fired up Gemini, described my typical usage - such as advice on product best-buys, and advice on how to fix things - and asked whether 'free' Gemini would still be the right version for me. And Gemini actually said yes: the free version would be perfectly fine. So no change! Gemini added that if I ever needed to do more heavyweight stuff, like condensing and summarising large documents, or coding, then I'd need to upgrade and pay for it. But I'm absolutely certain that I won't need to do that.

So, at least for the time being, Copilot and Gemini will carry on being free to use, at least for undemanding users like me. And as they are both very useful, and kind of complement each other, this is good. 

I have a feeling however that within a few years there will be a charge even for these basic versions. Or they will scrap them. Then what? Could someone like me get by without AI? 

Probably yes. After all, we all used the Internet 'manually' for some twenty-five years without AI assistance. It was a bit hit-or-miss, and time-consuming - even the current 'free' versions of AI can find good relevant information in a flash. But given enough leisure, one could (and still can) get by without AI's speed. 

And there's something else. An old-fashioned 'manual' search for information or advice can be very, very nuanced. I've noticed that both Copilot and Gemini sometimes misunderstand what I want to know, and don't always dig deep enough. Nor is what they tell me always correct, as I might know from my own personal knowledge. Generally speaking, they are raiding various top-level sources on the Internet, and not all of those will be free of over-enthusiasm, bias, factual mistakes or outright misinformation. And AI engines try so hard to please and not offend, to deliver what they think you want. So the results always need to be carefully considered for credibility and balance. 

It always comes back to one's personal sense of what seems likely or trustworthy. That 'gut feeling'. 

Logically, then, I'd be more inclined to believe an android, an artificial human, who was self-aware. They'd have a personal stake in getting things right, and keeping themselves (and me) safe from harm and undeluded by falsehoods.

Dodging scams

Now I would say I am alert to scams, and on my guard. I listen to radio programmes like Money Box, You and Yours and Scam Secrets on BBC Radio 4, and read about scams in various online articles. Some, like romance scams, and the kind of scam that involves sons or daughters in distress far from home, are never going to affect me. 

But of course, I am like everyone else exposed to any of the scams connected with identity theft, and all those scams designed to steal personal details for fraudulent use by criminals. Awareness of the danger is a good defence up to a point, but it only takes one slip in an unguarded moment. I am quite sure that one day I will be a victim. 

Maybe I have already been targeted, and some attempt made against me, though with no obvious effect so far. But even if there has been no immediate loss of money or whatever they wanted, somebody somewhere may be sitting on some personal data of mine, and one day it may be used to hit me hard. I hope not; I don't think I have ever been silly with sharing passwords and account numbers or my ID; but I can't be certain. 

The enhanced risk of falling victim of a scam is a major reason for staying away from social media. Not the only big reason in my own case, but social media is known to be a happy hunting ground for criminals, and I don't want to appear on their radar. But wait, you might say. Don't you reveal yourself by blogging and publishing photos? Well, I can't deny that I do make myself easily searchable on the Internet. But neither Blogger nor Flickr are ideal vehicles for perpetrating crime. 

That said, I do get random (and not so random) emails and phone calls from time to time that are definitely suspicious. 'From time to time' means 'only once or twice a month'. I do various things to screen out spam in general, and criminal phishing in particular. But sometimes things get through to my email inbox. Phone calls are rarer. I don't have a landline, and don't advertise my mobile number, although I dare say it circulates; and an automated phishing call will of course find me.

At the end of September I had two rather odd daytime phone calls. Both came from a UK mobile phone number that showed on my phone. The first, on 28th September, was from 07873 552543; the second, on 30th September, was from 07535 933690. Neither was from a person I had in my Contacts list, but as neither was merely a 'Private Number' call, I did answer them. Coming up were a boiler service, a car service/MOT, and a winter flu jab, and either call might have been connected with one of those. 

But they were not. A somewhat artificial-sounding female voice told me that there was a problem with my Vodafone account, and that to resolve it I should speak with a customer service advisor, pressing '1' on my keyboard to connect. 

Of course I didn't press '1'. I simply waited for a few seconds, then hung up and blocked the number. Both times. I haven't been called again, at least not on yet another number.

The giveaway was that I don't have a Vodafone account. I'm with EE, and have been for a long time now. So this dubious attempt to get me to talk fell at the first post. I gather from a little Internet research that it really was a scam, one of those currently doing the rounds all over the country, and that pressing '1' would have connected me directly to a criminal, who would have asked me to 'confirm my details', so that a gang member impersonating me could buy stuff from Vodafone in my name.

Why target my mobile number, if I'm with EE? 

Well, when I bought my first smartphone back in 2012, a Samsung Galaxy S2, it was at a Vodafone shop. And although they offered me a choice of numbers to pick from, they were all Vodafone numbers. So I deduce that the gang behind this has been targeting any mobile number that originated with Vodafone, regardless of who the current owner has their contract with. 

My basic survival tactic is to be wary of any phone call. The caller can text me or email me, if it's a real communication that I should consider responding to. All the callers I trust have both, and don't need to ask.

The new watch arrives

A little more patience with me, please, then I promise to turn to another subject!

Citizen Watches UK have moved fast, and my new Promaster Tough watch was on its way by close of play yesterday. It arrived via dpd at 1.50pm today. 

I'll skip most of the unboxing. The watch was nicely packaged: enough said. Here are the main shots of that event.

As you can see, the crown of the watch was pulled out for transit, freezing the hands. I pushed the crown in and the watch sprang into life, indicating that its internal storage battery had adequate charge in it, and might not need too much more exposure to light for the time being. But I will of course make sure that it gets a daily dose of sunshine, or at least good daylight - a great incentive for going outdoors and having a brisk walk! 

The watch is about double the weight of the Garmin Vivoactive 5 fitness watch that it replaces, but still feels light and easy to wear. Here it is on my wrist:

The strap it came with is nothing to shout about really. It's a thick Kevlar fabric affair, clearly long-lasting but rather stiff, with over-large eyelets in it, and not too may of them. I've achieved a good comfortable fit, but I gather from comments I've seen that this strap is usually replaced with something nicer. Just as I have done already (see below). Besides, this supplied strap is a dark and rather uninspiring colour, a kind of dark grey. All right for a man who doesn't do colour. But in my view the Tough - my Tough - deserves something better. 

It's not a quick-release strap, and will have to be removed with a special spring bar tool before anything else can be fitted. I have bought such a tool. I will keep this strap in reserve, but will probably never use it again.

The new watch is very nicely made, despite not being in the 'luxury' class of watches. The monocoque titanium case oozes strength and quality, as does the thick sapphire crystal. There's a logo near the 6 o'clock marker, and also on the crown:

The back of the case has all sorts of engravings, including the Eco-Drive globe in the middle. My watch has the E168 quartz movement, and its serial number is 662030017. 

There you are. The watch comes from Japan, but the worthy-but-dull strap hails from Thailand. 

You keep coming back to the watch face, and those over-large numerals and quarter-hour markers. It's a very distinctive design, not much changed since Citizen first launched the Promaster Tough in 1999. 

There is very little 'set up' for a watch like this. Its power comes from light. It isn't a smartwatch, so there is no kind of wireless connection to make, no synching to do. Setting the time (and date) is done manually. It's supposed to be accurate to within 15 seconds a month. I set it to precisely the right time at 2.55pm today, and will see how it performs over the next four weeks to 25th October, when we change from BST to GMT, and all clocks and watches go back one hour. No doubt I will open a spreadsheet to record and analyse its performance. What fun I shall have!

There is one major thing that could be regarded as part of the watch's setup - choosing the right strap. I did a lot of reading on this, and decided that a nylon military-style NATO strap was the best choice, as it was totally secure - even if a spring bar failed, the watch couldn't drop from my wrist into oblivion. So I've ordered one, from WatchGecko. The colour is called Mustard Yellow. The picture from their website says £28, but they gave me a 10% discount, and I actually paid only £25.20, with free delivery.

The beauty of this type of strap is that you can swap in another colour according to your mood, or the outfit, or the occasion. One might build up a collection of straps for any occasion, or to match any outfit, transforming the appearance and impact of the watch. 

I admit to hesitating a long time over the colour before settling on this for my first NATO strap. I did boil the final choice down to grey, navy blue or yellow. But grey seemed too bland, and blue seemed too cold. I wanted something bright and cheerful, and yet still chiming with the character of the watch. This was a watch that could stand submersion in the sea down to 300 metres. Yellow spoke of yachts and RIBs and, yes, items such as lifejackets. So yellow was a suitable colour. Besides, if I had taken the watch off, and were looking for it in dim light, a yellow strap would be a great help.

It's also the colour of autumn leaves. Just right then, for my early-November holiday in Dorset!

However, will it go with the clothes I wear? I tried the Tough with various items from my wardrobe. Just imagine it with a mustard-yellow strap, rather than a drab dark grey one:

The drab strap doesn't do badly! But I think a yellow strap will look as good or better with most of the sleeves above.

Finally, how does the Tough compare with the Garmin? Here they are, side by side.

The two shots just above highlight the Garmin's chief defect for telling the time: its display goes blank and you can revive it only by raising your wrist (but not in bed at night), tapping the watchface, or pressing a side-button. I think I could set it to be always-on, but then its battery would need recharging much more frequently.  

Two different kinds of clarity. The backlit display of the Garmin, with its brilliant white, red and green markings set against an inky-black background, lacks presence but is crisp and highly legible. Whereas the physical nature of the Tough's watchface, seen underneath a crystal cover, has to use large, bold markings that are not to everyone's taste, even if they appeal to me. 

The Garmin is just as clear (I could say dazzling) at night - if tapped into life. The Tough's painted-on lume seems feeble by comparison, although much gentler on the eyes. It glows blue.

That's about it for this post. I've been wearing the drab Kevlar strap for hours now, and it's started to feel very comfortable. The mustard yellow NATO strap I've bought should be even more comfortable. I expect to get it before the end of the week.

I already think the Tough and I will have a long and satisfying relationship. 

I've done it!

After hours and hours of deliberation over the last few days - reading and watching reviews, looking at alternative choices, and so on - I have now taken the plunge and bought the Citizen Promaster Tough mentioned in my last post. 

I didn't mess about: I got it from Citizen themselves, paying £379 but with free delivery. I thought about spreading the cost - various jewellers offered instalment terms with no interest - but I could afford to pay for it outright. And besides that, I was by now heartily sick of loan arrangements. I'd had three years of HP on the car (thankfully almost finished), but there were three still more years of bank loan repayments left on the caravan. I hate any kind of debt. I wanted no more of it. 

Oddly enough, when I inserted the purchase transaction onto my Money Diary 2026 spreadsheet, to study the effect on my future cashflow (I did this before committing myself, of course), I was surprised to see that despite being £379 worse off in the period up to Christmas, at no point was I in any danger of going into the red. I still had a cushion for unforeseen expenditure. It varied, but at its lowest point it was still £340. That's enough for a new tyre or a set of disc brake pads on the car, if suddenly needed. 

So I'm breathing easy. I'm not going to create a financial crisis for myself.

I think this rather adventurous-looking watch will encourage me to get out walking on the South Downs and elsewhere, as I used to do. Or to explore country paths in my area. Or do a section of the English Coastal Path, as I did the other day on Chichester Harbour. All good exercise. And I already have all the other equipment needed for rough walking. 

The new Citizen watch won't give me any fitness metrics, but I don't think that matters. What does matter is my mental attitude towards fitness and strength-building generally. I think the obviously super-tough and all-weather Citizen will work better for me than the less assertive (and comparatively fragile) Garmin can. I won't want to let the Citizen down by shirking a brisk walk I need to take. 

One aspect could be a lot of fun. I don't have to stick with the strap it comes with. There are many others I could swap in, in a variety of materials and styles and colours. I could have a collection of these to suit different outfits and different occasions. Archer Watch Straps, for example, have plenty to choose from.

You can see that I regard this new watch as not only an eye-catching timepiece, but as a fresh approach to fitness. I'm no extreme-adventure junkie. Nor am I a Ray Mears disciple (although I enjoyed his TV shows back in the day, when he'd demonstrate things like how to set up a comfortable hammock for sleeping in winter woodland, or how to bake a salmon to perfection in an earth-covered 'oven'). I just don't want to lapse by default into a weak and wobbly old crone, unable to do much, and apt to nod off all the time.

Ah, this may be exactly what I want

Indulge me just a little more on a new watch choice. I've now come across a watch that is nearly perfect. Definitely the new front runner.

It's the Citizen Promaster Tough. 

That's a strong kevlar fabric strap. I could swap in a silicone rubber strap. White would look stunning, but grey would be nice too. Thus enstrapped, the watch would go with any clothes I am likely to wear. But I am not treating it as a fashion accessory. It's for practical use. I agree that it seems so ready for adventure that people might think I spend my weekends and holidays in rugged terrain, battling against severe weather, and getting myself deliberately soaked in some river. If they do, I don't mind. 

The watch itself is built to withstand knocks and scrapes and very wet conditions. It's a one-piece hardened-titanium affair, with a thick sapphire crystal and a screw-down crown, completely waterproof and able to defy the worst weather. Why should I need such toughness? Well, let's be frank: I am likely to be accident-prone as I get older. I'll get clumsier, overbalance more, trip up more easily, and generally bump into things on the edge of my clear vision. Anything strapped to my wrist could easily get damaged. But this watch won't.  

Except for one thing, the face of the watch is just right for simplicity, large-figure clarity, and luminosity at night. That one exception is the date window. It's small and recessed, and not readable at a quick glance. But it's the only minus point I can think of, and not necessarily a deal-breaker. After all, there's nothing as good as this watch under £400. 

The Promaster Tough is light-powered. So there are minimum mechanical bits, and no regular servicing is needed. And once its light cells are activated, it'll keep going indefinitely, so long as it gets a dose of light energy, preferably sunlight, at reasonable intervals. But I'm out and about in daylight more than enough to ensure that it gets bombarded with sufficient light particles. Very much 'set and forget' then.

Charging a light-powered watch by simply wearing it is obviously much more convenient than recharging my current Garmin watch every week, which involves a cable, a charging plug, a power socket, and an hour or so off my wrist while I hang around for the procedure to finish. (Mind you, an automatic mechanical watch would be equally convenient, if one were active enough)

This watch is a very good timekeeper. I wouldn't need to reset the hour and minute hands (and the date) more than five times a year. (Best done at the end of February and each 30-day month: April, June, September and November)

The Citizen Promaster Tough's current full price is £367, which is not an outrageous amount for something that could last me a very long time. 

 

But I'm not going to make any impulse purchase. It occurs to me that a good watch would be a great way of marking my 75th birthday. I reach that milestone on 6th July next year. And by then I'll be able to spend more then £367. On the other hand, I haven't seen anything as convincing as the Tough for even double the price. 

Watch this space.

More on buying a new watch

The cashflow problem that is preventing me book the Orkney leg of next year's Scottish holiday is also stopping me buying another watch.

As with everything else, I can do it in the new year, but not right now. 

This is probably just as well. I've been researching watches on the Internet, and enlisting the AI help of Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot in making a sensible choice from the frankly bewildering number of possible watches out there. They have been helpful. I now have a good idea of what I want. Here are the key points.

# Any new watch must be distinctive. I don't want anything ordinary.

# The watch must be robust and waterproof, with a sapphire crystal and an oversized crown. But not rugged in an ugly way. It must be proof against the occasional clumsiness of older life, and shrug off the odd knock or scrape. 

# I don't want to mess about with batteries that need replacing. So it must be a mechanical watch with an automatic movement, or perhaps a solar-powered quartz watch. 

# I want simplicity. I want to know only the time. I don't need to know the day and date, nor anything else.

# I want great clarity - bold markings, easily read, with bright lume to glow in the dark. If I wake up during the night, I want to make out what time it is without putting my glasses on.  

These things all point to a field or pilot watch, or the simpler kind of diver watch. I like black cases, and black watch faces with bold white figures or markers. An out-and-out 'military' watch, such as the Stirling Norton, might do nicely. Here it is:

It costs £425, plus shipping. I very much like its stealthy, very simple, no-nonsense look. I like large watches - they are something of a fashion statement after all - and I don't care two hoots that this is something a soldier might wear. Bling is not my thing. If people see it and suppose that I'm an outdoorsy type, or a rough-travel junkie, I'm not going to argue. 

I should mention that if this watch had a chrome case and a grey leather strap it would look like the first proper watch I had as a child. Nostalgia plays a part sometimes.

I could bump up the cost a bit and swap in a third-party white silicone rubber strap. Then it would resemble what I already have - my rechargeable Garmin Vivoactive 5 smartwatch. Except that the Stirling watch always shows the time, and doesn't have a display that goes dark after a few seconds; and is in that way somewhat more convenient in daily use. Being an automatic mechanical watch, it doesn't need recharging, nor does it have a battery that slowly degrades until the watch needs replacement. The Seiko NH38 movement inside the Stirling is easy to service, so I need not be frightened at the cost of keeping it in fine fettle indefinitely.  

But £425...sadly unaffordable until early 2027 at the soonest.