study

Predictive text may not make typing messages on phones quicker or easier according to a new study. In many cases, the study says, it will slow things down. The research comes from Pe Ola Kristennson, a professor of interactive systems engineering at ... the University of Cambridge, and colleague Thomas Mullners. (Source: acm.org ) They previously ran a study in 2019 asking 37,000 volunteers to copy sentences on a mobile phone. Those who used predictive text averaged 33 words a minutes, slightly slower than the 35 words a minute of those who didn't use any technologies. (Source: theconversation. ... (view more)

Israel and Canada have the world's most affordable broadband according to a newly-published study. The rankings take into account earnings rather than just the raw broadband price. The study, published by Surfshark, also found that the parts of the ... world with the most comparatively expensive broadband also had the worst service. (Source: surfshark.com ) The overall rankings take into account the prices for the cheapest fixed-line broadband package in a country plus the cost of 1GB of mobile broadband data. The researchers then compared these sums to average earnings in the country. Note that ... (view more)

Phone "addiction" is caused more by boredom, rather than nagging notifications according to a newly-published study. It also found that the "endless scroll" feature on some apps was most likely to detain users. The study is the work of the London ... School of Economics and Political Science and published in a journal titled "Computers in Human Behavior." (Source: sciencedirect.com ) Researchers wanted to explore the theory that people are constantly looking at their phones in response to notifications and whether pausing, hiding or filtering such notifications might change user ... (view more)

Facial recognition software may be less accurate when dealing with non-Caucasian faces, according to a new study. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) noted the problem was likely the data used to "train" algorithms. The NIST ... examined 189 algorithms from 99 different developers, which it says is a majority of all commercially available systems. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) In the testing, it looked at two tasks. Specifically, they looks to see if two specific photographs are of the same person. In one example, it was to verify identity in order to unlock a phone or check a ... (view more)

A newly published study suggests the vast majority of Windows 10 users "love" the system and most of its features. However, the methodology of the study is shaky to say the least. The figures come from Brandwatch, a company that tracks public ... sentiment about particular products and companies online. It claims its methods help find out what ordinary users are thinking, rather than rely on media reports. For this study, Brandwatch gathered together data from 7,000 people who had posted about Windows 10 on Twitter, Facebook, Internet forums and other online outlets. It then analyzed ... (view more)

Today, most business offices depend on a range of technologies, from desktop and laptop computers to smartphones and even tablets -- most of which are connected to the Internet. Now, a new study suggests that although today's workplace technology ... helps to increase productivity, it also lengthens the amount of time spent at work. The study, which was carried out by the Pew Research Center, involved surveying 1,000 adults between September 12 and September 18, 2014. The researchers focused most of their attention on just over five hundred participants who said they worked full- or part-time ... (view more)

How often do you check your email each day? A new study suggests that consulting your inbox more than three times a day could significantly increase your stress levels. The study, which comes from researchers at the University of British Columbia, ... involved asking 124 adults to restrict their inbox-checking to just three times a day for a one-week period. Once that week was over, study participants were allowed to check their email as much as they liked. Less Email, Less Stress, Study Suggests Throughout the process participants were asked to fill out daily 10-minute questionnaires about their ... (view more)

Facebook is making negative headlines once again - this time for a 'data experiment' which was carried out on approximately 600,000 of its members without consent. The experiment reportedly took place two years ago, though only came to light in ... recent days. According to reports, Facebook toyed with the minds of more than half a million users by altering the wording of their News Feeds. Specifically, the social network employed a special computer algorithm that cut or added words associated with positive or negative emotions in order to influence those reading the feeds. A news feed is ... (view more)

A new study reviewed security among leading online companies following the Heartbleed bug scare, in which a commonly used encryption technique for secure websites had the capability to expose highly confidential data. The study comes from Dashlane, ... a password management firm. The study evaluated 80 web sites and examined 6 factors with regard to the way passwords and login processes are handled. Using these details, Dashlane ranked each site between +100 and minus -100. Based on a range of security issues, the study suggests Apple and Microsoft have the securest policies for passwords, while ... (view more)

A new study suggests that most Americans favor Apple when it comes to mobile devices, though Samsung isn't too far from the top. The study was performed by KS Mobile, a San Francisco-based app maker for the Android and iOS platforms. The study was ... carried out between February 6 and 10, 2014, and involved 1,000 people aged 18 and older. Apple is for Women, Samsung is for Men: Study Suggests Of the people interviewed, nearly half of all women said they favored Apple mobile products, such as the iPhone. Only women aged 40 to 49 said they favored Samsung products. On the other hand, most men ... (view more)