Students who use AI tools extensively may struggle with knowledge retention, according to new research.

Brazilian social scientist Andre Barcaui looked at two groups of students, one using ChatGPT as a study aid and the other using more traditional methods, before giving them a surprise test after 45 days. He found that those who had depended on AI scored an average of 57.5 percent on a knowledge retention test, compared to an average of 68.5 percent for those who had studied traditionally.

This randomized controlled trial showed that unrestricted use of ChatGPT as a study aid can impair long-term knowledge retention, Barcaui said in the conclusion of his paper, ChatGPT as a cognitive crutch: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial on knowledge retention. “Students who learned without AI retained substantially more information after 45 days than those who used ChatGPT.” He pointed out that an 11 percent performance gap was a significant differential.

A survey of around 10,000 teachers by the British National Education Union found other deleterious effects of AI usage. It found that two-thirds of secondary-school teachers (66 per cent) thought pupils’ critical thinking has declined due to AI usage.

The research will dismay those AI enthusiasts who have been promoting AI as an essential tool in education, although some observers have noted that there’s a need to be circumspect as to how it’s being used.

Critics will point out knowledge retention is just one part of education and that in-depth knowledge of AI will be of more help in the workplace.

Source:: Computer World

By Moinak Pal Even Realities has officially launched Even Hub, a new app store and developer platform designed for its G2 smart glasses, marking a significant step in expanding the capabilities of wearable technology. The platform is now live and accessible to all G2 users through the Even Realities app, allowing them to browse and install third-party applications […]

Source:: Digital Trends

By Hisan Kidwai Infinix has quietly but surely been doing some good work in 2026, especially when every other…
The post Infinix GT 50 Pro: Design, Cooling System, and Gaming Features Revealed appeared first on Fossbytes.

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By Manisha Priyadarshini Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have a growing privacy problem, but blind artist Clarke Reynolds is using them to do something remarkable — run a full marathon guided by strangers from around the world.

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By Varun Mirchandani ChatGPT is now available on Apple CarPlay via iOS 26.4, offering voice-only AI interactions for safer, hands-free use while driving.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc Built from the same research as Gemini 3, the new family spans a 2B edge model that runs on a Raspberry Pi to a 31B dense model currently ranked third on the Arena AI open-model leaderboard. The Apache 2.0 licence is a significant shift from previous Gemma releases. Google has released Gemma 4, the latest […] This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

Open-source productivity software vendor OnlyOffice has accused the recently launched Euro-Office initiative of licensing term violations and intellectual property theft.

A group of European technology companies including Nextcloud, Ionos, and Proton, announced Euro-Office last week, billed as a sovereign, open-source productivity software suite that’s compatible with Microsoft’s proprietary Office file types.

The software is built on the open-source code base owned by OnlyOffice and distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPL v3).

OnlyOffice said in blog post that those accessing its code under this license are required to abide by conditions, such as retaining OnlyOffice’s branding and “providing proper attribution to the original technology.”

OnlyOffice said that Euro-Office doesn’t meet these conditions, and therefore “any further use of the software is unauthorized and, as such, constitutes an infringement of the copyright holder’s exclusive rights.”

The company also claims it was not contacted about the Euro-Office project prior to launch.

In a separate blog post, Lev Bannov, OnlyOffice CEO, said that the Euro-Office project must “either restore our branding and attributions or roll back all forks of our project, refraining from using our code without proper acknowledgment of OnlyOffice.”

“We firmly assert that the Euro-Office project is currently infringing on our copyright in a deliberate and unacceptable manner,” he said.

OnlyOffice also said that it will suspend its partnership with Nextcloud, one of the Euro-Office project participants, due to the launch, and it accused Nextcloud of attempting to hire its staff and targeting its customers.

Nextcloud offers integration with OnlyOffice’s software within its own software products, such as its Nextcloud Hub. Despite the partnership suspension, OnlyOffice pledged to continue to “support and develop the OnlyOffice connector for Nextcloud” that its customers rely on.

Commenting on OnlyOffice’s copyright infringement claims, a Nextcloud spokesperson said: “As OnlyOffice itself states, its product is open source. Forks are a central component of the open-source ecosystem and are explicitly intended to enable further development, customization, and alternative governance models.”

Nextcloud said the Euro-Office project has “transparently documented its legal reasoning” in a public repository on GitHub. It also claimed this view is “shared by the Free Software Foundation, the custodian of the AGPL and GPL licenses,” and pointed the FSF’s “GPL-compliant reasonable legal notices and author attributions” page.

“The legal situation was also discussed with Bradley M. Kuhn, the creator of the AGPL license, and he supports our legal assessment 100%,” the spokesperson said.

“We are not opposed to forks — they are a natural and important part of the open-source ecosystem,” said Galina Goduhina, commercial director at OnlyOffice. “However, full compliance requires respecting the licensing terms in their entirety, including preserving required attribution elements such as product logos and branding where applicable, and ensuring accurate representation of the origin of the software.“It also means clearly informing users about what the product is based on, rather than presenting it in a way that could create confusion about authorship. In practical terms, this is about using open-source software responsibly, not rebranding it in a way that obscures its origin or suggests ownership where it does not exist,” Goduhina said.

With regards to OnlyOffice’s announcement to end the partnership, the Nextcloud spokesperson said: “We are disappointed by their choice to end the collaboration because of our contributions to Euro-Office and we hope they will reconsider.”

Euro-Office said on its project’s GitHub page that it chose to fork OnlyOffice’s code base rather than work with the company directly as a “last resort,” because “open collaboration with OnlyOffice was not possible, for a number of reasons.”

Among these reasons, Euro-Office said, are that external contribution to OnlyOffice is “impossible or greatly discouraged,” and that the owners make “controversial decisions” such as the removal of mobile app features.

Euro-Office also claimed OnlyOffice is a Russian company “despite many attempts to hide this,” which has raised customers’ concerns over potential influence or control by the Russian government.

When asked for comment, an OnlyOffice spokesperson pointed to an April 2 blog post that says the owner company, Ascensio System SIA, is headquartered in Latvia and is a subsidiary of OnlyOffice Capital Group, which is registered in Singapore. The post says OnlyOffice’s Russian business segment was sold in 2019, and a fork of OnlyOffice called R7-Office was created for the Russian market. There is currently “no shared codebase, ownership, or ongoing cooperation” between OnlyOffice and R7-Office, according to the post.

The dispute could create uncertainty for organizations considering Euro-Office’s platform, said Dario Maisto, senior analyst at Forrester.

“Offering an enterprise-grade alternative suite to Microsoft and Google in Europe is not just about functionality and sovereignty, but also about offering the same level of reliability that enterprise IT leaders are used to,” he said.

The situation also points to the difficulty in creating a sovereign alternative to established US software vendors that have decades of experience and millions of business customers, he said, despite clear enthusiasm from local vendors.

“The build of an enterprise-ready European sovereign alternative is going to take time,” he said, with European companies potentially opting for “sovereign” (locally hosted) versions of established US-based suites instead, “which may decrease the overall market potential for the European players.”

Related reading:

Euro-Office billed as Europe’s sovereign alternative to Microsoft Office

Global uncertainty is reshaping cloud strategies in Europe

EU looks to bolster its open-source sector to counter US cloud dominance

Source:: Computer World

By Andrew Morrisey Whether you’re planning to buy a new smartphone, tablet, wireless earbuds, or smartwatch, we’ve rounded up the best Google Pixel deals to make shopping easier.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Shimul Sood AI galore, but it’s doing the right things.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc A new quantum algorithm ran a 15-step nonlinear fluid simulation around a solid obstacle on real quantum hardware, the most physically complex publicly documented demonstration of its kind. The technique reduces qubit requirements and circuit depth, bringing industrial CFD applications closer to feasibility. Finnish simulation company Quanscient and quantum middleware developer Haiqu have demonstrated what […] This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Hisan Kidwai AiOs, or all-in-one computers, have been around for quite some time. And their promise is simple….
The post Asus VM670KA Review: A Beautiful All-in-One Desktop with Ryzen AI 7 appeared first on Fossbytes.

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By Adarsh Verma Samsung already has its own slim magnetic case for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, so most people…
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By Varun Mirchandani Textise is a simple web tool that converts cluttered webpages into clean, text-only versions, making online reading faster and distraction-free.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Alina Maria Stan WhatsApp has notified approximately 200 users, primarily in Italy, that they were tricked into installing a counterfeit version of the messaging app that was actually government spyware. The fake application was built by SIO, an Italian surveillance technology company that develops spyware for law enforcement and intelligence agencies through its subsidiary ASIGINT. WhatsApp said it […] This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Ana Maria Constantin Karin Keller-Sutter, Switzerland’s finance minister and the country’s former president, has filed criminal charges for defamation and insult after Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok was prompted by an anonymous user to generate a torrent of sexist and vulgar remarks about her on X. The complaint, filed on 20 March with the Bern public prosecutor’s office, […] This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Varun Mirchandani New research shows AI bias isn’t just in algorithms. Women are using AI less, receiving less support, and . falling behind in workplace adoption

Source:: Digital Trends

It felt churlish to let Apple’s 50th birthday pass without adding to the hagiographic choir, so what follows is an unapologetically selective tour through some of the moments that shaped one of the most influential companies of the modern era. These were the inflection points where Apple didn’t just ship products, it distorted reality in its direction.

For anyone seeking a shorter item, Apple CEO Tim Cook obliged with a characteristically on‑brand Tweet. For everyone else, this is the longer version.

The first Apple article

The first bit of mainstream reporting about Apple I was able to find appeared in 1977 in an article in the now-defunct Kilobaud magazine. “The Remarkable Apple Computer” was a lengthy piece based on interviews with company founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. “We’re not in the business of making things more expensive,” they said at the time, keeping early costs low by frugal use of components and tight design. A second set of reports explored a different theme: “Apple didn’t just build machines. It recognized, earlier than most, that ordinary people were ready for them.”

Hassle-free

Apple’s marketing push for the Apple II series locked another gene into the company DNA: user-friendly, plug-and-play, and out-of-the-box experience were the hallmarks of how the company presented these computers. At best, it has remained consistent on these features ever since. (Though the Apple II Homemaker Ad still resonates for a different set of reasons.)

Going mainstream

Jobs was an inexorable part of the Apple story. Six years after founding the company, he gained his first Time magazine front page in 1982. He was 26 years old. Jobs spent most of the rest of his life in the public eye, a position he used shrewdly across his career, for his benefit, and for the computer company he loved. Apple has been playing the media ever since.

For the Rest of us 

Apple introduced Macintosh in a blaze of glory with the iconic “1984” ad, a Super Bowl spot, and every single ounce of energy the company had to put into the push. Its revolutionary point-and-click user interface changed computing forever. Apple billed the computer as “for the rest of us.” Interestingly, the first ever edition of Macworld appeared alongside the release. I recall a conversation with IDG/Macworld publisher Pat McGovern years ago when he told me how impressed he had been by Apple’s new computer in 1983 when he first saw a prototype of it. The New York Times loved it too, writing: “Another startling feature that I became aware of after a few minutes, although it may be a minor point to some people, is the absence of fan noise…. The Macintosh has been engineered to cool itself. There is no fan to drown one’s thinking.”

Sounds familiar.

The fall

After an extensive and widely reported power struggle, Apple’s board fired Jobs in 1985, ushering in a miserable decade of great ideas and declining market share. Even John Sculley, who led the ouster, years later conceded, “In hindsight, it was a terrible mistake.” It wasn’t a total disaster; some of the work Apple did during that lost decade was excellent – the investment in ARM and work on the Newton led to technologies that later defined the next era of computing. But somehow through a succession of CEOs, Apple lost its fire. 

Shut it down

Apple’s computers did achieve a spiritual connection with creative markets, even as the company entered decline. By 1997, the company was close to bankruptcy — so much so that Business Week described “The Fall of an American Icon” and Dell founder Michael Dell famously said the company should “shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,” something Dell itself later did when it went private in 2013. Apple did not do this; instead, its leaders spent time searching for a new operating system (Copeland, or Cope, you decide) before realizing its salvation was its creation story.

Successful failure

Jobs, Apple’s former leader, hadn’t been quiet. He’d purchased Toy Story animation company Pixar just before being booted out of Cupertino, and launched his second computer company, NeXT, in 1985 after he was fired. Jobs remained optimistic, and later described his removal from Apple as “the best thing that could have ever happened,” as it led to him becoming a better leader. NeXT, staffed by ex-Apple engineers, built a Unix-based object oriented operating system called NeXTstep.

Facing existential crisis, Apple’s leadership approached Jobs to acquire NeXT for that operating system years later. That deal was done, and Jobs returned to Apple in 1997. NeXT became OS X, now macOS, arguably a most successful failure.

Think Different

Of course, the best way to play the media is to create credible narratives really, really hungry tech journalists can get behind. Edward Bernays had described that relationship decades before: “Being dependent, every day of the year and for year after year, upon certain politicians for news, the newspaper reporters are obliged to work in harmony with their news sources.”

Substitute Apple for politics for the same result.  Apple’s marketing teams have always been good at doing this, from that iconic “1984” ad to the Think Different campaign that marked the resurrection of Apple to the adorable recent “Critter” ads. Apple has always tried to define its story before you do. Shortly after Jobs returned, the company rolled out the Think Different ads series. (Here’s the ad, read by Steve Jobs. “The people crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”)

The iMac

The seminal moment in Apple’s recovery story is inarguably the introduction of the iMac in 1998. Jobs had been working at Apple as the “iCEO” for 10 months by then, as part of the NeXT acquisition that gave us macOS. The iMac captured global attention, put the company back into the zeitgeist, and became the foundation for the biggest corporate turnaround in history. He was wrong about the mouse, but he got the rest right. (He was also right about Wi-Fi, and introduced with the iBook, which Apple called “iMac to go,” a year later).

You want to lick it

Apple launched NeXT in March 2001, except it wasn’t called NeXT, had been heavily improved, and was launched as Mac OS X. At the time, Jobs said, “When you see it, you want to lick it,” pointing to its hideously attractive Aqua interface. I was at a launch event that had Apple fans beating at the windows. “I had to be here, it’s an historic moment – I eat, breathe, and sleep Mac,” one fan told me. In the decades since, OS X has formed the OS heart that beats inside all Apple products, from the Apple Watch to Mac, the iPad to iPhone, even Vision Pro. (Some of those products may also seem lickable.)

1,000 songs

October 2001 and a special Apple event saw the introduction of the iPod, reflecting Jobs’ decades-long obsession with music. If the iMac was the first wave, the iPod was the third after Mac OS X. It became Apple’s biggest product of all time (at the time). It vaulted into Windows, opened up the music industry, launched Apple’s services empire, and captured and defined a new generation. 

Business Week called it very, very right, declaring, “The iPod is no bigger than a deck of cards, but I predict this new handheld digital-music player will stand tall. Very tall. It’s going to do for MP3 music what the original Palm Pilot did for handheld computing in the late ’90s — that is, ignite demand like a match to dry twigs.” With iTunes and iTunes Music Store, it did. (A lot of people didn’t get it right, as described in this Macworld report.)

Hello Intel

Apple announced its transition to Intel processors in 2005. This was an important step. PowerPC (the chips then used in Macs) was incapable of keeping pace with rival chips and Apple’s leadership recognized the need to change. The company managed the transition so well that, thanks to Universal Binaries, it was possible to run apps on both old PowerPC Macs and brand new Intel models. You could also run Windows on Mac for the first time.

The move to Intel also allowed Apple to introduce the MacBook, which became a hugely successful device that propelled Apple toward becoming the world’s biggest mobile company, prompting it to change its name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc. in 2007. The first Intel Macs arrived in 2006, with Intel’s CEO joining jobs in what looked like a space suit but was in fact the protective clean room garb worn in chip foundries. 

An internet communicator

The next huge, big, massive moment in Apple history was the iPhone introduction in 2007. At the time, Nokia and Motorola were the second-largest cellphone makers in the world. Motorola’s then-CTO Padmasree Warrior left Motorola shortly after, arguing that “There is nothing revolutionary or disruptive about any of the technologies” in the iPhone. But perhaps the clip that most epitomizes the existential crisis felt by Apple’s competitors came from then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.  John Gruber caught the moment more presciently, “I haven’t found a single element of the iPhone UI that doesn’t feel super-snappy. The whole thing feels very realistic,” he wrote. That was the point: this was super advanced tech-in-a-box anyone could use, not a fiddly device few really understood. This was the epitome of personal computing, and still is.

There’s an app for that

A sleeping giant rose in 2008 when Apple unveiled the App Store with 500 apps. At first, we excited ourselves with apps that let us drink virtual pints; today, apps have become part of almost every task we do, from maps to payment systems and everything between. Jobs had a feeling, telling The Wall Street Journal this was “the biggest launch of my career.” It was an instant success; 10 million apps were downloaded in the first 72 hours.

Jobs himself was surprised. “I would not trust any of our predictions, because reality has so far exceeded them by such a great degree that we’ve been reduced to spectators just like you,” he said. So far, the ecosystem the App Store supports has also generated billions of dollars, opening opportunities for software in glasses, watches, and wearables. And, unfortunately as history has now shown, it opened the door to surveillance and regulation.

Stop me if you’ve seen this before

Perhaps Apple’s biggest security breach took place in 2010 when a prototype of an iPhone 4 was left in a bar by an Apple software engineer and subsequently sold to Gizmodo. Apple was furious, so much so that Jobs referred to this disaster during the launch of the device, saying, “Stop me if you’ve seen this before.” The same device also begat the now immortal phrase, “You’re holding it wrong.” 

A large iPhone

Apple’s iPad launch in 2010 generated major interest. It also hit a market of Windows users primed enough by good experiences with their iPods to pick up an iPhone. Many of these wanted to continue to use Windows but were sufficiently curious that when Apple introduced the iPad they wanted to try one for themselves. (I saw evidence of this across enterprise customers at that time.)

“I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop,” said Walt Mossberg. History will show it didn’t quite achieve that, despite Apple’s “What’s a computer/Post-PC” coverage, but it did create a completely new computer category it continues to lead. Once introduced, iPad almost immediately eclipsed the netbook industry. (Apple’s about to do the same thing to the mid-range PC industry with the MacBook Neo.)

Medical leave

Apple’s CEO had been struggling with his health, fighting pancreatic cancer. In a January 2011 email, he wrote: “At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company. I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011. I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can.”

He subsequently resigned as CEO in August 2011, and sadly died in October. The iPhone 4S was released a few weeks later, with many describing the name as signifying S “for Steve.” For many, the commencement speech he delivered at Stanford University remains an inspirational guide.

The planet can’t wait

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook had been groomed for the top job for years. An expert in operations, Cook helped Apple grow rapidly, becoming the first company to ever reach a $3 trillion valuation. That should be enough to prove that while he’s a different type of leader, he is a highly effective one who thinks deeply about the impact of technology on the wider world.

America’s first openly gay CEO also became Apple’s longest-serving Apple CEO in 2025. Critics may throw stones, but it is appropriate that the leader of one the world’s most influential tech company at least considers its place in racism, privacy, and the environment. Under Cook’s watch, the world has really explored the ugly side of digital transformation, spanning the Snowden affair, Cambridge Analytica, surveillance-as-a-service, the Covid crises, intensive regulation, and, most recently, direct threats against Apple and its employees because of a war no one voted for. It is hard to say whether anyone else could have managed Apple more successfully through this tumult.

Services, services, services

Apple’s push into services began with Maps. Actually, that’s not quite true, it actually began with movie trailers in QuickTime in the late 1990s and really took an upswing thanks to the acquisition of Soundjam and the introduction of iTunes and the iTunes Music Store alongside the iPod. Under Cook, Apple recognized that music purchasers wanted to stream their songs, and it needed some way to transition iTunes sales to music streaming.

In May 2014, Apple announced the $3 billion purchase of Beats, which Forbes called “Tech’s Worst Acquisition, Except for All The Others.” Beats made headphones (and still does) and offered a music streaming service, which became Apple Music. Despite media scepticism at the time, that launch has more than paid for the initial purchase. It gave Apple an opportunity to build a massive services empire, one that generates approximately $207,686 every minute, based on fiscal year 2025 revenues, with roughly 75% margins. In other words, Apple’s services arm now generates enough revenue to do another $3 billion deal every two weeks. 

A branch of the tree

“I see wearables as a very key branch of the tree,” Cook said in 2013. “I think it could be a profound area for technology.”

He was wearing a Fuel band at the time and recognized their potential for health. Apple’s adventure in wearables began with “the watch for pioneers,” the Apple Watch, the AirPods (Cult of Mac called them “Ear Fangs”) and led to the era of spatial computing and Vision Pro. Two of these products now own their category: AirPods hold a 23% share of that market, while Apple Watch has a 32% share of its own. The third product continues to define its market, creating expectations others cannot match, and setting the stage for a future “one more thing moment” sometime this year.

Of course, the sensors built into wearables also opens up another fresh frontier in health, on which more is expected from Apple.

The glory of silicon

One big thing somehow reflects the very first thing. You see, back when Apple began, the one component it didn’t make was the MOS 6502 chip used inside the acclaimed Apple I. The arc of time saw the company often constrained by the processors it got from third-party manufacturers. In 2008, Apple began to change that with the purchase of PA Semi.

“Apple buys firm that makes tiny, powerful chips,” said TechCrunch at the time. Sixteen years on, we can see exactly what happened; the tech Apple acquired helped it build the chips inside iPhones so successfully it wound up using them in Macs, too. Today’s Macs are the most performant and energy efficient AI PCs money can buy, and are grabbing back market share Apple sacrificed back in the ’80s following the ouster of Jobs. These high-performance, low-power processors also offer the advantage that they can be configured for use in smaller and larger devices, giving the company a solid tech canvas upon which to build the next 50 years.

One more thing?

Looking forward and back, it’s true to say Apple has spent its life fighting for independence. At first, it could not control its chips, at times it was not able to control its platform, at one point it could not control its own survival. Now, Apple designs the silicon, operating systems, hardware, services — even the way it engages with the world outside its Cupertino windows. That control has produced some of the most elegant, efficient computing devices ever made, though it also means regulators, critics and governments now understand how much leverage it holds.

Apple is self-sufficient and its future years will in part be defined by how responsibly it chooses to leverage the power it has accumulated across five decades.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Source:: Computer World

By Shimul Sood Every day in tech seems to outdo the last. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something shifts the conversation completely. I stumbled across news about Garmin teaming up with Natural Cycles, and I had to pause for a second. Birth control, powered by your smartwatch? That’s not something you expect to read in […]

Source:: Digital Trends

In the vibrant universe of online casino entertainment, the way players encounter games often defines their overall experience. More than just the thrill of spinning reels or hitting a jackpot, what captivates users is how easily they can explore their options without feeling overwhelmed. Online casinos are increasingly prioritizing smooth browsing, clear information, and responsive support to create an environment that feels welcoming and well-organized, enhancing every visit.

The Art of Effortless Discovery

When stepping into an online casino realm, players expect to be greeted by an interface that intuitively guides them through their choices. Sites that emphasize clear categorization—whether by game type, popularity, or theme—allow users to find favorites and new offerings with minimal clicks. This thoughtful design prevents frustration and helps maintain excitement throughout the session.

Many platforms also feature advanced filters and search bars that quickly narrow down options based on specific criteria like jackpot size or gameplay style. These tools not only save time but encourage players to explore titles they might have otherwise missed. Imagine browsing private wellness options in a peaceful setting like private wellness in Beveren—just as those tranquil menus guide choices, so should casino navigation flow smoothly to enhance enjoyment.

Support That Enhances Confidence

Accessible and effective customer support is a quiet hero in the world of online casino entertainment. Knowing that help is readily available transforms browsing from a tentative exploration into a confident adventure. Live chat options, comprehensive FAQs, and responsive email teams ensure that players can continue their entertainment uninterrupted, even when questions arise about game features or account details.

Casinos that showcase transparency with clear explanations and instant assistance empower users to focus on the thrill of the games rather than grapple with confusion. This supportive infrastructure contributes to a more relaxed environment, making the entire visit feel more like a personalized experience rather than a generic transaction.

Visual Comfort and Pace Control

The aesthetics of an online casino platform deliver more than just style—they help control emotional pacing during gameplay. A clean, uncluttered layout prevents sensory overload, allowing players to settle in and enjoy without scanning through walls of text or too many flashing banners. Calm color schemes and well-spaced content create a welcoming ambiance, inviting longer and more engaging sessions.

Additionally, some sites offer customization in how players interact with games, such as toggling sound effects or adjusting the pace of animations. These subtle features respect individual preferences and contribute to an experience that feels less like a rigid routine and more like a well-paced activity tailored to personal rhythms.

Highlights That Make Online Casinos Feel Like Home

What truly sets apart platforms with outstanding browsing experiences is their attention to the fine details that ease user interactions. Here are some key elements often found in player-friendly environments:

• Simple Registration and Quick Onboarding: Streamlined sign-ups that don’t bombard newcomers with excessive forms or jargon.
• Intuitive Game Previews: Access to demos or clear descriptions helps players decide if a game fits their mood before diving in.
• Easy Access to Bonuses and Promotions: Clearly labeled offers avoid confusion and encourage exploring additional playtime without hassle.
• Mobile-Friendly Design: Seamless transitions between devices ensure that enjoyment is uninterrupted whether at home or on the go.
• Consistent Updates and Notifications: Carefully curated alerts keep players informed without feeling spammed or pressured.

A Welcoming Journey Through Digital Playgrounds

At the heart of online casino entertainment lies the balance between excitement and ease. Players want to feel in control, able to explore without obstacles or confusion. Platforms that embrace this mindset craft experiences where browsing feels like a mindful journey rather than a hurried sprint. This elegant flow not only respects player time but fosters trust and satisfaction, turning first-time visitors into returning enthusiasts.

By focusing on navigation clarity, supportive assistance, and visual comfort, online casinos transform from mere websites into welcoming digital playgrounds. Whether a player seeks classic card games or the latest slot adventures, the pleasure of a smooth browsing experience elevates entertainment, ensuring that every visit unfolds with anticipation and ease.

As AI agents become more embedded in workplace tools, Asana is positioning its approach around collaboration rather than individual productivity.

“We believe in AI being ‘multiplayer’ by design,” said chief product officer Arnab Bose. “The future of the agentic enterprise will only be realized if agents can work independently and with multiple people, versus just a copilot.”

Asana made its AI Teammates feature generally available this month; it’s a paid add-on that provides customers with AI agents that are capable of completing tasks autonomously within Asana’s work management platform. Users can build their own AI teammate agents or use one of 21 off-the-shelf agents focused on job roles such as marketing, IT, and operations.

Unlike standalone AI assistants, Asana’s AI teammates operate within shared workflows, with access to projects and portfolios across the platform, Bose said. Users can assign tasks to an agent, review its output, and provide feedback. An auditable record of prompts and actions carried out by the agent is then available to all co-workers.

The collaborative approach leads to greater transparency around information generated by agents, said Bose. “As you train the AI agent and get more work done within Asana, all of that reinforced learning is shared with the human beings with access to the same agent,” he said. “You’re getting institutional memory; you’re not just getting individual memory and individual productivity boost.”

Connecting to third-party apps

AI teammates are also able to connect to third-party applications via “a bi-directional sync” to retrieve data and take actions such as creating new documents, Bose said. Currently this means API connections to Google Drive and Microsoft 365 apps. Connectors to other business applications, such as HubSpot and Salesforce, are in development.

API connectors are well-suited to tasks such as updating docs, but for more non-deterministic tasks, Asana is working on MCP connectors for AI teammates. These are likely to arrive next quarter, Bose said, and are a better fit for unstructured agent-to-agent interactions.

An example would be AI teammates connecting to Slack’s revamped Slackbot. “Slackbot has an MCP agent,” said Bose, “so you can have the Asana AI teammate ask the Slackbot, ‘Hey, what’s up with this particular project? Are there any interesting comments in these channels which I should use to flag status risk?’ We would get back answers like that.”

Competing with third-party agents

Asana believes that AI teammates will also help protect the value of Asana as third-party AI agents such as Claude Cowork and ChatGPT become more capable of working autonomously across software-as-a-service applications — that’s part of the thinking behind the so-called SaaSpocalypse, where work applications such as Asana theoretically become the layer underneath a general-purpose AI agent.

Bose doesn’t see external agents as a risk to Asana’s value proposition, and there are two reasons for this, he argues.

One is that Asana’s embedded, collaborative AI agent approach is better suited to the complexities of enterprise work management than general purpose AI agents.

“If you take a look at how Claude Cowork or any of these coding agents slash productivity agents work today, they are highly optimized for individual or personal productivity,” said Bose. These agents are essentially disconnected from colleagues, he said, with research and reinforcement loops “all happening on an individual basis; they’re not happening in the project or task context.”

The other point, he contends, is that Asana still stands to benefit even if a user interacts with the work management app via a AI agent, as the agent still connect to Asana’s Work Graph — a data map of the relationships between all the work, people and information held in its platform — which allows Asana monetize these agent interactions.

“If it’s a single human who’s completing a task … [and] you don’t end up using Asana UI, you’re still getting massive benefits out of the Work Graph, which is ultimately good for us,” said Bose.

He added: “If you’re updating a document or you’re responding to an email, you could pull data out of Asana to get the most relevant organizational context … that just makes our Work Graph stickier.”

In the shorter term, Asana is likely to face more competition from other productivity software vendors that are also building AI agents into their apps.

Craig Le Clair, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, said many business applications already feature AI builder tools that can address similar use cases to AI teammates, “so this in itself not unique.” Yet Asana has a “data advantage,” according to Le Clair, as other AI agents may not be grounded in the enterprise data and human work patterns to the same degree.

Since it’s connected to Asana’s Work Graph, AI teammates agents provide better context than AI tools such as ChatGPT, said Le Clair, with the main competition for Asana coming instead from “horizontal” platforms that integrate AI agents into the product suites where workers already spend their day: Microsoft 365 Copilot and apps such as Teams, for instance, or Salesforce, with Agentforce and Slack.

Asana is “well-positioned against other pure-play collaborative work management vendors, but the real threat are these more general alternatives,” he said.

Asana’s AI Teammates feature is priced $15 per user per month for 100 agent “requests.” Customers that go over this limit will be charged at the same rate for an additional 100 requests, though Asana will waive these additional fees for a year for customers that sign up before July 31, 2026.

Source:: Computer World