Electronics

As technology increasingly integrates complex soundscapes into virtual spaces, understanding how humans perceive directional audio becomes vital. This need is bolstered by the rise of immersive media, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), where users are virtually transported into other worlds. In a recent study, researchers explored... Read more

Household appliances need to be refurbished and/or recycled at the end of their useful lives. The KIKERP project (see below) aims to harness artificial intelligence to collect information about used appliances and determine parameters such as model and condition to help decide whether a particular device should be refurbished or... Read more

A new pilot study has found that game-based learning (GBL) can be a highly effective method for teaching adults how to identify and avoid e-commerce fraud and scams, an issue that continues to rise globally as more people shop online.... Read more

From delivering food in restaurants to cleaning airports, robots are becoming increasingly common in society—but are our policies ready to keep up?... Read more

A new study has found overwhelming (90%+) non-compliance with mandatory advertising disclosure requirements for gambling-like loot boxes in video games, raising concerns about consumer protection enforcement in both the United Kingdom and South Korea.... Read more

A new international study finds that people place greater emotional value on empathy they believe comes from humans—even when the exact same response is generated by artificial intelligence.... Read more

For people who are blind or have low vision, the audio descriptions of action in movies and TV shows are essential to understanding what is happening. Networks and streaming services hire professionals to create audio descriptions, but that's not the case for billions of YouTube and TikTok videos.... Read more

A gardening game created by a teenager on online platform Roblox has attracted a record 21 million simultaneous players, a figure rarely seen in the industry.... Read more

Mattel may seem like an unchanging, old-school brand. Most of us are familiar with it—be it through Barbie, Fisher-Price, Thomas & Friends, Uno, Masters of the Universe, Matchbox, MEGA or Polly Pocket.... Read more

There is a comfort in finding and being yourself. Video games offer opportunities for this comfort. They allow people to exist in safe spaces, to develop community, and to explore the self—as well as the potential self.... Read more

Some unusual witnesses helped convict Alex Murdaugh of the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.... Read more

Julie Inman Grant, Australia's eSafety Commissioner, today addressed the National Press Club to outline how her office will be driving the Social Media Minimum Age Bill when it comes into effect in December this year.... Read more

Smartwatch features that measure heart rates, oxygen levels, fitness levels and sleep quality have been marketed as valuable tools for people who are eager to monitor their health.... Read more

The TikTok ban has been delayed. Again.... Read more

NASA's Advanced Air Mobility vision involves the skies above the U.S. filled with new types of aircraft, including air taxis. But making that vision a reality involves ensuring that people will actually want to ride these aircraft—which is why NASA has been working to evaluate comfort, to see what passengers... Read more

"Have you seen the cats?" That's a common refrain in my household because our two felines, Maple and Juniper, can venture outside through a flap in the backdoor. Like many other London house cats, they're free to come and go, roaming the surrounding backyards and beyond, equipped with microchips to... Read more

A fascinating recent development enabling musicians to improvise live music with AI-generated sound could be the biggest innovation since the advent of sampling, or perhaps even the invention of recorded sound, according to a music researcher at York.... Read more

A research team at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea) has developed AI technology that helps individuals deeply understand others' emotions by analyzing individual personality traits and values and generating personalized analogy.... Read more

Surrounded by virtual cliffs and a cascading waterfall, dragon riders on Roblox's massive online gaming platform immerse themselves in a memorable scene from "How to Train Your Dragon."... Read more

Tired of navigating the online dating landscape alone? Now you can swipe right along with friends.... Read more

Clearing your cookies is not enough to protect your privacy online. New research led by Texas A&M University has found that websites are covertly using browser fingerprinting—a method to uniquely identify a web browser—to track people across browser sessions and sites.... Read more

Xbox president Sarah Bond on Tuesday confirmed that her team is working on a new Xbox video game console.... Read more

There is something paradoxical about our relationship with technology. We have very high expectations that new technology will solve the greatest challenges of our time. At the same time, we are quite often skeptical about using new technological solutions.... Read more

Christopher Pelkey was shot and killed in a road range incident in 2021. On May 8, 2025, at the sentencing hearing for his killer, an AI video reconstruction of Pelkey delivered a victim impact statement. The trial judge reported being deeply moved by this performance and issued the maximum sentence... Read more

Would you like to live next door to a solar farm? Traditionally, it's been thought that although people like the idea of renewable energy plants, they don't want them close by. Now, research investigating how people who live near large-scale solar projects feel about them has found that 82% of... Read more

The first emojis can be traced back to the late 1980s, but it was not until 2011 that they became a part of our everyday lives. That was when Apple, followed by other tech companies, implemented emojis in their operating systems.... Read more

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has enlisted the legendary designer behind the iPhone to create an irresistible gadget for using generative artificial intelligence (AI).... Read more

The first study to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to generate podcasts about research published in scientific papers has shown the results were so good that half of the papers' authors thought the podcasters were human.... Read more

Your next toy or game may be able to converse with you. Mattel, the El Segundo toy maker behind Barbie and Hot Wheels, said Thursday that it's teaming up with OpenAI, which created the popular chatbot ChatGPT, to "bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences."... Read more

It is "the policy of the United States to promote AI literacy and proficiency among Americans," reads an executive order President Donald Trump issued on April 23, 2025. The executive order, titled Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth, signals that advancing AI literacy is now an official national priority.... Read more

Like it or not, artificial intelligence has become part of daily life. Many devices—including electric razors and toothbrushes—have become "AI-powered," using machine learning algorithms to track how a person uses the device, how the device is working in real time, and provide feedback. From asking questions to an AI assistant... Read more

Would you trust a driverless car? A 2024 global survey involving nearly 8,000 participants suggests most people are wary of handing over the steering wheel to sensors, cameras and computer algorithms.... Read more

For years, Snap has envisioned a future where people wear glasses to view and interact with computer-generated images without having to scroll through their smartphones.... Read more

The Switch 2 has smashed records to become the fastest-selling console ever after gamers snapped up 3.5 million units in its first four days, Nintendo said Wednesday.... Read more

From family photos in the cloud to email archives and social media accounts, the digital lives of Americans are extensive and growing.... Read more

Suppose you were shown that an artificial intelligence tool offers accurate predictions about some stocks you own. How would you feel about using it? Now, suppose you are applying for a job at a company where the HR department uses an AI system to screen resumes. Would you be comfortable... Read more

Apple Inc. unveiled a new operating system interface called Liquid Glass at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, an event that focused heavily on aesthetics and design elements rather than software breakthroughs.... Read more

After stumbling out of the starting gate in Big Tech's pivotal race to capitalize on artificial intelligence, Apple tried to regain its footing Monday during an annual developers conference that focused mostly on incremental advances and cosmetic changes in its technology.... Read more

I'm cruising around Bowser's Castle with my old pal Toad. It's not exactly relaxing, what with all the lava pits and banana peels and turtle shells littering the road. Add 23 other characters—is that a cow driving?—who are trying to get to the finish line first, and it's chaos.... Read more

Microsoft on Sunday unveiled its first Xbox-branded handheld gaming devices, touting them as a way to play its vast library of titles anywhere.... Read more

New research led by the University of Portsmouth has found that fake social media profiles, particularly LinkedIn accounts, are a leading cause of security breaches among professionals.... Read more

Gamers finally got their hands on Nintendo's new Switch 2 on Thursday, the console that could score record early sales for the Japanese "Super Mario" creator.... Read more

With shops planning midnight launch parties after a run on pre-orders, Nintendo releases the Switch 2 on Thursday, hoping to score record early sales for a games console.... Read more

Can AI do humor? A new study suggests artificial intelligence can create internet memes as funny as those made by humans. But when it comes to gags that truly connect with viewers, people still have the edge.... Read more

Generative artificial intelligence is everywhere, but not everyone is ready to embrace it—and it's not just people who fear that AI might replace their jobs or that ChatGPT will become sentient and take over the world.... Read more

People in parts of the U.S. may be able to see Northern lights Monday night—or at least use a smartphone's camera to reveal hints of the aurora not visible to the naked eye.... Read more

Nearly everyone has encountered the unthinkable: Your smartphone landed in the toilet. Or you forgot to take off your smartwatch before jumping into the pool. Or maybe you meant to take those earbuds out of your pocket before running the laundry. What now?... Read more

Big tech sharing economy platforms like Airbnb and Uber are marketed as trustworthy, but a new book by a South African media scholar argues that they are highly vulnerable to scammers who spread delusive speech (a form of disinformation, designed to deceive by criminal intent).... Read more

If you've seen videos of people tearing into tiny toy packages online, or noticed teens obsessing over pastel-colored figurines at the mall, you've probably encountered the global craze for blind box toys.... Read more

Head lice, fleas and tapeworms have been humanity's companions throughout our evolutionary history. Yet, the greatest parasite of the modern age is no blood-sucking invertebrate. It is sleek, glass-fronted and addictive by design. Its host? Every human on Earth with a Wi-Fi signal.... Read more