https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/consumer-gadgets-news/ en-us Tthe latest news on consumer electronics, electronic gadgets and electronics. The widespread use of conversational platforms such as ChatGPT and Gemini is raising important new ethical, anthropological and legal questions regarding the potential risks, misuses and shortcomings of artificial intelligence (AI). In discussing their personal experiences, some people have shared that they formed emotional attachments to AI agents or even felt that they had formed romantic relationships with them. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-people-ai-agents.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 11 Aug 2026 08:00:02 EDT news705585110 In recent months, American drivers have felt the pain of increased prices at the gas pump. There's some evidence that higher prices may be fueling interest in greener ways of getting around. Battery electric cars, more commonly called electric vehicles or EVs, can be cheaper to own and operate than gas-powered internal combustion engine cars, and they offer considerable sustainability benefits. But just how much better for the planet are electric vehicles, really? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-car-ev-compelling.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:00:05 EDT news705155941 Last year, Melanie Walsh, a University of Washington assistant professor in the Information School, wrote an article examining how 300 popular children's books gendered their animal characters. Of the 13 most common animals, most were male—unless they happened to be cats, ducks or birds, which trended slightly more female. But a frog, a wolf? More than a 90% chance it was a "he." https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ai-erase-female-characters-kids.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:20:06 EDT news705165248 People gave the highest ratings to AI-generated stories they were told had been written by humans and were unable to tell the difference between human- and AI-created stories, according to new research published in Judgement and Decision Making. The study, led by researchers at Villanova University, U.S., adds to the growing body of evidence that many people's ability to spot AI-generated content is limited. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-people-stories-written-ai-told.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 04 Aug 2026 19:10:03 EDT news704970841 From doctors diagnosing symptoms to judges intervening in court cases, humans make complex decisions every day. Increasingly, artificial intelligence tools are being used to help with those decisions. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-decision-overreliance-ai.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:20:06 EDT news704980861 The human eye, as good as it is, misses out on so much of the world because it is limited in what it can perceive. It can't see X-rays, ultraviolet rays or infrared light. While X-ray goggles are still the stuff of science fiction, we may be moving closer to wearable glasses that make infrared light look almost like everyday vision. Scientists at the Beijing Institute of Technology have developed a device that transforms infrared light into a full-color visible image. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-prototype-glasses-infrared-vision.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 03 Aug 2026 10:00:04 EDT news704969949 Researchers have created a wearable patch that can detect hazards in the environment—such as dangerous gases or heavy metals in water—and then notify wearers by vibrating against their skin. The researchers have also extended the work to create an "e-skin" for robotic devices, allowing robots to detect and avoid hazards in their environment. The paper is published in the journal Device. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-wearable-patch-vibrates-environmental-hazards.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:40:08 EDT news704114278 New research led by The University of Manchester in collaboration with Durham University has found that AI chatbots such as ChatGPT can match—and in some situations outperform—humans as a source of everyday emotional support. However, the advantage depends on the emotional context, and a key ingredient for effective support—offering specific, actionable guidance—can boost the quality of support from both humans and AI alike. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-chatbots-effective-humans-emotional.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 22 Jul 2026 19:00:01 EDT news703777081 Webtoons are coming to life in the physical world, ushering in a new era in which comics are not merely viewed but experienced. A KAIST research team has developed the world's first next-generation extended reality (XR) comics platform that enables a wide range of readers to enjoy immersive, three-dimensional comics in physical space. By expanding webtoons beyond the screen and into the real world, the team has opened up new possibilities for the future of comics. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-source-xr-webtoons-3d-comics.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:40:04 EDT news703853761 Tech firms are racing to roll out advanced smartphones that use artificial intelligence to do everything from ordering food to composing messages with a simple voice command. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-pocket-size-ai-powerful-star.html Consumer & Gadgets Sun, 19 Jul 2026 04:50:02 EDT news703654773 Companies are increasingly using artificial intelligence in their hiring processes. It's not just CVs that are evaluated automatically. AI tools can also conduct job interviews—usually in the form of avatars, which are animated characters—and make hiring decisions. An important reason for this, aside from saving time, is that AI is said to be less biased than humans. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-job-felt-fair-avatars.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:40:03 EDT news702897476 Beyond bendable and foldable displays, the era of stretchable displays—whose screens can expand freely like rubber—is now emerging. KAIST researchers have developed a core technology that allows text, images and other on-screen information to retain their original shape even when the screen is stretched by up to 15%. The achievement is expected to help solve the problem of image distortion and accelerate the commercialization of next-generation, high-quality stretchable displays. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-core-display-technology-image-distortion.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:29:30 EDT news702721728 The amount of time young people spend playing video games is not enough to judge whether gaming is linked to cognitive difficulties. A new study of several thousand adolescents shows that gaming time and symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder are associated with cognitive performance in opposite ways. While dysregulated gaming—marked by loss of control, craving or continued play despite problems—was consistently linked to lower performance across cognitive tests, gaming time itself showed small positive associations with selected skills. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-links-cognitive-difficulties-compulsive-gaming.html Internet Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:03 EDT news702647074 AI tools used to generate, edit or contextualize social media posts can introduce hidden biases that spread through online networks and shape public opinion, according to new research from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at the University of Oxford and the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-powered-social-media-subtly.html Consumer & Gadgets Sun, 05 Jul 2026 19:10:04 EDT news702225301 Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found that while artificial intelligence can spin increasingly convincing stories, its characters may still lack one of the qualities that make human-written fiction memorable: mystery. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-fiction-flat-characters-lack.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:20:07 EDT news702144781 Human-AI relationships are no longer confined to the domain of science fiction. As the technology has developed, AI chatbots have evolved from playing a role in search engines and image-generation tools into confidants, therapists and even romantic partners. It's a radical evolution of human-AI interactions that brings with it new risks in how it is reshaping the way we think and talk about relationships, including with ourselves, finds new research published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-human-relationships-real.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 01 Jul 2026 16:20:08 EDT news702140763 Two-wheeled vehicles with conventional stability-control systems must lean to change direction, making it difficult for rider-assistance systems to determine whether a rider is intentionally cornering or experiencing instability that could lead to a fall. To address this challenge, researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), Japan, have developed a rider-intent-aware control system that can distinguish between the two and provide stabilization support only when needed. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-smart-bicycle-riders-falling.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 30 Jun 2026 13:40:05 EDT news702044701 What if your smartwatch could tell when you were struggling emotionally and offer support before you even thought to ask? That's the idea behind a new AI-powered system developed by researchers at the University of Ottawa, one that could change how people access mental health care outside a clinical setting. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ai-smartwatches-speech-text-distress.html Consumer & Gadgets Sat, 27 Jun 2026 11:40:01 EDT news701698660 AI shopping assistants are popping up all over the internet, changing how we browse, compare and discover products. However, these helpful tools appear to have a serious security flaw. According to a paper published on the arXiv preprint server, a single manipulated web page can trick an AI assistant into promoting a fake product to unsuspecting customers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-fake-web-page-ai-bots.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:00:02 EDT news701609352 University of Adelaide researchers have developed a wearable glove that uses heat, touch and physical objects to transform data into a sensory experience. The prototype, called ThermoPhy, was developed as part of a remote internship run by the Australian Research Center for Interactive and Virtual Environments (IVE) at the University of Adelaide. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-wearable-glove-personal-insights.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:00:07 EDT news701012248 Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, is an important form of Japan's Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) that fosters creativity, mindfulness and aesthetic sensitivity. Also known as "Kado," or way of the flower, ikebana offers people living in metropolitan areas a way to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and connect with nature, which significantly benefits mental well-being. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ar-japanese-beginners-home-mindfulness.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:00:07 EDT news700747889 In the famous French play Cyrano de Bergerac, the brilliant but insecure Cyrano lends his eloquence to the handsome, tongue-tied Christian to help him woo his lover. Today, a remarkably similar scene is playing out among millions of dating app users, with the role of the lovelorn poet played not by a human but by AI. New research from Constructor University professor Dr. Lennart Ante analyzes the growing impact of dating app users outsourcing the delicate work of courtship—from the witty opening line to the flirtatious reply—to AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini or even specialized "wingman" apps like Rizz and Winggg. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-prompt-ai-courtship-rewriting-online.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 15 Jun 2026 11:20:01 EDT news700739761 In a recent editorial published in Science, Microsoft's chief scientific officer, Eric Horvitz, and researcher Robert West from the School of Computer and Communication Sciences at EPFL in Switzerland issue a stark warning about AI. They say the advancement of AI systems rapidly being woven into our everyday lives is beginning to outpace our understanding of them. At the same time, AI's understanding of human behavior is expanding. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-human-ai-advancement.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 12 Jun 2026 11:56:38 EDT news700484077 Researchers at UNSW Sydney have harnessed the power of ultrasonic sound waves to make espresso-strength coffee with room-temperature water, cutting energy use by up to 75%. That morning coffee kick from a shot of espresso needs boiling water and high pressure—equaling plenty of energy consumption, right? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-espresso-coffee-world.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 10 Jun 2026 11:23:22 EDT news700309384 It's no secret that the last few years have seen a massive explosion in the use of artificial intelligence for general information-gathering. An even more recent trend, though, is how large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are increasingly being used for verifying and consuming news. Reports from the Pew Research Center over the last year found that 1 in 5 U.S. teens regularly use LLMs to get their news, while 1 in 4 young adults have reported using them for that purpose at least once. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-consequences-ai-accurate-news.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 10 Jun 2026 10:03:53 EDT news700304501 Some people have a gift for creating beautiful works of art. Others appreciate art but do not have the talent to create it. Researchers at Cornell Tech and the Cornell Bowers College of Computing and Information Science have created an artificial intelligence framework, ShadowDraw, that can create "shadow art"—partial line drawings that are completed by the shadow cast from an object—by simply scanning the object. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-framework-generates-shadow-art-scan.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 04 Jun 2026 13:00:02 EDT news699796443 Someone with no computing experience may soon be able to remotely control a robot from anywhere on the planet using a smartphone, thanks to new technology developed by Georgia Tech. The new technology is also set to revolutionize the scale of policy training data collection, which is essential to advancing robotic capabilities and meeting growing production demand. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-app-robot.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:20:06 EDT news699786961 As any athlete will tell you, perfect practice makes perfect. But for individuals who do not have regular access to coaches or trainers, maintaining good form can be tricky. In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic when many people were exercising at home, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported a 48% rise in injuries related to at-home exercise. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ai-bad-real-injuries.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:40:01 EDT news699726422 It's well understood that people tend to be naturally drawn to those with bubbly and extroverted personalities. And those outgoing and gregarious types may naturally consider themselves people-persons and gravitate toward others. But the feeling may not be mutual when it comes to the people with whom these extroverts are interacting. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-people-chatbots-similar-personality-traits.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 29 May 2026 11:40:10 EDT news699273361 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