Technologies

I Tried Perplexity’s Comet AI Web Browser and It Might Be the Future

When it works, Comet supercharges browsing online, literally doing the work for you.

It takes deep, below-the-navel brazen audacity to take on Google in online search. Just ask Microsoft, DuckDuckGo, Brave and the slew of other search engines that have tried to scrape away at Google’s near 90% global market share. It takes a kick in the head to think Google would sell Chrome, its wildly popular web browser.

It seems that AI search company Perplexity has a pair of grit and gall, along with a multitude of head fractures, as it not only aims to usurp Google in online search, it offered to buy Chrome outright for $34.5 billion, which is $14.5 billion more than Perplexity is valued at.

Apart from gaining access to billions of users overnight, Perplexity doesn’t really need Chrome. It already has its own AI-powered web browser, called Comet, and after using it for the past few weeks, I’m making it my default.

Comet is an AI-powered Chromium-based web browser that puts Perplexity’s answer engine at the core of the experience.

Chromium is an open-source web browser standard made by Google and allows anyone to build their own browser based on Chromium’s codebase. Browsers like Microsoft Edge and Opera are built on Chromium. Building a Chromium browser allows for a stable online experience with frequent security updates and interoperability with Chrome extensions.

So, Comet is essentially half Chrome minus the Google integrations.

Here’s what Comet can do that Chrome can’t: Questions typed into Comet’s address bar generate Perplexity AI summaries, with links to various sources. Highlighting text and right-clicking can bring up a Perplexity-powered search and summary. While watching a YouTube video, you can call on the Perplexity assistant to summarize it for you, and you can ask follow-up questions. That same summarization capability applies to articles as well. (Although as a journalist and someone who doesn’t suffer from TikTok brain, I just read articles through.) Comet also has agentic capabilities. For example, I can have Comet’s built-in AI assistant analyze a winning Grand Archive deck and it’ll automatically add those cards to my cart on TCGplayer, a separate marketplace for buying cards.

The AI power at the core of Comet changes how I use the internet in slight but meaningful ways. AI can expand upon an article on a political candidate, giving me the ability to ask about their policies and voting record. Or, when shopping for a mechanical keyboard, I can bring up the Perplexity assistant to ask about which switches on the market give the best «thock» with a «creamy» feel. (Perplexity strongly recommends the Gateron Oil King switches.)

Could I do the same just by opening a separate ChatGPT tab? Sure. But having it all built into the browser means I don’t need to spend time giving the AI chatbot necessary context. It can look at the screen I’m looking at and understand what I’m trying to expand upon.

Comet isn’t perfect, however. My biggest pain point is Perplexity itself. When I write, I often need to source other articles and pieces of information based on recency. Typing in «CNET Gemini» into the address bar, Perplexity gives me a summary of CNET’s coverage of Gemini and a few links, but not the kinds of links I’m looking for. I’m often looking for the most recent pieces CNET has published about Gemini. (The same applies when I search for «site:cnet.com gemini».) This applies beyond just CNET-related backlinking. When researching other topics, I’m often trying to land on the most up-to-date stories and Perplexity tends to bring up more explanatory pieces.

I often find myself jumping to Google search as Google tends to index links by recency.

Another pain point is the consistency of Perplexity’s agentic capabilities. Last month, ChatGPT launched ChatGPT Agent. This new mode in ChatGPT lets an AI do research and browsing for you. It takes time, however. For example, I asked ChatGPT Agent to look for hotel rooms near the San Diego Convention Center between specific dates and under a specific price. It took ChatGPT Agent 15 minutes of web browsing to give me a few options. With Comet, Perplexity tried doing this task in as little as 30 seconds. The problem was that the hotel recommendations didn’t match the location or price I was looking for. Sure, I could go back-and-forth with Perplexity to help sharpen its focus, but it’d be a time suck.

In another test, I tried recreating the Grand Archive deck that I had built the day before. I pulled up a list of a winning deck and asked Perplexity to figure out how much it’d cost to build the exact same deck and to add those cards to my cart on TCGplayer. This time, Perplexity got stuck. It kept on trying to put together an accurate list but couldn’t actually move on to the step of going to TCGplayer. It’d ask if I were ready to move forward, to which I’d respond with an emphatic confirmation. Each time it’d spend a bunch of time thinking only to go nowhere.

So, when Perplexity works, it’s awesome. But getting it to work can feel like a dice roll.

Still, it’s too early to give Comet a final score. The browser is still limited to Max users and probably has a lot more updates on the way. Even then, it’s a glimpse as to what AI-powered web browsing will look like, and I expect Google to scramble and put something together to defend its market share.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Feb. 21

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 21.

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? It’s the long Saturday version, and some of the clues are stumpers. I was really thrown by 10-Across. Read on for all 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: «Jersey Shore» channel
Answer: MTV

4A clue: «___ Knows» (rhyming ad slogan)
Answer: LOWES

6A clue: Second-best-selling female musician of all time, behind Taylor Swift
Answer: MADONNA

8A clue: Whiskey grain
Answer: RYE

9A clue: Dreaded workday: Abbr.
Answer: MON

10A clue: Backfiring blunder, in modern lingo
Answer: SELFOWN

12A clue: Lengthy sheet for a complicated board game, perhaps
Answer: RULES

13A clue: Subtle «Yes»
Answer: NOD

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: In which high schoolers might role-play as ambassadors
Answer: MODELUN

2D clue: This clue number
Answer: TWO

3D clue: Paid via app, perhaps
Answer: VENMOED

4D clue: Coat of paint
Answer: LAYER

5D clue: Falls in winter, say
Answer: SNOWS

6D clue: Married title
Answer: MRS

7D clue: ___ Arbor, Mich.
Answer: ANN

11D clue: Woman in Progressive ads
Answer: FLO

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 21, #516

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 21, No. 516.

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 tough one. I actually thought the purple category, usually the most difficult, was the easiest of the four. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle 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 appear in the NYT Games app, but it does 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: Old Line State.

Green group hint: Hoops legend.

Blue group hint: Robert Redford movie.

Purple group hint: Vroom-vroom.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Maryland teams.

Green group: Shaquille O’Neal nicknames.

Blue group: Associated with «The Natural.»

Purple group: Sports that have a driver.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is Maryland teams. The four answers are Midshipmen, Orioles, Ravens and Terrapins.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is Shaquille O’Neal nicknames. The four answers are Big Aristotle, Diesel, Shaq and Superman.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with «The Natural.» The four answers are baseball, Hobbs, Knights and Wonderboy.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports that have a driver. The four answers are bobsled, F1, golf and water polo.

Technologies

Wisconsin Reverses Decision to Ban VPNs in Age-Verification Bill

The law would have required websites to block VPN users from accessing «harmful material.»

Following a wave of criticism, Wisconsin lawmakers have decided not to include a ban on VPN services in their age-verification law, making its way through the state legislature.

Wisconsin Senate Bill 130 (and its sister Assembly Bill 105), introduced in March 2025, aims to prohibit businesses from «publishing or distributing material harmful to minors» unless there is a reasonable «method to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the website.»

One provision would have required businesses to bar people from accessing their sites via «a virtual private network system or virtual private network provider.»

A VPN lets you access the internet via an encrypted connection, enabling you to bypass firewalls and unblock geographically restricted websites and streaming content. While using a VPN, your IP address and physical location are masked, and your internet service provider doesn’t know which websites you visit.

Wisconsin state Sen. Van Wanggaard moved to delete that provision in the legislation, thereby releasing VPNs from any liability. The state assembly agreed to remove the VPN ban, and the bill now awaits Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’s signature.

Rindala Alajaji, associate director of state affairs at the digital freedom nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, says Wisconsin’s U-turn is «great news.»

«This shows the power of public advocacy and pushback,» Alajaji says. «Politicians heard the VPN users who shared their worries and fears, and the experts who explained how the ban wouldn’t work.»

Earlier this week, the EFF had written an open letter arguing that the draft laws did not «meaningfully advance the goal of keeping young people safe online.» The EFF said that blocking VPNs would harm many groups that rely on that software for private and secure internet connections, including «businesses, universities, journalists and ordinary citizens,» and that «many law enforcement professionals, veterans and small business owners rely on VPNs to safely use the internet.»

VPNs can also help you get around age-verification laws — for instance, if you live in a state or country that requires age verification to access certain material, you can use a VPN to make it look like you live elsewhere, thereby gaining access to that material. As age-restriction laws increase around the US, VPN use has also increased. However, many people are using free VPNs, which are fertile ground for cybercriminals.

In its letter to Wisconsin lawmakers prior to the reversal, the EFF argued that it is «unworkable» to require websites to block VPN users from accessing adult content. The EFF said such sites cannot «reliably determine» where a VPN customer lives — it could be any US state or even other countries.

«As a result, covered websites would face an impossible choice: either block all VPN users everywhere, disrupting access for millions of people nationwide, or cease offering services in Wisconsin altogether,» the EFF wrote.

Wisconsin is not the only state to consider VPN bans to prevent access to adult material. Last year, Michigan introduced the Anticorruption of Public Morals Act, which would ban all use of VPNs. If passed, it would force ISPs to detect and block VPN usage and also ban the sale of VPNs in the state. Fines could reach $500,000.