Consumer & Gadgets news
Consumer & Gadgets
Simple math formula predicts when AI chatbots will go rogue
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, ...
Oct 8, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Can your employer demand proof that you've slept well?
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 ...
Oct 8, 2026
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Microsoft pushes AI vision with new, expensive Surface laptop
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.
Oct 8, 2026
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Speeding drivers use app to dodge fines
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.
Oct 7, 2026
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Q&A: Why the technology used by incarcerated people is 'inefficient, unusable, frustrating and expensive'
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 ...
Oct 7, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Out-of-sync sleep schedules may steer people toward AI for dating and job assessments
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 ...
Oct 6, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Should quitting smartphones be this hard?
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 ...
Oct 5, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Even when AI behaves just like us, people still rate it as less conscious than humans
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? ...
Oct 2, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
The electric car myths Australians can't shake
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.
Oct 2, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
How a path-tracing method could help train next-generation event cameras
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 ...
Oct 1, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Quantum-inspired math could help AI recognize when it does not know the answer
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 ...
Sep 30, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Is it safe to charge your phone overnight?
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 ...
Sep 29, 2026
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Software
Video games could make us better people
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 ...
Sep 29, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Misleading AI-generated summaries can distort human memory
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 ...
Sep 28, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Meta launches camera-free AI glasses amid privacy pushback
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 ...
Sep 25, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Meta bets big on wearable AI, new AI agent as Zuckerberg pushes back against AI doom
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."
Sep 24, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
iOS 27 comes with revamped screen time controls and other useful new features
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 ...
Sep 24, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
When AI disagrees, people change how they perceive the technology—not their original view
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. ...
Sep 23, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Meta leans into AI, smart glasses amid privacy pushback
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.
Sep 23, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
How to know if you can trust an AI's answer to your question
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 ...
Sep 18, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Could empathic digital humans transform creative learning?
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 ...
Sep 18, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Experiment shows robot creepiness remains highly personal and subjective
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 ...
Sep 17, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
AI can sound empathetic and human—but not at the same time
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. ...
Sep 15, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
Chatty chatbots can mislead users, but verification tools help, researchers find
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 ...
Sep 15, 2026
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Consumer & Gadgets
One Tech Tip: New iPhones arrive, but you can keep your old phone longer by caring for it
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 ...
Sep 10, 2026
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