Consumer & Gadgets news
Consumer & Gadgets
Improved QR code format could quash phishing attacks by notifying users where they're heading
The ubiquitous QR ("quick response") codes that appear on everything from parking pay stations to soda cans and promotional flyers have become an increasingly popular target for cybercriminals to exploit through QR code–based ...
15 minutes ago
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Consumer & Gadgets
Q&A: How women and girls are changing gaming
Gaming is one of the biggest industries in the world. In fact, in 2024, the revenue from the worldwide gaming market was estimated at almost $US455 billion. For context, the gaming industry is now generating more revenue ...
3 hours ago
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PlayStation Network back online after 24-hour outage
Sony PlayStation's online services came back online on Saturday, the Japanese group said, after a 24-hour outage frustrated gamers around the world.
Feb 9, 2025
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One Tech Tip: How to block your phone from tracking your location
Smartphones are useful tools for everyday life, but they're privy to nearly everything about you, including all the places you've been—if you let them.
Feb 6, 2025
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Companion review: This sleek but violent film asks interesting ethical questions about our relationship with AI
Science fiction film and television has long been fascinated by robots. But stories that show us uncannily human cyborgs have often tended to veer towards either comedy or horror. Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1927) and Ridley ...
Feb 6, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
360-degree videos are making social issues and educational content more engaging for Canadians
Immersive film using virtual reality (VR) or 360-degree video is being used increasingly as a tool for eliciting empathy and emotional identification in fact-based stories. Unlike traditional flat film, immersive films allow ...
Feb 6, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
How The Sims' endless customization fostered one of gaming's most diverse player communities
Katy Perry is in a recording booth. She turns to the camera, smiles and begins to sing: "Badipsa frooby noop." As if to confirm that we didn't mishear her, she repeats "Badipsa frooby noop" and gives the camera a thumbs up.
Feb 3, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Apple's iPhone sales during the holiday season slipped despite a highly anticipated AI rollout
Apple on Thursday disclosed its iPhone sales dipped slightly during the holiday-season quarter, signaling a sluggish start to the trendsetting company's effort to catch up to the rest of Big Tech in the race to bring artificial ...
Jan 31, 2025
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Internet
The future of mobile gaming: Less latency, more fun thanks to edge computing
A recent study titled "Gaming on the Edge: Performance Issues of Distributed Online Gaming," published at the IFIP International Conference on Networking 2024, proposes an innovative model to enhance the experience of online ...
Jan 30, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Student creates online hub for wildfire relief with interactive map
Johan Michalove is nearly 3,000 miles from the Los Angeles wildfires, but that didn't stop him from pitching in.
Jan 29, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Skin phantoms help researchers improve wearable devices without people wearing them
Wearable devices have become a big part of modern health care, helping track a patient's heart rate, stress levels and brain activity. These devices rely on electrodes, sensors that touch the skin to pick up electrical signals ...
Jan 29, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
For some, life online comes with ambivalence: Book explores 'digital backlash'
Even though digitalization is in full swing, most Norwegians are now ambivalent about life online, according to media researchers at the University of Oslo.
Jan 29, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
How simple prompts can make partially automated cars safer
A new study finds that prompts do a good job of getting drivers to engage with their environment and take over control of the vehicle when necessary while using partially automated driving systems—with one exception. If ...
Jan 28, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Online platforms risk becoming ideological echo chambers that undermine meaningful dialogue
There has recently been a shift online from centralized platforms like X (formerly Twitter) to decentralized alternatives like Bluesky. In particular, many users unhappy with the politics and antics of X owner Elon Musk are ...
Jan 27, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
People are hawking TikTok-loaded phones for thousands on eBay, Facebook
People are listing phones preloaded with TikTok for tens of thousands of dollars on eBay, Facebook marketplace and other online storefronts—though it is not clear if there are many buyers at those prices.
Jan 24, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
UI-TARS GUI agent model can automate tasks such as finding and booking airline tickets
A team of software engineers, AI specialists and programmers at Tsinghua University, working with TikTok parent company ByteDance, has announced the development of a graphical user interface (GUI) agent model called UI-TARS. ...
Consumer & Gadgets
People overestimate reliability of AI-assisted language tools: Adding uncertainty phrasing can help
As AI tools like ChatGPT become more mainstream in day-to-day tasks and decision-making processes, the ability to trust and decipher errors in their responses is critical. A new study by cognitive and computer scientists ...
Jan 23, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Samsung aims to turn its next generation of Galaxy smartphones into AI companions
Samsung is injecting another dose of artificial intelligence into its next lineup of Galaxy smartphones, escalating an effort to simplify people's lives while deepening their dependence on a device that accompanies them almost ...
Jan 22, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
'Should I let my kid play Roblox?' New safety features reduce risks—but more are needed
Roblox isn't just another video game—it's a massive virtual universe where nearly 90 million people from around the world create, play and socialize. This includes some 34 million children under 13 who spend an average ...
Jan 22, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Dead tree, hangover, shovel: What 2025's new emojis are telling us
A leafless, lifeless tree is among the most striking new emojis coming to our smartphones in the coming weeks, as part of the latest batch being released by the Unicode Consortium, which sets the international standard for ...
Jan 21, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
How can we design humane autonomous systems? Experts share insight in book
In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems are rapidly transforming various sectors, a book by a multidisciplinary group of scholars offers a timely and critical examination of these technologies ...
Jan 21, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Young Chinese turn to AI pets for emotional relief
At a shopping mall in Beijing, Zhang Yachun murmurs quietly to her closest confidant, a fluffy AI-powered robot whose soothing chirps remind her that she is not alone.
Jan 20, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
In China, social media apps are changing how people buy and read books—selling more than physical bookshops do
While the Australian book market was down 3% last year, genre fiction—popular on BookTok—was among the rare categories that grew.
Jan 20, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Alexa, should voice assistants have a gender?
Studies have long shown that men are more likely to interrupt, particularly when speaking with women. New research by Johns Hopkins engineers reveals that this behavior also extends to AI-powered voice assistants like Alexa ...
Jan 17, 2025
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