Consumer & Gadgets news
Consumer & Gadgets
Why digital devices and online accounts need spring cleaning
If the spring season has brought an urge to scrub your living space from top to bottom, why not clear out the digital detritus cluttering your electronic devices and online accounts at the same time?
19 hours ago
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Consumer & Gadgets
On-body tech could expose users to new privacy and safety risks
Compared to the possibilities offered by on-body interaction techniques such as wearables, smartphones and computers are increasingly beginning to look like technologies of the past. But what risks arise when mini-computers ...
May 7, 2026
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Crash data reveal women face 60% higher injury risk than men
A study by TU Graz shows that women have a 60% higher injury risk in car accidents compared to men. This is especially true for female passengers and older women. The findings suggest that the safety systems and legal test ...
May 7, 2026
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Can AI ascertain our personality traits from our ChatGPT history?
Large language models (LLMs), the computational models underpinning the functioning of ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar conversational platforms, are now used daily by many people worldwide. As these models can rapidly answer ...
After a 40-year wait, technology finally enables three-sided zipper design
In 1985, the Innovative Design Fund placed an ad in Scientific American offering up to $10,000 to support clever prototypes for clothing, home decor, and textiles. William Freeman Ph.D., then an electrical engineer at Polaroid ...
May 4, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
What does it mean to train an AI to speak like you?
Ultra-personalized artificial intelligence for assisted communication risks muting aspects of the user's identity and occasionally breaches privacy, according to a new study from a Cornell Tech doctoral student who trained ...
May 4, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
New identity wallet stores biometric proof on phones, not corporate servers
In our increasingly online lives, convenience has come at a cost. The average person has more than 100 online accounts, and creating a new one often requires handing over personal information like an email address or a birthdate. ...
May 4, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
'Just looping you in': Why letting AI write our emails might actually create more work
I hope this article finds you well.
May 1, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
The friendlier AI gets, the more it can backfire
Major AI platforms, including OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as social apps like Replika and Character.ai, are increasingly designing chatbots to be warm, friendly, and empathetic. However, new research from the Oxford Internet ...
Apr 29, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
How everyday devices could train AI faster while keeping personal data on-device
A new method developed by MIT researchers can accelerate a privacy-preserving artificial intelligence training method by about 81%. This advance could enable a wider array of resource-constrained edge devices, like sensors ...
Apr 29, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
AI 'deadbots' can fuel pathological grief and affect how we deal with death
Due to recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI), it's now possible to digitally "revive" dead people and interact with them.
Apr 29, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Meta-earplugs reduce booming voice effect, low-frequency rumbling sounds
Workplace hearing loss is one of the most common work-related illnesses. While hearing loss is preventable with earplugs, they can be uncomfortable, and users often remove them despite the risks. Low-frequency sounds, such ...
Apr 28, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Are you addicted to your AI chatbot? It might be by design
AI chatbots can grant almost any request—a celebrity in love with you, a research assistant, a book character sprung to life—instantly and with little effort. New research presented at the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors ...
Apr 27, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Why deepfake ads may win trust faster when framed as 'artificial media'
A study into the use of deepfake technology in advertising has found that public acceptance of synthetic media generated by artificial intelligence (AI) is closely tied to how familiar someone is with technology and the way ...
Apr 27, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
In the face of rampant AI, is 'data poisoning' a new form of civil disobedience?
The explosion of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools has provoked both hopes and anxieties about the potential benefits and harms of this technology. In advanced economies, people are almost equally worried and ...
Apr 26, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Why faster AI isn't always better
In the race to make AI models not just reason better but respond faster, latency—the delay before an answer appears—is often treated as a purely technical constraint, something to minimize and move past. But how is this relentless ...
Apr 24, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
AI smart glasses will help visually impaired runners take on the London Marathon
Running past Buckingham Palace during training, Tilly Dowler is closing in on a goal she once thought out of reach.
Apr 24, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
AI model predicts human attention in 360-degree videos using both sound and vision
Virtual reality (VR) experiences and 360-degree videos are transforming viewers from passive observers into active participants immersed within a scene. Yet this shift raises an important question: Where do people direct ...
Apr 22, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
AI can give as good as it gets—or better: The moral dilemma of combative chatbots
AI systems can "learn to seek revenge" because they are able to grasp reciprocating verbal violence when exposed to conflict, new research from Lancaster University shows. In short, AI can give as good as it gets and, eventually, ...
Apr 22, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
'No accountability, no checks and balances, no responsibility': How indigenous peoples think about AI
Much of the current conversation about AI assumes uptake is inevitable, more technology means better outcomes and the main task is managing risk.
Apr 22, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Chatbots may fuel 'delusional spirals' that lead to real-world harm
Perhaps to the surprise of their creators, large language models have become confidants, therapists, and, for some, intimate partners to real human users. In a new study, AI researchers at Stanford studied verbatim transcripts ...
Apr 21, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
From Siri to scams, AI voice clones now beat human speech in noisy settings
Synthetic voices are increasingly a part of our lives, from digital assistants like Siri and Alexa to automated telemarketers and answering machines. With the expansion of generative AI, a new type of synthetic voice has ...
Apr 21, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
New study reveals chatbot empathy can worsen customer reactions
When a service encounter goes south, customers expect empathy. Hearing an employee say, "I share your frustration," can calm tensions and rebuild trust. But new research from the University of South Florida suggests that ...
Apr 21, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
US government ramps up mass surveillance with help of AI tech, data brokers, and your apps and devices
On a Saturday morning, you head to the hardware store. Your neighbors' Ring cameras film your walk to the car. Your car's sensors, cameras and microphones record your speed, how you drive, where you're going, who's with you, ...
Apr 21, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
How do teens really use AI companions? With more creativity than you might think
In 2022, the founders of chatbot startup Character.AI launched a platform where anyone could create interactive characters powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Apr 19, 2026
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