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Tech Competition is Helping Americans. Here's How.
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Thursday • June 6, 2024
DuckDuckGo dips Into the AI chatbot pond
The Privacy-Focused Search Engine Introduces AI Chat, a New Feature That Lets Users Choose Between Different AI Models Like GPT-3.5, Claude, Llama, and Mistral
Because there simply aren’t enough AI-powered chatbots out there, we’re getting one more. This one, called AI Chat, comes courtesy of DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine that obviously doesn’t want to feel left behind in the AI arms race. The company has been testing AI Chat over the last few months, but as of today, it’s available to everyone.
Unlike other standalone bots like Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT that are powered by their own large language models, DuckDuckGo’s AI Chat is not. Instead, think of it as a way to access multiple chatbots in a single place. Right now, AI chat will let you choose between OpenAI’s GPT 3.5, Anthropic’s Claude 3 Haiku, Meta’s Llama 3 and Mistral’s Mistral 8x7B, and the company says that more models are coming soon. The main differences between them largely boil down to how many parameters — technical speak for the settings that a large language model can tweak to give you an answer — each one has. If you don’t like a model’s answer, you can try another one.
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Thursday • June 6, 2024
Microsoft Edge Achieves Record 13.14% In May 2024
Microsoft Says That After a Period of Steady Decline, the Rapid Rise in Users of its Desktop Browser Showed All-Time High Figures
When you think of leaders in today’s desktop browser market, Microsoft Edge rarely comes to mind. The competition to reach the top spot is tough when you’ve got Google Chrome involved. But the month of May 2024 proved otherwise for the software giant which managed to report record-high figures for its Edge browser users. The news comes to us thanks to intelligence from Statcounter where the latest findings put a lot of things in the spotlight.
As per the figures from last month, it’s the Edge browser who hit the all-time high mark of 13.14%, beating out stats from the previous month by nearly 0.32 points. But, indeed, we won’t have a new leader in the browser market that overtakes Google Chrome’s massive share that it benefits from today. But one thing we can confirm is that the Android maker did lose a huge chunk of its user base last month.
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Tuesday • April 30, 2024
The Arc browser arrives on Windows to take on Chrome and Edge
Arc on Windows Also Represents an Important Milestone in Getting Apple’s Swift Apps Running on Microsoft’s OS
The excellent Arc browser that’s been impressing macOS and iOS users over the past couple of years is finally making its way to Windows today. Arc is designed to change the way you use a browser in many fundamental ways, with a collapsible sidebar that combines vertical tabs and bookmarks into an app switcher-like experience, a command bar for navigation, and useful tools to help you browse the web.
The company behind Arc, aptly named The Browser Company, is betting on its browser being different enough to entice Windows users away from Chrome and Edge. “Arc really is just calming and keeps you organized,” says Hursh Agrawal, co-founder of The Browser Company, in an interview with The Verge. “It helps you handle your tasks during the day better.”
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Tuesday • April 30, 2024
Apple to unveil AI-enabled Safari browser alongside new operating systems
Apple is Testing a Version of its Browser Including UI Tweaks, Advanced Content Blocking Features, and a New AI-Powered Tool Dubbed Intelligent Search
The software — expected to debut as Safari 18 later in 2024 — is currently undergoing evaluation alongside internal builds of Apple’s next-generation operating system updates, namely iOS 18 and macOS 15, according to people familiar with the matter. Should all of the new features make it to the release candidate stage, users will be treated to a new user interface (UI) for customizing popular page controls, a “Web eraser” feature, and AI-driven content summarization tools.
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Friday • October 27, 2023
Every trick Microsoft pulled to make you browse Edge instead of Chrome
A List of Tricks Microsoft has Played and the Times it’s Given Up After Pushback
It’s the default browser in Windows these days, so it’s the primary way you’d download a different browser onto a new PC. You’d open Microsoft Edge, type the name of your new browser into Microsoft Bing search, and nab Chrome or Firefox or Opera (etc.) that way.
But Microsoft has repeatedly taken advantage of that to redirect you to Edge instead — and some of its Windows Updates have even launched the browser and pinned it to the desktop and taskbar without permission. Windows still doesn’t wholly respect your default browser choices, either.
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Tuesday • October 10, 2023
High Privacy Cloud OS On the Horizon
Deta Wants To Reinvent Personal Computers With a New Cloud OS
“Traditionally, cloud-based workstations have aimed to provide virtual machines that users can access from anywhere and also run apps around the clock.
Berlin-based company Deta is trying to flip the script by developing a whole new infinite canvas-like operating system and a personal cloud space.The Berlin and New York-based company was founded by Mustafa Abdelhai and Max Eusterbrock in 2019. The company started building a new operating system and a space on the ethos of letting people “own” their data in apps.
Deta is launching its Space today for everyone to try. But it might not be primed for a regular user yet, given the interface and app ecosystem could benefit from some iterations. Deta Space has a “Horizon” interface, which resembles an infinite whiteboard. You can swipe through the board in “stretches,” which are home page versions of the SpaceOS.”