Activities of those aged 0 to three often involve sensory exploration and embodied cognition, researchers find Although it has been argued that under-threes should not have any screen time at all, research has found that digital tech can offer “rich opportunities” for young children’s development. A two-year study, Toddlers, Tech and Talk, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and led by researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), working with Lancaster, Queen’s Belfast, Strathclyde and Swansea universities, looked at children’s interactions with everything from Amazon Alexa to Ring doorbells, in diverse communities across the UK, to find out how tech was influencing 0- to three-year-olds’ early talk and literacy. Continue reading...

UK consumer group Which? finds some everyday items including watches and speakers are ‘stuffed with trackers’ Air fryers that gather your personal data and audio speakers “stuffed with trackers” are among examples of smart devices engaged in “excessive” surveillance, according to the consumer group Which? The organisation tested three air fryers, increasingly a staple of British kitchens, each of which requested permission to record audio on the user’s phone through a connected app. Continue reading...

Even bigger titanium superphone packs very long battery life and great camera but Apple Intelligence isn’t killer feature The iPhone 16 Pro Max is Apple’s latest superphone, with a massive screen, the fastest chip and the most advanced cameras on an iPhone, ready to be your entertainment powerhouse, if you can squeeze it into a pocket or bag. This enormous iPhone comes at an equally huge price. Starting at £1,199 (€1,449/$1,199/A$2,149) the 16 Pro Max tops the iPhone 16 series, towering above the £999 16 Pro and £899 16 Plus, though, at least it comes with double the starting storage of the rest. Screen: 6.9in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED) (460ppi) Processor: Apple A18 Pro RAM: 8GB Storage: 256, 512GB or 1TB Operating system: iOS 18 Camera: 48MP main, 48MP UW and 12MP 5x zoom, 12MP front-facing Connectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSS Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins) Dimensions: 163 x 77.6 x 8.25mm Weight: 227g Continue reading...

New research reveals how app usage affects grades, adding to parents’ worries about mental health First, the good news. We middle-aged Brits are no longer condemned to the conversation- and soul-destroying monomania of debating house prices. Less good is what has displaced it – an epidemic of angst about when to allow teenagers a mobile, and what kind. I’m in the “very late and a brick” camp, but parents end up discussing the options for a smartphone-free childhood, inevitably, on WhatsApp. Continue reading...

Enlarged iPhone gains two new buttons, faster chip and better camera, while lasting a long time on a charge Apple’s iPhone 16 Plus takes the regular iPhone and adds two things: a much bigger screen and even longer battery life. The new plus-sized model has the exact same specs, camera and multiple additional buttons as the vanilla 16, offering the big screen Apple phone experience without blowing the budget on the most expensive 16 Pro Max with its massive 6.9in display. Screen: 6.7in Super Retina XDR (OLED) (460ppi) Processor: Apple A18 RAM: 8GB Storage: 128, 256 or 512GB Operating system: iOS 18 Camera: 48MP main + 12MP UW; 12MP front-facing Connectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSS Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins) Dimensions: 160.9 x 77.8 x 7.8mm Weight: 199g Continue reading...

Smallest and cheapest new model plays catchup to Pro iPhones with strong battery life but familiar design Apple’s latest iPhone bucks the trend of buttons vanishing from phones, gaining not one but two new controls on the outside, plus a big jump in chip performance and two-day battery life on the inside. The standard iPhone 16 is Apple’s smallest and lowest-priced handset in the new 16 series, costing from £799 (€959/$799/A$1,399) sitting below the bigger and more expensive 16 Plus and 16 Pro models. Screen: 6.1in Super Retina XDR (OLED) (460ppi) Processor: Apple A18 RAM: 8GB Storage: 128, 256 or 512GB Operating system: iOS 18 Camera: 48MP main + 12MP UW; 12MP front-facing Connectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSS Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins) Dimensions: 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8mm Weight: 170g Continue reading...

The safer phones bill could ban companies from applying algorithms for young ‘doomscrolling’ teens Social media companies could be forced to exclude young teens from algorithms to make content less addictive for under-16s, under a new bill with heavyweight backing from Labour, Conservatives and child protection experts. The safer phones bill, a private member’s bill from a Labour MP that has high priority in parliament, will be discussed by ministers this week. Continue reading...

TechScape’s new writer, why a $60k-a-year middle school banned tech for a week, and how to opt out of AI training • Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery, the technology news editor at Guardian US. I’m taking over TechScape from Alex Hern, and I’d like to introduce myself and my ideas for this newsletter. Continue reading...

Bigger screen, new camera control button, 5x optical zoom and faster chips squeeze flagship features into smaller frame Apple has upgraded the iPhone 16 Pro by adding the 5x zoom camera from the big Pro Max line, making size its main differentiator and turning the smaller “pro” into an instant candidate for the best small smartphone going. The 16 Pro costs the same – £999 (€1,199/$999/A$1,799) – as last year’s model, and sits between the £1,199 16 Pro Max and the vanilla iPhone 16, which starts at £799. That also puts it in direct competition with Google’s £999 Pixel 9 Pro, which has the same-size screen. Screen: 6.3in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED) (460ppi) Processor: Apple A18 Pro RAM: 8GB Storage: 128, 256, 512GB or 1TB Operating system: iOS 17 Camera: 48MP main, 48MP UW and 12MP 5x zoom, 12MP front-facing camera Connectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSS Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins) Dimensions: 149.6 x 71.5 x 8.25mm Weight: 199g Continue reading...

Signatories to online pledge say it offers support in family reckonings over phone usage Classroom peer pressure is a problem for any parent considering a smartphone ban for their child. So when the Smartphone Free Childhood (SFC) movement launched an online pledge to withhold the devices from children until they are at least 14, thousands of parents saw an opportunity to gather moral support for looming arguments. Continue reading...