Category: Technology

Most teens in the United States say that Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat aren’t harming their mental health, though a slightly higher proportion report negative effects on their sleep and productivity, according to a new report from Pew Research. The report offers fresh insights into how teens perceive the effects of social media at a time when there are increasing calls to ban younger teens from social platforms altogether. 

The report is based on a survey of 1,458 teens between the ages of 13 and 17. Teens were asked about their use of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok and how those apps affect them. Pew also asked the teens’ parents to weigh in. 

Relatively few teens reported negative mental health effects, with 9 percent of Snapchat and TikTok users and 11 percent of Instagram users saying they thought the services had hurt their mental health. More teens reported negative effects on sleep and productivity, however, especially when it comes to use of TikTok. Thirty-seven percent of teens said their use of the app had hurt their sleep and 29 percent reported that it had affected their productivity. Even so, the majority of teens responded that the apps had “neither helped nor hurt” their mental health, sleep or productivity.

Teens and their parents differed on the effects of social media platforms.

A significant number of teens did say that social media apps had helped their friendships, particularly Snapchat. At the same time, the app had a “somewhat higher rate” of bullying and harassment compared with the other services.

While the self-reported data is hardly a definitive answer to whether social media is harming teens, the numbers do offer a somewhat different narrative than the one that lawmakers, regulators and other critics have used to pursue social media bans and civil litigation against major companies. Meta, Snap and TikTok are all facing lawsuits that claim the platforms have purposefully created addicting features and enabled other harms to teen users, 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, when researchers surveyed those same teens’ parents, they had a more negative view of the apps’ impact on their children. About four in ten parents said that social media hurts their kids’ sleep and productivity and about a quarter thought it hurt their mental health. Forty-four percent of parents whose teens use TikTok said they thought their child was spending “too much” time in the app. 

“The share of parents who say the same of Snapchat and Instagram is lower,” the researchers note. “But the same pattern continues for both, with parents being more likely than teens to describe their teens’ use of these sites as excessive.”

The report isn’t the first time Pew has polled teens on their relationship with social media. Last year, a separate report found that teens were becoming more worried about social media, though they were less likely to say they had been negatively impacted on a personal level. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/most-us-teens-say-tiktok-instagram-and-snapchat-arent-hurting-or-helping-their-mental-health-140000912.html?src=rss 

After unveiling a 4K version of its Fire TV Stick Select at its hardware event last September, Amazon is launching the latest version of its HD dongle today. The Fire TV Stick HD costs $35, comes with Alexa+ built in and offers the redesigned experience that the company previewed at CES in January. It might be confusing, considering Amazon makes at least five different configurations of its streaming stick, but the model announced today comes in at the entry-level and brings some meaningful upgrades.

First, it’s about 30 percent narrower, according to the company, which makes it easier to fit into tight spaces (or to wedge between your TV and wall, perhaps). It comes with a short USB-C cable with a USB-A head that plugs into one of the USB ports on your TV, allowing it to draw power without the typically longer cables that would connect to wall adapters. To quote the company, the new Fire TV Stick HD is “optimized for Direct Power through a TV’s USB port, so it fits more neatly behind a TV without requiring a separate power adapter.”

But if your TV doesn’t have a USB port for that, you can still use a USB-C cable with a traditional wall adapter to power the new Fire TV Stick HD. Given how little power the USB ports on a TV provide, it’s likely any old charger will do.

A picture with a diagram showing where the Fire TV Stick HD would slip behind a TV in a bedroom.

The new dongle also comes with other improvements like support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3, and Amazon says it’s “more than 30 percent faster on average” compared to its predecessor, “which means it turns on and opens apps more quickly.” That, together with the redesigned layout, should make it easier to find what you want to watch.

And if you’re a Prime Member or subscribed to Alexa+, you can also ask the assistant for show recommendations, dim your lights or pick up where you left off on a Prime video in a different room, if you have a compatible TV set in there.

Amazon also said that “in the coming months,” it will add a “new Adaptive Display setting to the Fire TV Stick HD.” This is supposed to be an accessibility feature that makes onscreen elements like words, menus and images easier to see. The company said that it would proportionally scale content artwork while enlarging text and menus, so the overall experience is “more balanced.” Multiple size options will be available.

A screenshot showing how the Fire TV interface handles larger text for better readability.

Like its predecessors, the Fire TV Stick HD is a pretty straightforward device that brings modern features to older TVs. At $35, it’s a relatively budget-friendly price, though we recommend springing for the 4K Max model if you have a bit more to spare. If not, the new Fire TV Stick HD will start shipping on April 29 to those in the US, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, with more regions coming later.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/amazons-new-fire-tv-stick-hd-is-slimmer-than-ever-and-has-no-power-adapter-130000885.html?src=rss 

Few creative software companies have embraced AI like Adobe, with the company embedding image, video, audio and vector generation tools into nearly all its apps. Now, Adobe is taking on AI apps like Gemini’s Nano Banana with its new prompt-based Firefly AI Assistant. You simply describe the outcome you want and it will execute “complex multi-step workflows” across Photoshop, Premiere, Lightroom, Illustrator and other apps to achieve that result, Adobe says. 

The complexity of apps like Photoshop creates a “barrier to entry” for users who may have a vision but lack skill, according to Adobe. That’s where the FireFly AI Assistant comes in. It works much like ChatGPT and other prompt-based AI assistants, but it has Adobe’s suite of powerful apps behind it to execute the required steps. “You no longer have to map the process. You can start from the outcome,” the company says. 

Adobe emphasizes that while the Firefly AI Assistant is doing the grunt work, you remain in control. “You stay in the loop as the assistant executes, stepping in at any point to guide direction, adjust outputs and create something that’s distinctly yours.” It also maintains Adobe’s native file formats, so the final output remains fully editable. 

You’ll be able to launch complex workflows with Creative Skills that let you run multi-step workflows from a single prompt, then customize them to your working style. For instance, you can start with the “social media assets” skill then direct the assistant to crop or use Generative Extend to make it fit the format of Instagram, Facebook and other platforms. 

It can also handle context-aware creative decisions. In one example, Adobe describes a product photo set in a forest. “The assistant might give you a simple slider to increase or reduce the surrounding trees and foliage — making it easy to adjust the scene without complex edits,” the company explains. Finally, to gather and act on feedback, the Assistant can organize and share work among team members via Adobe’s Frame.io. 

Adobe emphasizes that Firefly AI Assistant is grounded in the company’s pro-grade creative tools to deliver “precise, context aware results” in a way that other AI agents can’t and will learn your style over time. That’s an argument the company no doubt hopes will counter a narrative that generative AI apps like Nano Banana are “eating software” like Adobe Photoshop. Adobe’s Firefly AI Assistant will arrive in public beta in the coming weeks. 

Should you wish to use other AI image generator within Adobe apps, the company has added Kling 3.0 and Kling 3.0 Omni, “all-purpose video models optimized for fast, high-quality production with smart storyboarding and audio-visual sync.” That’s on top of other models already offered, including Google’s Nano Banana 2 and Veo 3.1, Runway Gen-4.5, Luma AI’s Ray 3.14, ElevenLabs’ Multilingual v2, Topaz Lab’s Topaz Astra and others. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/adobes-firefly-ai-assistant-works-across-photoshop-premiere-and-other-apps-130055883.html?src=rss 

When Amazon introduced the Ember Artline TVs in January, it didn’t have a specific date of availability to share. Now, the company is ready to supply the details: Pre-orders open today, and units ship on April 22 in the US and Canada, “with the UK and Germany to follow.” The company also announced a new version of its Fire TV Stick HD this morning, as well as some new features for its Fire TV software.

For those who don’t remember offhand, the Ember Artline is basically Amazon’s answer to Samsung’s Frame TV. It’s a matte, 4K QLED panel that can double as artwork when you’re not watching TV, and to that end, Amazon is including more than 2,000 pieces of art for free. That’s also part of the Fire TV package that comes on the new Fire TV Stick HD, so you don’t necessarily need an Ember Artline to access them.

In its press release, Amazon said “Our collection spans artistic movements and includes Impressionist classics by Monet, Degas, and Renoir, alongside contemporary works of street art, murals, mixed media, and photography. Customers also have access to 60 exclusive motion video pieces commissioned by documentary filmmaker Sam Nuttmann, who traveled the world capturing landscape and wildlife scenes.”

To make it easier to match the Ember Artline to your room’s decor, there are 10 frame color options to choose from, and the varieties I saw (a faux wood grain and a muted teal metallic finish) looked quite pleasant. If you really want some help finding artwork that will fit your space, Amazon’s “Match the room” feature might come in handy.

A person holding up a phone taking photos of a room with an Ember Artline TV on the wall.

At a recent demo, I watched as the company’s representatives scanned a QR code from the TV to pull up the tool on their phone. There, they took three photos of the environment (surrounding walls and furniture, for example) and the system generated suggested pieces of art from the gallery. Using the TV remote, they were then able to choose from the recommendations on the big screen.

In my brief experience, the suggestions were typically quite good at matching the vibe, while offering a variety of styles (geometric, landscapes, modern etc) each time. According to the press release, “the AI tool will suggest artwork from our collection based on the room’s colors, overall style, and any recurring themes in their existing artwork, including nature or travel photography.”

If you’d like a more personal touch, you can showcase your own photos instead by connecting your Amazon Photos account. You can also ask Alexa+ to
“play a slideshow of us biking in the mountains,” for example, to pull up memories ad hoc.

An animated GIF showing the Ember Artline TV in various rooms and settings with varying decor.

That’s not the only new feature coming to the Fire TV ecosystem, by the way. In addition to adding Alexa+ support and the new Fire TV UI it showed off in January, Amazon said that this month, it’s “adding another tool for US customers to seamlessly transfer a show or sports game by asking Alexa to move the content to another enabled Fire TV device in your home.”

So say you started watching a show in your bedroom and wanted to continue on the bigger screen in your living area. You could say “Alexa, move this to the living room.” The demo I saw took place on two Ember Artline TVs on adjacent walls, so the speediness was quite noticeable.

After the VP for Fire TV Aidan Marcuss asked the assistant to move the content over, the second TV picked up where the first left off in just about a second or two. Maybe real-world performance may vary but I can’t imagine dashing from my bed to my couch in under three seconds just to avoid missing precious moments of The Boys drama.

For now, the feature is limited to Prime Video content, and Amazon said it plans “to roll it out to more services over time.”

The Ember Artline comes in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes and starts at $900. For context, Samsung’s The Frame (not the Pro versions) is available as a 32-inch model that costs $600, while the 65-inch configuration starts at $1,100 at the moment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/amazons-budget-friendly-answer-to-the-frame-tv-will-start-shipping-on-april-22-130000337.html?src=rss 

Japanese entertainment company Toho has released a teaser video for Godzilla Minus Zero, the upcoming sequel to the award-winning film Godzilla Minus One. The teaser shows the famous monster next to the Statue of Liberty as it rampages across New York. Godzilla Minus Zero is set in 1949, two years after the events of the first film, and will be a direct sequel. You’ll see familiar faces from Minus One in the short trailer, as well, namely Koichi Shikishima and Noriko Oishi, two of the first movie’s main characters.

The kaiju flick was filmed specifically for IMAX with high-definition digital cameras. Even its audio was optimized for the massive screen’s immersive cinema experience. Minus One won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, so expectations are high for this sequel. The good news is that this movie is also helmed by Takashi Yamazaki, who wrote, directed and oversaw the visual effects for Minus One. Godzilla Minus Zero is heading to cinemas in Japan on November 3 and in the United States on November 6 this year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/godzilla-goes-to-new-york-in-minus-zero-teaser-trailer-015029346.html?src=rss 

Google has introduced a new app for Windows desktops and, unsurprisingly, it puts AI front at center. If you aren’t a big fan of Google’s Gemini chatbot, then skip on past this download. For those of you who are heavy Gemini users, though, this could mean a simpler and more integrated experience on Windows machines. 

Once installed, you can pull up the app’s search bar with the Alt + Space shortcut. Queries typed into this open-ended search box can hunt down information from the web like typical Google search, where AI Mode will be enabled for an extra layer of artificial intelligence for follow-up questions or a deeper dive down a rabbit hole. But the app isn’t limited to web search. It can delve into your computer’s files, other installed apps or Google Drive files to retrieve information. Screen sharing is also built into the app, which enables using Google Lens to conduct AI-powered searches on content displayed on your monitor. 

The app is rolling out globally today in English. Interestingly, this hasn’t been gated to the most recent Windows 11, but it does require a machine running at least Windows 10.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/googles-new-windows-app-is-yet-another-way-to-access-gemini-214000564.html?src=rss