Technologies

Try DuckDuckGo’s New AI Feature, DuckAssist, Now for Free

DuckAssist isn’t a chatbot, so you shouldn’t get weird responses like you can with some other AI tools.

Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo has a new optional artificial intelligence feature called DuckAssist. Users of DuckDuckGo’s browser apps or extensions can access a beta version of the feature now, for free.

Unlike ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Bing AI, DuckAssist isn’t a chatbot, DuckDuckGo says. Instead, it’s an addition to the search engine’s existing Instant Answers feature. Instant Answers taps various online sources to give you a quick answer to your query without you having to click one of the links in the search results. Now DuckAssist can lend a hand, but it pulls from a smaller set of sources.

Enter a question into the DuckDuckGo search bar and DuckAssist scans Wikipedia, and occasionally Britannica, to generate an answer. DuckAssist uses technology from ChatGPT creator OpenAI and Anthropic to summarize the answer and make the response more conversational. When DuckAssist answers, it also links to the Wikipedia or Britannica article it pulled its answer from.

For now, the best way to use DuckAssist is to ask questions with straightforward answers, Gabriel Weinberg, DuckDuckGo’s founder and CEO, wrote in a blog post. That means DuckAssist can answer questions like, «What is the capital of Nigeria?» better than questions with qualitative elements like, «What is the best Legend of Zelda game?» (But this writer says Majora’s Mask.)

Weinberg wrote that wording a query in the form of a question will make it more likely that DuckAssist will generate a response. He also wrote that if you’re pretty sure Wikipedia has the answer to your question, adding «wiki» to any question also makes it more likely that DuckAssist will appear.

DuckAssist answering the question "What color is 'the dress?'" — DuckAssist can settle the age old question, «What color is ‘the dress’?»

DuckDuckGo

DuckAssist won’t always generate the correct answer, according to Weinberg. The tool might struggle to correctly answer complex questions, too.

«There’s a limit to the amount of information the feature can summarize,» Weinberg wrote. «Inaccuracies can happen if our relevancy function is off, unintentionally omitting key sentences, or if there’s an underlying error in the source material given.»

DuckDuckGo said DuckAssist is anonymous, doesn’t use queries to train its AI model and doesn’t share personally identifiable information with third parties.

Though DuckAssist is being released in beta, DuckDuckGo said that if the beta goes well, it plans to release DuckAssist to all search users in the weeks ahead. DuckDuckGo also plans to release other AI-enhanced search and browsing features in the near future.

You can also disable DuckAssist in search settings if you don’t want to use the tool. Disabling DuckAssist will also disable all Instant Answers outside of DuckAssist, too.

230209-yt-microsoft-bing-vs-google-bard — Microsoft’s and Google’s AI tools were introduced in February.

CNET

DuckDuckGo joins other tech companies, like Microsoft and Google, that have introduced their own AI tools to the public in the last few months.

Many of these other tools are chatbots based on, or developed in opposition to, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and they let you carry on a conversation with an AI, to a limited degree.

Despite the buzz around such tools, AI is still a work in progress. In December, OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, said users of ChatGPT should be careful.

«ChatGPT is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness,» Altman tweeted. «It’s a mistake to be relying on it for anything important right now. It’s a preview of progress; we have lots of work to do on robustness and truthfulness.»

In February, Microsoft began limiting the number of responses that its Bing AI can send, to stop conversations from getting weird and confusing the chatbot. It later relaxed the restriction, but only slightly.

Some AI tools, like Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing AI, have also included inaccurate information in their responses. DuckDuckGo said that because DuckAssist draws from a limited number of sources, the chance of the tool generating incorrect information is reduced.

For more, check out how Microsoft has limited Bing’s AI chatbot, what to know about Google’s chatbot Bard and what to know about Snapchat’s AI chatbot.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personal finance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more, see this post.

Technologies

November Nights Will Dazzle with Three Meteor Showers. Here’s How to Watch Like a Pro

You won’t need binoculars or a telescope, but you will need to get away from urban and suburban lights.

Get ready for an active November, skygazers. The month features three annual meteor showers — the Northern Taurids, the Southern Taurids, and the Leonids — two of which are already active. Northern Taurids started on Oct. 20, and Southern Taurids — one of the longest meteor showers of the year — began on Sept. 20. Leonids are expected to start on Nov. 6.

Even though two of these meteor showers are already in progress, the best parts of each are still to come. All three showers peak during November. And while these showers aren’t as prolific as the biggest ones, including August’s Perseids and January’s Quadrantids, you can still marvel at meteors with a bit of luck and some tips we’ll provide.

Not everyone understands what a meteor shower actually is, but it’s fairly simple. Shooting stars are a common occurrence in space around planet Earth. According to NASA, 48.5 tons of meteoritic material hit Earth’s atmosphere every year. Sometimes, enough of that material comes from the same spot, and we humans refer to those as meteor showers.

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Southern Taurids: The longest one

The Southern Taurids shower lasts for two months, making it one of the longest meteor showers of the year.

Southern Taurids is scheduled to peak on the evening of Nov. 4 into Nov. 5, and should spawn upwards of five meteors per hour during that peak. Southern Taurids is known for its increased chance of fireballs, which are meteors that are brighter than most. According to some reports, these fireballs can be brighter than the planet Venus when they streak across the night sky.

All meteor showers are named for the constellations where they appear to originate, a spot known as the radiant. For the Southern Taurids, the radiant is in the Taurus constellation near the Pleiades star cluster, so that is where you’ll want to look for them. Taurus will be visible in the eastern sky shortly after sunset and end its evening in the western sky as the sun rises.

Northern Taurids: Peaks later than its sibling

The Northern Taurids meteor shower is set to peak on Nov. 11 and 12. It’s identical to the Southern Taurids, only with a later peak date. The origin point will be the Taurus constellation, producing an average of five meteors per hour with an increased chance of fireballs.

Leonids: The most active

Of the three November meteor showers, Leonids should be the most active. It is fed by the Tempel-Tuttle Comet, which can produce some dense debris clouds, resulting in very strong showers. Leonids is set to peak on Nov. 16-17.

Some sources say as many as 15 visible meteors per hour is possible, while NASA estimates a more conservative three per hour under dark skies. It’s impossible to know for sure how active this shower will be until the peak occurs..

As the name implies, Leonids will appear out of the Leo constellation. Leo is visible in the eastern sky between midnight and 1 a.m. local time.

Per the American Meteor Society, Leonids has produced some intense meteor showers as recently as 2002, but isn’t scheduled to do so again until 2031, 2064, and 2099 as the comet returns to the solar system. During these rare meteor storms, NASA says that it’s possible to see upwards of 1,000 meteors per hour.

Tips for watching meteor showers

Here are some tips and tricks that will help increase your odds of spotting a meteor in November.

Get away from light pollution

This is the most important guideline to follow. Simply put, city lights make meteors harder to see.

«Light pollution will definitely hamper your viewing of meteors,» Michelle Nichols, director of public observing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, told CNET. «The more light pollution you are under, the fewer meteors you’ll see.»

Nichols says that unfavorable conditions can reduce the number of meteors you see by upwards of 75%.

Head to the countryside and find a spot that is as dark as possible. (There are other sources of light pollution that humans can’t do anything about, like the moon.)

The Southern Taurids peaks during November’s full moon, which is also a supermoon, meaning it shares the maximum amount of light pollution you can get from the moon. If you’re going to skip any of these showers, the Southern Taurids is probably the best choice. The other two showers will have much more favorable celestial conditions.

Don’t take any equipment

Meteor showers typically have an origin point, but you won’t need binoculars or telescopes.

«You want to just use your eyes,» said Nichols. «Binoculars or telescopes both look at ever-smaller pieces of sky, and you want to be able to look around at the entire sky.»

Meteors are very fast, and a magnification device may obstruct your ability to see the whole path. Nichols says that Taurids meteors tend to travel at 17 to 18 miles per second while Orionids may travel as fast as 41 miles per second.

Also, meteors don’t last for a long time.

«Look for short-lived, quick streaks of light,» Nichols says. «Meteors tend to last a fraction of a second to maybe a few seconds for the longer-lived ones.»

Nichols also notes that much of the material falling to Earth’s surface is «only about the size of a grain of sand.» As such, the streak humans often see isn’t the meteor itself, but rather the «glowing, superheated air that surrounds that bit of comet material» as it plummets toward Earth.

Dress for the occasion

Unless you live in the Deep South, it’s likely to be cold outside in November. Dressing for the occasion means you’ll be able to stay out longer, even if it’s chilly.

«When you go outside, dress warmly in layers, even if it’s not terribly cold where you are,» says Nichols. «You’ll be out there for a while, and at night, you may easily get chilled, especially if it’s damp out.»

Nichols recommends bringing an extra chair to put your feet on to keep them off the cold ground, especially if it’s wet, and also recommends against drinking alcohol, which causes blood vessels to dilate, causing the body to lose heat faster.

Patience is a virtue

The phrase «it’s a marathon, not a sprint» is about as apropos as it gets for meteor watching. Showers are unpredictable, and every number you’ve seen in this article or elsewhere online is essentially an estimate. You’ll want to make sure to give yourself as much time as you can to get settled.

«Give your eyes at least 20-30 minutes to adjust to the darkness,» Nichols advises. «You may not see meteors right away. And when you do, they’ll be sporadic.»

If it were easy to spot meteors, then it wouldn’t be special. You can help yourself by reducing your phone screen brightness to its lowest setting to preserve your night vision, and by using flashlights, not big camping lanterns.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, Nov. 2

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 2.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? A few clues are tricky. Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: State with more pigs than people
Answer: IOWA

5A clue: Sporcle offering
Answer: QUIZ

6A clue: Facial cavity that can become congested
Answer: SINUS

7A clue: Jamaican style of preparing chicken
Answer: JERK

9A clue: On the ocean
Answer: ASEA

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Geniuses have high ones
Answer: IQS

2D clue: Kind of board whose name is trademarked by Hasbro
Answer: OUIJA

3D clue: Drinks kept in a cellar
Answer: WINES

4D clue: Sky-blue
Answer: AZURE

7D clue: Reggae relative
Answer: SKA

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Nov. 2, #405

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Nov. 2, No. 405.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tricky one. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Sports where you need a certain piece of equipment.

Green group hint: Do very well.

Blue group hint: Football position.

Purple group hint: Fore!