Consumer & Gadgets news
Consumer & Gadgets
Why your headphone battery doesn't last: Advanced imaging sheds light on hidden dynamics
Ever notice that batteries in electronics don't last as long as they did when they were brand new?
14 hours ago
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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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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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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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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
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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Consumer & Gadgets
TikTok shows dominance among young Americans amid looming US ban, new research reveals
Social media is widely viewed as dynamic, innovative and driven by the ethos to "move fast and break things."
Jan 17, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Apple loses top spot in China smartphone sales to local rivals
Apple lost its status as the best selling smartphone brand in the crucial Chinese market last year, new data showed Thursday, with a pair of local rivals surpassing it with surging shipments.
Jan 16, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Nintendo hopes to reprise blockbuster Switch with 2025 successor
Nintendo is betting on the 2025 release of a bigger, better version of its blockbuster Switch console to keep up the success of the third best-selling games machine of all time.
Jan 16, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Cat-like robot mimics bunting behavior to alleviate human tension
The behavior of a cat rubbing its head against a person, known as bunting, is an expression of affection and is believed to have a healing effect on humans.
Jan 15, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Coevolution of AI and society: Study explores opportunities and risks
A recent study involving Central European University (CEU) is paving the way for a new field of research that merges artificial intelligence and complexity science to understand how ongoing interaction between humans and ...
Jan 14, 2025
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Consumer & Gadgets
Amsterdam experiment shows how households can cut energy costs by about 50%
Many people around the globe are living in energy poverty, meaning they spend at least 8% of their annual household income on energy. Addressing this problem is not simple, but an experiment by MIT researchers shows that ...
Jan 13, 2025
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