Blogroll

Linux has never been short on alternatives, but some Windows programs simply don’t have a true replacement. Or you might just want the actual Windows version—that's fine too. If you pick the right method, though, you can run almost anything. Here's a nice rundown of some apps you might have been missing from Windows.

Walking into Home Depot usually gives you the feeling that you've seen every cordless tool Ryobi makes. Ryobi has a deal to only sell its tools at Home Depot in the United States, so it's hard to find them anywhere else. The thing is that other regions get heavy yard equipment that never touches domestic shelves, and some of it is amazing and worth the money.

At a glance

• StudentSim is a research system for evaluating and improving AI tutors before they are tested with real learners; it is not a product, is not deployed in classrooms, and is not intended to replace teachers
• AI tutoring tools need feedback from students to improve, but collecting that feedback through human studies is slow, costly, and difficult to scale 
• StudentSim trains personalized AI student simulators from publicly available, de-identified learner records, with one simulator adapted to each student 
• The work evaluates simulators along two education-grounded dimensions: whether they respond like a specific student, and whether they update after tutor guidance 
• Across chess, second-language English writing, and mathematics, StudentSim outperforms leading baselines and provides a useful feedback signal for training an AI tutor 

In research settings, teams are exploring how AI-powered tutoring systems can help explain a math problem, suggest an edit to a writing assignment, or guide a learner through a chess position. Yet the quality of teaching cannot be measured only from the tutor’s answer. A tutor needs to know what happens after the guidance reaches a student. Did the student correct the original mistake? Did the hint help them reason toward the answer, or did it give away too much? Would a different student need a different kind of support? In today’s AI tutor research, answering these questions often requires real learner studies. Those studies are valuable, but they are slow and costly to run, which makes it hard to use student feedback during fast model iteration.

StudentSim is an AI system that creates personalized simulators of individual students, modeling how they answer questions and how their answers change after receiving a tutor’s guidance. The goal is to make student feedback more available during AI tutor development. This research also introduces StudentSimEval, a benchmark and evaluation protocol spanning chess, second-language English writing, and mathematics. 

Importantly, the goal is not to replace teachers or classroom learning. Instead, StudentSim helps researchers evaluate and improve AI tutoring systems during the research and development process before testing them with real learners. The research uses only publicly available learner datasets released for research use with de-identified records; no personally identifying information is used at any stage. 

Figure 1: AI tutors need feedback from students to improve. Student simulators can approximate part of that feedback during research-stage training and evaluation. They provide an early-stage research signal, not a replacement for testing with real learners. Measuring what a student simulator needs to do

A simple way to build a student simulator is to ask a large language model to role-play a learner. For example, a prompt might say, “You are an elementary-school student who struggles with math.” The model can change its tone and express uncertainty. The harder part is preserving the learner’s actual ability boundary. A model may speak in a young student’s voice while still relying on knowledge and reasoning far beyond that student’s level. For training an AI tutor, this can produce misleading feedback: the tutor may appear effective because the simulated student is too capable.

Traditional student modeling approaches face a different limitation. Knowledge tracing and behavior prediction models are grounded in real learning records and can estimate a student’s current knowledge, skills, and learning habits. Many of these models, however, were not designed to take natural-language tutor guidance as input. They can help describe what a student has done, but they do not always tell us how a student would respond to a particular explanation, hint, or Socratic question.

StudentSim defines the target through two dimensions inspired by education research. Educators often distinguish what a learner can do independently from what they can do with support. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development captures this gap between current independent performance and performance with guidance. StudentSim turns this idea into two evaluation goals. Behavioral fidelity measures whether a simulator matches a specific student’s recorded responses on held-out problems. Guidance responsiveness measures whether the simulator updates its response after reading tutor guidance.

Figure 2: StudentSimEval evaluates whether a simulator matches a student’s independent behavior and whether it responds to guidance. 

These two goals are complementary. A simulator that only matches past student behavior may be useful for prediction, but it does not show whether a teaching intervention helped. A simulator that always follows the tutor may respond fluently, but it may fail to represent a particular student’s strengths, weaknesses, and likely mistakes. AI tutor training needs both signals: the learner’s starting point and how guidance affects the learner’s performance. 

Training personalized simulators from sparse student records

StudentSimEval is built entirely from publicly available learner datasets that are released for research use with de-identified records. The records carry no personally identifying information, and each personalized simulator is trained only on the de-identified records of the student it represents.

Real student data is often sparse at the individual level. A learner may contribute only a small number of essays, answers, or interactions. Training a separate simulator from scratch for each student would risk overfitting and would require each model to relearn common patterns in the domain.  

StudentSim uses a two-stage training pipeline. In the first stage, the model trains on records pooled across many students in the same domain. This stage learns common response formats, common errors, and common ways students revise after guidance. In the second stage, the model is specialized on one student’s own records, producing a personalized simulator for that student. 

Figure 3: StudentSim first learns shared student behavior from pooled records, then adapts to each student’s own data. 

The evaluation covers three domains with different response types. In chess, the simulator predicts a player’s next move and how that player may revise after coaching. In second-language English writing, it generates essays with error patterns matching a learner and predicts corrections after teacher feedback. In mathematics, it predicts a student’s multiple-choice answer and whether the student updates after an explanation. Across these domains, StudentSimEval uses the same principle: compare all methods on the same per-student training records and the same held-out evaluation records. 

StudentSim outperforms leading baselines across the three domains. In chess, for example, StudentSim reaches behavioral fidelity of 0.5150 and guidance responsiveness of 0.9067. GPT-5.4 reaches 0.2316 and 0.7186, respectively. Maia2, a chess-specific human move prediction model, reaches 0.4535 and 0.2721. The comparison illustrates the difference between the baseline families: GPT-5.4 can respond to guidance but does not reliably match a specific student’s behavior, while Maia2 predicts human chess moves more closely but lacks a natural-language guidance pathway.

Figure 4: In chess, StudentSim improves both behavioral fidelity and guidance responsiveness compared with leading baselines. Using simulated feedback to improve AI tutors

The research also tests whether a trained student simulator can provide feedback for tutor optimization. In a chess tutor reinforcement learning study, the tutor receives a position and a real student’s previous wrong move, then generates guidance. The student simulator’s own parameters are held fixed during this process, and it reads the guidance and produces a revised move. The reward is based on the improvement in move quality from the student’s previous move to the simulator’s revised move, using Stockfish as an independent chess engine signal.  

Figure 5: StudentSim can provide feedback during AI tutor reinforcement learning by estimating how a student response changes after guidance.

The study compares three conditions: a supervised fine-tuned tutor with no reinforcement learning, a tutor trained with GPT-5.4 as the simulated student reward source, and a tutor trained with StudentSim as the reward source. All conditions use the same tutor policy, supervised starting point, and reinforcement learning setup. Human chess experts then evaluate the tutor responses blind to condition. 

The StudentSim reward produces the highest-rated tutor on all reported dimensions. The tutor trained with StudentSim reaches 90.5% accuracy, compared with 75.7% for the no-RL baseline and 71.6% for the GPT-5.4 reward condition. It also receives higher ratings for guidance quality and personalization. The result is a proof of concept that student simulators trained on real learner data can provide useful feedback for improving AI tutors. 

Looking ahead

StudentSim does not remove the need for real learners in education research. Human studies remain essential for measuring learning outcomes, safety, usability, and classroom fit. The role of student simulators is earlier in the development process: they can help researchers test tutor strategies, compare models, and refine training signals before moving to more expensive studies with real students. 

The broader direction is to build AI tutor systems that learn from student reactions, not only from expert-written explanations or static correctness labels. StudentSim shows one path: use real learning records to train personalized simulators, evaluate those simulators on both independent behavior and response to guidance, and use them as scalable feedback sources for tutor training. Future work can extend this approach to longer learning trajectories, additional subjects, richer student profiles, and studies that connect simulated feedback with real learning outcomes. 

The paper and the StudentSim training and evaluation code, including the StudentSimEval protocol, are publicly available.

Sources Paper Code

Opens in a new tab

The post Simulating student learning for better AI tutoring appeared first on Microsoft Research.

Major cable providers often broadcast a second network from an ISP-provided router, and you might not even realize it's happening. These secondary networks might not detract from a home's primary network, but they can definitely give your phone a bad connection. Here's what's going on and how you can fix it.

SAVE $762: As of Oct. 12, the Sunseeker X3 Plus robot lawn mower is on sale for $836.98 instead of its usual $1,598.99. That's nearly 50% in savings and its best price on record.

Opens in a new window Credit: Sunseeker Sunseeker X3 Plus robot lawn mower $836.98 at Amazon
$1,598.99 Save $762.01   Get Deal

Lawn-mowing season might be wrapping up, but if you're looking to invest in a robot mower for next year, the Sunseeker X3 Plus is nearly half off its usual cost.

As of Oct. 12, the Sunseeker X3 Plus robot lawn mower is down to just $836.98 instead of $1,598.99. That's $762 or 48% in savings, marking its lowest price on record.

Mashable's sister site CNET tested the Sunseeker X3 Plus and specifically recommended buying it if you can score it on sale. Well, today's your lucky day — but only if you act fast. It's already selling out at Amazon.

It's designed for small to medium-sized residential lawns up to 0.3 acres and requires little to no setup. No buried perimeter wires or digging is necessary; just use the app to map out your yard and create virtual boundaries. The Sunseeker X3 Plus will handle the rest.

An on-board camera with dual AI vision and ultrasonic sensors can detect potential objects in the Sunseeker's path and it'll adjust its route accordingly. Of course, if there's certain spots you want it to avoid altogether, you can also set up a custom path in the app. The app also allows you to manage schedules, adjust cutting height, and monitor mowing progress.

If you're ready to hand off your most annoying chore and gain hours of your time back next summer, grab the Sunseeker X3 Plus while it's half price (and while it's still in stock!).

Notorious Grand Theft Auto VI leaker Cyberleek is back with a vengeance, it seems.

The anonymous video poster went dark after the big Netflix trailer in late August, but returned last week with a big, chunky 24-minute clip that featured story cutscenes, auto races, and the male protagonist Jason fully nude. Over the weekend and into Monday morning, Cyberleek shared some more clips that we won't link to, but can be easily found on social media. The new clips largely revolve around the female protagonist Lucia, and also show her completely nude, doing things like walking around Vice City or parachuting off a tall building.

SEE ALSO: 'GTA 6' Cyberleek release update: The latest leaks, development build, and what might be next

In addition, Cyberleek posted a warning on their website claiming that if their memecoin reached a market cap of $30 million, they would release a video showing a full playthrough of the game's story prior to release. The same post also included a demand for publisher Take-Two to apologize for not releasing the game on disc and to rectify that issue. It is extremely unlikely the company could fire up disc manufacturing for GTA 6 in a timely fashion, even if the publisher wanted to negotiate with the leaker. At this point, there is no sign of that happening.

Just like in the videos featuring a nude Jason, the nude Lucia videos seem a little fishy in the sense that NPCs don't react to their nudity at all. Given that recent Rockstar games are built entirely around believable NPC interactions, that would suggest the nudity is not a regularly accessible feature in the final game and is being achieved through the use of developer tools.

It's only about a month until the game is in all our hands, and we won't have to worry about GTA 6 leaks spoiling the story anymore.

If you like original direct-to-streaming movies, then this week's list is for you. Four of the five movies on this list are streaming releases. Prime Video occupies two spots on the list: a crime caper starring Stanley Tucci and a romantic drama starring Margaret Qualley.

SAVE $201.99: The Sony XM5 headphones are on sale at Amazon for $198, down from the list price of $399.99. That's a 50% discount that matches the lowest ever.

Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Sony WH-1000XM5 $198
$399.99 Save $201.99   Get Deal

I'm not saying a pair of headphones can change your life, but I will stand by the notion that headphones can make a major difference in daily life quality. If you've been getting by with a pair that's not super comfortable, check out this deal.

As of Oct. 12, the Sony XM5 headphones are on sale at Amazon for $198, down from the list price of $399.99. That's a 50% discount that takes $201.99 off the price. It also matches the lowest we've ever seen at Amazon.

SEE ALSO: Budget-friendly Sony headphones are under $100 at Amazon — shop Sony WH-CH720N for $88

On Mashable's list of the best headphones, the Sony XM5 earn an honorable mention as a Mashable Choice product. While they're an older model, the ANC still stands up as some of the best around, and the call quality is an added bonus. Since the new XM6 headphones come with a price of $458, going with the sale $198 XM5 is a budget option that doesn't drop you into sacrificing on quality.

Since this is the lowest price we've seen, make the upgrade to the Sony XM5 headphones for under $200. They'll be perfect for fall walks in crunch leaves.

SAVE $100: As of Oct. 12, you can get the DJI Mini 5 Pro for $679, down from $759, at Amazon. That's an 11% discount, or $80 in savings.

Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Mini 5 Pro $679 at Amazon
$759 Save $80   Get Deal

If you were hoping to buy a drone during Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days event but couldn't make it in time, a few legit drone deals are still lingering on the site — including some DJI models.

Right now, you can get the DJI Mini 5 Pro for $679, down from $779, at Amazon. Not only is that a full $80 off, but it actually beats the drone's previous all-time low of $683 by $4. The Mini 5 Pro isn't available on the DJI website, so this is the best way to get this model on sale.

SEE ALSO: The October Prime Day drone deals are flying: Get $90 off the DJI Flip before the sale ends

OK, so let's talk specs. If you already own the Mini 4 Pro, an upgrade actually makes a lot of sense this time around. But if you're new to droning and want something lightweight and easy to fly, the Mini 5 Pro is a really solid option.

It features a 50MP 1-inch image sensor (a noticeable step up from the 1/1.3-inch sensor on the 4 Pro) with 4K/60fps HDR video. The gimbal rotates 225 degrees for full-sensor vertical video and photos (you know, for the Gram), and it includes up to 42GB of internal storage and 36 minutes of battery life out of the box.

That said, there are a few drawbacks. While it is lightweight, manufacturing variances mean some units may weigh 251 grams with the standard battery. (Keep in mind that the FAA measures weight at takeoff, not the box specification!) It doesn't go any faster than 40 mph and has less wind resistance than larger models, like the DJI Air 3S. And Redditors are currently complaining about a firmware bug that makes the Mini 5 Pro detect distant clouds as obstacles, which will abruptly halt your waypoint flights.

Many pet owners know the feeling of panic that sets in when they realize their dog or cat has slipped out of the house or backyard. Now you’re faced with the daunting task of tracking down a pet that could be anywhere.

Life360, the app families use to stay connected through location sharing, now includes pet safety with Life360 Pet GPS. You can see your pet’s location on the same map as the rest of your household. And if they go missing, you can call on the Life360 community to help with the search. 

How does Life360 Pet GPS work? Opens in a new window Credit: Life360 Life360 Pet GPS $99
Includes one-year Silver membership Shop Now

Life360 Pet GPS attaches to your pet's collar and uses GPS and LTE connectivity to show their location in real time. Instead of wondering where your dog went, you can open the app and see for yourself. 

You can also set a geofence around your home, and anytime your pet crosses it, your family receives an escape alert, so you know to start looking immediately. This is a good option for anyone who shares pet-caring responsibilities with a roommate, partner, or other family members.

For new users, the $99 Pet GPS bundle includes the device and a year of Life360 Silver membership. That means your first year of tracking costs less than $100 since the subscription is already included. 

Battery backup when you need it

Pet GPS includes up to 14 days of battery life per charge, plus a reserve designed for those times when the battery gets low. Once the battery drops below 6%, the tracker enters Reserve Mode. 

This switches from real-time GPS to Bluetooth tracking through the Tile network, allowing occasional location updates when a nearby phone detects the device. That reserve can last up to six months. 

Additional ways to find your pet

If your pet goes missing, Life360’s Pet Finder Network draws on its global community of more than 100 million members. Sending a Lost Pet Alert shares your pet’s photo and details with nearby members who may be able to help you. 

Life360 also offers Pet Tag, a scannable ID that attaches to your pet’s collar. If someone finds your pet, they can scan the tag with their smartphone to contact you, and there’s no app to download on their end. You’ll manage your pet’s information on the Life360 app, so you can update your contact information without replacing the tag.

You can start with a free Pet Profile and access to the finder network, add Pet Tag for identification, or choose Pet GPS for real-time location tracking with a membership. Whichever option works for your household, Life360 Pet GPS gives you multiple ways to find your pets. 

Google is giving you a reason to pay attention to fitness trackers again. Today, the company has announced the Fitbit Edge, a new wearable that sits between the screen-free Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch lineup. The timing is interesting as Google has spent recent months expanding its health-focused features and wearables. The Fitbit Edge also arrives after a lengthy gap in the brand’s conventional fitness tracker lineup as the successor to the Fitbit Charge 6 that debuted in 2023.

Are you finally getting around to building your personal portfolio website? Wondering which AI coding tool you should trust with the job? I was in the same boat a few days ago, so I tested Claude Code and Codex CLI to see which one did a better job. As it turns out, neither was perfect, but one built a noticeably better portfolio landing page than the other.

SAVE $650: As of Oct. 12, the Hisense 50-inch S7 Canvas Hi-QLED 4K TV is still on sale for its October Prime Day price of $649.99 at Amazon. That's 50% off its list price of $1,299.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Hisense Hisense 50-inch S7 Canvas Hi-QLED 4K TV $649.99 at Amazon
$1,299.99 Save $650   Get Deal

If you want an aesthetic TV that works double duty as artwork on your wall, but you don't quite have the budget for The Frame, Hisense's Canvas TV is our favorite dupe. And it's currently sitting at half off its usual price at Amazon.

As of Oct. 12, the Hisense 50-inch S7 Canvas Hi-QLED 4K TV is still on sale for its October Prime Day price of $649.99. That's 50% or $650 off its usual cost of $1,299.99. That's its second-best price of 2026.

The Canvas TV isn't quite as bright as Samsung's The Frame, but aside from that, it's a better value in a lot of ways. It has a higher refresh rate at 144Hz (versus 120Hz), two HDMI 2.1 ports, the intuitive Google TV interface, and free access to its gallery with over 1,000 works of art and immersive screensavers. On The Frame models, you have to pay a monthly fee to gain access to the artwork.

The Canvas TV comes with an anti-glare, hi-matte finish, a teakwood magnetic frame (more options sold separately) and an ulta-slim wall mount that lies flush to make the TV look as close as possible to framed artwork. "The TV itself looks stupid good in a gallery wall and really does blend in with other artwork and wall hangings, especially in art mode," Deputy Shopping Editor Miller Kern writes.

If you're in the market for a new TV and want something that'll enhance your living room aesthetic, the Hisense Canvas TV is one of the best picks — especially while it's half its usual cost.

Whether you’re a homeowner, home improvement specialist, or a commercial contractor, drills help get jobs done, no matter the task or project. Anyone can grab a drill and start using it, but understanding its capabilities and how it works is essential if you want it to last.

Did you think that the chaos around limited-edition Starbucks drinkware was over? You fool! It has only just begun.

Last year’s viral Bearista glass cup sold out in a flash. For the 2026 holiday season, the bear is making a comeback. And this time, it’s teaming up with one of Mashable's favorite brands — Owala.

When does the Starbucks Bearista Owala drop?

Mark your calendar, clear your schedule, and mentally prepare for Nov. 5. The Bearista collection officially hits Starbucks stores nationwide with the return of the seasonal holiday menu. It's important to note that, unlike some of these viral drops, this collection will also be available online via the Starbucks Shop. That could be an absolute game-changer.

How to buy the Starbucks Bearista Owala

Unfortunately, there is no way to guarantee success against scalpers. There are, however, some things you can do to maximize your chances on launch morning.

The most obvious recommendation we can make is to check the Starbucks Shop while waiting in line at your local coffeehouse. You could save yourself a lot of time and effort by simply shopping online if the stock exists. If that doesn't work out for you, make sure you're well-positioned in the queue by arriving at least 30 minutes before doors open.

Lastly, the sensible move is to call your local store before Nov. 5 to check whether they have received any stock and how many Owala units were allocated. That way, you can get an idea of whether or not it's worth standing out in the rain.

How much will the Starbucks Bearista Owala cost?

Starbucks has not yet confirmed the price of the Bearista Owala. A standard Owala FreeSip bottle typically retails for $29.99 (although deals are live). Last year's Bearista glass cup sold for $29.95. Expect pricing to land somewhere around those figures (if not a little more).

What's all the fuss? At the end of the day, this is a stainless steel water bottle with a cute bear print. If you just want a leak-proof, insulated tumbler with a built-in straw, a standard 24-oz Owala FreeSip on Amazon delivers the exact same experience without forcing you to wake up at dawn or deal with line-cutters. But if you are an avid Starbucks collector or looking for the ultimate holiday gift for an Owala fan, Nov. 5 is your day to shine.

Backups are one of those jobs everyone knows they should do, but almost nobody does consistently. You mean to copy your files somewhere safe regularly, and for a while you do, until a busy week gets in the way and the habit quietly lapses. Then a laptop dies, a drive fails, or a file gets overwritten by mistake, and the backup you meant to have is three weeks out of date or doesn't exist at all.

You probably already know that you can use a VPN to circumvent regional blocks on content by making it look like you're in a different country or region, but have you thought about whystreaming services work so hard to prevent this practice? Is it actually illegal?

Getting a new Samsung phone is exciting, but I never use it straight out of the box. Before installing my usual apps or showing it off to my friends, I head into Settings and make a few changes. Some are small tweaks that make everyday tasks faster, while others fix things that have annoyed me on previous Galaxy phones.

You should really understand that buying a streaming device means trading some privacy for convenience. There's a lot of data being collected, and it happens pretty quietly. You are never asked for your permission either; it is just implied since the settings are on by default. Unfortunately, that means a company is profiting off everything you do, but you can always put a stop to it.

SAVE $10: As of Oct. 12, the Owala FreeSip Twist Stainless Steel Water Bottle (24 oz) in select colorways is down to $19.99 at Amazon. That’s 33% off its regular $29.99 list price, marking a rare drop that beats out Prime Day deals.

Opens in a new window Credit: Owala Owala FreeSip Twist 24 oz $19.99 at Amazon
$29.99 Save $10   Get Deal

If there’s one piece of hydration gear Mashable readers consistently obsess over, it’s anything with an Owala logo on it. In fact, the Owala FreeSip Twist recently earned a spot on our list of the top 10 most popular products readers bought during October Prime Day. While the classic push-button FreeSip gets plenty of hype, the Twist version offers a sleeker, leak-proof spin on the original — and right now, select colorways are priced lower than they were over Prime Day.

You can grab the 24 oz FreeSip Twist for just $19.99 on Amazon, saving $10 off its usual $29.99 price tag. Getting a top-tier insulated bottle under twenty bucks is already a solid win, but beating major shopping holiday event pricing makes this a no-brainer if your current water bottle has seen better days.

What makes people fall in love with this bottle is Owala’s 2-in-1 spout design. Unlike standard bottles that force you to choose between a straw and a wide opening, the FreeSip spout lets you do both. You can sip upright through the built-in straw when you're working or driving, or tilt it back to swig directly from the spout when you're super thirsty.

Thanks to triple-layer vacuum insulation, cold drinks stay chilled for hours, and the twist lid safely handles hot coffee or sparkling water without spraying when opened. The protective top creates a tight seal that won't leak inside a backpack or gym bag, and the built-in loop makes it easy to carry around on a finger.

Just keep in mind that the 24 oz version has a slightly wider base than ultra-slim bottles, so while it slides easily into tote bags, it might only fit into larger or specialty car cup holders.

If you want a leak-proof, multi-purpose bottle that lives up to the hype, head over to Amazon to grab the Owala FreeSip Twist for $19.99 while the discount is still live.