https://techxplore.com/consumer-gadgets-news/ en-us Tthe latest news on consumer electronics, electronic gadgets and electronics. So you program your thermostat to save heating costs, recycle glass and plastic, ride a bicycle to work instead of driving a car, reuse sustainable grocery bags, buy solar panels, and shower with your mate—all to do your part to conserve energy, curb waste and lower your carbon footprint. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-ai-image-generation-carbon-footprint.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:10:01 EST news620913925 In the real world/digital world cross-over of mixed reality, a user's immersive engagement with the program is called presence. Now, UMass Amherst researchers are the first to identify reaction time as a potential presence measurement tool. Their findings, published in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, have implications for calibrating mixed reality to the user in real time. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-immersive-engagement-reality-reaction.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:02:52 EST news620312567 Receiving a bogus designer handbag or imitation Wagyu beef might infuriate a Cyber Monday consumer, but a knock-off respirator or a fake pacemaker could imperil them. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-cyber-monday-legit-app.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:14:48 EST news620054085 University of Sussex researchers have developed a more energy-efficient alternative to transmit data that could potentially replace Bluetooth in mobile phones and other tech devices. With more and more of us owning smartphones and wearable tech, researchers at the University of Sussex have found a more efficient way of connecting our devices and improving battery life. Applied to wearable devices, it could even see us unlocking doors by touch or exchanging phone numbers by shaking hands. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-bluetooth-scientists-efficient-transmit-devices.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 21 Nov 2023 12:44:04 EST news619793042 Most anyone who's used noise-canceling headphones knows that hearing the right noise at the right time can be vital. Someone might want to erase car horns when working indoors, but not when walking along busy streets. Yet people can't choose what sounds their headphones cancel. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-ai-noise-canceling-headphone-technology-wearers.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 09 Nov 2023 14:52:05 EST news618763923 Most people call an internet outage an annoyance. The researchers at USC's ANT Lab (Analysis of Network Traffic) call it a data point. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-human-internet-usage.html Internet Wed, 01 Nov 2023 14:08:23 EDT news618066500 The widespread use of AI algorithms, particularly algorithms designed to recommend content and products to users based on their previous activity online, has led to the rise of new phenomena known as social media echo chambers and information cocoons. These phenomena pose limitations in the information presented to users online, prompting them to only read content that resonates with their outlook on life, views and opinions. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-10-humanai-interaction-scenarios-cocoons.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 31 Oct 2023 14:40:01 EDT news617976971 A new smartphone case could soon enable folks with visual impairments, tremors and spasms to use touch screens independently. Developed at the University of Michigan, BrushLens could help users perceive, locate and tap buttons and keys on the touch screen menus now ubiquitous in restaurant kiosks, ATM machines and other public terminals. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-10-case-workaround-inaccessible-screens.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 26 Oct 2023 14:26:03 EDT news617549161 To examine the global state of AI ethics, a team of researchers from Brazil performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of global guidelines for AI use. Publishing October 13 in in the journal Patterns, the researchers found that, while most of the guidelines valued privacy, transparency, and accountability, very few valued truthfulness, intellectual property, or children's rights. Additionally, most of the guidelines described ethical principles and values without proposing practical methods for implementing them and without pushing for legally binding regulation. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-10-global-consensus-ethical-ai.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 13 Oct 2023 11:00:01 EDT news616405904 New research by psychologists Lucía Vicente and Helena Matute from Deusto University in Bilbao, Spain, provides evidence that people can inherit artificial intelligence biases (systematic errors in AI outputs) in their decisions. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-10-humans-inherit-ai-biases.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 03 Oct 2023 10:10:59 EDT news615546653 Someone's prior beliefs about an artificial intelligence agent, like a chatbot, have a significant effect on their interactions with that agent and their perception of its trustworthiness, empathy, and effectiveness, according to a new study. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-10-users-primed-ai-chatbot-interactions.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 02 Oct 2023 11:00:02 EDT news615455129 There's a bold new chapter in audiobooks. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09-ai-generated-speech-personal-voice.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 20 Sep 2023 14:50:02 EDT news614431346 Apple on Tuesday unveiled its next generation of iPhones—a lineup that will boast better cameras, faster processors, a new charging system and a price hike for the fanciest model. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09-apple-iphones-faster-chips-cameras.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 12 Sep 2023 16:37:03 EDT news613755407 Cloud gaming, which involves playing a video game remotely from the cloud, witnessed unprecedented growth during the lockdowns and gaming hardware shortages that occurred during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, the burgeoning industry encompasses a $6 billion global market and more than 23 million players worldwide. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-cloud-based-gamers-sync.html Internet Thu, 31 Aug 2023 14:34:04 EDT news612711240 Even when humans see AI-based assistants purely as tools, they ascribe partial responsibility for decisions to them, as a new study shows. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-people-smart-ai-responsible-outcomes.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 30 Aug 2023 16:42:04 EDT news612632522 An EPFL study carried out in Vaud Canton has shed light on the factors that can prompt people to buy solar panels. It found that having neighbors with solar panels plays a significant role, alongside more well-known influences, such as our social circle. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-neighbors-decision-buy-solar-panels.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 30 Aug 2023 13:28:51 EDT news612620928 In the early 2000s, computer hobbyists could walk into any of nearly 700 Barnes and Noble bookstores and find aisle after aisle filled with manuals on programming, coding, design, the internet and virtually any other topic even remotely related to computing. Scores of magazines supplemented this sanctuary for computer addicts. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-chatgpt-showdown-stack.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 14 Aug 2023 15:39:44 EDT news611246368 Government legislation to flag and moderate dangerous content on social media can be effective in reducing harm, even on fast-paced platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) new research shows. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-effectively-curb-social-media-dangers.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 14 Aug 2023 15:00:02 EDT news611232823 Learning a new skill using VR works better if your virtual instructor is customized to look more like you, according to research by the University of Bath. The study suggests that even minimal customization can make a difference in how well people learn in a virtual environment. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-customizing-avatars-virtual-environments.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 09 Aug 2023 14:06:36 EDT news610808789 While augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are envisioned as the next iteration of the internet immersing us in new digital worlds, the associated headset hardware and virtual keyboard interfaces create new opportunities for hackers. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-virtual-reality-headsets-vulnerable-hackers.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 09 Aug 2023 11:40:46 EDT news610800041 A newly discovered vulnerability in text messaging may enable attackers to trace your location, according to Northeastern Ph.D. student Evangelos Bitsikas. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-smartphone-vulnerability-hackers-track-user.html Consumer & Gadgets Fri, 28 Jul 2023 13:21:03 EDT news609769261 A new trip-planning app has shown encouraging results in improving navigation inside subway stations, according to a study published in IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, promising the possibility of easier commutes for people who are blind and low-vision. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-app-subway-stations-easier-people.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 27 Jul 2023 11:50:03 EDT news609677401 If you find the computer security guidelines you get at work confusing and not very useful, you're not alone. A new study highlights a key problem with how these guidelines are created, and outlines simple steps that would improve them—and probably make your computer safer. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-advice.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 25 Jul 2023 13:08:37 EDT news609509310 It's bad enough most of us must deal on occasion with coworkers or store clerks who are tactless or rude. And the more we entrust our finances, transactions and business affairs to automated representatives, the more frustration we feel when communications break down. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-ai-personalities-theyre.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 19 Jul 2023 10:31:41 EDT news608981496 If only the internet embraced the notion behind the popular Las Vegas slogan: "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-forgotten-laws-generative-ai.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 18 Jul 2023 10:30:01 EDT news608894632 Law enforcement agencies nationwide regularly sell items that are seized in criminal investigations or are unclaimed from lost-and-found inventories. Many of these items—vehicles, jewelry, watches and electronic devices like cellphones—end up at online auction houses. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-uncover-privacy-cellphones-police-auctions.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 17 Jul 2023 16:45:14 EDT news608831107 In a new study, deepfake video clips of movie remakes that don't actually exist prompted participants to falsely remember the films—but simple text descriptions of the fake movies prompted similar false memory rates. Gillian Murphy of University College Cork, Ireland, and Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, and colleagues presented these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-deepfake-videos-prompt-false-memories.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 13 Jul 2023 12:52:03 EDT news608471521 Artificial intelligence (AI) can help people shop, plan, and write—but not cook. It turns out humans aren't the only ones who have a hard time following step-by-step recipes in the correct order, but new research from the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Computing could change that. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-chef-dataset-ai-cooking.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 05 Jul 2023 16:49:02 EDT news607794538 Even though our computers are now better than 15 years ago, they still malfunction 11%–20% of the time, a new study from the University of Copenhagen and Roskilde University concludes. The researchers behind the study therefore find that there are major gains to be achieved for society by rethinking the systems and involving users more in their development. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-06-problems.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 29 Jun 2023 15:45:04 EDT news607272301 In the space of a few months generative AI models, such as ChatGPT, Google's Bard and Midjourney, have been adopted by more and more people in a variety of professional and personal ways. But growing research is underlining that they are encoding biases and negative stereotypes in their users, as well as mass generating and spreading seemingly accurate but nonsensical information. Worryingly, marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by the fabrication of this nonsensical information. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-06-generative-ai-encoding-biases-negative.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 22 Jun 2023 14:00:02 EDT news606645973