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...

Marketing and sale of model prohibited after tech giant fails to meet rule 40% of phones be made from local parts Indonesia has prohibited the marketing and sale of the iPhone 16 model over Apple’s failure to meet local investment regulations, according to its industry ministry. South-east Asia’s biggest economy has a young, tech-savvy population with more than 100 million people under the age of 30, but Apple still does not have an official store in the country, forcing those who want its products to buy from resale platforms. 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...

80% of elderly people have landlines, compared with just 50% of 18- to 29-year-olds. Will the joy of a great conversation lead to a revival? Name: Landlines. Age: 148 years old. 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...