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Gizmodo
4 days ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
Best Buy Offers Acer 11.6″ Chromebook for Less Than AirPods Pro to Compete With Early Prime Day Deals
In search of a new laptop? If you're primary need for a computer is basic web browsing, email drafting, word processing, and YouTube video-watching, then you really don't need to shell out for anything crazy expensive. A Chromebook is kind of the perfect tool for these use cases plus they're super great for travel. Acer has its Chromebook on sale over at Best Buy. Right now, it's been shaved down by nearly 45%. That brings the price from its usual $229 to just $129. You can save a cool $100 for a limited time. See at Best Buy This Acer Chromebook 311 has a compact screen, measuring in at 11.6 inches—ideal for travel—with a resolution of 1366 by 768. It weights in at only 2.65 lbs. so you can easily schlep it between classes if you're a student or bring it along with your to a coffee shop to get some work done without it weighing you down. The Chromebook utilizes an Intel Celeron processor with an Intel UHD graphics card. We're looking at 4GB on memory to help smoothly run multiple programs and browser tabs at once. It's got 64GB of eMMC storage, capable of fast load times. Sign in with your Google accounts to access even more storage in the cloud. In fact, you'll even gain three free months of Google AI Pro which comes with a full 2TB of cloud storage. Connect to all your peripherals seamlessly and easily. The Acer Chromebook has ports for USB 3.1 Type-C along with USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A. It's quick to start up, only taking 10 second from being turned off to seeing the home screen. The HD webcam along with the dual speakers make this Acer Chromebook ideal for video conferencing whether it is wit ha colleague to discuss quarterly earnings or just to have a quick chat with Mom. The built-in microphone will have your sounding crystal clear on the other end of the call. Before you go off spending thousands of dollars on a new laptop, consider what you're really using it for. If you just need a solid device that you can check your email, browse the web, and do some basic tasks like building out spreadsheets or other documents, a Chromebook might be the better choice for you. Get your Asus 11.6-inch Chromebook 311 for $100 off at Best Buy before the price goes back up. It's normally priced at $229 so after the discount, you'll only be paying $129. See at Best Buy
Gizmodo
5 days ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
Best Buy Slashes HP 14-Inch Chromebook by Nearly 60% to Rival Amazon Early Prime Day Deals
In search of a new laptop? If you're primary need for a computer is basic web browsing, email drafting, word processing, and YouTube video-watching, then you really don't need to shell out for anything crazy expensive. A Chromebook is kind of the perfect tool for these use cases plus they're super great for travel. HP has its 14-inch Chromebook on sale over at Best Buy. Right now, it's been shaved down about 60%. That brings the price from its usual $329 to just $139. You can save a staggering $190 for a limited time. See at Best Buy This HP Chromebook has a decently sized screen, measuring in at 14 inches. It displays in 720p HD. Outputting to a separate monitor or TV can support resolutions of up to 4K. The narrow bezels allow you to make the most of your screen space while keeping the laptop as whole compact and easy to travel with. Anti-reflective coating makes it so you can even take your Chromebook outsider to get some work done, even on a sunny day. The Chrome OS is easy to use and designed to handle simple tasks quickly and smoothly. It's running with an Intel Celeron processor, 4GB of memory, and 64GB of eMMC storage. Chromebooks are designed primarily for use with cloud-based applications and small process-light files so 64GB might be all you need. With support for Wi-Fi 6, you'll be able to maintain fast internet speeds. Bluetooth 5.3 will keep your connections to your peripherals sound. The HP Chromebook includes a front-facing camera for all your video conferencing needs. It records in 720p HD and provides vibrant clarity, even in low light environments. The built-in microphone will have your sounding crystal clear on the other end of the call. Sound on your end is fantastic with the HP Chromebook's dual speaker setup allowing for stereo audio. The HP Chromebook does come with an AUX 3.5mm port so you can connect external speakers or microphone for even more elevated sound quality coming in or out. Battery life is excellent and recharging is fast. You can bring the HP Chromebook back up from zero percent to 50 in approximately 45 minutes. Before you go off spending thousands of dollars on a new laptop, consider what you're really using it for. If you just need a solid device that you can check your email, browse the web, and do some basic tasks like building out spreadsheets or other documents, a Chromebook might be the better choice for you. HP's Chromebook is down $190 (just shy of 60%), bringing it down to just $139 for a limited time. See at Best Buy
Digital Trends
20-06-2025
- Business
- Digital Trends
I loved this AI-first web browser, but experts warned me of ‘free' AI
'If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.' Bogdan Onikiienko, an engineer at MacPaw, dropped that hard-hitting quote on me after using Dia, a new-age web browser that heavily relies on AI. He found it quite useful, but warned me that there are still a few unknowns, especially the privacy aspect. The biggest tech reality of 2025 is that AI is here to stay. Dia is just trying to do something different with AI by putting it in various corners of the web browsing experience. AI giants like OpenAI are pushing agents such as Operator that can autonomously handle your web browsing tasks. Recommended Videos Even smaller players like Opera and Perplexity are doing it. Google, the maker of Chrome, has even deeper ambitions with AI. In fact, one of the most futuristic reveals from Google I/O 2025 a few weeks ago, was the demonstration of Project Astra as a Universal AI assistant. In the video, a person can be seen engaged in a freewheeling conversation with Google's Gemini AI, as it moves from identifying a nut on a bicycle and looking up a product manual, to finding a bike shop listed nearby on Maps, and then ordering a dog basket. All of it happened in the background. The overarching idea is that you have an assistant in your hands that can perform everything from a web search to trawling social media. Now, take off the voice chat element and implement the fundamental formula to create a semi-autonomous browsing experience for your desktop. That's essentially the concept behind the Dia browser. What makes Dia stand out? In its simplest form, Dia is a web browser with an AI agent in the sidebar, and a dash of behavior-learning chops for extra personalization. After months of closed-circle testing, it has finally come out of the beta phase. And so far, my journey has been pretty smooth-sailing. A bit familiar (to the eyes seeing Gemini seeing everywhere across Google products), but no less meaningful. It's surprisingly snappy and, despite its beta status, hasn't crashed once. Dia is built atop Chromium, the same engine that powers Chrome and Edge. The benefit? All your browsing data and extensions will seamlessly port over on first setup. So, what truly sets it apart? The AI companion. Look, I know there's more hype around AI tools than their perceived benefits. Makers of Dia, The Browser Company, know that all too well, and it's not promising any universe-shattering advancements either. On the contrary, the AI agent simply acts as a wrapper for basic tasks that would otherwise require you to open another tab (or app). And it does it all in a sidebar, using some clever extensions that you can create as per your liking. Here's an example. I was reading the reviews of Samsung Galaxy S25, Google Pixel 9, and iPhone 16 across three tabs, trying to find the right phone under my $800 budget. Switching back and forth was a hassle, so I summoned the tabs command in the AI chat, asked it to create a table comparing all three, and help me pick the right one. I got my answer in about three to four seconds. By the way, whatever answer you see in the AI chatbox, it can be copied (as text or even an image), and down the road, integrations with other services will allow importing, as well. The AI in Dia browser is about easing the mundane tasks, and it has been integrated rather seamlessly. When you are browsing any content on the web, and select an item, it is pulled into what you can call an AI brain. For example, I was reading about an impending ban on social media for children in Australia, but didn't know the background. I simply selected the first sentence of the story, and wrote 'what happened' in the AI field. Dia's AI pulled context from the article, performed a web search for related stories, and provided a detailed background on the events with citations without ever opening another tab or window. For quick reference, glancing information, or background checks, this feature is astoundingly helpful. Thomas Raysmus, an AI Researcher at hosting and website builder platform Hostinger, tells Digital Trends that AI-driven web interactions can eliminate repetitive tasks and enhance the human intent, but warns that we are still at the early stages of this internet shift. 'These tools must be transparent, privacy-conscious, and give users full control. If AI agents are built with clear boundaries and user trust at the core, they won't just be helpful, they'll become indispensable,' he adds. Interestingly, Hostinger launched a no-code AI-powered web app builder earlier this year. From mundane to meaningful Of course, Dia's AI can also do the usual Apple Intelligence / Writing Tools stunt, such as correcting grammar, style adjustment, and more. Think of it as an AI that knows, in real-time, what's happening on the screen and across different tabs. A recurring element is that it will save you the extra click or the copy-paste hassle of dealing with another AI tool in your browser. While shopping, it can summarize reviews and tell you to avoid a bad product, help pick the right dish at a restaurant based on customer anecdotes, and perform other such tasks. Again, fewer tabs, easy work. Aside from text, Dia can also handle images thanks to a native screen-grab tool in the AI sidebar. Think of it as Google Lens, but one that works faster. Now, the AI in Dia is not perfect, which makes sense for a product still in the beta phase. While reading an article, I highlighted an event and asked it to tell me about it by using credible news outlets as the source. It did a fine job by picking up sources like BBC and The Guardian, but at least two of the citations also included Wikipedia, which is neither 100% reliable, nor a news outlet. Talking about getting work done, you're still in control. So, let's say you want to summarize information from just three out of the six active tabs. An '@' shortcut, followed by the tab's name, will get the job done. I love the skill system, in particular. Think of it as creating a custom GPT, or Gem, for your web browsing. All you need to do is use a '/' command to summon any of your skills. And creating one doesn't take any coding knowledge. Just describe what it has to do, and you're good. As a journalist, researching content is part of my daily job. So, I created a skill called 'Expand' that essentially picks up the word I select on a webpage and performs research by focusing on science papers and news outlets. Once the research is over, it gives me a detailed explanation. I never have to leave the current webpage, and neither do I have to type a long question in an AI chat box. I just select any text or paragraph I want, type '/expand,' and Dia's AI will pull answers for me. It sounds convenient, but at each step, I am also acutely aware of the risks. Is AI also making us lazier and dumber? According to an MIT research that came out earlier this year, ChatGPT users 'consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.' Do I need so much AI in a web browser? AI has its practical charms, but the risks are also diverse. Dia is a clear showcase of AI easing the web experience for an average user, like me. The viewpoint of experts, however, varies depending on which element of the AI-driven web browser experience they can relate to the most. Dia takes a rather modest and practical route to putting an AI assistant in your web browser. It's not perfect, and some challenges will be insurmountable. For example, Google likely won't allow Dia's AI to access the entire Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, etc.) with the same kind of depth as Gemini. Lei Gao, Chief Technology Officer at SleekFlow, says the benefits are obvious, such as saving time and filtering the right information. Gao, whose company offers AI-powered social commerce tools, warns that wrong AI implementation in web browsers can complicate things and erode user trust. 'People are information-overloaded, and LLM agents can figure out what's important earlier. But not all things have to be simplified. The value comes when automation cuts out drudgery, not when attempting to think on behalf of someone,' he told Digital Trends. Shoe-horning AI deeply into the web browsing experience will come with a few compromises, such as over-simplification, missing source nuance, and too much summarization. In a nutshell, users will eventually turn into muted viewers of filtered information. The biggest challenge is just how much control we can give to AI agents. 'Attack surface is increased when AI agents can tap into real-time browsing information,' Gao tells me. At the end of the day, does an average person know (or trust) the privacy rules, data usage policies, and their sensitive details with a product like Dia and its agent? If AI does too much thinking for us, we lose our knack for challenges and problems. The experts at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft arrived at a similar conclusion a few months ago. 'Higher confidence in GenAI is associated with less critical thinking,' said their collaborative research paper. In a nutshell, there is a cognitive decline, or as the research says, a cognitive debt to pay. As tools like AI overviews and chatbot-ification of Google Search change how we look up and find information on the internet, the core experience is changing dramatically for hundreds of millions of users across the globe. Instead of clicking links and reading through articles, users now directly find the answer to their question. In doing so, they miss out on the valuable context that makes an article, and also stand at the risk of consuming information that is hallucinated or presented with the wrong context by the AI. AI: The carrot and stick situation Brian Reed, a senior executive at cybersecurity firm Cymulate, tells Digital Trends that with the advent of AI in web browsers also come risks such as prompt injection, data poisoning, and credential exfiltration. The deeper a workflow gets, more are the chances of a bad actor striking. The Browser Company says Dia stores chats, history, bookmarks, browsing context, and files on your device, and that too, in an encrypted form. The company also assures users of data anonymization, secure deletion within 30 days from servers, and a strict policy to disallow partners from misusing user data. When it comes to AI, there is a whole new world of privacy scares we need to contend with. A lot of companies have made tall promises — such as Google and Meta — and we all know how it turned out. Experts warn that the risks are high and multi-faceted. AI can shape a person's viewpoint, and not always in the right direction. What if an AI misinterprets information or makes things up? Merely a few weeks ago, an American lawyer was sanctioned after they cited made-up court cases generated by ChatGPT. Of course, there's a price to pay for serious convenience, some of which are beyond Dia's control. The 'AI makes us dumber' debate is one of them. In a nutshell, you, as the customer, choose where to put your trust. Dia and its AI-driven web promises are just another evolution. At the end of the day, it's a leap of faith.
Android Authority
31-05-2025
- Business
- Android Authority
I've been using Arc browser for a year and am not switching back to Chrome
Andy Walker / Android Authority Arc browser was all the rage a year ago, and it made me curious enough to give it a try. After an early test run, I gave it a few months before switching to it full-time. If you ask me today whether I regret the decision, the answer is a resounding no. In fact, it's been one of the most refreshing tech switches I've made since moving from Windows to Mac many years ago. At a time when every browser started to look and feel exactly like the other — with most running Chromium under the hood — Arc felt like a breath of fresh air. While it was the visual upgrades that drew me in, the various smart features have kept me hooked for more than a year. And at this point, I don't even want to consider going back to Google Chrome — or any other web browser, for that matter. Would you ever consider switching from Chrome to Arc (or another browser)? 0 votes Yes NaN % No NaN % I've already ditched Google-ville NaN % The tab gods have blessed Arc with ingenuity Andy Walker / Android Authority I hate to admit it, but I've always struggled with managing browser tabs. I know a lot of users are in the same boat, but that reassurance never helped, as my situation was embarrassingly out of control. I had tabs open for months with no clue why I needed them, mixed in with temporary tabs like login pages that just piled on the clutter. I had accepted my fate — until I fully switched to Arc. To be honest, Arc was a big shift from what I was used to with Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. But maybe that massive leap was exactly what I needed to finally change my habits for good. And I'm happy to report that it did. The most consequential change for me was Arc's default setting to automatically close all unsaved tabs after a day (you can customize this; I've set mine to a week). It flipped the script: instead of tabs being saved by default and piling up endlessly, they now disappear unless I deliberately save them. This alone has drastically reduced clutter on my most-used desktop app. This simple ingenuity is what won me over. Karandeep Singh / Android Authority Arc complements this approach with something called Little Arc, which is a mini window that pops up to open websites you only need temporarily and don't want clogging up your tab bar (think login pages and such). It's a huge part of my workflow now, even though it stays out of sight. Thinking about this as I write, I wonder how I ever worked without it and why more browsers haven't copied the idea yet. Arc vs Chrome: One makes the other seem dull Andy Walker / Android Authority Sure, most mainstream browsers, including Chrome, are now on the AI hype train, typically adding a chatbot into the sidebar like some patchwork. That saves you one step of visiting an AI tool's website, but not much else. Arc, on the other hand, has been offering genuinely useful and smart features for longer, and they're much better integrated. For example, you can hover over inline links to get a quick summary of the page before deciding whether to open it. Plus, the Cmd/Ctrl + F shortcut doubles as an AI-powered search bar that lets you ask questions about the page in your natural language. After all, what are tabs if not digital laundry that is back again the second you finish folding the last pile? The two things I use most are both related to tab management — which, if you haven't already guessed, is a huge deal for me. After all, what are tabs if not digital laundry that is back again the second you finish folding the last pile? To start with, Arc automatically renames tab titles and downloaded files with readable, contextual names, instead of the usual mess of gibberish filenames. And when I'm working on a big story with dozens of tabs open for research with no clear order or structure, I use the Tidy Tabs feature. One click from the sidebar, and Arc neatly groups similar tabs with appropriate titles, without me lifting a finger. For what it's worth, even Google Chrome has started catching up here, recently adding a similar feature with Gemini. Oh, and Arc also includes mini apps with built-in integrations for popular services like Gmail and Google Calendar — two things I use all the time. If I've got a meeting coming up, a join button appears right in the sidebar minutes before, letting me jump straight in without having to dig around my emails or calendar entries for the link. Similarly, I can see recent emails in a small pop-up window without needing to open a full tab. As the fruit company likes to say — it just works! I wish it was all rosy with Arc Andy Walker / Android Authority As much as I love Arc and plan to stick with it for the foreseeable future, it's not without flaws. The biggest issue for me, by far, is battery life. Arc eats up my MacBook Air's battery faster than I'd like. Chrome is just as bad, if not worse, while Microsoft Edge has been noticeably more battery-efficient — despite also running on Chromium. Arc's maker is now focusing on a new browser, with no new features coming to Arc, making the future of Arc look bleak. Then there was that major vulnerability that could potentially expose the entire browser to bad actors. Arc thankfully patched it before it became a widespread issue, but it still left many questioning its reliability. Add to that the recent news that the company is now focusing on a new browser, with no new features coming to Arc, and the future of Arc starts looking bleak. That last bit stings the most. But I've grown fond of Arc enough to keep using it until it becomes truly unreliable for daily work. Until then, Chrome can cry on Gemini's shoulder.
Gizmodo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
ASUS 14-Inch Chromebook Costs Almost Nothing, an Absolute Steal for a 4.9-Star Laptop
In search of a new laptop? If you're primary need for a computer is basic web browsing, email drafting, word processing, and YouTube video-watching, then you really don't need to shell out for anything crazy expensive. A Chromebook is kind of the perfect tool for these use cases plus they're super great for travel. Asus has its Chromebook CX14 on sale over at Best Buy. Right now, it's been shaved down almost 50%. That brings the price from its usual $279 to just $149. You can save a cool $130 for a limited time. Something unique about this Chromebook is the screen can lay flat at a 180° angle with its keyboard. This makes collaboration with others easier as everyone around the table can see what's on display. See at Best Buy This Asus Chromebook CX14 has a decently sized screen, measuring in at 14inches. It displays in full 1080p HD. The narrow bezels allow you to make the most of your screen space while keeping the laptop as whole compact and easy to travel with. And you can travel with it anywhere because the screen has a matte anti-glare coating to help reduce reflections. Respond to emails out at your favorite sunny outdoor coffeeshop. Lightweight, Yet Durable Speaking of travel, you can maintain peace of mind toting this Chromebook around with you wherever you go. It's built solid, meeting industry-leading MIL-STD 810H US military standard. That means it has undergone stringent testing to withstand panel pressure, shock, and drops to ensure maximum toughness. The Asus Chromebook is quick to start up, only taking 10 seconds to being operational from when you push the button. The side comprises of several useful ports including a full-function reversible USB-C port that can be used for easy charging or to connect peripherals. You also get a USB 3.2 Type A port. The Chromebook also has an AUX port, my beloved (still mad at Apple for removing them from phones). This Chromebook comes with a three month trial of Gemini Advanced premium plan—Google's own AI. That also comes with a full 2TB of cloud storage. Just don't save anything important only to that unless you plan on subscribing after the three months are up. Though when that expires, you do also get one free year of 100GB cloud storage with Google One. Get your Asus 14-inch Chromebook CX14 for just $149 at Best Buy before the price goes back up to $279. Right now, you'd be saving a whole $130, which is almost 50%. See at Best Buy
