Best Buy – Digitex Solutions

I tried this new AI agent that takes control of your mouse and keyboard to help get tasks done, and I can’t believe how good it is

digitex — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:01 +0000

There’s been a recent flurry of AI tools that can go online and do things on your behalf. OpenAI’s Operator is a powerful and expensive AI Agent. At the same time, the more makeshift Browser Use offers a thriftier option for those who want AI to automate their online errands. The latest example drawing attention is Proxy 1.0, created by Convergence AI. Proxy boasted of being able to multitask online and handling everything except final approval for you.I wanted to try it out, but you only get five sessions a day for free, so I decided to mimic the test I did with Browser Use. After linking it to my Google account, I was presented with the Proxy interface and started my test run. Unlike Browser Use, though, I could submit the prompts quickly as I didn’t have to wait for one to finish before sending the next.Purchase Proxy(Image credit: Screenshot of Proxy 1.0)As with Browser Use, I started with a shopping advice request: “Navigate to Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart and search for ‘MacBook Air M2’. Extract the product name, price, and stock availability from the first five results on each site. Compare the prices and identify the lowest one. If discounts or coupons are present, record them. Provide a final summary with the best deal and where to buy it.”Proxy eventually offered a couple of the best options at each outlet and its own reccommendations. It took a little bit longer than Browser Use and certainly slower than doing it manually, but it was nice to have it running without me having to keep an eye on it.AI travel agent(Image credit: Screenshot of Proxy 1.0)I next asked Proxy for help with travel planning with the prompt: “Search for a round-trip flight between New York and London leaving Dec 15, 2025, and returning December 21, 2025. Select the cheapest option and extract details, including price, airline, and departure time.This was a bit of a mixed bag. While Proxy did find a shockingly cheap flight of about $430, it put it in British Pounds for some reason. Still, the small airport flight with a stop in Iceland at that price is not bad.Meteorologist AI(Image credit: Screenshot of Proxy 1.0)I went back to the always helpful test of finding and explaining the weather forecast and what I should wear by asking Poxy to: “Check the 7-day weather forecast for New York City on weather.com and summarize temperature trends, rain chances, and any severe weather warnings and then suggest how to dress for it.”Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.The AI did fine pulling up the forecast and extracting details about what to expect. The AI went somewhat bland in its suggestions about what to wear, recommending an umbrella on a rainy day and warm clothing most days to deal with the cold. But, it doesn’t have to be exciting to be useful when it’s the weather.Meteor(Image credit: Screenshot of Proxy 1.0)On its own, Proxy 1.0 is amazing. It doesn’t have to dazzle you to convince you of its usefulness. The AI doesn’t pretend to be human and make conversation. It just gets things done. It’s not perfect, and I had to experiment with wording my prompts to get the best answers, but not enough to be overly frustrating. I can see it being very appealing if I were someone’s personal assistant or had to juggle a complex home life. For busy people who don’t want to waste time navigating to and through websites, it’s valuable.Browser Use felt more like an open-source science project. It’s powerful, but it requires a fair bit of setup and tinkering, making it more high-maintenance, though you get great results if you’re willing to put in the effort. That DIY flexibility is excellent if your interests and skills trend that way, especially if you want a more conversational interaction, but I prefer the streamlined Proxy.OpenAI’s Operator is supposed to be the ultimate hands-free, natural-language-powered web assistant. But at $200 a month, it’s not for anyone who casually plays with AI tools. There are reports that it also frequently asks for help when it hits an obstacle, which sort of defeats the purpose of having an AI do the work for you.Proxy 1.0 sits somewhere in the middle of both those alternatives. Compared to how you can almost see Browser Use’s scaffolding, you get a complete product without breaking the bank like Operator. I also like how it’s more proactive in overcoming obstacles rather than immediately asking for help. The pace at which Proxy completes tasks can be a little annoying. I found I could complete the prompts quite a bit faster than Proxy, but the point is with the AI, I didn’t have to.Anything that lets me offload my least favorite online chores is worth keeping around, especially as it’s likely to keep getting better. If Convergence AI keeps improving Proxy, I might even start trusting the AI agent with my most sacred digital task: remembering to cancel free trials before I get charged.You might also like

Source link

Everything You Need To Know About Black Friday 2024

digitex — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 20:15:58 +0000

Retail’s biggest day will be here before you know it, and we’re preparing for Black Friday by painstakingly researching and reviewing top tech products, tracking prices, and throwing down the best deals. But if you’ve never gone through the whole BF experience, you might have questions about how it works and how to make it work. Well, we’ve got answers.

Deals on Laptops

*Deals are selected by our commerce team

What Is Black Friday?Widely regarded as the first official day of the holiday shopping season, Black Friday comes on the day after Thanksgiving every November. The Black Friday tradition began in the 1950s, with newspapers using it as a pejorative to describe the traffic from the holiday weekend. It wasn’t long before people started noticing that retail sales were also up that day, and by the 1980s, it was in use across the country, with the “black” now describing the black ink of a positive ledger. After the dawn of e-commerce, retailers also started using “Cyber Monday” to refer to the first Monday after Thanksgiving, but for the most part, those online sales have shifted over to Black Friday and often continue through the weekend. The tradition has spread to many countries worldwide with little tweaks. In the United Arab Emirates, they call it “Yellow Friday,” while in Wales, it’s called “Dydd Gwener y Gwario Gwirion” (Silly Spending Friday).When Is Black Friday 2024?Black Friday will hit this year on November 29, 2024. It’s unusually late in the month, so the holiday shopping season will be a bit shorter than normal (unless you start shopping early). There is only one Black Friday during the year, but Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Thanksgiving Weekend, and Cyber Monday are often referred to in the retail industry as “The Turkey 5,” so you’ve got access to at least five days of massive sales going on. OK, But When Specifically Do Black Friday Deals Start?This is going to depend on the retailer, but you won’t be surprised to know that “official” Black Friday price drops usually start before your Thanksgiving dinner is over. Amazon, Best Buy, and the like typically start sales on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (November 27th), with others getting started even earlier on Monday (November 25th). Some even set up landing pages on the first of November. Of course, we’ll see so-called “Early Black Friday Deals” all throughout November leading up to the main event.

Deals on Televisions

*Deals are selected by our commerce team

Where Should I Shop On Black Friday?Online! In general, larger stores are going to be able to offer lower prices due to the economy of scale, but smaller companies do play along. We’ll be watching Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target Black Friday Deals, along with manufacturer outlets like Apple, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Heck, there’s even sales on streaming services like Hulu and Peacock on Black Friday! What Time Do Stores Open on Black Friday?It’s the Internet! Online stores are always open! Most online Black Friday sales begin at midnight on their specified days, but this can vary. If you feel like battling the throng at a brick-and-mortar location for so-called “door-busters,” many major retailers set special early access holiday hours for the sale. Target, Walmart, and Best Buy locations will all open at 6AM on November 29. It’s important to check in advance with stores you’re planning to hit early to make sure they are participating, though.Does Amazon Do Black Friday?Amazon does every possible sale. They’re totally on board for Black Friday. They have a landing page all ready to be populated with deals as the event draws closer, and we’d expect to see big savings on popular products like TVs and game consoles. Nintendo Switch hardware and games are expected to see doorbuster discounts in advance of the holiday season, and PS5 fans will see the same.Does Apple Do Black Friday? Apple hosts its own Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals events both in their physical stores and online. You can expect nice discounts on some of their most popular products, including iPads, AirPods, Apple Watches, and more. We already know that Apple products can get pricey, so if you’re doing your holiday shopping early, Black Friday is the time. One caveat: you’re not likely to find the newly-released 10th-generation iPad or iPhone 16 on sale yet.

Recommended by Our Editors

Is Everything On Sale On Black Friday a Good Deal?That’s a nope, friend. While many retailers exercise some level of oversight to ensure that they only sell the good stuff, others do not. Marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart that allow third-party sellers to use their platform can sometimes bring you stuff that looks great on the screen and stinks when it gets to your doorstep. Reviews can help give you more information, but even those can be compromised.We put together a primer on how to avoid Black Friday scams that has useful advice on products to avoid, determining how good a discount really is, timing your purchases, and doing your research. It’s definitely worth reading before you spend a dime.What Black Friday Deals Can We Expect?It’s undeniable that Black Friday is one of the most popular shopping days of the year, and retailers drop prices to encourage it. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the prices you’ll see are the lowest of the year. Many of the products we cover can be quite volatile depending on the whims of the market. Sometimes, we’ll even see discounts before the day that are deeper than what you get on Black Friday. We’ve put together a guide on reasons to shop and not shop on Black Friday, and it’s worth reading. In general, we advise you to keep an open mind, make a list in advance of products you’re interested in, and compare prices across different retailers to find the best offers. Use our deals page to track pre-BF sales and grab things you’re interested in.

Deals on External Hard Drive and SSDs

*Deals are selected by our commerce team

Unlock Exclusive Deals on the Latest Tech Products
Sign up Now for the Tech Deals Newsletter

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.

About K. Thor Jensen

Contributing Writer

K. Thor Jensen is a writer and cartoonist living in the Pacific Northwest. He has contributed to dozens of prestigious outlets, including PCMag, Tested, Clickhole, and Newsweek. His second graphic novel, Cloud Stories, was released in 2017.

Read K. Thor’s full bio

Read the latest from K. Thor Jensen

Source link