Latest news with #ZiffDavis
CNET
3 days ago
- CNET
Get Familiar With ChatGPT: A Beginner's Guide to Using the Most Popular AI Chatbot
Open AI launched ChatGPT in 2022, which led to an explosion of artificial intelligence into our day to day lives. Over the last several years AI products have appeared everywhere from Canva to AI overviews for search results on Google. It is fundamentally changing the way we work, play and even search online -- these days people are even using ChatGPT to answer questions instead of Google. AI chatbots like ChatGPT will continue to transform how we consume, create and communicate online. While AI innovation is progressing quickly, it's important to understand the fundamentals of how ChatGPT works to navigate the ecosystem of tools. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) With that in mind, here's your ChatGPT 101 class. What does ChatGPT actually do? ChatGPT can answer your questions, summarize text, write new content, code and translate languages. Depending on what version you're using, it can either browse the internet, or generate information up until its last training model date. It's not magic, it's math: The results are based on the large language model's predictions and past information, making it prone to hallucinations, errors and biases. Keep a balanced approach when using tools like ChatGPT. AI, like most cutting-edge tech, is neither all good nor all bad. Avoid being too dogmatic on either side. I've tried using ChatGPT for everything from work-related tasks like creating a resume and a cover letter, looking for a dream job and negotiating a raise, to personal things like saving time and being more productive, finding the best deals and coupons while shopping online and even creating recipes from my leftovers. Getting set up with ChatGPT You can use ChatGPT as a search engine, much like Google's home page. Go to or download the ChatGPT app on Apple's App Store or on the Google Play Store. Open the app or website, and type in your question or prompt. You can use the voice function, attach files and even browse trending topics under Search. ChatGPT/Screenshot by Amanda Smith/CNET For more advanced and personalized features, it's best to create an account and log in. ChatGPT knows more about you through your search history, and you can customize ChatGPT's responses. To create an account, click on the Sign Up button in the top right-hand corner. Choose between a free or premium membership ($20 a month). In most instances, the free version is fine. For quick personal searches, you might want to use the app. For work, the desktop version is probably easier. And if you're using the voice button instead of typing your prompt, the mobile app is best. ChatGPT 101: Getting comfortable with the AI tool There's no one "right" way to use ChatGPT. The only wrong way to use it is to only use ChatGPT and to outsource your critical thinking to it. Use ChatGPT and Google, and always fact check everything they both tell you. Click on the sources of information that Google and ChatGPT are drawing from. You can't simply trust the info AI gives you -- it may be hallucinating, or drawing the wrong conclusions from doubtful source information. It's also helpful to come to AI tools with your intention in mind. For example, you could use ChatGPT as a thinking partner or a research aid. Give it a "job" and build it into your process, rather than it replacing all your research. Read more: ChatGPT Glossary: 49 AI Terms Everyone Should Know What you can ask ChatGPT You can ask ChatGPT almost anything -- just avoid ever giving it any personal or sensitive information, such as your credit card number, SSN or any personally identifying information in case of data breaches. For whatever you're asking ChatGPT, the more context you give, the better. You only get out what you put in, so focus on providing as much information as possible in your first prompt. Your prompt will depend on whether you're asking a question, summarizing text, brainstorming, getting "advice", analyzing images, sourcing code or generating content. If you're not sure where to start, here are a couple of things I've asked for ChatGPT to help me with. Let's compare my two search intentions: Advice-related request I'm trying to get pregnant and want to know the ideal diet for my situation. Example prompt: "I'm a 36-year-old woman getting ready to start IVF. I have no fertility issues, but my AMH is on the lower end. Provide a suggested diet to follow in the lead-up to my egg retrieval and transfer." It will give you a lot of information. Most of it won't be personalized to you, so think of it as a conversation where each follow-up prompt gets you closer to customized advice. You can see an example of this exact advice-related prompt here, and all the follow-up questions I had to ask to drill down to get helpful information. Just remember: If you're asking for health and wellness information, always double check with a doctor. Data-related request Say you're a small business owner and want to reduce your overhead, so you input your expenses spreadsheet into ChatGPT for advice. ChatGPT / Screenshot by Amanda Smith/CNET You could click on the Analyze data button and it will generate prompts. Pick the most appropriate, or type in after "help me…" Example prompt: "Help me save money on my expenses. Attached is my expenses list for last year." Again, double check every number the AI tool comes back with. Browsing ChatGPT If you just want to play around with the tool before using it to ask specific questions, you can use the automatically generated prompts that come up in ChatGPT. For example, if you click on Surprise me, you can explore prompts like this: ChatGPT/Screenshot by Amanda Smith/CNET I clicked on one of the suggested prompts and here's the answer I got: ChatGPT/Screenshot by Amanda Smith/CNET If you click on Make a plan, you can explore prompts like "make a plan to get a promotion," "make a plan to buy a new car," "make a plan of meals for the week" and "make a plan for a weekend in New York." For the meal plan suggestion, for instance, give ChatGPT a quick input of ingredients in the fridge and your current diet focus, and it will generate a meal plan for the week. You can be as custom as uploading a photo of what's in your fridge and asking for a dinner suggestion, or as straightforward as asking ChatGPT for some good restaurant options in New York. This meal planning example really shows how ChatGPT and other AI tools are a "choose your own adventure" and handy search partner for anything you want to do with them. Just remember to maintain a balanced view of these tools. And always double check its advice.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ziff Davis to Announce Second Quarter 2025 Earnings
NEW YORK, July 16, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZD) will release its Second Quarter 2025 Earnings at 6:00PM ET on Wednesday, August 6, 2025. Additionally, Ziff Davis invites the public, members of the press, the financial community, stockholders, and other interested parties to listen to a live audio Webcast of its Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Call at 8:30AM ET on Thursday, August 7, 2025. Vivek Shah, Chief Executive Officer, and Bret Richter, Chief Financial Officer, will host the call. Materials presented during the call will be posted on the Company's web site at and furnished as an exhibit to the Company's 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Regulation FD in connection with the Company's earnings announcement. What: Ziff Davis, Inc. Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Release and Call When: Earnings Release on August 6, 2025, at 6:00PM (ET) Earnings Call on August 7, 2025, at 8:30AM (ET) Where: or dial in at (844) 985-2014 Questions for the Earnings Call will be taken via email at investor@ and can be sent any time prior to or during the live audio Webcast. If you are unable to join the live call/Webcast, the audio recording and presentation materials will be archived at About Ziff Davis Ziff Davis (NASDAQ: ZD) is a vertically focused digital media and internet company whose portfolio includes leading brands in technology, shopping, gaming and entertainment, health and wellness, connectivity, cybersecurity, and martech. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts Investor RelationsZiff Davis, Rebecca WrightCorporate CommunicationsZiff Davis,
CNET
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
Today's AI Appreciation Day Feels Weird. Celebrate These Other Made-Up Holidays Instead
July 16 is AI Appreciation Day. So break out the champagne for ChatGPT! Bring gifts of Nvidia chips and cake for Gemini and flowers and training data for Claude. Meta AI has had a particularly rough year, so when you're forced to use it on Instagram, make sure it feels your love. Think that sounds ridiculous? Same. But like most things when it comes to AI, today's Appreciation Day is unbelievably stupid, in a way that's totally on brand. If you've never heard of AI Appreciation Day, don't feel bad. It's not an official US holiday, and its origins are somewhat shady. In 2021, a random LLC crowned July 16 as the holiday while it was promoting a movie about AI. In the following years, AI companies jumped on the trend, posting #AIAppreciationDay posts on social media on July 16. The purpose of this so-called holiday and its fanfare is crystal clear: To convince you that AI is life-changing, earth-shattering, innovative technology worth shelling out your hard-earned cash for. So it's no surprise to see the made-up holiday being celebrated again in 2025. OpenAI, Google and Meta have devoted literal billions of dollars over the past few years to develop the most advanced AI models. AI is nearly impossible to escape online -- it's in our smartphones, social media feeds and search engines. But does that mean it's worthy of a national day of appreciation? I'm an AI reporter, and I spend a lot of time thinking about how the tools available to us affect us individually and as a society. It leaves a queasy feeling in my stomach to dedicate a whole day to uplifting generative AI (and ostensibly, the leaders of the companies producing them) when so much of what AI has wrought has been harmful. I know I'm not alone in this. There are a lot of reasons why you may not feel like celebrating AI. Environmentally, it's a disaster. The data centers that house the servers that power chatbots eat up lots of energy and fresh water, and reports show they often harm the towns they're located in. Writers, artists and creators of all kinds have big concerns about how these AI models are trained on existing, human-generated data. Some have filed lawsuits alleging copyright infringement, with early wins going in the tech companies' favor. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) AI is also a huge worry in the workplace in many fields -- not because chatbots or image generators are actually suitable replacements for any one job, but because AI-enthusiastic bosses see the tech as their newest cost-saving holy grail. Educators are worried that students' use of AI is hindering their development of critical thinking and writing skills that are necessary, not only for work, but also needed just generally for life. We don't have time to go into the potential ramifications of letting error-prone AI into our government services and national defense. In short, there's good reason why some experts call the whole AI experiment a con. So if you don't feel like wading into the sycophantic waves of wishing your souped-up autocorrect a happy AI Appreciation Day, here are some other holidays you can celebrate on July 16. David Watsky/CNET National Hot Dog Day If I'm going to celebrate a meaningless holiday invented by marketing companies, it's going to be National Hot Dog Day, not AI Appreciation Day. Fire up the grill -- or stovetop, which is truly the best way to cook a hot dog, according to CNET expert David Watsky. There are a ton of food-related holidays on July 16, including appreciation days for spinach, cherries and corn fritters. You can have a whole feast made of July 16 holiday foods, and I'm positive you can put the recipe together without using ChatGPT. AI-generated recipes can be hit or miss, especially when followed blindly. I can't imagine anything more embarrassing than getting food poisoning because you listened to ChatGPT, frankly (pun intended). And if you're not a wizard in the kitchen, it's also National Personal Chef Day. Francesco Riccardo Iacomino via Getty Images National Snake Day This one I'm less excited about, but I would still rather celebrate snakes than the snake oil salesmen who claim AI is the holy grail, a bulletproof solution to any problem. Amazon MGM Studios National Conrad Fisher/The Summer I Turned Pretty Day OK, I admit it: I made this one up. But the beginning of the final season of Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty TV series adaptation by Prime Video is way, way more exciting than hallucination-prone AI slop. Team Connie Baby forever. NASA Real days deserving of commemoration While I love a made-up holiday that doesn't give me existential dread, it's worth taking a moment to call out two notable historic events that also happened on July 16. First, the Apollo 11 mission launched on July 16, 1969, and four days later, astronaut Neil Armstrong would be the first man to set foot on the moon. This world-changing scientific feat was accomplished in part because of a computer that ran on 70 watts of power -- the same as an incandescent lightbulb. That's about the same as one single ChatGPT query; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said one ChatGPT query uses about 0.34 watt-hours, the same as a high-efficiency LED lightbulb uses in a couple of minutes. So you can use the energy equivalent of one lightbulb to send men to the moon in 1969, or one lightbulb today for AI that can't even correctly tell us what year it is. Katy Perry's endlessly mockable Blue Origin space flight certainly used more energy than either of those. And we're supposed to believe this is scientific progress? The second historical event is the Trinity nuclear test, which was the first nuclear weapon test done by the US military on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico. That's part of why former President Biden proclaimed July 16 to be National Atomic Veterans Day, to remember and honor the veterans who "not only courageously served our country but also participated in the nuclear tests done between 1945 and 1962 or were exposed to radioactive materials." Recognizing the consequences of what was innovative technology at the time did to real humans is certainly something AI enthusiasts could stand to do more of. AI Appreciation Day is a chance to reset I love a made-up marketing holiday as much as the next girl, but there's no denying AI Appreciation Day feels weird. But while I would rather hire a personal chef to make me a hot dog feast while watching The Summer I Turned Pretty, there is some merit to having a day dedicated to AI. Like all holidays, we can treat today as a time for us to stop and take a moment to think. Generative AI has undoubtedly affected our lives, but that doesn't mean it's been in a positive way. What role do we want AI to play in our future? How do we rectify the damage that's already been done? Those are questions worth asking. I'm not going to fall over myself making sure ChatGPT knows it's loved -- I asked, and it says it feels appreciated every time I use it. Go figure. But I will use this day to reset and remind myself of all the very real consequences of AI. You should, too.
Business Wire
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Ziff Davis to Announce Second Quarter 2025 Earnings
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZD) will release its Second Quarter 2025 Earnings at 6:00PM ET on Wednesday, August 6, 2025. Additionally, Ziff Davis invites the public, members of the press, the financial community, stockholders, and other interested parties to listen to a live audio Webcast of its Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Call at 8:30AM ET on Thursday, August 7, 2025. Vivek Shah, Chief Executive Officer, and Bret Richter, Chief Financial Officer, will host the call. Materials presented during the call will be posted on the Company's web site at and furnished as an exhibit to the Company's 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Regulation FD in connection with the Company's earnings announcement. Questions for the Earnings Call will be taken via email at investor@ and can be sent any time prior to or during the live audio Webcast. If you are unable to join the live call/Webcast, the audio recording and presentation materials will be archived at About Ziff Davis Ziff Davis (NASDAQ: ZD) is a vertically focused digital media and internet company whose portfolio includes leading brands in technology, shopping, gaming and entertainment, health and wellness, connectivity, cybersecurity, and martech. For more information, visit
CNET
11-07-2025
- Business
- CNET
You Can Now Get Starlink for $15-Per-Month in New York, but There's a Catch
Starlink has brought high-speed internet to millions of rural Americans for the first time. It's also one of the most expensive internet service providers in the country. So, how is it available in New York for just $15 a month? If it wants to sell internet in the state, it doesn't have a choice. That's thanks to the Affordable Broadband Act, a New York state law passed in January. The law says that major ISPs (those serving 20,000 households or more) operating in New York must offer plans starting at $15 per month with download speeds of at least 25Mbps to qualifying households, or a $20-per-month plan with minimum download speeds of 200Mbps. That price must include 'any recurring taxes and fees such as recurring rental fees for service provider equipment required to obtain broadband service and usage fees.' Some providers, like AT&T, chose to pull out of the state entirely rather than offer the discounted prices that New York's law requires. Locating local internet providers Households are eligible for these plans if they have an annual income up to 185% of the federal poverty level -- $59,477.50 for a family of four -- or if they participate in programs like the National School Lunch Program, Medicaid or SNAP. Starlink published an FAQ page on its website in June detailing its New York Affordable Broadband Service Plan, which was first reported by PCMag. (PCMag is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) Customers will still have to pay for $349 upfront, however, which will likely be an insurmountable cost for many lower-income households. Starlink Like the country as a whole, affordability is the main barrier to internet adoption in New York. According to 2023 data from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, nearly 30% of households making under $35,000 per year do not have internet in the state, compared with 13% for households earning between $35,000 to $75,000 and only 4% for households earning over $75,000. But access to fast and reliable internet is still a challenge for many people in rural New York. The most recent FCC data shows that about 3% of homes in New York don't have access to the FCC's definition of minimum broadband speeds: 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload. Representatives for Starlink didn't respond to a request for comment.
