https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/consumer-gadgets-news/ en-us Tthe latest news on consumer electronics, electronic gadgets and electronics. Most of us now carry in our pockets devices capable of running small AI chatbots. These chatbots have little safety oversight to ensure they don't provide information and answers with the potential to encourage self-harm, lead to financial loss or promote extremist notions—especially when operating offline. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-simple-math-formula-ai-chatbots.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 08 Oct 2026 11:00:28 EDT news710612401 Fatigue can be just as dangerous as drunken driving. That is why both researchers and companies are increasingly investing in technologies that can monitor and improve our sleep. But what happens if sleep is no longer regarded as a private necessity but as something that can be measured, documented and optimized? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-employer-demand-proof-youve-slept.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 08 Oct 2026 10:00:01 EDT news710671648 Microsoft is pushing a "hybrid intelligence" future with a new Surface Ultra laptop that runs on Nvidia artificial intelligence (AI) chips and will cost more than $2,500, the company announced Wednesday. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-microsoft-ai-vision-expensive-surface.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 08 Oct 2026 04:50:01 EDT news710653204 For the last three years, while studying at the University of Washington, Yael Eiger was also teaching in local prisons. She headed to a penitentiary in Monroe weekly, as well as one in Gig Harbor, working with organizations such as the Prison Math Project and the Freedom Education Project of Puget Sound. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-qa-technology-incarcerated-people-inefficient.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:40:09 EDT news710594762 Drivers alerted to police presence by others using a popular global app appear to be learning how to avoid speeding penalties—but not how to stay safe on roads. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-drivers-app-dodge-fines.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 07 Oct 2026 07:00:09 EDT news710570941 Life often gets in the way of going to bed in sync with our circadian rhythm and getting enough sleep. Work, school and other social commitments can pull our schedules out of step, and scientists call this mismatch social jet lag. When people experience this sleep mismatch, they feel tired and off their game. This jet lag can often trigger social anxiety and worry about being judged negatively by others. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-sync-people-ai-dating-job.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 06 Oct 2026 07:00:01 EDT news710416680 According to a Pew survey conducted this year, about half of U.S. adults say that they spend too much time on their phone. About a quarter say that they are on their phone "almost constantly" and, of the 45% who have tried decreasing their phone use, only 25% say they succeeded. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-smartphones-hard.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:40:20 EDT news710429581 Stories about AI systems deceiving users, cooperating with one another or pursuing their own goals increasingly invite us to talk about them as if they had minds of their own. But do people really believe that AI is conscious? A new LMU study suggests that they draw a surprisingly sharp line between intelligent behavior and consciousness. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-ai-people-conscious-humans.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:00:25 EDT news710160902 Electric cars are dangerous, bad for the environment and impossible to use in the outback. These are just some of the claims circulating among Australians skeptical of the switch to EVs, new research finds. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-electric-car-myths-australians.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:00:20 EDT news710160242 From our smartphones to advanced industrial systems, cameras have become an integral part of modern life. Conventional cameras capture scenes as a sequence of frames at fixed time intervals. In contrast, event cameras detect changes in brightness at each pixel as they occur and record them asynchronously as "events." https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-path-method-generation-event-cameras.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 01 Oct 2026 15:03:05 EDT news710085726 Anyone who has used ChatGPT or another artificial intelligence chatbot has likely seen a disclaimer that its answers may be incorrect. Large language models are built to generate the most probable response to a prompt. Even when they lack reliable information, they may produce an answer that sounds convincing rather than acknowledge uncertainty. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-quantum-math-ai.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 30 Sep 2026 10:40:08 EDT news709982677 Addiction, violence, aggression, social withdrawal: Video games have been in the crosshairs for a litany of negative impacts. Researchers at Macquarie University, however, are working on the premise that video games can have positive impacts, too—that just as pilots use simulators to learn and hone their flight skills, people could use video games to develop their moral skills. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-video-games-people.html Software Tue, 29 Sep 2026 19:40:01 EDT news709902442 It's bedtime. You set your alarm, notice your phone is down to 23% battery, plug it in beside the bed and go to sleep. By morning, it's been connected to the charger for seven to eight hours—much longer than it needed to reach 100%, especially if it's on a fast charger. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-safe-overnight.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 29 Sep 2026 07:20:01 EDT news709884662 AI-generated summaries are becoming increasingly prevalent—from news article previews to workplace meeting transcriptions to high-stakes settings like police body camera footage—despite studies showing that AI can generate misleading or inaccurate information. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-generated-summaries-distort-human.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:00:16 EDT news709822321 Meta unveiled several new wearables powered by its AI models Wednesday, including an audio-only, camera-free version of its smart glasses, amid global concerns about privacy and the filming of women and girls without their consent. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-meta-camera-free-ai-glasses.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:45:51 EDT news709526715 Apple's latest mobile operating system update, iOS 27, rolled out last week, headlined by a more advanced version of its Siri assistant. But it also comes with a slew of other useful but less well known features for iPhone users. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ios-revamped-screen-features.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:30:01 EDT news709442228 Meta is going all in on a consumer-friendly AI agent and pushing forward with AI-powered wearable devices during a moment in the industry when its CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged it is a "wild time to be building." https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-meta-big-wearable-ai-agent.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:17:32 EDT news709442163 When an AI chatbot agrees with our reasoning in resolving a social dilemma, we may become more confident in our opinions. But when the chatbot disagrees, we may simply dismiss the challenge rather than reconsider our views. That's according to new research from the University of Michigan examining how people respond when artificial intelligence weighs in on personal and interpersonal dilemmas. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-people-technology-view.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 23 Sep 2026 07:40:04 EDT news709367882 Meta has spent billions to stay competitive in artificial intelligence, but the tech giant faces growing pushback as CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares to announce new products built for the AI era Wednesday. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-meta-ai-smart-glasses-privacy.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:20:04 EDT news709356735 I recently typed a simple question into Google Search: How much screen time is too much for teenagers? Instead of presenting links, as Google had been doing for many years, it gave me an AI-generated answer. The artificial intelligence agent cited a number, then complicated that reply, noting that the quality and balance of that time could matter more than the number of hours and that "too much" time could depend on a teenager's sleep, exercise, school demands and mood. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-3.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 18 Sep 2026 13:20:05 EDT news708955685 Research originating at Georgia State University's Creative Media Industries Institute (CMII) into empathic digital humans and human-centered artificial intelligence continues to evolve, with a new publication, international research activity and professional recognition for Professor of Practice Jeasy Sehgal. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-empathic-digital-humans-creative.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 18 Sep 2026 11:20:10 EDT news708948313 Robots no longer exist only in popular culture or science fiction. While we might be familiar with the likes of WALL-E, Baymax, the Terminator and Ultron from the big screen, versions of them are increasingly entering everyday life. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-robot-creepiness-highly-personal-subjective.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 17 Sep 2026 07:40:06 EDT news708847981 As artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots become more popular and more humanlike in the way they communicate, users are increasingly turning to them as trusted sources of information on topics ranging from personal finance to health. That may be problematic, according to Penn State researchers, who found in a recent study that the more conversational an AI chatbot is, the more likely users are to trust it—even when it shares misinformation. The team said verification options may help rebuild needed skepticism. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-chatty-chatbots-users-verification-tools.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 15 Sep 2026 15:00:02 EDT news708698542 AI-generated texts are increasingly perceived as human, but people can still recognize human writing as such. However, this distinction becomes much more difficult once AI is explicitly instructed to come across as human. This is shown by research involving, among others, Tilburg University, published in the journal Nature Communications. Several experiments involving more than 3,000 participants examined how human and empathetic people perceive relationship advice generated by AI and humans. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-empathetic-human.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 15 Sep 2026 11:20:07 EDT news708689221 Apple's latest iPhones, unveiled this week, come with new features, better cameras and hefty price tags—including a folding model with a starting price of $1,999. If you're planning to splurge on a new iPhone 18, you will want to take care of it to make it last as long as possible. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-iphones-longer.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 10 Sep 2026 03:47:48 EDT news708230846 When a phone is lost or stolen, reporting it to a cellular carrier is supposed to prevent unauthorized use. Michigan State University researchers have found that weaknesses in the reporting system itself could potentially be exploited to block legitimate devices from cellular networks. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-stolen-safeguard-disrupt-home-alarms.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:20:07 EDT news708192001 Apple on Wednesday unveiled its latest generation of iPhones, including a widely anticipated foldable version called Duo. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-apple-ceo-unveils-latest-iphone.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 09 Sep 2026 15:35:15 EDT news708186886 Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of everyday life in the U.S., but Americans are far less comfortable when it shifts from something they use to something that makes decisions about them, according to a new survey led by Rutgers researchers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-americans-artificial-intelligence-humans-consequential.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:13 EDT news708173101 Apple is expected to unveil a slew of new and updated devices, including a long-rumored foldable iPhone, when it holds its annual late-summer hardware event Wednesday in Cupertino, California. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-apple-ceo-foldable-iphone.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:20:01 EDT news708154889 Apple is unveiling its latest generation of iPhones, widely expected to include a foldable version, on Wednesday at an event headlined by new CEO John Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook on Sept. 1. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-apple-ceo-unveil-latest-iphone.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:39:01 EDT news708147522