Consumer & Gadgets news
YouTube influencers: Gaming's best friend or worst enemy?
YouTube influencers are shaping the gaming industry in unexpected ways, and a new study in the journal Marketing Science uncovers the surprising truth: Although influencers can drive massive engagement with video games, they ...
Mar 14, 2025
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Unofficial parental control apps put children's safety and privacy at risk
Some "unofficial" parental control apps have excessive access to personal data and hide their presence, raising concerns about their potential for unethical surveillance as well as domestic abuse, according to new research ...
Mar 13, 2025
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Security is just a side quest: Insights from the video game industry
The video game industry is a constantly changing market worth billions. In a qualitative interview study with industry experts, CISPA researcher Philip Klostermeyer from the team of CISPA Faculty Prof. Dr. Sascha Fahl investigated ...
Mar 13, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Co-design empowers inclusive tech for individuals with intellectual disabilities
A series of QUT research studies have shed light on the importance of involving individuals with intellectual disabilities in the development of assistive technologies.
Mar 13, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Electric cars were once marketed as 'women's cars.' Did this hold back their development over the next century?
It was not a given that petrol-powered cars would come to dominate the world. In fact, back in 1900, just 22% of cars produced in the US were powered by gasoline (also known as petrol, benzine or various other names). The ...
Mar 13, 2025
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Internet
One Tech Tip: Wasting too much time on social media apps? Tips and tricks to curb smartphone use
If you've got a smartphone, you probably spend too much time on it—checking Instagram, watching silly TikTok videos, messaging on WhatsApp or doomscrolling on X.
Mar 13, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Home air conditioning units can balance the electrical grid without impacting comfort
While adding wind and solar energy to the electricity supply can help reduce carbon emissions, their intermittency poses a challenge to traditional methods for maintaining electricity supply and demand.
Mar 12, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
How satellite radio predicted the cultural, musical and technological shifts that now define our times
From music to film, subscriptions have become essential. The average number of subscriptions an American consumer maintains is four and a half, spending nearly US$1,000 a year. The average Canadian household pays for two ...
Mar 11, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
What is the 'digital gender gap?'
Digital technologies, such as the internet and mobile phones, have spread widely, and become integral to many parts of our lives. Yet women continue to lag behind men in digital access in many countries.
Mar 11, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Researchers develop core network technology for 6G hyper-immersive services
Korean researchers have succeeded in developing a core wired network technology that enables remote conferences, collaborations, and surgeries in a 6G environment. This technology will open up a hyper-immersive metaverse ...
Mar 11, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
A/B test tool shows Facebook constantly experimenting on consumers—and even its creators don't fully know how it works
Users of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok might think they're simply interacting with friends, family and followers, and seeing ads as they go. But according to research from the UBC Sauder School ...
Mar 10, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Many cities are banning ads for airlines, SUVs and fossil fuels. Yours could be next
Towns and cities are pushing ahead with ambitious climate policies, even as global collaboration on climate breakdown splinters. One flagship example is the proliferation of bans on advertising for highly polluting companies ...
Mar 10, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
The impact of app crashes on consumer engagement
High-profile mobile app crashes reveal how life can be upended when an app freezes abruptly or shuts down. The Sonos app crash in May of last year left users of the wireless multi-room sound systems unable to do things like ...
Mar 10, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
A late start, then a big boom: Why it took until 1975 for Australians to finally watch TV in color
Some 50 years ago, on March 1 1975, Australian television stations officially moved to color.
Mar 9, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
AI-generated ad slogans may rival those made by experts
How do AI-generated ad slogans compare to those created by professionals? New University of Minnesota research suggests that the pros tend to connect better with consumers, but AI tools may perform just as well by adopting ...
Mar 5, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
'I can't be friends with the machine': What audio artists working in games think of AI
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the union for voice actors and creatives, recently circulated a video of voice actor Thomas G. Burt describing the impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on his livelihood.
Mar 5, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Scientists study the hidden cost of Netflix's autoplay
Autoplay, a feature that automatically begins the next episode or movie without user input, has become a staple of modern streaming platforms like Netflix. But how much is this convenience truly costing us in terms of control ...
Mar 4, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Chameleon phones and smart contact lenses: the gadgets of MWC 2025
As the world's biggest wireless technology fair, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is packed with manufacturers showing off their latest gadgets and inventions.
Mar 4, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Wearable tech has far to go before challenging smartphones
Wearable gadgets like smart watches and glasses are growing more capable every year, but experts say smartphones will remain ubiquitous for the foreseeable future—not least thanks to artificial intelligence features.
Mar 3, 2025
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Software
Are the Oscars going bananas? An animator explains why digital apes are the real winners of the 2025 awards
Hollywood's biggest night, the Academy Awards, arrives this weekend, but this year there's some monkey business going on. It's easy to focus on the race for best picture, best actor and best actress, but look a little closer ...
Mar 3, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
New device could allow you to taste a cake in virtual reality
Novel technology intends to redefine the virtual reality experience by expanding to incorporate a new sensory connection: taste.
Feb 28, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Robots with eyes more likely to be perceived as having a 'mind'
Over the past few years, engineers have developed increasingly advanced robotic systems already introduced in some public spaces and could soon be deployed in home environments. Many of these robots are humanoids, meaning ...
Consumer & Gadgets
Amazon's Goodreads builds community but breeds division. Rival StoryGraph is playing it safe—and gaining ground
Reading, once a largely private activity, has become more public and communal with the emergence of book-centered social media spaces. But while the "BookTok" and "Bookstagram" communities are often in the news, Goodreads, ...
Feb 27, 2025
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