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How I Bought the Meta Ray-Bans for 20% Off on Black Friday

Emerson Blake
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How I Bought the Meta Ray-Bans for 20% Off on Black Friday

Ray-Ban Smart Glasses: A Game-Changer in Tech Gadgetry

I don’t think anyone — not even Meta — expected last year’s Ray-Ban smart glasses to be as big of a hit as they have been. However, packing a slew of useful features into a widely accepted form factor has made them one of the most successful tech gadgets in recent years. Since reviewing them a year ago, I still wear mine whenever I work, travel, or go out for walks.

A Competitive Offer You Won’t Want to Miss

That’s why I’m spotlighting one of the most competitive offers on the smart glasses yet, with both Meta and major retailers selling the wearable for 20% off, bringing the starting price down to just $239. The best part? Amazon will even bundle a $90 gift card when you checkout with the code ‘WAYFARER90’.

What Makes the Ray-Ban Smart Glasses So Special?

Their core features include a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens for capturing photos and videos, Bluetooth audio playing, and Meta AI for conversing and asking questions. I’ve found the camera capability ideal for when I’m recording footage of me testing and demoing products at briefings, conventions, and trade shows. It’s also handy when driving, and I want a shot of my scenic views.

Updates and Features

Since publishing my review, Meta has rolled out several updates to the glasses that have made them even more worth the investment. These include recording up to three minutes (instead of one minute), remembering things for you thanks to its multimodal AI, and even translating conversations (though it’s limited to Spanish for now). There are more features to come, of course.

A Black Friday Deal You Won’t Want to Miss

Notably, this Black Friday offer applies to every frame and style of the Meta Ray-Bans except for one: the limited-edition release from October. But for just about everything else, you can pick up a pair, including with transition lenses and prescriptions, for 20% off and with a free $90 Amazon gift card, the best deal I’ve seen for the wearables yet. You’ll want to act fast, as the offer will run while supplies last. When in doubt, check listings from major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy if your preferred design is no longer available on the Ray-Ban website.

Conclusion

The Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses are a game-changer in tech gadgetry, and this Black Friday offer is too good to pass up. With a slew of useful features, a competitive price, and a free $90 gift card, it’s the perfect time to invest in a pair.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the offer limited to a specific frame or style?
A: No, the offer applies to every frame and style of the Meta Ray-Bans except for the limited-edition release from October.

Q: Can I use the gift card on anything?
A: Yes, the $90 gift card can be used on any Amazon purchase.

Q: Will the offer run out of stock quickly?
A: Yes, the offer is limited to while supplies last, so act fast to secure your pair.

Q: Can I check the availability of my preferred design at other retailers?
A: Yes, you can check listings from major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy if your preferred design is no longer available on the Ray-Ban website.

Black Friday Savings: Avoid Apple’s High Prices

Phil
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Black Friday Savings: Avoid Apple’s High Prices

Best Apple Accessory Black Friday Deals

Best Apple Accessory Black Friday Deals: US

Apple’s best accessories, the Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard, and AirTag, are reduced in price for Black Friday, meaning you don’t have to pay full price for add-ons that can improve how you use your iPad and keep your tech safe.

The Excellent Apple Magic Keyboard for 11-inch iPad Pro M4 is $299.99 $299 ($49 off) at Amazon. This is an Apple accessory I use all the time with my iPad Pro, and comes highly recommended.

New Apple Pencil Pro is $129 $94.04 ($34.96 off) at Amazon – I don’t own one but I’ve wanted one since launch, and am hovering over ‘buy’ as I write this.

The Apple Accessories and Peripherals Can Really Bring Out the Power of Your iPad, Mac Mini or Other Apple Tech. For example, our writer recently went hands-on with Apple Pencil Pro and discovered what all the fuss is about. For more, read our Apple Black Friday deal tracker and catch-up with Apple’s tablets in our iPad generations guide.

Best Apple Accessory Black Friday Deals: UK

Apple Pencil Black Friday Deals

Apple Pencil remains one of the best stylus around, and is the perfect peripheral to any iPad. This stylus is crucial if you want to use the best drawing apps, such as Procreate. Which is best for you depends on your generation of iPad, read our Apple Pencil generations guide to compare each release.

Apple Magic Keyboard Black Friday Deals

Apple’s Magic Keyboard range is vital for anyone who owns, or is about to buy the new iMac Mini or owns an iPad and want to turn it into a mini-laptop. I personally own a Magic Keyboard for my iPad Pro and could live without it. Read our guide to the best iPad keyboards and iPad Pro keyboards and the best iPad mini keyboards for more details.

Apple AirTag Black Friday Deals

Apple AirTags are come in very useful when tracking luggage that never made it or lost laptop bags and, of course, misplaced keys – it happens all the time. You can even customize Apple AirTags.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these Black Friday deals on Apple accessories are a great opportunity to enhance your Apple device and experience. Whether you’re looking to upgrade your stylus, keyboard, or tracking device, there’s something for everyone.

FAQs

Q: What are the best Apple accessories for Black Friday?
A: The best Apple accessories for Black Friday are the Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard, and AirTag.

Q: What is the best Apple Pencil for Black Friday?
A: The best Apple Pencil for Black Friday is the Apple Pencil Pro, which is $129 $94.04 ($34.96 off) at Amazon.

Q: What is the best Apple Magic Keyboard for Black Friday?
A: The best Apple Magic Keyboard for Black Friday is the Magic Keyboard for 11-inch iPad Pro M4, which is $299.99 $299 ($49 off) at Amazon.

Q: What is the best Apple AirTag for Black Friday?
A: The best Apple AirTag for Black Friday is the Apple AirTag, which is now available for a discounted price.

Sophisticate Your Living Room with Samsung Frame TV

Phil
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Sophisticate Your Living Room with Samsung Frame TV

Big Black Friday Discount on Samsung Frame TV

Our favourite Samsung art TV has a big Black Friday discount, and it’s pretty rare too, as we tend to only see deals like this a handful of times per year during seasonal sales.

50-inch Samsung Frame TV for $849.99

You can get a 50-inch Samsung Frame TV for just $849.99 directly from Samsung right now, which is a $450 saving on the usual $1,299.99 price tag. For context, the exact same Frame TV had a $200 discount during Prime Day earlier this year, so this discount has more than doubled for Black Friday.

Bigger Savings on Larger Models

The best Samsung Frame TV prices tend to fluctuate throughout the year, however, the biggest Black Friday saving right now is on the mammoth 85-inch Frame TV model, which is $1,300 off at Samsung, bringing the price to $2,999.99.

Add-ons and Student Discounts

If you’re looking for some add-ons, you can also get the Samsung Music Frame for $399.99 $199.99 with any Frame TV purchase during Black Friday. Retailers like Best Buy seem to be price-matching Samsung on Frame TV products, so if you’re a Best Buy member then you might be able to save more. However, Samsung offers generous student discounts all year round for those in education, so check if you’re eligible to save any further before you buy this Black Friday.

Other Size Options

Don’t want the 55-inch model? Here is a range of the best prices on the Samsung Frame TV in different sizes.

Conclusion

If you’re in the market for a new TV, now is a great time to take advantage of these Black Friday deals. With savings of up to $1,300 off the usual price, you can get a high-quality Samsung Frame TV at a fraction of the cost.

FAQs

Q: Is this deal available at other retailers?
A: Yes, retailers like Best Buy seem to be price-matching Samsung on Frame TV products, so you may be able to find the same deal at other stores.

Q: Do I need to be a student to get the student discount?
A: No, Samsung offers student discounts to anyone in education, not just students. You’ll just need to verify your student status to receive the discount.

Q: Can I get a refund if I return my TV?
A: Yes, Samsung offers a standard return policy, so if you’re not satisfied with your TV, you can return it for a full refund within a certain timeframe.

Parallelize Large Sequence Models with Amazon SageMaker

Jordan Waverly
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Parallelize Large Sequence Models with Amazon SageMaker

Large Language Models (LLMs) and Model Parallelism

Large language models (LLMs) have witnessed an unprecedented surge in popularity, with customers increasingly using publicly available models such as Llama, Stable Diffusion, and Mistral. Across diverse industries, including healthcare, finance, and marketing, organizations are now engaged in pre-training and fine-tuning these increasingly larger LLMs, which often boast billions of parameters and larger input sequence length. Although these advancements offer remarkable capabilities, they also present significant challenges. Longer sequence lengths and the sheer number of trainable parameters demand innovative approaches to model development and deployment.

Business Challenge

Businesses today face a significant challenge when training LLMs efficiently and cost-effectively. As models grow larger and more complex, organizations are using fine-tuning and continuous pre-training strategies to train these models with domain-specific data, using larger sequence lengths that can range from 8K to 128K tokens. These longer sequence lengths allow models to better understand long-range dependencies in text, generate more globally coherent outputs, and handle tasks requiring analysis of lengthy documents.

How does SMP Context Parallelism and FP8 Help Accelerate Model Training?

SMP addresses the challenges of memory pressure by providing an implementation of context parallelism, which is a parallelization technique that partitions on the dimension of sequence length. Furthermore, it can work together with other parallelism techniques such as FSDP and TP. SMP also implements FP8 for supported models such as Llama. FP8 is a reduced-precision floating-point format that boosts efficiency by enabling faster matrix multiplications without significant accuracy loss. You can use these techniques together to train complex models that are orders of magnitude faster and rapidly iterate and deploy innovative AI solutions that drive business value.

Context Parallelism

Context parallelism is a model parallelism technique that allows the model to train with long sequences. It’s a parallelization scheme that partitions a model’s activations along the sequence dimension. During training with SMP context parallel strategy, the inputs are partitioned along the sequence dimension before being fed to the model. With activations being partitioned along the sequence dimension, we need to consider how our model’s computations are affected. For layers that don’t have inter-token dependency during computation, we don’t require special considerations. In a transformer architecture, such layers are the embedding layers and the multilayer perceptron (MLP) layers. The layers that have inter-token dependency are the attention layers. For the attention layer, as we see from the attention computation, Query projections (Q) need to interact with the tokens of key (K) and value (V) projections.

Supported Models

SMP supports context parallelism using NVIDIA Transformer Engine, and it seamlessly integrates with other model parallelism techniques Fully Sharded Data Parallel and Tensor Parallelism. SMP v2.6 supports the Llama 3.1 (and prior Llama models) and Mistral model architectures for context parallelism.

Mixed Precision Training with FP8

FP8 is a datatype supported by NVIDIA’s H100 and H200 GPUs, enables efficient deep learning workloads. The FP8 format occupies only 8 bits of memory, half that of its BF16 or FP16 counterparts, significantly reducing computational costs.

Conclusion

In this post, we demonstrated the process of setting up and running training jobs for the PubMed dataset using the Llama 3.1 8B Instruct model, both with and without context parallelism. We also showcased how to enable FP8-based training for even faster throughputs.

Key Takeaways

  • For datasets that have long sequence lengths, we observe that using context parallelism helps avoid OOM errors.
  • For faster training, we can enable FP8-based training and combine it with context parallelism to get increased throughput times. In this notebook, we observed that the throughput goes up tenfold if we enable FP8 with context parallelism.

Cleanup

To clean up your resources to avoid incurring more charges, follow these steps:

  1. Delete any unused SageMaker Studio resources.
  2. Optionally, delete the SageMaker Studio domain.
  3. Delete any S3 buckets created
  4. Verify that your training job isn’t running anymore! To do so, on your SageMaker console, choose Training and check Training jobs.

FAQs

Q: What is context parallelism?
A: Context parallelism is a model parallelism technique that partitions a model’s activations along the sequence dimension.

Q: What is FP8?
A: FP8 is a reduced-precision floating-point format that boosts efficiency by enabling faster matrix multiplications without significant accuracy loss.

Q: How does SMP support context parallelism?
A: SMP supports context parallelism using NVIDIA Transformer Engine, and it seamlessly integrates with other model parallelism techniques Fully Sharded Data Parallel and Tensor Parallelism.

Q: What are the benefits of using FP8 in model training?
A: FP8 enables faster matrix multiplications, reducing computational costs and increasing throughput.

$0.01 iPhone 16 Pro Black Friday Deal Too Good to Be True

Phil
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Black Friday Deal Alert: Is the iPhone 16 Pro Max Really Worth $0.01?

It’s becoming a Black Friday tradition. Every year we see the latest and greatest iPhone reduced to just $0.01 in what looks like a phenomenal deal. At this very moment you can indeed purchase the iPhone 16 Pro Max for just $0.01 at Amazon. But when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

The Fine Print

Tech journalists across the world are once again waxing lyrical about the deal, with many neglecting to mention that not only does it tie the buyer to a contract of monthly payments, but said contract lasts 36 (thirty-six!) months. Which, by my own Sherlockian calculations, is three whole years. So, while the deal might suit some in specific circumstances, it probably isn’t a great option for everyone.

The Cost of Convenience

Now, let’s crunch some numbers shall we? 36 months is a long time for a phone contract, with most over here in the UK lasting between 12 and 24 months. With this deal, the 256GB model has a monthly cost of $67.78, while the 512GB model bumps that up to $73.33. At 36 months, that means you’re paying between $2,440 and $2,639 in total. The 256GB iPhone 16 Pro Max costs $1119, so you’re looking at an extra $1320 at least.

Data Caps and Speeds

And it gets worse. Use more than 30GB in the ‘unlimited’ data plan, and speeds could be throttled. And this is coming from a network that, as our reviews editor Erlingur helpfully points out, enjoys a Trustpilot rating of 1.3.

Conclusion

Of course, there are some for whom this deal might be useful – if you have deep pockets but fancy reducing the up-front cost, sure, knock yourself out. But if you’re looking for a genuinely good deal in cash terms, I’d recommend checking out one of the less splashy deals below. These might cost more than a cent, but you’ll probably thank yourself in 36 months’ time.

FAQs

Q: Is this deal really worth it?
A: Not necessarily. While the initial cost may seem low, the contract duration and data caps may make it less appealing.

Q: What are the benefits of this deal?
A: The deal offers a reduced up-front cost, but the contract duration and data caps may make it less beneficial in the long run.

Q: Are there better deals available?
A: Yes, there may be other deals available that offer better value for money. It’s recommended to compare prices and terms before making a purchase.

Q: Can I cancel the contract if I’m not satisfied?
A: Check the contract terms and conditions to see if there are any penalties for early termination.

Alibaba Marco-o1: Advancing LLM Reasoning Capabilities

Taylor Marlowe
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Alibaba Marco-o1: Advancing LLM Reasoning Capabilities

Alibaba’s Marco-o1: A Large Language Model for Complex Problem-Solving

Alibaba has announced Marco-o1, a large language model (LLM) designed to tackle both conventional and open-ended problem-solving tasks. This innovative model represents a significant step forward in the ability of AI to handle complex reasoning challenges, particularly in areas such as maths, physics, and coding where clear standards may be absent.

Key Advantages

Marco-o1 builds upon OpenAI’s reasoning advancements with its o1 model, incorporating several advanced techniques, including Chain-of-Thought (CoT) fine-tuning, Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS), and novel reflection mechanisms. These components work in concert to enhance the model’s problem-solving capabilities across various domains.

Training and Performance

The development team has implemented a comprehensive fine-tuning strategy using multiple datasets, including a filtered version of the Open-O1 CoT Dataset, a synthetic Marco-o1 CoT Dataset, and a specialized Marco Instruction Dataset. The training corpus comprises over 60,000 carefully curated samples.

The model has demonstrated impressive results in multilingual applications, achieving notable accuracy improvements of 6.17% on the English MGSM dataset and 5.60% on its Chinese counterpart. The model has shown particular strength in translation tasks, especially when handling colloquial expressions and cultural nuances.

Innovative Features

One of the model’s most innovative features is its implementation of varying action granularities within the MCTS framework. This approach allows the model to explore reasoning paths at different levels of detail, from broad steps to more precise "mini-steps" of 32 or 64 tokens. The team has also introduced a reflection mechanism that prompts the model to self-evaluate and reconsider its reasoning, leading to improved accuracy in complex problem-solving scenarios.

Future Development and Availability

The development team has been transparent about the model’s current limitations, acknowledging that while Marco-o1 exhibits strong reasoning characteristics, it still falls short of a fully realized "o1" model. They emphasize that this release represents an ongoing commitment to improvement rather than a finished product.

Looking ahead, the Alibaba team plans to incorporate reward models, including Outcome Reward Modeling (ORM) and Process Reward Modeling (PRM), to enhance the decision-making capabilities of Marco-o1. They are also exploring reinforcement learning techniques to further refine the model’s problem-solving abilities.

Conclusion

Marco-o1, a large language model designed by Alibaba’s MarcoPolo team, represents a significant advancement in the field of artificial intelligence. With its ability to tackle complex problem-solving tasks, Marco-o1 has the potential to revolutionize various industries, from education to healthcare. As the model continues to evolve, it will be exciting to see its applications and limitations.

FAQs

Q: What is Marco-o1?
A: Marco-o1 is a large language model designed to tackle both conventional and open-ended problem-solving tasks.

Q: What are the key features of Marco-o1?
A: Marco-o1 incorporates advanced techniques, including Chain-of-Thought (CoT) fine-tuning, Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS), and novel reflection mechanisms.

Q: What are the potential applications of Marco-o1?
A: Marco-o1 has the potential to revolutionize various industries, from education to healthcare, with its ability to tackle complex problem-solving tasks.

Q: What are the limitations of Marco-o1?
A: While Marco-o1 exhibits strong reasoning characteristics, it still falls short of a fully realized "o1" model. The development team acknowledges its limitations and plans to continue improving the model.

The 40+ Best Black Friday 2024 Deals for Robot Vacuum: Sales Are Live Now

Emerson Blake
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The 40+ Best Black Friday 2024 Deals for Robot Vacuum: Sales Are Live Now

As a robot vacuum reviewer and dog owner, I’m always looking for great deals on how to keep my home clean for as little effort as possible. Luckily, I’ve found some of the best robot vacuum and cordless vacuum discounts for Black Friday.

Our favorite robot vacuum deals for Black Friday 2024

  • iRobot Roomba s9+ and Braava Jet m6 bundle: $420 (save $1,029 at Best Buy): This is, by far, the best deal you can get on a robot vacuum and mop bundle, as it went on clearance just in time for Black Friday.
  • Narwal Freo X Ultra robot vacuum and mop: $800 (save $300 at Best Buy): The highly rated Narwal Freo X Ultra is a top-performing robot vacuum and mop with 8,200Pa of suction power.
  • iRobot Roomba j7+ robot vacuum: $359 (save $341 at Amazon): This discount on a self-emptying Roomba powered by RobotOS is a deal you can’t miss. You can also get the Roomba Combo j7+ variation, with a fully retractable mop pad, at 36% off for $699.
  • Roborock Q8 Max+ robot vacuum and mop: $420 (save $400 at Amazon): In addition to a Q8 robot vacuum and mop, the Max model includes a self-emptying dock that you don’t have to worry about for up to seven weeks.
  • Dreame X40 Ultra robot vacuum and mop: $1,000 (save $900 at Amazon): This is my favorite robot vacuum and mop combination that I’ve tested, with excellent obstacle avoidance and strong suction.
  • Dreame X30 Ultra robot vacuum and mop: $850 (save $550 at Amazon): This is the lowest price on the Dreame X30 Ultra, which was ZDNET’s top pick for the best 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop, dethroned only by its successor, the X40 Ultra.
  • Yeedi M12 Pro+ robot vacuum and mop: $550 (save $449 at Amazon): Have you ever heard the phrase “high-end features for a mid-range price?” This hands-free robot vacuum and mop does all the work for you, with flagship features like an extending mop pad to reach corners and under cabinets and 11,000Pa of suction.
  • Airrobo T20+ robot vacuum and mop: $199 (save $301 at Amazon): This is the lowest price we’ve ever seen on this Airrobo self-emptying robot vacuum and mop.
  • Ecovacs Deebot X2 Combo complete robot vacuum and mop: $1,414 (save $286 at Amazon): I rely on the Deebot X2 Combo Complete robot vacuum and mop, especially because of its side-mounted cordless vacuum that empties automatically.
  • Roborock S8 Pro Ultra robot vacuum and mop: $900 (save $700 at Amazon): The all-in-one S8 Pro Ultra features 6,000Pa of suction power, a self-emptying dustbin, and self-washing mop pads.

Best Black Friday iRobot robot vacuum deals

Best Black Friday Roborock robot vacuum deals

Best Black Friday Shark robot vacuum deals

Best Black Friday Eufy robot vacuum deals

Best Black Friday cordless vacuum deals

  • Dyson V7 Advanced stick vacuum: $250 (save $150 at Amazon): For 38% off, get up to 30 minutes of runtime and Dyson-level suction power this Black Friday.
  • Tineco Pure One Station cordless vacuum: $299 (save $160 at Amazon): This is the most powerful stick vacuum I’ve ever tested; the self-emptying dock takes it to the next level, so it quickly became my go-to.
  • Narwal S20+ vacuum/mop: $400 (save $100 at Best Buy): This wet/dry vacuum and mop uses advanced AI-powered sensors to detect dirt and boost performance.
  • Eureka RapidClean Pro stick vacuum: $105 (save $45 at Amazon): This cordless vacuum comes with two attachments to clean everything from floors to upholstery and narrow crevices.
  • Levoit LVAC-200 stick vacuum: $150 (save $50 at Amazon): Get a lightweight cordless vacuum for only $150 through Black Friday.
  • Bissell CleanView XR 200W stick vacuum: $114 (save $85 at Amazon): This is a huge discount on a stick vacuum with a removable battery and XL dustbin.
  • Shark Pet stick vacuum: $150 (save $110 at Amazon): The unbeatable 43% discount on a Shark cordless vacuum gets you powerful suction and up to 40 minutes of runtime.
  • Eureka Stylus Elite stick vacuum: $194 (save $86 at Amazon): In addition to an $86 discount, you can take an extra $20 off to get a powerful cordless vacuum and self-emptying station.
  • Dyson V8 Plus stick vacuum: $300 (save $170 at Amazon): You can’t go wrong with a Dyson cordless vacuum, especially at 36% off.
  • Roborock Flexi Lite wet/dry vacuum and mop: $180 (save $220 at Amazon): This outstanding wet/dry vacuum and mop lets you tackle wet and dry messes in one fell swoop.

FAQs

When is Black Friday?

Black Friday is a big shopping event that occurs each year on the day after Thanksgiving. This year, it falls on Nov. 29.

When is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday happens on the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday. This year, Cyber Monday falls on Dec. 2.

Are robot vacuum deals really better on Black Friday?

Robot vacuums are cheaper during big shopping events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon Prime Day. The fact that Black Friday is one of the last major shopping events of the year results in some retailers giving big discounts on the current product stock in preparation for new devices launching in the new year.

What’s the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Though there are many online deals, Black Friday has been historically a mostly in-person shopping event where people visit a brick-and-mortar store. With most big box stores featuring an online store, Black Friday online shopping has become as common as Amazon Prime Day shopping. Cyber Monday began and remains an online shopping event for online stores to capitalize on customers who may have missed a Black Friday deal and can shop from home or work on Monday.

How did we choose these Black Friday deals?

As a robot vacuum tester at ZDNET, I’ve become familiar with these devices’ unique features and tested different models in every price range. This experience has made me realize that the robot vacuum market is saturated with competition. It also helps me discern which robot vacuums are worth their retail price and when a discount is a good deal.

Where can you shop the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals?

While retailers hold store-specific shopping events throughout the year, like Amazon with Prime Day, you can expect Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals to appear everywhere. This includes your local businesses and big box stores. Black Friday is a huge shopping event, both in-person and online, with stores like Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon, Target, Costco, and more offering eye-popping discounts on different products.

What are the best Black Friday 2024 deals?

ZDNET’s experts have searched through Black Friday sales live for the best discounts by category. These are the best Black Friday deals so far by category:

And more Black Friday deals:

Favourite Monitor with $200 Off

Phil
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Favourite Monitor with 0 Off

The Importance of a Good Monitor for Creative Industries

Anyone who works in the creative industries will know the importance of a good monitor. Especially for those working in design, photography, programming, and video editing, a great monitor can be the difference between seeing your work as you want it to be, and seeing it as it really is.

The Best Monitor for Graphic Designers

Our overall favourite monitor for graphic designers is the 32-inch BenQ PD3220U. This monitor is currently $200 down from $999 to $799 over at Amazon.

What Makes the BenQ PD3220U Special

This is a special monitor, and I should know – I own it! It’s my main monitor at my work office, and I love its out-of-the-box colour accuracy and coverage, its two Thunderbolt 3 ports, its great sRGB coverage, and Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 colour gamuts. It’s our top pick of the best monitors for graphic design for a reason.

For Those in the UK

Unfortunately, the deal mentioned above doesn’t exist in the UK. But there is a deal on a slightly upgraded monitor for you…

Conclusion

The BenQ PD3220U is a top-notch monitor for graphic designers, and it’s currently available at a discounted price. Whether you’re working on a new project or just want to upgrade your current setup, this monitor is definitely worth considering.

FAQs

Q: What makes the BenQ PD3220U suitable for graphic design?

A: The monitor features out-of-the-box colour accuracy and coverage, sRGB coverage, and Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 colour gamuts, making it ideal for graphic design work.

Q: What are the connectivity options on the BenQ PD3220U?

A: The monitor has two Thunderbolt 3 ports for fast and convenient connectivity.

Q: Is the BenQ PD3220U available in the UK?

A: Unfortunately, the specific deal mentioned above is not available in the UK. However, there are other deals on similar monitors available.

Q: Can I return the monitor if I’m not satisfied with its performance?

A: Yes, Amazon offers a 30-day return policy for this product, so you can try it out and return it if you’re not satisfied with its performance.

Adversarial Examples are Just Bugs, Too

Parker Lennox
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Adversarial Examples are Just Bugs, Too

Constructing Non-transferable Targeted Adversarial Examples

We demonstrate that there exist adversarial examples which are just “bugs”: aberrations in the classifier that are not intrinsic properties of the data distribution. In particular, we give a new method for constructing adversarial examples which:

  1. Do not transfer between models
  2. Do not leak “non-robust features” which allow for learning, in the sense of Ilyas-Santurkar-Tsipras-Engstrom-Tran-Madry

Background

Many have understood Ilyas et al. to claim that adversarial examples are not “bugs”, but are “features”. Specifically, Ilyas et al. postulate the following two worlds:

  • World 1: Adversarial examples exploit directions irrelevant for classification (“bugs”). In this world, adversarial examples occur because classifiers behave poorly off-distribution, when they are evaluated on inputs that are not natural images. Here, adversarial examples would occur in arbitrary directions, having nothing to do with the true data distribution.
  • World 2: Adversarial examples exploit useful directions for classification (“features”). In this world, adversarial examples occur in directions that are still “on-distribution”, and which contain features of the target class. For example, consider the perturbation that makes an image of a dog to be classified as a cat. In World 2, this perturbation is not purely random, but has something to do with cats. Moreover, we expect that this perturbation transfers to other classifiers trained to distinguish cats vs. dogs.

Our main contribution is demonstrating that these worlds are not mutually exclusive – and in fact, we are in both. Ilyas et al. show that there exist adversarial examples in World 2, and we show there exist examples in World 1.

Our Construction

Let $\{f_i : \R^n \to \cY\}_i$ be an ensemble of classifiers for the same classification problem as $f$. For example, we can let $\{f_i\}$ be a collection of ResNet18s trained from different random initializations.

For input example $(x, y)$ and target class $y_{targ}$, we perform iterative updates to find adversarial attacks – as in PGD. However, instead of stepping directly in the gradient direction, we step in the direction:

$$-\left( \nabla_x L(f, x_t, y_{targ}) + \E_i[ \nabla_x L(f_i, x_t, y)] \right)$$

Adversarial Squares: Adversarial Examples from Robust Features

To further illustrate that adversarial examples can be “just bugs”, we show that they can arise even when the true data distribution has no “non-robust features” – that is, no intrinsically vulnerable directions. We are unaware of a satisfactory definition of “non-robust feature”, but we claim that for any reasonable intrinsic definition, this problem has no non-robust features.

In the following toy problem, adversarial vulnerability arises as a consequence of finite-sample overfitting, and label noise.

Addendum: Data Poisoning via Adversarial Examples

As an addendum, we observe that the “non-robust features” experiment of Ilyas et al. (Section 3.2) directly implies data-poisoning attacks: An adversary that is allowed to imperceptibly change every image in the training set can destroy the accuracy of the learnt classifier – and can moreover apply an arbitrary permutation to the classifier output labels (e.g. swapping cats and dogs).

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that adversarial examples can be constructed which are non-transferable and do not leak non-robust features. We also show that adversarial examples can arise even when the true data distribution has no non-robust features, and that data-poisoning attacks can be performed using imperceptible changes to the training set.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What are adversarial examples?

A1: Adversarial examples are inputs to a machine learning model that are designed to cause the model to make a mistake. They are often used to test the robustness of a model to attacks.

Q2: What is the difference between a bug and a feature?

A2: A bug is an error or flaw in a system, whereas a feature is a desirable characteristic or ability. In the context of machine learning, a bug can refer to a weakness in a model, while a feature can refer to a characteristic of the data that the model is trained on.

Q3: How do adversarial examples work?

A3: Adversarial examples work by adding a small amount of noise to the original input, which causes the model to make a mistake. This noise can be in the form of a small amount of data, or it can be in the form of a specific type of noise, such as noise that is designed to mimic the characteristics of a specific type of data.

Q4: Why are adversarial examples important?

A4: Adversarial examples are important because they can be used to test the robustness of a model to attacks, and to identify weaknesses in the model. They can also be used to improve the performance of a model by making it more robust to attacks.

Q5: What are some examples of adversarial examples?

A5: Some examples of adversarial examples include images that are designed to be misclassified by a neural network, or text that is designed to be misclassified by a natural language processing model. These types of examples can be used to test the robustness of a model and to identify weaknesses in the model.

Q6: How do I create adversarial examples?

A6: Creating adversarial examples can be a complex task that requires a good understanding of the model being tested and the type of attack being used. There are several methods that can be used to create adversarial examples, including the use of machine learning algorithms and the use of manual techniques such as adding noise to the input data.

Collectible Art on Dark Arts Coffee Packaging

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Collectible Art on Dark Arts Coffee Packaging

Dark Arts Coffee Reboots with Joyful Nihilism

A New Visual Identity

Dark Arts Coffee, a brand known for its quirky personality, has released a new visual identity to commemorate its 10th anniversary. The concept, "Joyful Nihilism," reimagines the brand’s look and feel, blending its playful edge with a more refined aesthetic.

A Shift in Direction

As the brand’s tone of voice has evolved over the years, its original visual identity, which featured occult and devil iconography, no longer resonated with its audience. "This jarred with how they started, when their signature edge came from the use of occult visuals and themes, now, it was more from their tone of voice, which was irreverent and playful, with a healthy dose of cynicism, far removed from their original visual identity," said Justin Hallström, creative director at NOT Wieden+Kennedy, the agency behind the new design.

A New Packaging

The new packaging, designed by NOT Wieden+Kennedy, takes inspiration from the concept of "Joyful Nihilism," featuring a refined color palette, refreshed iconography, and a bold typeface. "The solution was a simple typographic approach that let their tone of voice shine through. Using the typeface Cooper Black felt natural. Inspired by its use in 70s biker t-shirts, it became the perfect vehicle to capture their irreverent tone of voice," said Justin.

A Key Testing Ground

The new packaging was a key testing ground for the new brand, allowing Dark Arts Coffee to express itself through a constant stream of artwork on the collectible cards. "The idea of cards became the perfect solution. It allowed them to express themselves through an ever-evolving approach to artwork. They also served a very practical need, allowing customers to keep the cards with coffee information on provenance and tasting notes – important for coffee connoisseurs. Further to that, it allowed them to tap into the fandom of the brand; with merch drops consistently selling out, it gave their fans a new way to engage with the brand, and embrace collectability – gotta catch ’em all!" said Justin.

A Balancing Act

When asked what was most challenging about the creative process, Justin said, "It was definitely striking the balance between doing something new, but not losing their personality and alienating their existing fan base, as they are a brand with a very loyal following. And at the same time, we needed to balance introducing more consistency whilst being sure not to put a ‘creative straight jacket’ around their eclectic personality."

The Future of Dark Arts Coffee

Looking ahead, Justin added, "While we have set up the foundations for the next era of Dark Arts, we’re genuinely excited to see what they do with the new brand and the constant stream of new packaging artworks. There’s already talk of a book to collect your cards in… which would be epic."

FAQs

Q: What is the concept behind Dark Arts Coffee’s new visual identity?
A: The concept is "Joyful Nihilism," which blends the brand’s playful personality with a more refined aesthetic.

Q: Why did Dark Arts Coffee change its visual identity?
A: The brand’s original visual identity, which featured occult and devil iconography, no longer resonated with its audience.

Q: What is the inspiration behind the new packaging?
A: The new packaging takes inspiration from the concept of "Joyful Nihilism," featuring a refined color palette, refreshed iconography, and a bold typeface.

Q: How does the new packaging reflect the brand’s tone of voice?
A: The new packaging uses the typeface Cooper Black, which is inspired by its use in 70s biker t-shirts, to capture the brand’s irreverent tone of voice.

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