Consumer & Gadgets
AI companions are always available, never judge, never tire and never demand anything in return. If someone is struggling with loneliness, this frictionlessness can seem profoundly appealing. However, new research shows that ...
Apr 4, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Despite the hype about streaming services, traditional broadcast television still dominates advertising dollars. This year, advertisers will spend $139 billion on "linear" TV—where viewers watch programs at scheduled times—compared ...
Apr 2, 2026
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6
Consumer & Gadgets
US courts have ruled against platform providers for failing to protect children, and the debate over age restrictions for social media has gained momentum. An international group of experts from academia, children's rights ...
Apr 2, 2026
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4
Consumer & Gadgets
A new app developed by Yun Huang, associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, aims to make navigating conferences less work and more fun, so that attendees can ...
Apr 2, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
A scrawny hippie and a nerdy engineer who became prank-playing friends vowed to change the world when they founded a Silicon Valley startup on April Fools' Day 50 years ago and then—no joke—pulled it off.
Apr 1, 2026
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Internet
A QUT study of 20 popular paid and free apps for children aged 5 to 8 years found that most contained deceptive design patterns aimed at attracting children to paid content, increasing their time spent using the app, or encouraging ...
Mar 31, 2026
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8
Consumer & Gadgets
Augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) headsets let us see the world around us with virtual elements superimposed on top. For example, many modern AR/MR headsets use hand-tracking cameras to detect hand gestures in ...
Mar 30, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
In the early 1970s, the idea of an ordinary person owning a computer sounded absurd. Computers back then were more like aircraft carriers or nuclear power plants than household appliances—vast machines housed in data centers ...
Mar 30, 2026
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8
Consumer & Gadgets
iPhone maker Apple celebrates its 50th anniversary on April 1 having marked pop culture and the tech industry like few other firms since its beginnings in 1976.
Mar 29, 2026
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6
Consumer & Gadgets
Last week leading chipmaker Nvidia announced DLSS-5 (Deep Learning Super Sampling), a new artificial intelligence (AI) rendering tool it describes as a "breakthrough in visual fidelity for games." The software takes low-resolution ...
Mar 27, 2026
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