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It was supposed to be a sleepy year for the video game industry. Then came surprise hits like Balatro, Animal Well and Astro Bot.

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MacworldThinking of buying a Mac or MacBook for school, college or university? Here, in our best Mac for students guide, we take a look at Apples current line-up to evaluate which Mac is best for students. Well compare the MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro for college and examine whether a desktop Mac might actually be a better choice.Choosing the best Mac for college or university depends on what you are going to be studying as well as how much you have to spend. Luckily registered students can save money on a new Mac by shopping at Apples Education Store, or with one of Apples partners. We discuss How to get an Apple student discount at Apples Education Store separately, although we also talk about the different ways you can save money as a student below. You can save hundreds on a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio and even a Mac Pro at Apples Education Store all year round. Click on the following links for the Education stores in the countries where most of our readers reside:Apples U.S. Education Store Apples U.K. Education Store (in the UK you will need to verify your student status via UNiDAYS).Apples Canada Education StoreApples Australian Education StoreWhile students can get money off all year round, in the summer months Apple gives away either vouchers or AirPods with purchases of Macs or iPads made by those in higher education. The Back to School deal (called Back to Uni in the U.K. and elsewhere so as not to suggest it is for school age children) runs from June to end of September in the U.S., July to mid October in the U.K. and Europe, and January to March in Australia and New Zealand. If youre a student, you can also getApple Music for half pricewithfree Apple TV+included.Buy a Mac or iPad for university during the summer months and take advantage of Apples Higher Education deal. AppleWell run through exactly how much money you can save on a new Mac if you are a student below, then we will assess which Mac to choose based on your needs as a student and the course you are taking. Our advise is to shop around for deals that may be better than the student discount: you may be able to get even more money off your Mac purchase if you go straight to a reseller. Read on to find the best deals for each Mac.If youre doing a degree in film and video, or music, or graphic design then it might make sense to also look at one of our other Best Mac For guides for that subject area:Best Mac for graphic designBest Mac for making musicBest Mac for video editingBest Mac for programmingBest Mac for photo editingBest Mac for gaming (in case you have any free time)We also have a guide to help you get the best MacBook deals for students. We also offer advice about how much storage, RAM and cores in How much MacBook do you really need?How much can students save on a Mac? Before we begin lets look at what is available and how much you can save with the education discount.Students can typically save $100 to $200 in the U.S., in the U.K. the savings are from 100 to 200, Australian students can save between $150 and $330 and Canadian students can typically save from $130 to $270. Savings are even bigger on high-end products like the Mac Pro, although we arent sure that many students need one of those. ProductU.S.U.K.AustraliaCanada13.6-inch MacBook Air, M2, MSRP$999999$1,599$1,29913.6-inch MacBook Air, M2, Student discount$899899$1,439$1,16913.6-inch MacBook Air, M3, MSRP$1,0991,099$1,799$1,44913.6-inch MacBook Air, M3, Student discount$999999$1,649$1,29915-inch MacBook Air, M3, MSRP$1,2991,299$2,199$1,74915-inch MacBook Air, M3, Student discount$1,1991,199$1,999$1,59914-inch MacBook Pro M4 MSRP$1,5991,599$2,499$2,09914-inch MacBook Pro M4 Student discount$1,4991,499$2,349$1,96914-inch MacBook Pro, M4 Pro MSRP$1,9991,999$3,299$2,69914-inch MacBook Pro, M4 Pro Student discount$1,8491,849$3,069$2,50916-inch MacBook Pro, M4 Pro MSRP$2,4992,499$3,999$3,29916-inch MacBook Pro, M4 Pro Student discount$2,2992,299$3,699$3,049iMac M4 MSRP$1,2991,299$1,999$1,699iMac M4 Student discount$1,2491,249$1,919$1,629Mac mini M4 MSRP$599599$999$799Mac mini M4 Student discount$499499$849$669Mac Studio M2 Max MSRP$1,9992,099$3,299$2,699Mac Studio M2 Max Student discount$1,7991,889$2,969$2,429Mac Pro M2 Max MSRP$6,9997,199$11,999$8,999Mac Pro M2 Max Student discount$6,5996,789$11,309$8,479Apples discounted price for students compared to the usual price.MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro for college/university?This is likely the question you are hoping to get an answer to: should I buy a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro for college? We compare the MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro in detail separately. Below well evaluate the different MacBooks from the perspective of a typical student in the order that we recommend them for students. 1. MacBook Air, 13-inch, M3, 2024 You might assume that the MacBook Air is low-powered in comparison to the MacBook Pro, but until September 2024 the 13-inch MacBook Air offered the same M3 chip as the 13-inch MacBook Pro. That changed in with the introduction of the M4 MacBook Pro in October 2024, but it is unlikely to be long until Apple updates the MacBook Air with the same chip. If you dont want to wait for the M4 MacBook Air, this is still a good choice, especially because Apple increased the amount on RAM (unified memory) included from 8GB to 16GB in October 2024 without changing the price. If youre looking for a MacBook that doesnt break the bank and offers the ultimate in portability and great battery life, then the MacBook Air is the perfect fit. The model we are recommending here is not the cheapest MacBook Air, but it offers the best value for money and the price difference between this and the older M2 model is so small that it is one of those cases where spending a little more gets you a lot more.This MacBook Air offers 18 hours of battery life, according to Apple. This is less than the 13-inch MacBook Pros 20 hours, but its sure to be enough to get you through a day and an all-nighter at university.There are no USB-A ports on the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, just two USB-C, a headphone jack, and a MagSafe port so you can charge your laptop and still have two USB ports free. You may feel that you need more storage than the entry-level model offers, in which case, the 512GB model costs $200/200 more. Previously there were additional benefits to choosing the 512GB version because Apples smaller SSDs werent as fast as the larger ones, but for the M3 MacBook Air Apple seems to have addressed this issue. Rather than fork out for extra storage built-in you may find external storage, or even iCloud storage, works out cheaper. (If you have a big Music library, for example, pay for iTunes Match so you can keep your music in the cloud. If you have a big photo library turn on iCloud Photos and get additional iCloud storage).How much can students save on the 13-inch MacBook Air, M3? MSRP: $1,099 / 1,099 / AU$1,799 / CA$1,449Student: $999 / 999 / AU$1,649 / CA$1,299Students save: $100 / 100 / AU$150 / CA$150Youll see the best prices right now in the block above, which may be even better than Apples education pricing. 2. MacBook Air, 15-inch, M3, 2024There is only one reason not to buy the 13-inch MacBook Air with M3: the 15-inch MacBook Air with M3 although as of the end of 2024 wed add the fact that Apple is likely to update the MacBook Air with the M4 chip early in 2025. The 15-inch MacBook Air costs $200 more than the entry-level 13-inch M3 model, but it offers a better M3 chip as standard with a 10-core GPU, rather than an 8-core GPU. And theres also a bigger screen.Another benefit relates to the speakers, which are better than the smaller MacBook Airs. Here you get a six-speaker sound system with force-canceling woofers rather than the four-speaker sound system of the 13-inch M3 (and M2).The 15-inch MacBook Air weighs a little more and will take up more space in your bag, but if you want a bigger screen then thats a fair price to pay. Battery life is the same 18-hours as the other 13-inch MacBook Air models. How much can students save on the 15-inch MacBook Air, M3? MSRP: $1,299 / 1,299 / AU$2,199 / CA$1,749Student: $1,199 / 1,199 / AU$1,999 / CA$1,599Students save: $100 / 110 / AU$200 / CA$150Youll see the best prices right now in the block above, which may be even better than Apples education pricing. 3. Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro, M4, 2024Best Prices Today: 1779 at Computeruniverse1799 at notebooksbilliger.de1899 at AlternateThe 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 is quite a leap up from the MacBook Air in terms of price, so you may be wondering why anyone would want to pay more for the MacBook Pro.There is a reason to buy the MacBook Pro rather than the MacBook Air though and thats basically if the MacBook Air wont be powerful enough for your needs. The thing about the MacBook Air is that it lacks a fan, which means that if you really push it then the Mac might slow down to avoid overheating. For this reason, if you want to use your Mac for heavy processing then you might be better off with a MacBook Pro. In this case, if you have the budget, you might actually want to consider the M4 Pro option (discussed next).One other benefit of the MacBook Pro is the wider selection of ports than on the MacBook Air, including HDMI and an SDXC card reader. But if you arent doing anything too demanding then the MacBook Air is going to be more than powerful enough for your needs and wed suggest that you save the money youd be spending on the MacBook Pro and buy an external display to plug into when you are back in your dorm room, or something equally as useful (like food). How much can students save on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, M4? MSRP: $1,599 / 1,599 / AU$2,499 / CA$2,099Student: $1,499 / 1,499 / AU$2,349 / CA$1,969Students save: $100 / 100 / AU$150 / CA$130Read our full Macbook Pro 14 M4 (2024, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB, Silber) review 4. MacBook Pro, 14-inch, M4 Pro, 2024Best Prices Today: 0.01 at idealo2049 at notebooksbilliger.de2249 at ComputeruniverseIt is unlikely that students need the power of the M4 Pro in the 14-inch MacBook Pro (or 16-inch MacBook Pro for that matter) and the price is likely to be prohibitive anyway. But we do see some good MacBook Pro deals, so if you can get a bargain then these more powerful MacBook Pro models are worth considering.If you need a more powerful Mac because your course calls for it, or perhaps because you are a gamer looking for a machine that can meet those demands, then you can save a bit of money by choosing the 14-inch MacBook Pro over the 16-inch model. Both models offer the same specs, so you arent forfeiting any high-power options. Read: 14-inch vs 16-inch MacBook Pro.How much can students save on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, M4 Pro? MSRP: $1,999 / 1,999 / AU$3,299 / CA$2,699Student: $1,849 / 1,849 / AU$3,069 / CA$2,509Students save: $150 / 150 / AU$230 / CA$1905. MacBook Air, 13-inch, M2, 2022Price When Reviewed:1.199 EuroBest Prices Today: 1.347,00 at notebooksbilliger1.375,44 at tease-ShopStudents looking to spend as little money as possible may well be considering the M2 MacBook Air, which is just $899/899 for students. Thats $100/100 less than the student price of the newer M3 MacBook Air. Even better, Apple upped the RAM (unified memory) from 8GB to 16GB as standard in October 2024 without increasing the price, so this is still a good Mac to buy if you are on a budget. Thats not a huge saving though, so we suggest you shop around a bit before you buy: you may find a discount on the M3 13-inch MacBook Air that beats Apples Student discount on the older model. Just make sure that you note whether there is 8GB or 16GB RAM inside when deciding whether a deal is good enough. If you can spare the extra money, we recommend spending the extra $100/100 because the M3 MacBook Air is the better purchase thanks to the newer M3 chip and faster storage. Our advice is to avoid the 256GB M2 MacBook Air because the storage is known to be slower. Wed recommend upgrading to the 512GB model, but by that point, you might as well spend the money on the M3 MacBook Air which isnt hampered by the same storage issue. But, if you cant spare the extra money the M2 MacBook Air will be more than adequate for a student, especially those predominantly writing essays and conducting research. This model came with a bigger and brighter screen, and better FaceTime cameras than its predecessor, and still has a lot of benefits compared to the MacBook Pro. The M2 MacBook Air offers 18 hours of battery life, just like the M3 model. That is less than the 13-inch MacBook Pros 20 hours, but it is enough to get you through a day and an all-nighter at university. It offers the same ports as the M3 MacBook Air: two USB-C, a headphone jack, and a MagSafe port for charging.How much can students save on the 13-inch MacBook Air, M2? MSRP: $999 / 999 / AU$1,599 / CA$1,299Student: $899 / 899 /AU$1,439 / CA$1,169Students save: $100 / 100 / AU$160 / CA$130MacBook vs Mac desktop for students?Student life normally involves a fair amount of mobility traveling to lectures, libraries, the occasional coffee shop, and then possibly home for weekends and term breaksso it makes sense to consider a laptop rather than a desktop Mac.While the screen sizes in MacBooks are smaller than iMacs, you can always buy a cheap screen and use that with your laptop when you are home. Or, if you also have an iPad, you might be able to link your iPad to your MacBook and use the iPad screen too (heres how to use your iPad as a second screen for your Mac). You could also use that iPad for taking notes when you are at lectures (read our guide to the best iPad for students).However, there are some benefits to buying a Mac desktop. Generally, it is the case that you pay more for a Mac laptop, compared to the same specs on a desktop. The Mac mini, for example, is Apples cheapest Mac despite having some pretty impressive specs. However, if you compare the 24-inch iMac with a similarly speced Mac laptop the iMac is considerably more expensive.iMac vs Mac mini vs Mac Studio for studentsWhile we appreciate that there are plenty of benefits associated with choosing a laptop for university, you may be better off with a desktop. 1. Mac mini, M4, 2024Price When Reviewed:699 EuroBest Prices Today: 649 at notebooksbilliger.de689 at Alternate699 at ComputeruniverseThe Mac mini was upgraded in October 2024 when it gained the M4 chip (and the M4 Pro chip option discussed below). It also got a brand new, much smaller, design. It now measures a diminutive 5-inches by 5-inches (12.7cm x 12.7cm). So you can find room for it on your desk, or in your bag when heading home for the holidays. In the U.K. Apple also reduced the price, so its now $599/599 (the price hasnt changed in the U.S.). Depending on where you are based, the cheapest Mac going is now even cheaper! The only real compromise is the lack of monitor and keyboard.If you are on a budget the Mac mini is the way to go. Get an entry-level Mac mini and ask around for an old keyboard, mouse and monitor. How much can students save on the Mac mini, M4? MSRP: $599 / 599 / AU$999 / CA$799Student: $499 / 499 / AU$829 / CA$669Students save: $100 / 110 / AU$170 / CA$1302. Apple Mac mini (M4 Pro)Price When Reviewed:1.649 EuroBest Prices Today: 1527 at notebooksbilliger.de1559 at Alternate1649 at ComputeruniverseThe M4 Pro Mac mini offers all the benefits of the Mac mini discussed above along with the more powerful M4 Pro chip which brings more GPUs and support for more RAM (unified memory).If you need an M4 Pro chip the Mac mini with M4 Pro is a lot cheaper, at $1,299 (student price) than a 14-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,849 for students. Sure, you need to buy a monitor, mouse and keyboard, but you can probably find good deal on those accessories.How much can students save on the Mac mini, M4 Pro? MSRP: $1,999 / 1,999 / AU$3,299 / CA$2,699Student: $1,849 / 1,849 / AU$3,069 / CA$2,509Students save: $150 / 150 / AU$230 / CA$190Read our full Apple Mac mini (M4 Pro) review 3. Mac Studio, M2 Max, 2023Best Prices Today: 0.01 at idealo2099 at Computeruniverse2139 at AlternateThe M2 Max Mac Studio used to be celebrated for its powerful chip, with more GPU cores and support for more RAM, at a much lower price than similarly specced Mac laptops. However, its now a few years on from its introduction and Apple is yet to update it. We anticipate that the M4 Mac Studio will arrive in mid 2025. If you need a powerful Mac, either because your course demands it, or because you want to spend your free time gaming, the Mac Studio is worth consideration, and the student discount is pretty good. Wed wait for the new model to launch though. As with the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models though, wed suggest that you probably dont need this much power and could probably use the money for something more important, like accommodation or food. How much can students save on the Mac Studio? MSRP: $1,999 / 2,099 / AU$3,299 / CA$2,699Student: $1,799 / 1,889 / AU$2,969 / CA$2,429Students save: $200 / 210 / AU$330 / CA$270Read our full Mac Studio M2 review 4. iMac, 24-inch, M4Price When Reviewed:1.749 EuroBest Prices Today: 0.01 at idealo1539 at notebooksbilliger.de1748 at AlternateBack in May 2021 Apple introduced an M1-equipped 24-inch iMac with a brand new design in a choice of seven different colors, it then took until October 2023 before Apple updated the machine, adding an M3 chip and nothing else. Now Apple has update the iMac again, this time with an M4 chip in October 2024. We havent recommended the iMac for students, and we arent fully recommending it now. But the iMac does have a few qualities that might appeal to you.Thanks to its design its certainly a Mac that will make a statement to anyone entering your dorm room. That 24-inch display could also be a great screen for streaming your favorite shows and movies. The iMac is a non-portable Mac though, which might deter many students from purchasing one. You wont be able to take it with you to lecturesor cart it home on a train for the holidaysbut you will be able to work more efficiently thanks to its 24-inch screen.How much can students save on the iMac? MSRP: $1,299 / 1,299 / AU$1,999 / CA$1,699Student discount: $1,249 / 1,249 / AU$1,919 / CA$1,629Students save: $50 / 50 / AU$80 / CA$70Read our full Apple iMac (M4) review Which Mac should you get for university?Our pick of the entire Mac range, if youre a student, is the M3 MacBook Air. It will give you a better screen, better webcam and an attractive new design to show off in lectures. Its light, fast, and with student pricing starting at $999/999 its very good value. However, wed wait until Apple updates it with the M4 chip. You could save by opting for the older M2 MacBook Air, but, if you are looking for the cheapest Mac you can get, the M4 Mac mini is a very good option. Its powerful and with Apples education discount, its just $499/499. You just need a monitor, mouse and keyboard. The only reason to delay buying one is the fact that a Mac mini may be coming soon.How to get a discount on a Mac for university or schoolYou can get a student discount at Apples education stores, but you have to qualify as a student in higher education, be a teacher, someone buying for an education institution, or a home educator. School-age children can only take advantage if the equipment is being purchased by their school or if their parent is home-educating them. If you are a registered student youll be able to get a discount on a new Mac if you shop in Apples various Education Stores (below). You can find out all about it in more detail in our Apple Education Store explainer.Apples U.S. Education Store Apples U.K. Education Store (in the UK you will need to verify your student status via UNiDAYS). Apples Canada Education StoreApples Australian Education StoreGetting a student discount from Apples education store isnt the only way to get a cheaper Mac as a student though. There are various ways to get a bargain:Look out for reseller discounts: Another way to get a bargain is to look out for deals at Apple resellers and Amazon, where we have see Macs with as much as $500 off the price. Take a look at our round ups of the best Mac deals to get the best prices right now:Best MacBook Air deals this monthBest Mac Studio deals available nowBest MacBook Pro deals this monthBest iMac deals this monthBest Mac mini deals this monthBuy a refurbished Mac: Take advantage of Apples refurbished store where the company sells ex-display, returned, and previous-generation Macs at a discount. The benefit of buying refurbished from Apple is that the products are fully checked and come with a one-year warranty. You can also get a refurbished Mac elsewhere with many resellers offering the same service, but beware that not all refurbished Macs are equal. Usually refurbished means that the Mac is guaranteed to be in full working order, but do check with the reseller. Heres a guide to how to buy a refurbished Mac. We also look at why you should buy a refurbished Mac. One thing to note: if you find what you think is a good deal on an older Intel Mac we do not recommend that you buy one. Intel Macs will likely only be supported with security updates for a couple more years, so you may find yourself needing to upgrade before the end of your course. Buy second-hand/used: One advantage of buying refurbished is that it should be guaranteed to work and you should have no problem returning it if there is a problem. These are reasons why we dont recommend buying a secondhand Mac. If you do see a deal on a secondhand or used Mac just be especially cautious. The best Mac bargains are usually on older models, although we do see discounts on current Macs as well. If you see a good discount on an older Mac its important to be aware of what the newer models offers so that you know what you are missing out on and can judge whether the deal is as good as it appears to be. For one thing, older Macs are likely to feature Intel processors rather than Apples M1, M2, M3 or their variants, which could put you at a disadvantage in the future (and will certainly mean your Mac depreciates in value very quickly). Considering an Intel Mac? Our advice is: avoid. See: How long does Apple support Macs for.If you are a student heres how to get Apple Music for half price. Plus students with an Apple Music student subscription also get free access to Apple TV+ for a limited time.

Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) has evolved quickly during the past two years from prompt engineering and instruction fine-tuning to the integration of external knowledge sources aimed at improving the accuracy of chatbot answers.GenAIs latest big step forward has been the arrival of autonomous agents, or AI-enabled applications capable of perceiving their environment, making decisions, and taking actions to achieve specific goals. The key word here is agency, which allows the software to take action on its own. Unlike genAI tools which usually focus on creating content such as text, images, and music agentic AI is designed to emphasize proactive problem-solving and complex task execution.The simplest definition of an AI agent is the combination of a large language model (LLM) and a traditional software application that can act independently to complete a task.In 2025, 25% of companies that use genAI will launch agentic AI pilots or proofs of concept, according to report by professional services firm Deloitte. In 2027, that number will grow to half of all companies. Some agentic AI applicationscould see actual adoption into existing workflows in 2025, especially by the back half of the year, Deloitte said. Agentic AI could increase the productivity of knowledge workers and make workflows of all kinds more efficient. But the autonomous part may take time for wide adoption.Tech companies large and small are rushing out genAI-based agents, including Microsoft, which last month announced its adding automated agents to M365 Copilot. Cisco unveiled agents for customer service in October; that same month, Atlassian unveiled its Rovo genAI assistant and Asana announced AI Studio, a tool that can be used to build agents. In other words, AI agents could soon be as pervasive as other genAI tools in the workplace.Agentic AI operates in two key ways. First, it offers specialized agents capable of autonomously completing tasks across the open web, in mobile apps, or as an operating system. A specific type of agentic AI, called conversational web agents, functions much like chatbots. In this case, the agentic AI engages users through multimodal conversations, extending beyond simple text chats to accompany them as they navigate the open web or use apps, according to Larry Heck, a professor at Georgia Institute of Technologys schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Interactive Computing.Unlike traditional virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant, which operate within restricted ecosystems, conversational web agents empower users to complete tasks freely across the open web and apps, Heck said. I suspect that AI agents will be prevalent in many arenas, but perhaps the most common uses will be through extensions to web search engines and traditional AI Virtual Assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant.Other uses for agentic AIA variety of tech companies, cloud providers, and others are developing their own agentic AI offerings, making strategic acquisitions, and increasingly licensing agentic AI technology from startups and hiring their employees rather than buying the companies outright for the tech. Investors have poured more than $2 billion into agentic AI startups in the past two years, focusing on companies that target the enterprise market, according to Deloitte.AI agents are already showing up in places you might not expect. For example, most self-driving vehicles today use sensors to collect data about their surroundings, which is then processed by AI agentic software to create a map and navigate the vehicle. AI agents play several other critical roles in autonomous vehicle route optimization, traffic management, and real-time decision-making they can even predict when a vehicle needs maintenance.Going forward, AI agents are poised to transform the overall automated driving experience, according to Ritu Jyoti, a group vice president for IDC Research. For example, earlier this year, Nvidia released Agent Driver, an LLM-powered agent for autonomous vehicles that offers more human-like autonomous driving.IDCThese AI agents are also finding their way into a myriad number of industries and uses, from financial services (where they can collect information as part of know-your-client (KYC) applications) to healthcare (where an agentic AI can survey members conversationally and refill prescriptions). The variety of tasks they can tackle can include:Autonomous diagnostic systems (such as Googles DeepMind for retinal scans), which analyze medical images or patient data to suggest diagnoses and treatments.Algorithmic trading bots in financial services that autonomously analyze market data, predict trends, and execute trades with minimal human intervention.AI agents in the insurance industry that collect key details across channels and analyze the data to give status updates; they can also ask pre-enrollment questions and provide electronic authorizations.Supplier communications agents that help customers optimize supply chains and minimize costly disruptions by autonomously tracking supplier performance, and detecting and responding to delays; that frees up procurement teams from time-consuming manual monitoring and firefighting tasks.Sales qualification agents that allow sellers to focus their time on high-priority sales opportunities while the agent researches leads, helps prioritize opportunities, and guides customer outreach with personalized emails and responses, according to IDCs Ryoti.Customer intent and customer knowledge management agents that can make a first impression for customer care teams facing high call volumes, talent shortages and high customer expectations, according to Ryoti.These agents work hand in hand with a customer service representative by learning how to resolve customer issues and autonomously adding knowledge-based articles to scale best practices across the care team, she explained.And for developers, Cognition Labs in March launched Devin AI, a DIY agentic AI tool that autonomously works through tasks that would typically require a small team of software engineers to tackle. The agent can build and deploy apps end-to-end, independently find and fix bugs in codebases, and it can train and fine tune its own AI models.Devin can even learn how to use unfamiliar technologies by performing its own research on them.Notably, AI agents also have the ability to remember past interactions and behaviors. They can store those experiences and even perform self-reflection or evaluation to inform future actions, according to IDC. This memory component allows for continuity and improvement in agent performance over time, the research firm said in a report.Other agentic AI systems (such as AlphaGo, AlphaZero, OpenAIs Dota 2 bot) can be trained using reinforcement learning to autonomously strategize and make decisions in games or simulations to maximize rewards.Agentic AI software developmentEvans Data Corp., a market research firm that specializes in software development, conducted a multinational survey of 434 AI and machine learning developers. When asked what they most likely would create using genAI tools, the top answer was software code, followed by algorithms andLLMs. They also expect genAI to shorten the development lifecycle and make it easier to add machine-learning features.GenAI-assisted coding allows developers to write code faster and often, more accurately using digital tools to create code based on natural language prompts or partialcodeinputs. (Like some email platforms, the tools can also suggest code for auto-completion as its written in real time.)By 2027, 70% of professional developers are expected to be using AI-powered coding tools, up from less than 10% in September 2023,according to Gartner Research. And within three years, 80% of enterprises will have integrated AI-augmented testing tools into their software engineering toolchain a significant increase from approximately 15% early last year, Gartner said.One of the top tools used for genAI-automated software development isGitHub Copilot. Its powered by genAI models developed by GitHub, OpenAI (the creator of ChatGPT), and Microsoft, and is trained on all natural languages that appear in public repositories.GitHut combined multiple AI agents to enable them to work hand-in-hand to solve coding tasks; multi-agent AI systems allow multiple applications to work together on a common purpose. For example, GitHub earlier this year launched Copilot Workspace, a technical preview of its Copilot-native developer. The multi-agent system allows specialized agents to collaborate and communicate, solving complex problems more efficiently than a single agent.WithagenticAIcoding tools likeCopilotWorkspace and code-scanning autofix, developers will be able to more efficiently build software thats more secure, according to a GitHub blog.The technology could also give rise to less positive results. AI agents might, for example, be better at figuring out online customer intent a potential red flag for users who have long been concerned about security and privacy when searching and browsing online; detecting their intent could reveal sensitive information. According to Heck, AI agents could help companies understand a users intent more precisely, making it easier to monetize this data at higher rates.But this increased granularity of knowledge of the users intent can also be more likely to cause security and privacy issues if safeguards are not put in place, he said.And while most agentic AI tools claim to be safe and secure, a lot depends on the information sources they use. Thats because the source of data used by the agents could vary from more limited corporate data to the wide open internet. (The latter has a tendency to affect genAI outputs and can introduce errors and hallucinations.)Setting guardrails around information access, can act like a boss and set limits on agentic AI actions. Thats why user education and training are critical in the secure implementation and use of AI agents and copilots, according to Anderw Silberman, director of marketing at Zenity, a banking software provider. Users need to understand not just how to operate these tools, but also their limitations, potential biases, and security implications, Silbermanwrote in a blog post. Training programs should cover topics such as recognizing and reporting suspicious AI behavior, understanding the appropriate use cases for AI tools, and maintaining data privacy when interacting with AI systems.

When Microsoft announced Recall earlier this year, the move took the tech world by storm and not in a good way.Recall is supposed to help you find almost anything you see on your PC by taking screenshots in the background and turning your everyday Windows usage into a searchable database. Out of the gate, Microsoft made some questionable privacy decisions, and the company was unable to properly explain why we should actually trust Recall to collect and process so much sensitive info.Now, many months later and after a variety of changes, the controversial Windows Recall feature is finally available for testing as long as you have a Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PC and are willing to join the bleeding-edge Windows Insider Dev channel for testing early software. In other words, most average business users cant actually test it yet.But that doesnt mean you have to remain blind to the progress. Ive been using Recall on a Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 for the past few days. And, while I was intrigued by its promise (especially after those privacy changes), its just nowhere near what Microsoft has promised.Want expert insights on the future of Windows? Check out my free Windows Intelligence newsletter three new things to try every Friday. Plus, get a free Windows Field Guide as a special welcome bonus!Why you might want to use Windows RecallOn the surface, Recall sounds like an intriguing enough feature for knowledge workers. Just think: If you have a modern Copilot+ PC, Windows can take screenshots (or snapshots) in the background every five seconds and store them for later. Then, you can use AI to search through them.Imagine being able to ask, What was that document I was looking at a week ago the one with the green-and-red pie chart? or I was researching hotels a month ago show me the one with a balcony overlooking the river. Recall would understand the content of the snapshots, including the images, and use AI to understand and process your precise requests in theory, at least.Depending on who you are and how you use your PC, it seems like either a fascinatingly useful feature or something youd definitely want to avoid. But it definitely doesnt seem boring.And Microsoft designed Recall in a much more private way than you might expect, especially after the latest round of changes. You can read my in-depth Recall privacy FAQ for all the details around how exactly that works. Now, I want to get into the specifics of what the systems actually like to use.Getting to know Microsofts Windows Recall interfaceFirst things first: When youre using a Copilot+ PC where Recall is available, the feature isnt turned on automatically by default. You have to choose to activate it, or it wont do anything. And once Recall is active, its never hiding. Recall shows a status icon in your system tray, and you can use that status icon to see what its doing, access settings, and pause it from saving snapshots.The Recall system tray icon lights up blue whenever the system is active.Chris Hoffman, IDGIn the Recall setting window, you can tell Recall to never capture snapshots of specific applications or websites. (Recall already wont capture snapshots of private browsing windows in modern web browsers like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and other Chromium-based browsers.)The Settings window lets you filter out specific apps and websites so Recall will never capture them.Chris Hoffman, IDGYou can open the full Recall window from that system tray icon or via a taskbar icon or Start menu shortcut. When you do, youll have to authenticate with Windows Hello (using facial recognition, a fingerprint, or a PIN) before you can access any snapshots or associated info.Recall protects your snapshots with encryption, and you have to authenticate to see them.Chris Hoffman, IDGThen, you can see the current snapshots or scroll back through everything youve had on your screen by hand. But the real point of the Recall window is the search box, where you can search a sprawling database of snapshots simply and without any real effort again, in theory.The reality of Microsoft Recall searchIn this first public test release, the basics are all perfectly functional. Lets say, for example, you want to recall what you were reading about a project named Windows Longhorn. You can plug in the word Longhorn, and youll find instances where the word Longhorn appeared on your screen. This could help you find relevant documents, emails, and web pages youd explored. That could conceivably be useful to knowledge workers who are looking for a more powerful search experience.Unfortunately, it doesnt quite work like Microsoft promised. Lets say you want to find pie charts: A Recall search for the term pie chart will generally only find pie charts if the words pie and chart actually appeared on the screen at the same time. In other words, the visual search is not working like youd expect.Recalls text matches work much more reliably than the visual matches.Chris Hoffman, IDGAdditionally, the AI-powered part of the search doesnt seem to be functioning properly at all. I cant reliably perform queries like Find me that document from yesterday with a blue pie chart.Mostly, what Recall seems to be doing is:Capturing the contents of the screen every five seconds or soUsing optical character recognition (OCR) to convert the words on screen to searchable textLetting you search for words in those screenshots and showing you the resultsThats potentially interesting, but its far from what I expected and what Microsoft promised. Recall does provide visual matches in addition to those text matches, but they often dont seem to be particularly relevant or helpful.The power of Recalls Click to Do capabilityBasic search smarts aside, Recall includes a noteworthy option called Click to Do. After you open a snapshot, Click to Do will make the snapshot interactive, letting you copy text and images and perform actions on the image. For example, you can copy selected text, perform a web search for something seen within the snapshot, or send an email to a selected web address from the snapshot.Recall uses optical character recognition (OCR) to extract text from snapshots and make it copyable.Chris Hoffman, IDGRecalls Windows integration problemMore than anything, the core issue with Recall is that the system isnt really part of Windows at any deep level. Its an application that captures screenshots and lets you search through them. It doesnt work closely enough with the applications you actually use.Heres what I mean: Lets say you used Recall to dig up a Word document you were looking at the other day. Now youve found the document, and you want to open it.Well, Recall knows the document was in Microsoft Word, so you can click a button to open Word. But Recall doesnt know what specific file document was involved. Theres no one-click action to open a specific document. You have to look at the title of the document in the Microsoft Word snapshot and hunt it down yourself.This works a bit better with snapshots of web browsers, since the URL of the web page is displayed at the top of the screen in the address bar so Click to Do can extract the web address and let you open it in a single click.But, if the address of the web page is particularly long or your browser window is particularly small, the full address of the web page wont appear visually in the snapshot. And that means you wont be able to open it, since Recall only captures and uses visual details.In other words, Recall functions as a bit of a dirty hack in some ways. Rather than applications providing information to Recall about what documents, pages, or emails you have open, Recall just grabs whatever it can see visually on screen. And that doesnt create an especially compelling real-world experience.Microsofts multi-device challengeTheres another asterisk to consider with Recalls practical effectiveness, and its connected to some of the more positive-seeming changes Microsoft has made to the system.For privacy reasons, Recall snapshots are stored only on your PC. They cant be synced to any other device. Thats beneficial for privacy, sure, but it has some serious consequences for knowledge workers.Specifically, Recall only allows you to search snapshots of things youve seen on your current PC. If you use multiple computers a laptop and a desktop PC, for example youll have to ask yourself, Did I see that thing on my laptop or my desktop? And that confusion only gets more complicated when you factor in devices like phones and tablets.Im not sure this will ever be resolved, as theres such a strong push to keep Recall data on each device and for good privacy reasons. But it will create an awkward challenge for productivity workers looking to use the feature.The future of Windows RecallWhat were seeing now is less of a finish line and more of a first step in a long, ongoing race. As it stands now, Recall isnt for everyone, and Im glad its off by default. Many people, particularly privacy-conscious professionals and those who work at companies with strict policies surrounding data use, wont want to touch it. But many knowledge workers would benefit from a more powerful search tool that helps them dig through all the information theyve seen on their PC, and it would be great if Microsoft could deliver a more powerful experience.As of its initial testing release, Recall delivers the bare minimum and doesnt provide the strong visual analysis and AI-powered search features Microsoft promised. I hope Recall evolves and improves. And it very well might! We cant judge it only based on this early release. (Of course, Recall was supposed to launch on consumer PCs nearly six months ago.)But Im hoping for progress. It would be a shame to go through such a long and controversial news cycle and not get a powerful tool out of it. Right now, it doesnt make sense that Microsoft took so much heat for this feature.This is only the start: Sign up for my free Windows Intelligence newsletter to be the first to see my in-depth impressions. Youll also get three new things to try every Friday and free copies of Paul Thurrotts Windows Field Guides as a special welcome bonus.

An alleged donation theft scheme involving six former Apple employees, tax fraud, and an inside man funneling money away from charities robbed Apple of about $152k over three years.Apple ParkLike many big companies, Apple matches donations made by employees to various organizations. Somehow, a group of employees (now former) allegedly figured out a loophole that would let them keep their money, take the matched donation, and make a claim on their taxes.According to a report from CBS based on a release from The County of Santa Clara, the six people defrauded the State of California and Apple's Matching Gifts Program. The report states that ringleader Siu Kei Kwan directed five employees to make donations to two organizations he had access to. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Netherlands car firm Stellantis may be best known for buying Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Chrysler, but it says it is definitely not buying ex-Apple CFO Luca Maestri.Luca Maestri image credit: AppleStellantis cars waited until its shares rose before denying reports that it has hired ex-Apple CFO Luca Maestri as its new CEO. And that rise in shares is among the best news it's had in a while, as its car sales reportedly fell 14% in 2024 and its profits nearly halved.In comparison, Maestri went out on a high as Apple's Chief Financial Officer in October 2024. He has been replaced there by Kevan Parekh, though reportedly Maestri has just moved down the hall at Apple Park and isn't going anywhere. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

In a break with tradition, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) in its annual Landslide report has chosen to raise awareness about 13 sites with political histories rather than naming endangered landscapes around the U.S.The 13 sites TCLF included in itss Landslide 2024: Demonstration Grounds report are spaces connected to the Civil Rights Movement, struggle for Native American rights, gay rights, Chicano rights, disability rights, urban renewal protests, anti-Vietnam War activism, indigenous sovereignty and self-de...