Consumer & Gadgets news
Consumer & Gadgets
Number's up: Calculators hold out against AI
The humble pocket calculator may not be able to keep up with the mathematical capabilities of new technology, but it will never hallucinate.
8 hours ago
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Consumer & Gadgets
Using food to uncover AI's cultural blind spots
CISPA researcher Tejumade Àfọ̀njá has co-authored a new international study that uses food as a starting point to reveal significant cultural blind spots in today's AI systems. The study also introduces a new participatory ...
Dec 4, 2025
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Software platform helps users find the best hearing protection
The world is loud. A walk down the street bombards one's ears with the sound of engines revving, car horns blaring, and the steady beeps of pedestrian crossings. While smartphone alerts to excessive sound and public awareness ...
Dec 4, 2025
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Up your Christmas shopping game with AI tools
Shopping assistant chatbots were a novelty a year ago. Now, they're everywhere.
Dec 4, 2025
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Down-ranking polarizing content lowers emotional temperature on social media: New research
Reducing the visibility of polarizing content in social media feeds can measurably lower partisan animosity. To come up with this finding, my colleagues and I developed a method that let us alter the ranking of people's feeds, ...
Dec 4, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Audio-augmented wearable aims to improve mindfulness, with possible benefits for those with anxiety and ADHD
A new device uses focused sound cues to keep users grounded amid digital distractions, with possible benefits for anxiety and ADHD as well.
Dec 3, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
How Starlink is connecting remote First Nations communities—and creating new divides
In the Cape York community of Wujal Wujal, local service providers used to hold their breath every time a big storm rolled in. Cloud cover could knock out their satellite internet just when they needed it most.
Dec 3, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Chinese smart glasses firms eye overseas conquest
In China, AI glasses let the wearer pay in shops with just a glance at a QR code and a voice command, as a growing number of companies look to conquer both growing domestic and overseas markets.
Dec 3, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
The PlayStation turns 30: Looking back at the console that gave us Lara Croft and 'The Last of Us'
When Kendrick Lamar began his Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year, he picked a stage design likely familiar to anyone tuning in: a square, triangle, cross and circle.
Dec 3, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Ahead of new game release, 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons' book reflects on comfort, community, and capitalism
Remember Animal Crossing: New Horizons? During the height of its popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the game, built for the Nintendo Switch console, was averaging 1 million copies sold per day. Now, almost six years ...
Dec 3, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Samsung unveils first 'special edition' triple-folding phone
Samsung launched its first triple-folding phone on Tuesday, a special-edition product with an eyewatering price tag placing it out of the reach of the average consumer.
Dec 2, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Can AI make us more creative? Study reveals surprising benefits of human-AI collaboration
Artificial intelligence (AI) is often seen as a tool to automate tasks and replace humans, but new research from Swansea University challenges this view, showing that AI can also act as a creative, engaging and inspiring ...
Dec 1, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
The AI bubble isn't new—Karl Marx explained the mechanisms behind it nearly 150 years ago
When OpenAI's Sam Altman told reporters in San Francisco earlier this year that the AI sector is in a bubble, the American tech market reacted almost instantly.
Dec 1, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
How platform design steers demand
Digital platforms have gained strong economic positions in many industries. On the one hand, they enable more providers than ever before to make their products, services, or information available. On the other hand, this ...
Dec 1, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Snapchat is nearing 1 billion monthly users: Why can't it turn a profit?
Snapchat, an app whose disappearing messages and silly face filters made chatting with loved ones more casual, is close to a milestone that few social media platforms achieve: reaching 1 billion monthly users.
Nov 29, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Human washing machine goes on sale in Japan
After wowing World Expo visitors, a human washing machine is now on sale in Japan, a company spokesperson said Friday.
Nov 28, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
How the far right weaponized gamers and geek masculinity
Earlier this year, Elon Musk was accused of cheating to fake his ranking in the action role-playing video game Diablo IV. At first glance, it looks ridiculous.
Nov 25, 2025
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Internet
The avatar in a wheelchair: A call for more diversity in the Metaverse
A study by the University of Stuttgart, the California State University at Fullerton, and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems has found that there are benefits to representing one's real-life disability through ...
Nov 25, 2025
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Internet
Tim Berners-Lee wants everyone to own their own data. His plan needs state and consumer support to work
Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, has released an important new book about the problems we face online and how to solve them. It is called "This is for Everyone," meaning that the internet should be for ...
Nov 25, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
AI tool helps visually impaired users 'feel' where objects are in real time
Over the last few years, systems and applications that help visually impaired people navigate their environment have undergone rapid development, but still have room to grow, according to a team of researchers at Penn State. ...
Nov 24, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
AI chatbots are encouraging conspiracy theories—new research
Since early chatbots were first conceived more than 50 years ago, they have become increasingly sophisticated—in large part, thanks to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Nov 24, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Social media can be understood as a role-playing game like Dungeons & Dragons
It's a cliché that any "geek" who knows how to program computers will also probably play Dungeons & Dragons, or D&D. If you need to find someone at work who can explain to you the latest episode of Stranger Things, then ...
Nov 24, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
You got a drone for the holidays. Now what?
They perform spectacular shows at amusement parks and sporting events. They deliver medicine and help monitor security. They make great gifts. What are they?
Nov 20, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
What does 'agentic' AI mean? Tech's newest buzzword is a mix of marketing fluff and real promise
For technology adopters looking for the next big thing, "agentic AI" is the future. At least, that's what the marketing pitches and tech industry T-shirts say.
Nov 18, 2025
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Internet
The most effective online fact-checkers? Your peers
When the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) invited users to flag false or misleading posts, critics initially scoffed. How could the same public that spreads misinformation be trusted to correct it? But a recent ...
Nov 17, 2025
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