Consumer News

While internal emails reveal Meta executives once described themselves as "pushers," Mark Zuckerberg faces a jury to argue that 16-hour-a-day scrolling habits are a sign of "value," not addiction.... Read more

Low-resolution online videos are less likely to influence opinion and also more likely to dissuade viewers from engaging with future content, research by Oregon State University scientists shows. The study carries major implications for the design and delivery of video content and suggests that deviations from high-quality presentations can create... Read more

The secondhand market for smartphones has surged in recent years, borne up by lower prices as well as interest in eco-friendly consumption even as some still fear buying a dud.... Read more

Training police officers with a virtual-reality game can significantly improve their ability to regulate stress, even in realistic, high-pressure situations. The VR game, developed at the Donders Institute at Radboud University, has already been integrated into several police training programs.... Read more

Adelaide University researchers have initiated the development of a world-first cybersecurity system designed to protect drones from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. The new study led by the Industrial AI Research Center and published in the journal Computers & Industrial Engineering, paves the way for safer and more resilient unmanned aerial... Read more

Small household solar power systems have been gaining traction—and investment—as a means to provide affordable and sustainable energy to those living without access to electricity. But new research led by the University of Michigan shows that simply having access to solar technology does not mean people will adopt it and... Read more

The cell phone world is divided into two camps—iPhone users and Android users. Apple curates new features for iOS and Google develops for Android, and they likely don't spend a ton of time worrying about how their phones interact with phones from the other company.... Read more

Large language models (LLMs), artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can process human language and generate texts in response to specific user queries, are now used daily by a growing number of people worldwide. While initially these models were primarily used to quickly source information or produce texts for specific uses,... Read more

With increasing cyberattacks and government data breaches, one of the most important devices to keep secure is the one in everyone's pocket: smartphones. The problem is that it is difficult to check that a smartphone has not been tampered with without the risk of unintentionally damaging the device itself.... Read more

Drawing boundaries isn't just important for relationships with humans anymore. It could be the key to people's relationships with their favorite AI chatbots. Researchers recently discovered that the overly agreeable behavior of chatbots depends on what role the AI plays in a conversation. The more personal a relationship, the more... Read more

Eyes are said to be the mirror of the soul. Eyes and gaze direction guide attention, evoke emotions and activate the brain's social perception mechanisms. Researchers at Tampere University and the University of Bremen conducted a study examining how people perceive the minds of humanoid robots. Mind perception refers to... Read more

Last year, Norwegian-US tech company 1X announced a strange new product: "the world's first consumer-ready humanoid robot designed to transform life at home."... Read more

Large language models (LLMs) have been championed as tools that could democratize access to information worldwide, offering knowledge in a user-friendly interface regardless of a person's background or location. However, new research from MIT's Center for Constructive Communication (CCC) suggests these artificial intelligence systems may actually perform worse for the... Read more

New kinds of aircraft taking to the skies could mean unfamiliar sounds overhead—and where you're hearing them might matter, according to new NASA research. NASA aeronautics has worked for years to enable new air transportation options for people and goods, and to find ways to make sure they can be... Read more

Many people use AI chatbots to plan meals and write emails, AI-enhanced web browsers to book travel and buy tickets, and workplace AI to generate invoices and performance reports. However, a new study of the "AI agent ecosystem" suggests that as these AI bots rapidly become part of everyday life,... Read more