There are moments with AI that feel like we're passing a threshold there's no coming back from. The latest example is happening at UCLA, where a professor is having AI create the textbook, assignments and teaching assistant resources for her class, Survey of Literature: Middle Ages to 17th Century.
Professor Zrinka Stahuljak is using an AI tool called Kudu, created by UCLA professor of physics and astronomy Alexander Kusenko and a former doctoral student Warren Essey. They bill Kudu as a "high-quality, low-cost" way for students to access all the information they need, while professors focus on teaching.
Kudu pulls from PowerPoint presentations, YouTube videos, course notes and other materials Professor Stahuljak provides it. According to UCLA, it shouldn't take up more than 20 hours of a professor's time and they can edit the materials afterward. The resulting textbook is available digitally for $25 and can be printed or used with audio readers. Kudu also uses the provided materials to respond to anonymous queries from students. Plus, it can identify whether over half of a student's content is AI-generated.
"Normally, I would spend lectures contextualizing the material and using visuals to demonstrate the content. But now all of that is in the textbook we generated, and I can actually work with students to read the primary sources and walk them through what it means to analyze and think critically," said Stahuljak in a statement. "It allows us to spend more time teaching basic analytical skills, critical thinking and reading skills, in a consistent manner — the things professors are best at doing." She plans to use Kudu for other courses in the future. The AI-powered tool is already being tested this semester in an introduction to history class and will be available for Stahuljak's course in 2025.
We'll have to see how successful this will be and, critically, if AI will remain a tool for teachers or be a "low-cost" way to replace them.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/ais-next-job-making-assignments-for-college-courses-130008019.html?src=rss
Whether or not you’ve heard of a white elephant gift exchange before, there’s a good chance you have the wrong idea of what it is, how it actually works and where the idea came from. According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them. It was a far more devious punishment than simply having them executed. The recipient had no choice but to simply thank the king for such an opulent gift, knowing that they likely could not afford the upkeep for such an animal. It would inevitably lead them to financial ruin.
This story is almost certainly untrue, but it has led to a modern holiday staple: the white elephant gift exchange. Picking the right white elephant gift means walking a fine line: the goal isn’t to just buy something terrible and force someone to take it home with them. Rather, it should be just useful or amusing enough that it won’t immediately get tossed into the trash. The recipient also shouldn’t be able to just throw it in a junk drawer and forget about it. So here are a few suggestions that will not only get you a few chuckles, but will also make the recipient feel (slightly) burdened.
White elephant FAQs
What is white elephant?
A white elephant gift exchange is a party game typically played around the holidays in which people exchange funny, impractical gifts.
How does white elephant work?
A group of people each bring one wrapped gift to the white elephant gift exchange, and each gift is typically of a similar value. All gifts are then placed together and the group decides the order in which they will each claim a gift. The first person picks a white elephant gift from the pile, unwraps it and their turn ends. The following players can either decide to unwrap another gift and claim it as their own, or steal a gift from someone who has already taken a turn. The rules can vary from there, including the guidelines around how often a single item can be stolen — some say twice, max. The game ends when every person has a white elephant gift.
Why is it called white elephant?
The term “white elephant” is said to come from the legend of the King of Siam gifting white elephants to courtiers who upset him. While it seems like a lavish gift on its face, the belief is that the courtiers would be ruined by the animal’s upkeep costs.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-7-best-white-elephant-gifts-that-are-worth-stealing-150516076.html?src=rss
When the Rabbit R1 arrived earlier this year, it was an unfinished product. Engadget’s own Devindra Hardawar called it “a toy that fails at almost everything.” Most of the features Rabbit promised, including its signature “large action model” (LAM), were either missing at launch or didn’t work as promised. Now, after more 20 software updates since the spring, Rabbit is releasing its most substantial update yet. Starting today, every R1 user now has beta access to teach mode, a feature that allows you to train Rabbit’s AI model to automate tasks for you on any website you can visit from your computer.
Rabbit CEO and founder Jesse Lyu gave me a demo of teach mode ahead of today’s announcement. The tool is accessible through the company’s Rabbithole hub, and features a relatively simple interface for programming automations. Once logged into your Rabbit account, you navigate to a website and input your credentials if they’re required to access the service you want to teach the R1 to use for you. Lyu was quick to note Rabbit won’t store any username and password you input; instead, the company saves the cookie from your teach mode session for the R1 to use later. In June, Rabbit had to move quickly to patch a security issue that could have led to a serious data breach.
Once you’ve named your automation and written a description for it, all you need to do is carry out the task you want to automate as you usually would. Rabbit’s software will translate each click and interaction into instructions the R1 can later carry out on its own. When Lyu demoed teach mode for me, he taught his R1 to tweet for him.
Once the software has had a chance to analyze a lesson, you can replay the automation before trying it out on your R1 to ensure it works properly. While it’s technically true you don’t need any coding knowledge to use teach mode, approaching it from a programming perspective is likely to produce better results. That’s because you can annotate the steps the software records you doing when showing it an automation. It’s also useful from a troubleshooting perspective, as you can see from the video embedded above.
After you’ve tested your automation, it’s just a matter of asking your R1 to complete a query using teach mode. The resulting process isn’t exactly the polished experience I imagine most people have come to expect from their mobile devices. The R1 announces each step of a task, and it can take a few moments for the device to work its way through a query. According to Rabbit, part of that is by design. Early testers found it helpful for the R1 to state its progress.
I’ll be honest, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that some of the R1 automations Lyu showed me, while creative, don’t offer a more efficient way to do certain tasks than the apps people are already familiar with, a point he conceded when I said as much during our call.
“There are a lot of tasks that are not a single destination,” Lyu said. To that point, where he believes teach mode will be transformational is in interactions involving multiple platforms. Lyu gave an example of an R1 user who taught his device to order groceries. With some work, that person could use the R1’s camera to take photos of the shopping lists his wife produced, which the device would then use to order the family’s weekly groceries from their preferred stores.
Another area where the R1 could provide a better experience than a dedicated app is in situations where there are competing standards, like the situation that exists with smart home automation currently. Say you’re trying to get some HomeKit and Google Home devices to work together. You won’t need to wait for the Matter Alliance to sort things out. With teach mode, the R1 will navigate that mess for you.
“You need to think about velocity,” Lyu tells me before laying out Rabbit’s end game with teach mode. For now, R1 users can freely add community lessons they find on Rabbithole to their devices. Lyu envisions a future where users will be able to sell their automations, with Rabbit taking a cut. Moreover, while teach mode is currently limited to navigating websites, Lyu suggests it will eventually learn to use more complex apps like Excel. At that point, Lyu contends Rabbit will be in a position to deliver an artificial general intelligence, one that will understand every piece of software ever made for humans.
Of course, questions remain. One major one is whether people will pay for community lessons if they could just as easily replicate an automation on their own. Here, Rabbit expects things to play out like they’ve done on existing app stores, with most people choosing to download apps they like instead of making their own. “For the future agent store, we anticipate a similar situation where any user could teach their own lesson if they want to, but most people will probably find lessons or agents created by other users that meet their needs very well,” the company told me in an email.
I also asked Rabbit if the company is preparing for the possibility that some platforms might block people from using teach mode to automate tasks on their R1. In the company’s view, bot detection systems like CAPTCHA will need to evolve to differentiate between “good agents” like those created by Rabbit users and malicious bots.
“When a user uses LAM to perform tasks on third-party platforms, they are logging into their own accounts with their own credentials, and paying those companies directly for those subscriptions or services,” the company added. “We are just providing a new platform for those transactions to happen, similar to you can play music on your phone and on your laptop... We do not see a conflict of interests here.”
I’m not so sure if things will play out as smoothly as Rabbit hopes, but what is clear is that the company is closer to the future Lyu promised at the start of the year — even if that future still feels years away and may be decided by another company. For now, Rabbit hopes R1 users embrace teach mode enthusiastically, as that will allow the software to improve more quickly.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/teach-mode-rabbits-tool-for-automating-r1-tasks-is-now-available-to-all-users-170036677.html?src=rss
This time of year has a lot of merry and bright things to be excited about, but it can be stressful if you’re stumped on what to get your mom, dad, best friend, coworker or kids’ teacher as a holiday gift. Whether you enjoy or dread buying gifts for people, it’s safe to say we all want to give our loved ones things they will enjoy and appreciate. But there’s a lot of noise, junk and bad deals disguised as good deals to sift through as we get closer and closer to the holidays.
Allow us at Engadget to help you through it. Here, you’ll find all of our holiday gift guides collected in one place, so you can more easily find the best Christmas gifts you need this year. Are you looking for white elephant gift ideas? Are you struggling to come up with a good gift for the father figure in your life? Are you just looking for a good board game to pick up for your own family? We’ve got you covered with gift ideas for all of those scenarios and more.
The holidays are nearly here and you might be a little more behind on your shopping than you’d like to admit. We don’t blame you — between family gatherings and the final work rush before PTO kicks in, it’s hard to find the time to go to a store to pick out presents. And once you get there, you could find half-empty shelves and very few choices. But that’s why we have the internet: you still have time to buy holiday gifts online. Most of our top picks are cheap enough that they won't hurt your wallet, and small enough to ship quickly and arrive before Christmas.
According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them. The recipient had no choice but to simply thank the king for such an opulent gift, knowing that they likely could not afford the upkeep for such an animal. It would inevitably lead them to financial ruin. This story is almost certainly untrue, but it has led to a modern holiday staple: the white elephant gift exchange. These gift ideas will not only get you a few chuckles, but will also make your recipient feel (slightly) burdened.
We could all use more time away from screens of all types and sizes, and board games are a fun way to do that and bond with friends and family. You can find plenty of unique sets out there now, from word puzzles to whodunnits to calming playthroughs that showcase the beauty of the little things in life. From games with giant monsters to those with haunted mansions, we’re sure at least one of our suggestions will be a hit with you and your loved ones.
There are way too many online services and subscriptions to keep track of these days, but the flip side is there’s a tool for just about everything. These are some of our favorite digital gifts and subscriptions, including time-tested music, video and gaming services as well as tools to clear your mental space and learn new skills.
The most hyped tech is often also the most expensive: flagship smartphones, ultra-powerful gaming laptops, immersive VR headsets and the like. But it would be wrong to assume that those are the only pieces of technology worth gifting. You don’t have to drain your wallet to get someone a cool gadget that will both be useful and make their lives easier. We’ve collected our favorite pieces of tech under $25 that make great gifts and help you to stick to a budget.
We wouldn’t blame you if you try to do all of your tech shopping around the holidays. That’s when you can typically get the best sales, both on relatively affordable gear and (more importantly) on big-ticket items. But it would be wrong to think that only the most expensive tech is worth gifting. Since we at Engadget test a plethora of gadgets every year, we know that there are some hidden (and not so hidden) tech gems at lower price ranges — you just have to know where to find them.
If someone on your gift list this year is a big techie, you may want to get them something from Apple, Google, Samsung or another big brand. But once you look at the price tags of their most popular devices, you may get discouraged. Thankfully, you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to get a tech gift for someone that has all the cachet of a brand they know and love. These are some of the best gifts you can get from Apple, Samsung, Sony and other big tech companies that come in at $100 or less.
Trying to find the right gift for an unabashed gadget lover during the holidays can be difficult, especially if you don’t keep up with tech industry news yourself. Fortunately, you’re reading Engadget.com, a site entirely staffed by people who spend all day figuring out what new stuff is and isn’t actually good. So allow us to help. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite gadgets and gear that just might satisfy the avid geek in your life.
We at Engadget spend a lot of time thinking about the best tech gifts for anyone and everyone in your life. But during that process, we often can’t help but think about the things we’d like to receive as gifts. Here, we’ve compiled a list of gadgets on our staffers’ wishlists with the hope that it may inspire you to splurge a bit on yourself this year.
There are plenty of things you could get for someone that not only shows how much you care about them, but also remind them that it’s worthwhile to take time for themselves. And while there’s nothing wrong with an aromatherapy candle, it’s more fun to go beyond the obvious choices and look at what tech products could help your loved ones feel their best. Our picks include things like styling gadgets and grooming devices, but also less techy options like a hair turban and face masks.
This year may not go down as one of the best years in gaming like 2023 did, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a lot of great new releases. Between titles like Astro Bot and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, there were plenty of games to keep even the most dedicated of gamers busy in 2024. And if you’re shopping for one, especially as a non-gamer, it can be tricky to navigate what’s worth buying. We've got you covered with these recommendations.
A million new video games seem to come out every week, but for some of us, nothing beats the classics. If you know someone who is way into retro gaming but don’t feel like hunting through eBay and local shops for gear to add to their collection, we’re here to help. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite gift ideas for the nostalgic gamer in your life, from video upscalers for old consoles to retro-themed books and artwork.
When it comes to making a great cup at home, coffee nerds are constantly learning and love to try new things. Whether the person you’re shopping for is a newly indoctrinated pour over lover or obsessive over every brewing parameter, we’ve compiled a list of the best gear for coffee geeks that you can get this holiday season.
Forget coffee — for billions of people around the world, a freshly steeped cup of tea is the best part of waking up. But with so many varieties and methods of preparation out there, it can be difficult to find the right gift for the tea lover in your life. So to help you out, we’ve put together a list of our favorite products, from kettles to samplers.
There are few things more rewarding than making good food for your friends and family. But after a while, it’s easy to get bored with the same tried and true recipes. And what better way to inject some fun into your favorite home chef’s routine than with a brand-new kitchen gadget? To help you find the right gift for the cook in your life, we’ve put together a list of our favorite kitchen gadgets across a wide range of prices and categories.
We’re all having a bit of a budget crunch this year, but the good news is that when it’s time to bestow presents on the young ones (or young at heart), you don’t have to break the bank. Our list of our favorite tech, science and design toys is stacked with items under $100, with plenty of reuse packed in so the fun can extend far beyond the holiday season.
In Engadget’s Slack rooms, our pets are high on the list of stuff we chat about — just behind work-adjacent tech stuff, insane current events, video games and food. We’ve bought plenty of high- and low-tech stuff to keep our furry friends fed, occupied, safe and happy and we’ve put together the best of what we tried here. Perhaps you’re shopping for your own very good boy or girl, or maybe you have a dutiful pet parent on your list — either way, the gadgets gathered here will make great gifts, according to the enthusiastic tail wags (or aloof meows) of our own fur babies.
Since the dawn of humanity, we have traveled. We’ve come a long way from on-foot journeys laden with animal hide satchels. But the goal of good travel gear is the same: Get you and your necessities to a destination in the highest level of comfort available. If you know someone who is always catching a flight, rides the train to work or is bravely embarking on a cruise, some new tech may just help them out.
There's a pretty good chance you know at least one person who works remotely in some fashion. While the WFH life has its perks — nobody likes a long commute — it comes with its own set of challenges, from lacking pro-level equipment to dealing with household disturbances. If you’re looking to give a gift to someone who spends much of their time in their home office, we’ve rounded up a few techy gift ideas that should make their days a little more delightful, or at least easier to manage.
There are few things better in life than getting lost in a good book — as any book lover will tell you. We have a few heavy readers on staff at Engadget and we all have opinions on the gadgets and subscriptions we think make the experience of reading even better. We've got gift ideas for those who prefer e-reading, as well as for the print-faithful — and of course, some book recommendations, too.
Everyone needs a hobby, and chances are there’s at least one person on your holiday shopping list who fancies themselves a musician. Whether they’re a casual synth noodler, a guitar virtuoso or a singer-songwriter we’ve got recommendations covering a range of price points. Some of these even make a great gift for music lovers who have been considering making the jump to music maker.
Whether that special person on your gift list is a photographer or content creator, a camera or accessory is always highly appreciated. And with technology in areas like autofocus and video quality constantly improving, it’s a great time to own a new camera. However, it can be confusing to sort through the latest models or find the best memory cards, backpacks, tripods and more. Fortunately, we’ve done the research and selected the best cameras at a wide range of prices, along with accessories that will help your loved one get the most out of their gear.
Whether or not you understand your loved one’s desire to wake up before sunrise and get in a 5K is irrelevant when it comes to gifting. Athletes, especially runners, are pretty easy to shop for since they can never have too many of the essentials like socks, gloves, foam rollers, trackers and more. There are plenty of things you can get them that will make their runs more enjoyable, or help them recover more efficiently so they can best yesterday’s time today.
Other than a bike, helmet and a few emergency maintenance essentials, there aren’t many things a person needs to enjoy a bike ride outside. But having the right accessories can go a long way towards making the experience more fun, more safe and, ultimately, more rewarding. Our list of recommendations cover the gamut of things you can give to the cyclist in your life, from must-have safety accessories like bike lights, to more techie gadgets like bike computers.
The great outdoors can be enjoyed all year round, so we’ve compiled a list of the best gifts for the backyard lounger, patio napper or woodland hiker on your list this holiday season. We even offer help with items to improve your tailgate or next beach trip. With everything from grilling gadgets to drinkware and hammocks to splash-proof speakers, there’s something for everyone – no matter how long or how often they venture outside.
We don’t speak for all moms, but a brief and unscientific survey has confirmed one gift most moms will love across the board: Time. Unspoken for, unstructured, zero-obligation time. While we couldn’t find extra hours on sale anywhere online, we did find some gadgets and gizmos that help save time and others that make precious down time more enjoyable.
Many Dads aren’t known for being forthright about what exactly they want for the holidays. (No, “peace and quiet” is not an acceptable answer in this case.) If you’re shopping for a father who likes gadgets but you aren’t sure what to get, let us help jog your brain with these gift ideas.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-christmas-gifts-to-give-everyone-on-your-holiday-shopping-list-170018610.html?src=rss
