Consumer & Gadgets news

Consumer & Gadgets

DeepMind researchers find LLMs can serve as effective mediators

A team of AI researchers with Google's DeepMind London group has found that certain large language models (LLMs) can serve as effective mediators between groups of people with differing viewpoints regarding a given topic. ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Humans sympathize with, and protect, AI bots from playtime exclusion, finds study

In an Imperial College London study, humans displayed sympathy towards and protected AI bots who were excluded from playtime. The researchers say the study, which used a virtual ball game, highlights humans' tendency to treat ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Apple unveils Depth Pro, an AI app that can map the depth of a 2D image

A team of engineers at Apple has developed an AI-based model called Depth Pro that can map the depth of a 2D image. The team has written a paper describing the app and its capabilities and has posted it on the arXiv preprint ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Exploring the hidden costs of free apps

Procrastination, sleep deprivation and reduced focus are part of the price we pay for free mobile apps. This is according to researchers at Linköping University and RISE, who have investigated the costs hidden behind the ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Q&A: Generative AI embraced faster than internet, PCs

ChatGPT's debut in November 2022 caused a near-instant sensation. It gave most users their first opportunity to try out a new type of artificial intelligence that uses existing data and published materials to create content ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Will Meta's Orion smart glasses be the next 'iPhone moment'?

Meta supremo Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Orion smart glasses, a new augmented reality (AR) prototype, at the annual Meta Connect developer conference. Ten years in the making, and still not expected on high streets until 2027, ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Here's how to maintain healthy smartphone habits

What is the first thing you do in the morning after you awaken? Many people immediately check their phones for notifications of messages, alerts and social media updates by their social ties.

Consumer & Gadgets

Fitness app loophole allows access to home addresses

Despite attempts to anonymize user data, the fitness app Strava allows anyone to find personal information—including home addresses—about some users. The finding, which is detailed in a new study, raises significant privacy ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Apple Vision Pro headset: What does it do and will it deliver?

Apple recently unveiled its Vision Pro headset at the Worldwide Developers Conference in California. With it, Apple is venturing into a market of head-mounted devices (HMDs)—which are usually just displays, but in this ...

Software

New app revolutionizes safety for women walking alone

Two University of Bath graduates have launched their revolutionary women's safety smartwatch app, Epowar, that monitors heart rate and body motion to sense distress and automatically sends an emergency alert if the wearer ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Apple lays down the gauntlet to the metaverse

Tech giant Apple has unveiled its first major product in more than seven years, a mixed-reality headset that might just deliver a terminal blow to the "metaverse".

Consumer & Gadgets

New mobile app to transform urban cycling experiences

An international group of researchers led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) recently launched a mobile app designed to make city regions more bikeable ...

Consumer & Gadgets

See Apple's pivotal product announcements through history

Apple has a long history of designing products that aren't the first to be introduced in a particular category but still redefine the market. With the company unveiling a headset equipped with virtual and augmented reality ...

Consumer & Gadgets

New app uses AI to enable anyone to make musical mashups

Imagine if the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" opened Michael Jackson's "Beat It," then Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" riff blended with Jackson. This mix isn't an impossible fantasy, but a reality with Mixboard, ...

Consumer & Gadgets

How good or evil are you when gaming?

Researchers have built their own computer game to test the impact of meters which show players the morality of their decisions.