In recent years, NPR has explored how small interactions with strangers can do more than just brighten our days — they can improve our well‑being. Our original story from 2023 traced psychologist Gillian Sandstrom’s research back to her experience as a lonely graduate student in Toronto who exchanged a wave and hello daily with a
Amazon continues to experiment with how AI can be used to improve the shopping experience, resulting in Tuesday’s launch of a new feature within its Alexa for Shopping AI assistant called “Update Me When.” This latest addition can send consumers personalized notifications when something new or relevant happens that could lead to a purchase. For
A child is screened for malnutrition at a health clinic in Baidoa, Somalia, where drought and other conditions have sparked concerns about famine. Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket/via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket/via Getty Images In February 2025, we reported that “A respected U.S. famine warning system is ‘currently unavailable.’ ” That system
Oura is looking into how its smart ring could be used to detect brain hemorrhages after billionaire investor Bill Ackman suggested such a feature could have helped his daughter. Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, shared this week that his 26-year-old daughter, Lucy, experienced a brain hemorrhage in February. He said data from her
An unprecedented number of Apple customers have reported receiving a recent threat notification alerting them to suspected spyware attacks targeting their devices, according to experts who investigate these types of incidents. Several people publicly and privately reported receiving Apple’s spyware alerts over the weekend, after Apple sent out a new wave of notifications on Friday
Meta announced on Wednesday that it’s rolling out a new tool, Scam Alert, to thwart con artists on WhatsApp. The optional feature, currently in beta testing, will run an on-device machine learning model to flag scam messages without giving WhatsApp, Meta or any other entity access to your private conversations. To take part in the
