https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/consumer-gadgets-news/ en-us Tthe latest news on consumer electronics, electronic gadgets and electronics. When right-wing commentator and social media influencer Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on a university campus in September 2025, graphic videos of the assassination quickly spread online. Many of those images also appeared before teenagers worldwide. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-canadian-teens-graphic-violence-online.html Internet Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:40:02 EDT news703773002 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 Consumers are more likely to buy cryptocurrencies when they see them as easy to use, trustworthy and beneficial, according to research published in the International Journal of Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies, which used the Technology Acceptance Model as a framework to examine perceptions and adoption. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-factors-consumers-buy-cryptocurrencies.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 16 Jul 2026 18:00:02 EDT news703427447 Martin Scorsese recently announced that he will be joining generative artificial intelligence (AI) company Black Forest Labs. He said he would embrace AI for storyboarding—the practice of creating a visual outline in the early stages of developing a movie or TV show. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-gen-ai-future-isnt-written.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:00:01 EDT news703410694 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 People are increasingly choosing to limit or reject the use of AI tools, according to a new report published by the Digital Futures Institute at King's College London and Responsible AI UK. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-reveals-people-limiting-ai-popularity.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 10 Jul 2026 07:00:03 EDT news702879481 Almost half of Australian adults have used generative artificial intelligence (GAI), with most users reporting it improves how they do their jobs or study, according to new research by the Australian National University (ANU) in partnership with Google. The report, "AI Adoption in Australia," finds that concerns about personal data and a lack of training and skills are barriers to some Australians using GAI systems. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-australian-adults-generative-ai.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 09 Jul 2026 09:20:08 EDT news702805681 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 When Vietnamese athlete Nguyen Thanh Hien Linh stepped into her first virtual taekwondo competition in Singapore in 2024, she had little idea what she was doing. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-virtual-taekwondo-debut-asian-games.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 07 Jul 2026 04:11:32 EDT news702616276 You're in a dance club bathed in a neon-purple glow, surrounded by ghostly silhouettes that sway to the music. A stranger at the bar greets you with a flirty wave: "Hey, you look so cute!" Sparks fly. It's all part of a virtual reality game called Rekindle, but the narrative seems real enough that you feel giddy. You break into what's known as a genuine Duchenne smile—the kind where your mouth corners lift and your eyes squint a little. The biometric software in the headset you're wearing scans your face and checks your muscle movements against the 70 that are involved in typical expressions. You're happy, and your gaming PC knows it. You sink deeper into the story. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-vr-game-tracks-player-emotions.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 06 Jul 2026 18:40:01 EDT news702552980 More and more people are turning to AI when they feel stressed or worried. Researchers at Leiden University studied how and why people use chatbots for emotional support. Their conclusion: AI meets a real need, but also raises serious concerns. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-ear-risky.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:40:01 EDT news702563480 Earlier today, the ABC flagged a shift in its position on generative artificial intelligence (AI) use in its news production. Despite previous caution, a recent deal with U.S. tech company Anthropic has opened the door for ABC staff to bring Claude AI into their broadcast news work. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-abc-trial-ai-journalism-benefits.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:00:05 EDT news702550622 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 have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that evaluates the visual appeal of literary and artistic product designs by mimicking how people naturally direct their attention across an image, a step that could help designers create products that better match consumer preferences. The work was published in the International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-visual-saliency-ai-artistic-product.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 02 Jul 2026 21:00:01 EDT news702217471 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 Sony said Wednesday that it would stop releasing new video games for the PlayStation on disc in January 2028 following a shift in consumer preferences. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-sony-playstation-games-discs.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:40:02 EDT news702138885 You expect to be safe when you go to work or when your kids play at the school playground. When you go to the doctor or get financial advice from the bank, you expect they'll act in your interests. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-australia-digital-duty-big-tech.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:03 EDT news702124201 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 The Australian government has announced it is "doubling down" on social media platforms that aren't complying with age restrictions for under-16s. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-social-media-bigger-penalties-platforms.html Internet Mon, 29 Jun 2026 12:00:09 EDT news701952121 At the Eurobike trade fair, hopes are high that smart and AI-enabled bicycles can revive an industry that has been dealing with years of flagging sales. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-industry-smart-bikes-boost-sales.html Consumer & Gadgets Sun, 28 Jun 2026 11:22:49 EDT news701864551 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 Despite European legislation, many commercial websites still fall short when it comes to meeting the WCAG accessibility standard, Dante Göbbels has found. Göbbels investigated the barriers website visitors encounter, including inaccessible forms and poor contrast, missing alt text for images (important for blind and visually impaired users), and keyboard-unfriendly navigation. His main recommendations are greater awareness, more training, and more enforcement. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-digital-barriers-visitors-dutch-websites.html Internet Sat, 27 Jun 2026 08:00:08 EDT news701523215 Sony is halting sales of its robotic puppy "aibo" in Japan, the company said, eight years after the latest model of its interactive android pet became an instant hit. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-sony-discontinues-japan-sales-robot.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 26 Jun 2026 04:05:35 EDT news701665518 Apple on Thursday announced an increase in prices for Macs and iPads, citing a memory chip shortage brought on by the artificial intelligence boom. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-apple-prices-macs-ipads-blaming.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:32:42 EDT news701620332 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 Manufacturers have traditionally relied on sales figures to understand where they stand with consumers, but by the time those numbers arrive, consumers' buying decisions have already been made. A study co-authored by UC Riverside business professor Hai Che offers a way to capture what consumers are thinking while they are still weighing options, comparing products and deciding whether to buy at all. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-tracking-consumers-buy.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:40:04 EDT news701515862 Meta on Tuesday launched a new line of smart glasses priced slightly lower than its Ray-Ban-branded glasses, as competition heats up in the AI-powered wearable tech space. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-meta-glasses-wearables-competition.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 24 Jun 2026 03:53:06 EDT news701491960 The Dutch government is considering making it illegal to use children younger than 16 in paid social media content. The government argues such online content featuring children—designed to sell goods to child consumers—basically involves them in child labor. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-kidfluencers-social-media-australia-netherlands.html Internet Tue, 23 Jun 2026 20:40:05 EDT news701440228