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We need to talk about AI. Have you noticed it often just isntwell, very intelligent? Already, weve lived through years of AI hype. Weve watched companies pitch AI as a great tool for writing boring corporate emails. Weve seen it shoehorned into all kinds of places it doesnt belong. And its often just been bad. Were all exhausted. So lets cut through the fluff: The AI we’re about to go over is actually impressive. Ive never felt that AI truly delivereduntil now. Im genuinely impressedand I didnt expect to be. If youre intrigued, great! If youre thinking, Well see about that, thats also OKdont take my word for it. You truly need to try it yourself. For once, this isn’t some overhyped AI tool with a required subscription and questionable usefulness. Its back to basics: a web page with a text box. Just you and the response from the AI model. And its 100% freeno account, no friction. You can try it in seconds. Let me show you how. Be the first to find all sorts of little-known tech treasures with my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. One useful new discovery in your inbox every Wednesday! DeepSeek R1hosted by Nvidia It seems like everyones raving about DeepSeek these days. But it is actually as good as people say? I doubted itbut then I tried it myself. To be clear, Im not recommending you use the official DeepSeek app, which will send your inputs to a server in Chinawhere there’s no telling how the data might be used. DeepSeek is open source, and other companies can host it. And now, Nvidia has DeepSeek running on its own super-fast servers. It’s technically intended for developer-level testing, but anyone with the link can access it. A quick note: Nvidia is a sponsor of The Intelligence, but my recommendation has nothing to do with that relationship. I could point you at another DeepSeek instance hosted by a company youve never heard of, but Nvidia is a recognizable name with speedy servers. And since this tool is intended for developers, theres no nonsense involved. You dont have to pay moneyin fact, theres no upsell at all. Its just a text box on a web page that lets you access the model on Nvidias fast servers. To start, just open the Deepseek-R1 page on Nvidias developer website. All you need is the chat boxyou can ignore the developer stuff. Heres my suggestion: Dont use boring questions. Ask something complex, something that requires knowledge and creativity. I asked DeepSeek for some examples you might want to use, and heres what it came up with: Generate five absurd tech support FAQs for a dystopian smart fridge that judges your life choices Invent a fake Apple product so pretentious even Jony Ive would blush (and include a press release) Turn the five stages of grief into a guide for switching from iPhone to Android Try one of the above promptsjust copy-paste it right into the text box on Nvidias websiteor make up your own. After you do, youll see DeepSeeks reasoning process in action, followed by the response. It should only take a few seconds to work. (You may have to wait a few extra seconds if the server is a little busy, but it should still be fast!) You can ask the Nvidia-hosted version of DeepSeek virtually anything and get an answer back in seconds. The answers frequently demonstrate impressive amounts of knowledge, logic, andseeminglycreativity. But DeepSeek can have serious conversations, too. Ask whatever you like and see what happens. (As a general rule, you probably shouldnt provide private or sensitive information to any AI service, unless you really trust it.) DeepSeek’s answers are surprisingly thoughtful and complex compared to other AI engines. It’s there and waiting. And all you have to do is give it a try. Nvidia’s DeepSeek-R1 site is completely web-basedno downloads or installations, and no accounts to create. The service is free. Bear in mind that its for trial purposes and intended for developers, so you may run into a limit if you use it a lot, and Nvidia could pull the plug on it at any moment. Nvidia says it doesnt store any prompts you send to its server. The website says it logs your use of the serverinformation like your IP addressbut doesnt keep any records beyond that. (Again, I recommend you dont send anything private or sensitive, even soand that same suggestion goes for any web-connected AI tool.) Want even more productivity-boosting goodness? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an incredible audio appand another off-the-beaten-path gem every Wednesday!
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E-Commerce
Looking forward to more evening sunlight thanks to daylight saving time this weekend? Many in the golf industry like the time change, too, and they are pushing to make that annual switch permanent. The move is intended to encourage more evening golf and to stave off efforts to establish permanent standard time, which would leave less time for an evening on the links. And it is those late afternoon players who tend to buy food and drinks in the clubhouse. We would lose 100 tee times a day if daylight saving time goes away, said Connor Farrell, general manager of Stone Creek Golf Course in Omaha, Nebraska. Switching to permanent standard time would cost us $500,000 a year.” Golf played a big role in daylight savings time Golf has deep roots in the history of daylight saving time, which begins for most states at 2 a.m. Sunday when clocks spring forward by one hour. Some credit goes to William Willett, a British builder and avid golfer who in 1905 published a pamphlet advocating for moving clocks ahead in April and returning them back to their regular settings in September. The U.S. adopted a version of that during World War I and again in World War II. Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966 that set up the biannual time change, and lobbying efforts by the golf industry are largely credited for Congress expanding daylight saving time by a month in the mid-1980s. Lawmakers try to make standard time permanent But for as long as it has been around, the constant clock adjusting has drawn the ire of Americans weary of losing an hour of sleep in the spring only to be faced with the early onset of darkness in the fall. That exhaustion has led to hundreds of bills introduced in nearly every state over the years to halt the practice. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that in the last six years, 20 states have passed measures calling for a switch to year-round daylight saving time, many at the cajoling of golf industry lobbyists. But while states could switch to permanent standard timeas Arizona and Hawaii have doneCongress would need to change the law to allow permanent daylight saving time. That hindrancealong with arguments that permanent standard time would improve sleep quality and foster safer morning commuteshas seen more states consider opting out of daylight saving time. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have introduced bills this year to make standard time permanent. Nebraska is among several states considering competing bills to make either standard time or daylight saving time permanent. That drew Joe Kohout, a lobbyist for the Nebraska Golf Alliance, to testify in favor of year-round daylight saving time. Late afternoon golf leagues account for up to 40% of the annual revenue of some Nebraska courses, Kohout said, while a majority of golf instructors reported that nearly 50% of their lessons are taught after 4 p.m. Under permanent standard time, Nebraskas golf courses will lose revenue, be forced to raise prices, and in some cases could be driven out of business, he said. The Utah Golf Association is also fighting a bill to make standard time permanent. The argument that changing clocks twice a year is an inconvenience does not outweigh the year-round benefits of having more usable daylight hours in the evenings, it posted on social media. In Indiana, golf course owner Linda Rogers succeeded in lobbying the Legislature to institute daylight saving time in 2006. Now a state senator, Rogers is fighting an effort to return to permanent standard time. Daylight savings time allows someone that, you know, worked until 5 oclock to come out and still play at least nine holes, she said. And its not just golf. There are so many outdoor activities that people want to be outside for and enjoy later in the summertime. Golf course owners like the status quo The National Golf Course Owners Association, which has about 4,000 members, recently polled stakeholders on the matter. The vast majority favored either permanent daylight saving time or the status quo of changing the clocks, said CEO Jay Karen. Only about 6% backed a change to permanent standard time. If standard time was to be made permanent, thousands of courses would be harmed by that, Karen said. Even so, Karen’s group is not advocating for a change to permanent daylight saving because it could hurt hundreds of courses that cater to early morning golfers, he said. Those include courses in retirement communities, vacation resorts where late tee times interfere with dinner plans and Sun Belt courses where extreme late-day heat sees golfers favoring early tee times. We feel like status quo is no harm, no foul, Karen said. Republican Iowa state Representative John Wills introduced a bill this year to make the change to permanent daylight savings. But he has been under pressure to amend the bill to permanent standard time. Wills was considering it until he heard arguments on how that change could affect golf. I think I might push back in the future and say, you know, the golf industry needs this, he said. By Margery A. Beck, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
This week, Apple updated half of its iPad lineup. After updating the iPad Pro and iPad mini in 2024, the company has just unveiled a third-generation iPad Air and an eleventh-generation iPad. Many fans of Apples tablets have been eagerly awaiting these updates, especially since before this week, the companys entry-level iPad had not had a refresh since October of 2022. But if you’ve been waiting until this weeks reveals, hoping for a clear picture of Apple’s iPad offerings in order to select the one best for your needs, well, Ive got bad news: the iPad lineup remains as confusing as ever. Heres why. Not all models support Apple Intelligence Apple makes four different types of iPads: the iPad Pro, the iPad Air, the iPad, and the iPad mini. Yet despite each model getting an update within the last yearone of them still lacks the hardware to run Apple’s much-hyped Apple Intelligence AI platform, which debuted in October 2024. That would be the new iPadyes, the eleventh-generation tablet that Apple announced just this week. In 2025. In a baffling move, Apple decided to equip the new iPad with just 6GB of memory and the A16 chipthe CPU Apple first introduced all the way back in 2022 in the iPhone 14 Pro series and later included in the iPhone 15 series. None of these devices can run Apple Intelligence because the AI platform requires at least 8GB of memory. It’s shocking that Apple decided to limit its new 2025 iPad to just 6GB of memory and the A16 instead of giving it the more advanced A17 Pro chip and 8GB of memory that can run Apple Intelligence and that the smaller iPad mini, introduced in 2024, has packed inside. Why would Apple do this? Ive reached out to the company for comment and have yet to hear back, but the most likely reason is that Apple wants to push customers into its higher-priced iPad models, like the iPad mini ($499) and iPad Air ($549), instead of having them buy the entry-level iPad ($349). Consumers are starting to go crazy for AI, and, in my opinion, Apple knows that by excluding Apple Intelligence from the entry-level iPad, many of them will instead opt to shell out another $150 to $200 more on an iPad that supports it. You cant fault a company for wanting to make more money. But the lack of Apple Intelligence support on the new iPad is going to confuse a lot of people. Some may buy it thinking it comes with Apple Intelligence since, you know, every other iPad does. This device is kind of already obsoleteat least if you ever want to use Apple Intelligence. The thinnest and lightest model..is not the one you would think The lack of Apple Intelligence on Apples newest iPad isnt the only thing likely to confuse consumers. Many people are drawn to tablets because they are thin and light and thus easier to lug around than a laptop. Historically, Apples thinnest and lightest devices have all fallen under a unique moniker: Air. Theres the MacBook Airthe thinnest laptop Apple sells. Theres the (very likely) upcoming iPhone Air, which will be the thinnest iPhone ever, and of course, there is the iPad Air, which is the thinnestwait, no. You would think the iPad Air would be the thinnest iPad Apple makes, but thats not true. If you want the thinnest iPad, you actually need to buy the iPad Pro (which is 5.1 mm or 5.3 mm thin, depending on screen size) and not the iPad Air (which is 6.1 mm thin). But what if you want the lightest iPad? Surely, thats the iPad Air, right? No. Thats the 11-inch iPad Pro, which weighs in at 0.98 pounds. The 11-inch iPad Air is 1.01 pounds (and if you think it’s fair to compare apples to oranges, the iPad mini with its 8.3-inch screen comes in at just 0.65 pounds, beating the iPad Air by a long shot). Do you see how confusing this could be to the average consumer? And dont even get me started on Apple Pencil compatibility (the Apple Pencil Pro works with the smaller iPad mini from 2024, but not the larger, newer iPad Apple introduced this week). Which iPad should you get? Ive long hoped that Apple would fix its confusing iPad lineup. They didnt do it last year, or the year before, and with the new iPads this week, it looks like they arent going to do it in 2025 either. So, if you are in the market for a new iPad, maybe this little cheat sheet will help you out: If you want the thinnest iPad, get an iPad Pro (not the iPad Air). If you want the lightest iPad, get the iPad mini. If you want to be able to use the Apple Pencil Pro, get the iPad Pro, iPad Air, or iPad mini. If you want Apple Intelligence, get the iPad Pro, iPad Air, or iPad miniand avoid the new iPad. And if you want a lack of confusionI guess maybe wait to see if the 2026 iPad family finally brings much-needed simplicity to Apples tablet lineup? The new 2025 iPad and iPad Air are now available to pre-order and will be released on March 12.
Category:
E-Commerce
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