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Digital Trends
an hour ago
- Business
- Digital Trends
I loved this AI-first web browser, but experts warned me of ‘free' AI
'If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.' Bogdan Onikiienko, an engineer at MacPaw, dropped that hard-hitting quote on me after using Dia, a new-age web browser that heavily relies on AI. He found it quite useful, but warned me that there are still a few unknowns, especially the privacy aspect. The biggest tech reality of 2025 is that AI is here to stay. Dia is just trying to do something different with AI by putting it in various corners of the web browsing experience. AI giants like OpenAI are pushing agents such as Operator that can autonomously handle your web browsing tasks. Recommended Videos Even smaller players like Opera and Perplexity are doing it. Google, the maker of Chrome, has even deeper ambitions with AI. In fact, one of the most futuristic reveals from Google I/O 2025 a few weeks ago, was the demonstration of Project Astra as a Universal AI assistant. In the video, a person can be seen engaged in a freewheeling conversation with Google's Gemini AI, as it moves from identifying a nut on a bicycle and looking up a product manual, to finding a bike shop listed nearby on Maps, and then ordering a dog basket. All of it happened in the background. The overarching idea is that you have an assistant in your hands that can perform everything from a web search to trawling social media. Now, take off the voice chat element and implement the fundamental formula to create a semi-autonomous browsing experience for your desktop. That's essentially the concept behind the Dia browser. What makes Dia stand out? In its simplest form, Dia is a web browser with an AI agent in the sidebar, and a dash of behavior-learning chops for extra personalization. After months of closed-circle testing, it has finally come out of the beta phase. And so far, my journey has been pretty smooth-sailing. A bit familiar (to the eyes seeing Gemini seeing everywhere across Google products), but no less meaningful. It's surprisingly snappy and, despite its beta status, hasn't crashed once. Dia is built atop Chromium, the same engine that powers Chrome and Edge. The benefit? All your browsing data and extensions will seamlessly port over on first setup. So, what truly sets it apart? The AI companion. Look, I know there's more hype around AI tools than their perceived benefits. Makers of Dia, The Browser Company, know that all too well, and it's not promising any universe-shattering advancements either. On the contrary, the AI agent simply acts as a wrapper for basic tasks that would otherwise require you to open another tab (or app). And it does it all in a sidebar, using some clever extensions that you can create as per your liking. Here's an example. I was reading the reviews of Samsung Galaxy S25, Google Pixel 9, and iPhone 16 across three tabs, trying to find the right phone under my $800 budget. Switching back and forth was a hassle, so I summoned the tabs command in the AI chat, asked it to create a table comparing all three, and help me pick the right one. I got my answer in about three to four seconds. By the way, whatever answer you see in the AI chatbox, it can be copied (as text or even an image), and down the road, integrations with other services will allow importing, as well. The AI in Dia browser is about easing the mundane tasks, and it has been integrated rather seamlessly. When you are browsing any content on the web, and select an item, it is pulled into what you can call an AI brain. For example, I was reading about an impending ban on social media for children in Australia, but didn't know the background. I simply selected the first sentence of the story, and wrote 'what happened' in the AI field. Dia's AI pulled context from the article, performed a web search for related stories, and provided a detailed background on the events with citations without ever opening another tab or window. For quick reference, glancing information, or background checks, this feature is astoundingly helpful. Thomas Raysmus, an AI Researcher at hosting and website builder platform Hostinger, tells Digital Trends that AI-driven web interactions can eliminate repetitive tasks and enhance the human intent, but warns that we are still at the early stages of this internet shift. 'These tools must be transparent, privacy-conscious, and give users full control. If AI agents are built with clear boundaries and user trust at the core, they won't just be helpful, they'll become indispensable,' he adds. Interestingly, Hostinger launched a no-code AI-powered web app builder earlier this year. From mundane to meaningful Of course, Dia's AI can also do the usual Apple Intelligence / Writing Tools stunt, such as correcting grammar, style adjustment, and more. Think of it as an AI that knows, in real-time, what's happening on the screen and across different tabs. A recurring element is that it will save you the extra click or the copy-paste hassle of dealing with another AI tool in your browser. While shopping, it can summarize reviews and tell you to avoid a bad product, help pick the right dish at a restaurant based on customer anecdotes, and perform other such tasks. Again, fewer tabs, easy work. Aside from text, Dia can also handle images thanks to a native screen-grab tool in the AI sidebar. Think of it as Google Lens, but one that works faster. Now, the AI in Dia is not perfect, which makes sense for a product still in the beta phase. While reading an article, I highlighted an event and asked it to tell me about it by using credible news outlets as the source. It did a fine job by picking up sources like BBC and The Guardian, but at least two of the citations also included Wikipedia, which is neither 100% reliable, nor a news outlet. Talking about getting work done, you're still in control. So, let's say you want to summarize information from just three out of the six active tabs. An '@' shortcut, followed by the tab's name, will get the job done. I love the skill system, in particular. Think of it as creating a custom GPT, or Gem, for your web browsing. All you need to do is use a '/' command to summon any of your skills. And creating one doesn't take any coding knowledge. Just describe what it has to do, and you're good. As a journalist, researching content is part of my daily job. So, I created a skill called 'Expand' that essentially picks up the word I select on a webpage and performs research by focusing on science papers and news outlets. Once the research is over, it gives me a detailed explanation. I never have to leave the current webpage, and neither do I have to type a long question in an AI chat box. I just select any text or paragraph I want, type '/expand,' and Dia's AI will pull answers for me. It sounds convenient, but at each step, I am also acutely aware of the risks. Is AI also making us lazier and dumber? According to an MIT research that came out earlier this year, ChatGPT users 'consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.' Do I need so much AI in a web browser? AI has its practical charms, but the risks are also diverse. Dia is a clear showcase of AI easing the web experience for an average user, like me. The viewpoint of experts, however, varies depending on which element of the AI-driven web browser experience they can relate to the most. Dia takes a rather modest and practical route to putting an AI assistant in your web browser. It's not perfect, and some challenges will be insurmountable. For example, Google likely won't allow Dia's AI to access the entire Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, etc.) with the same kind of depth as Gemini. Lei Gao, Chief Technology Officer at SleekFlow, says the benefits are obvious, such as saving time and filtering the right information. Gao, whose company offers AI-powered social commerce tools, warns that wrong AI implementation in web browsers can complicate things and erode user trust. 'People are information-overloaded, and LLM agents can figure out what's important earlier. But not all things have to be simplified. The value comes when automation cuts out drudgery, not when attempting to think on behalf of someone,' he told Digital Trends. Shoe-horning AI deeply into the web browsing experience will come with a few compromises, such as over-simplification, missing source nuance, and too much summarization. In a nutshell, users will eventually turn into muted viewers of filtered information. The biggest challenge is just how much control we can give to AI agents. 'Attack surface is increased when AI agents can tap into real-time browsing information,' Gao tells me. At the end of the day, does an average person know (or trust) the privacy rules, data usage policies, and their sensitive details with a product like Dia and its agent? If AI does too much thinking for us, we lose our knack for challenges and problems. The experts at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft arrived at a similar conclusion a few months ago. 'Higher confidence in GenAI is associated with less critical thinking,' said their collaborative research paper. In a nutshell, there is a cognitive decline, or as the research says, a cognitive debt to pay. As tools like AI overviews and chatbot-ification of Google Search change how we look up and find information on the internet, the core experience is changing dramatically for hundreds of millions of users across the globe. Instead of clicking links and reading through articles, users now directly find the answer to their question. In doing so, they miss out on the valuable context that makes an article, and also stand at the risk of consuming information that is hallucinated or presented with the wrong context by the AI. AI: The carrot and stick situation Brian Reed, a senior executive at cybersecurity firm Cymulate, tells Digital Trends that with the advent of AI in web browsers also come risks such as prompt injection, data poisoning, and credential exfiltration. The deeper a workflow gets, more are the chances of a bad actor striking. The Browser Company says Dia stores chats, history, bookmarks, browsing context, and files on your device, and that too, in an encrypted form. The company also assures users of data anonymization, secure deletion within 30 days from servers, and a strict policy to disallow partners from misusing user data. When it comes to AI, there is a whole new world of privacy scares we need to contend with. A lot of companies have made tall promises — such as Google and Meta — and we all know how it turned out. Experts warn that the risks are high and multi-faceted. AI can shape a person's viewpoint, and not always in the right direction. What if an AI misinterprets information or makes things up? Merely a few weeks ago, an American lawyer was sanctioned after they cited made-up court cases generated by ChatGPT. Of course, there's a price to pay for serious convenience, some of which are beyond Dia's control. The 'AI makes us dumber' debate is one of them. In a nutshell, you, as the customer, choose where to put your trust. Dia and its AI-driven web promises are just another evolution. At the end of the day, it's a leap of faith.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
I found a secret iPhone folder that could expose bad habits, financial info & cheating – deleting it saved my storage
YOUR smartphone is like an electronic mirror - it can reveal all sorts about who you are, who you're close to and what your interests are. But I found a secret folder recently that could expose more about me than I'd like to admit. It's quite spooky. Apple introduced a dedicated Screenshots album in iOS 9, all the way back in 2015. Somehow, I've only just discovered it - and with the sheer size of it, there's no wonder my storage is always full. It's tucked away in Photos, and the most recent iOS 18 design makes it even more hidden. Strings of screenshots of wedding guest dresses, confirmation pages following shopping orders and ticket bookings, to (and I hate to admit this) my own bank details - this album of images is incredibly personal. It acts as a chunky dossier of my social media scrolling, internet browsing, social life - and all my bad habits. All the Instagram profiles I've screenshotted, messages I've shared for my friends to weigh in on, to my own financial information that is ripe for hackers - it's all there. Whenever you screenshot something on your iPhone, that snap is automatically transported to its own, exclusive folder. Where these images are usually camouflaged in your wider Photos album, they are truly laid bare in the Screenshots folder. I had nearly 3,700 screenshotted images inside this hidden folder - that's roughly 2GB in storage. You might even be able to call me a digital hoarder - an emerging "dark side of technology" which can fuel anxiety and stress levels, according to a recent study. Apple shows you tips and tricks on the new Iphone 16e with Apple Intelligence But doing so is not only eating into my storage, it poses a huge security risk too. Interestingly, considering how much it reveals about me, this sneaky folder may even be used to catch out a cheating partner. 4 Save storage By deleting all my screenshots - spanning nearly a decade - I managed to reclaim storage back. Unlike your main photo library, the Screenshots album gives you the option to Select All - so deleting every snap in one swoop is easy. If you want to wipe all screenshots, tap Select in the top-right, then hit Select All in the top-left. Once everything's highlighted, tap the bin icon and confirm. While you may find it hard to let go of some images - 'just in case' you might need them later - remember that some of these screenshots may pose a security risk. Security risk If you're an avid online shopper or digital banking user like me, then your screenshots could pose a security risk for your accounts. Some snaps may expose sensitive information, such as financial details or passwords. Even information that could be used for phishing scams, such as my name, email and postal address, can be in these screenshots. This is yet another reason to let go of those pesky screenshots you never revisit or reopen. Now, here's the part some people miss. When you delete a screenshot - or any image for that matter - it's not fully gone. The image quietly moves to the Recently Deleted album for up to 30 days before it is automatically removed. If you want it gone for good - and you want to free up space immediately - then go into the Recently Deleted album, select the screenshots again, and hit Delete. Caught out Now, I know that you could learn a lot about me from my Screenshots folder - meaning you could probably extract a lot of information about someone else from theirs. This hidden folder, therefore, could be an obscure but easy way to catch out a cheater. Anyone can delete texts or WhatsApp messages - however, there might be a trace of infidelity hidden in their screenshots. Be it from screenshots of someone's recent Instagram photo, or perhaps confirmation of a dinner reservation you weren't privy to. Four red flags your partner is cheating Private Investigator Aaron Bond from BondRees revealed four warning signs your partner might be cheating. They start to take their phone everywhere with them In close relationships, it's normal to know each other's passwords and use each other's phones, if their phone habits change then they may be hiding something. Aaron says: "If your partner starts changing their passwords, starts taking their phone everywhere with them, even around the house or they become defensive when you ask to use their phone it could be a sign of them not being faithful." "You should also look at how they place their phone down when not in use. If they face the phone with the screen facing down, then they could be hiding something." They start telling you less about their day When partners cheat they can start to avoid you, this could be down to them feeling guilty or because it makes it easier for them to lie to you. "If you feel like your partner has suddenly begun to avoid you and they don't want to do things with you any more or they stop telling you about their day then this is another red flag." "Partners often avoid their spouses or tell them less about their day because cheating can be tough, remembering all of your lies is impossible and it's an easy way to get caught out," says Aaron. Their libido changes Your partner's libido can change for a range of reasons so it may not be a sure sign of cheating but it can be a red flag according to Aaron. Aaron says: "Cheaters often have less sex at home because they are cheating, but on occasions, they may also have more sex at home, this is because they feel guilty and use this increase in sex to hide their cheating. You may also find that your partner will start to introduce new things into your sex life that weren't there before." They become negative towards you Cheaters know that cheating is wrong and to them, it will feel good, this can cause tension and anxiety within themselves which they will need to justify. "To get rid of the tension they feel inside they will try to convince themselves that you are the problem and they will become critical of you out of nowhere. Maybe you haven't walked the dog that day, put the dishes away or read a book to your children before bedtime. A small problem like this can now feel like a big deal and if you experience this your partner could be cheating," warns Aaron.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
40-year-old Telegram boss wan leave im wealth to ova 100 children wey e born
Di founder of instant messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, tok say di more dan 100 children e born go share im estimated $13.9bn (£10.3bn) fortune. "All of dem na my children and dem go all get di same rights! I no wan make dem begin fight each oda afta my death," Oga Durov tell French political magazine Le Point. Oga Durov tok say im be di "official father" of six children wit three different partners, but im get more dan 100 oda children afta e donate sperm to one fertility clinic. E also repeat am again say im no get hand for di serious criminal charges e dey face for France. Di self-exiled Russian technology tycoon also tell di magazine say im children no go get access to dia inheritance for 30 years. "I want make dem live like normal pipo, make dem build demsefs up alone, learn to trust demsefs, to fit create, make dem no dey dependent on a bank account," e tok. Di 40-year-old tok say im don write will already becos im job "involve risks – defending freedoms go earn you many enemies, including within powerful states". Im app, Telegram, dey known for im focus on privacy and encrypted messaging, e get more dan one billion monthly active users. Oga Durov also address di criminal charges e dey face for France, wia dem arrest am last year afta dem accuse am of failing to properly moderate di app to reduce criminality. E deny di accuse say im no gree cooperate wit law enforcement ova drug trafficking, child sexual abuse content and fraud. Bifor now, Telegram bin deny say dem get insufficient moderation. For di Le Point interview e describe di charges as "totally absurd". "Just becos criminals use our messaging service among many odas no make dose wey dey run am criminals," e add.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Telegram boss to leave fortune to over 100 children he has fathered
The founder of instant messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, says the more than 100 children he has fathered will share his estimated $13.9bn (£10.3bn) fortune. "They are all my children and will all have the same rights! I don't want them to tear each other apart after my death," Mr Durov told French political magazine Le Point. Mr Durov claimed he is the "official father" of six children with three different partners, but the clinic "where I started donating sperm fifteen years ago to help a friend, told me that more than 100 babies had been conceived this way in 12 countries." He also reiterated that he denies any wrongdoing in connection with serious criminal charges he faces in France. The self-exiled Russian technology tycoon also told the magazine that his children would not have access to their inheritance for 30 years. "I want them to live like normal people, to build themselves up alone, to learn to trust themselves, to be able to create, not to be dependent on a bank account," he said. The 40-year-old said he had written a will now because his job "involves risks – defending freedoms earns you many enemies, including within powerful states". His app, Telegram, known for its focus on privacy and encrypted messaging, has more than a billion monthly active users. Mr Durov also addressed criminal charges he faces in France, where he was arrested last year after being accused of failing to properly moderate the app to reduce criminality. He has denied failing to cooperate with law enforcement over drug trafficking, child sexual abuse content and fraud. Telegram has previously denied having insufficient moderation. In the Le Point interview he described the charges as "totally absurd". "Just because criminals use our messaging service among many others doesn't make those who run it criminals," he added. Get our flagship newsletter with all the headlines you need to start the day. Sign up here.
The Verge
4 hours ago
- Business
- The Verge
ads will be globally introduced to WhatsApp's updates tab
Europeans can enjoy ad-free WhatsApp for a while. While Meta said 'slowly over the next several months,' the company has now clarified to Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DCP) that they won't arrive in the European Union market until 2026. That gives EU privacy regulators time to discuss data-sharing concerns about the ad model.
