https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/consumer-gadgets-news/ en-us Tthe latest news on consumer electronics, electronic gadgets and electronics. Modern smartphones are packed with incredible technology, from high-resolution cameras and advanced graphics chips to AI processors. In premium models, this hardware includes LiDAR (light detection and ranging), which helps power augmented reality features and improve depth sensing. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-smartphones-track-hidden-lidar.html Software Fri, 22 May 2026 10:07:44 EDT news698663209 Music lovers may one day be able to blast their favorite artists, headphone-free, without angering the neighborhood or colleagues, thanks to researchers at Penn State. The team designed a system that can manipulate sound waves so that they are only audible at a precise spot slightly wider than an inch. Despite this tiny focal point, their system can produce high-quality audio, potentially offering listeners a crisp, yet private, sound experience. The team detailed their work in a paper recently published in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-3d-speaker-focus-audio-private.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 21 May 2026 13:20:07 EDT news698587561 Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are investigating how humans respond to artificial intelligence agents that sound physically present in the same room, work that could shape the future of audio-only AI systems used in smart glasses, accessibility tools and other screen-free technologies. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-audio-cues-ai-human-users.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 18 May 2026 12:00:04 EDT news698324281 When a list of pros and cons won't cut it, a new decision-making tool developed by Cornell researchers can use artificial intelligence to help make difficult decisions. But there's a twist: Instead of checking AI's result, AI is checking you. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-humans-bad-complex-decisions-ai.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 14 May 2026 12:30:24 EDT news697980604 Researchers in South Korea have developed a new sign language translation system based on users wearing seven rings equipped with sensors. According to a new study published in the journal Science Advances, the technology can reliably recognize and translate both American and International sign language words with roughly 88% accuracy. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-smart-language-barriers-movements-instant.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 12 May 2026 14:10:01 EDT news697722046 Despite regional variability in climate, electricity sources, congestion, and the wide variation in individual driving patterns, electric vehicles generate less greenhouse gas emissions and do not cost more than comparable gas-powered vehicles for drivers and vehicle fleet owners in most parts of the United States, according to a new study by MIT researchers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-drivers-evs-emissions-benefits.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 12 May 2026 12:40:03 EDT news697807801 From August 2026, an EU-wide AI regulation will come into force requiring the labeling of AI-generated content. However, a research team from the University of Bayreuth and Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, has found that users of AI systems can no longer reliably recall after just one week whether content was generated by AI or not. The researchers presented their findings at the CHI conference, the most important and largest international conference in the field of Human–Computer Interaction. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-people-struggle-recall-content-ai.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 11 May 2026 17:40:11 EDT news697737841 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 queries about most topics, many users use them to source information related to their personal and professional lives, sometimes sharing information about themselves. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ai-personality-traits-chatgpt-history.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 05 May 2026 10:00:11 EDT news697193407 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 and now an MIT professor, saw it and submitted a novel idea: a three-sided zipper. Instead of fastening pants, it'd be like a switch that seamlessly flipped chairs, tents, and purses between soft and rigid states, making them easier to pack and put together. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-year-technology-enables-sided-zipper.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 04 May 2026 16:00:04 EDT news697126765 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 the technology on himself. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ai-1.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 04 May 2026 12:20:05 EDT news697114261 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 Institute at the University of Oxford finds that chatbots trained to sound warmer and more empathetic are significantly more likely to make factual errors and agree with false beliefs. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-friendlier-ai-backfire.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:20:03 EDT news696693463 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 and smartwatches, to deploy more accurate AI models while keeping user data secure. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-everyday-devices-ai-faster-personal.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 29 Apr 2026 11:40:08 EDT news696680881 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 as rumbling traffic and warehouse vibrations, are especially difficult to address because differences in ear physiology allow sound to leak into ears, despite protection from earplugs. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-meta-earplugs-booming-voice-effect.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 28 Apr 2026 11:00:19 EDT news696500461 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 in Computing Systems suggests that this genie-like quality is fueling AI addiction, and that chatbot design could be partly to blame. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-addicted-ai-chatbot.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:20:01 EDT news696509648 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 push for speed actually impacting the people using these systems every day? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-faster-ai-isnt.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:40:06 EDT news696245701 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 their attention in such environments, and what shapes that attention? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-human-attention-degree-videos.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:00:01 EDT news696092041 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, go one step further. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-good-moral-dilemma-combative.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 22 Apr 2026 09:40:01 EDT news696069183 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 of 19 real conversations between humans and chatbots to understand how these relationships arise, evolve, and, too often, devolve into troubling outcomes the researchers describe as "delusional spirals." https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-relationships-trigger-delusional-spirals.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:00:10 EDT news695986862 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 been developed: voice clones, which can recreate a facsimile of a person's voice from only a few seconds of recorded speech. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-siri-scams-ai-voice-clones.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:00:06 EDT news695895061 Prolonged scrolling is bad for your well-being, but is it also physically tiring? Until now, we haven't really been able to say. This is why researchers from Aalto and Leipzig Universities created a new AI model that makes it possible to simulate muscle activations and required energy to work out how physically effortful smartphone interactions are for users. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-simulates-smartphone-muscle-effort.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 13 Apr 2026 13:20:01 EDT news695304001 XPANCEO, a deep-tech company developing smart contact lenses, has unveiled a passive eye-tracking system that achieves industry-level measurement precision using standard cameras. The system employs microscopic patterns embedded in contact lenses that enable high-accuracy passive gaze tracking without requiring active electronics or dedicated power sources. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-deep-tech-company-high-precision.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:40:03 EDT news694869662 Imagine tapping your thumb and index finger together twice to skip to the next song or clicking around your laptop or desktop computer without a mouse, using discreet finger motions. New first-of-its-kind wearable technology from researchers at Cornell and KAIST, in South Korea, brings that vision closer to reality. The system, called WatchHand, equips off-the-shelf smartwatches with AI-powered micro sonar capable of tracking hand movements. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-sonar-stock-smartwatches-tracking-advancement.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:40:05 EDT news694696262 Voice-activated, conversational artificial intelligence (AI) agents must provide clear explanations for their suggestions, or older adults aren't likely to trust them. That's one of the main findings from a study by AI Caring on what older adults expect from explainable AI (XAI). https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-older-adults-ai.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 06 Apr 2026 11:20:03 EDT news694691882 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 in the long term, seeking emotional support from an AI companion can pull users away from important human relationships. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-ai-companions-comfort-lonely-users.html Consumer & Gadgets Sat, 04 Apr 2026 12:00:06 EDT news694177965 In a new study published in Science, Stanford computer scientists showed that artificial intelligence large language models are overly agreeable, or sycophantic, when users solicit advice on interpersonal dilemmas. Even when users described harmful or illegal behavior, the models often affirmed their choices. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-ai-overly-affirms-users-personal.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:18 EDT news693667021 To get the best out of AI, some users tell it to provide answers as if it were an expert. Others ask it to adopt a persona, such as a safety monitor, to guide its responses. However, this approach can sometimes hurt performance, according to a study available on the arXiv preprint server. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-ai-expert-reliable.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:30:04 EDT news693673246 A multi-channel wearable scent display developed at Institute of Science Tokyo allows a user to experience multiple scents while exploring virtual environments. Based on virtual scenes, the device can blend up to eight fragrances in real time and deliver them with precise control of odor intensity. By synchronizing smell with virtual reality content, the device enables better immersion and realism, opening new possibilities for enhanced digital entertainment, realistic simulation training, and future digital scent technologies. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-vr-scent-technology-blends-fragrances.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 25 Mar 2026 13:40:05 EDT news693653259 Amid hot discussion on screen time, social media use and the impact of digital devices on our well-being, a seven-month study from Aalto University in Finland sheds new light on what overwhelms users the most—and the results aren't what you might think. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-fragmented-total-screen-main-driver.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:20:03 EDT news693575281 Can using a large language model (LLM) make a person more creative? Prior work has shown that using LLMs can make creative outputs more homogeneous, but this homogenization could stem from the specific LLM used or from widespread use of the same model. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-llms-creativity-ai-responses-variety.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 24 Mar 2026 11:40:07 EDT news693565572 While large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are adept at answering countless questions, they often remain unaware of a user's minor habits or previous conversational contexts. This is why AI, despite being deeply integrated into our daily lives, can still feel like a "stranger." Overcoming these limitations, researchers at KAIST, led by Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo from the Graduate School of AI Semiconductors, have developed the world's first AI semiconductor, dubbed "SoulMate," which learns and adapts to a user's speech style, preferences, and emotions in real-time—becoming a true "digital soulmate." https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-soulmate-llm-evolves-specific-characteristics.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 18 Mar 2026 09:40:06 EDT news693044581