The Latest from Gadget Hacks: Page 2

Apple is giving longtime Alexa users a new reason to reconsider their smart-home setup. Its $299 HomeView, arriving November 13, promises a shared display that recognizes household members and brings their personal apps, calendars, and messages onto one screen. Amazon's fourth-generation Echo Show 8 already offers facial recognition, Alexa+, and a larger display for a lower price.

Microsoft PowerToys version 0.102.2803.0 is a confirmed pre-release for Windows 11, published October 8, 2026.

Reports that Samsung is exiting the Exynos Auto chip business have surfaced in Korean industry media, and they're detailed enough to take seriously even though Samsung itself hasn't confirmed them.

Apple spent this week shipping something Google has only sketched out in app code. On October 13, Apple announced HomeView, a $299 smart display built for shared households, with facial recognition for up to six family members, Siri AI, and controls that adapt as someone walks closer. Pre-orders are open now, and the device starts shipping November 13.

Getting locked out of Windows 11 because a PIN won't work is a different problem than losing an account password, and it calls for a different fix.

Samsung has started pushing the Galaxy S26 October 2026 security update to the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, and Galaxy S26 Ultra, marking one of the first maintenance updates for the lineup since One UI 9.0 (Android 17) went stable, according to SamMobile. The patch addresses 62 security issues, per the same report.

Google Wallet is rolling out a vertically stacked card redesign on Android, and it has created a usability problem: a layout that makes similar cards difficult to tell apart. The server-side update, spotted since mid-September and now reaching more phones, swaps the old horizontal carousel for a scrollable vertical stack, according to 9to5Google. Along the way, Google has hidden identifying details that helped users distinguish cards at a glance, Samsung Magazine reported on October 8.

Apple Wallet can store a state-issued driver's license or ID, but that doesn't mean every state qualifies as one of the states that accept a driver's license in Apple Wallet at TSA checkpoints.

Apple may be preparing to change one of the MacBook Pro's most familiar features: how you interact with its screen. After years of keeping touch controls exclusive to devices like the iPad, the company is reportedly preparing its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, complete with an OLED display and a redesigned interface.

Google built Googlebook to run on Android, then quietly defaulted several of its biggest apps away from it. That's the short answer to why Googlebook apps run as web apps instead of native Android experiences: Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Sheets, and YouTube all open as Chrome-based web experiences on these laptops, not the Android apps that ship on phones. Google Keep is the one confirmed exception, running natively on Android Authority's test unit, though a single result doesn't prove every...

Google is bundling free AI Pro trials into several hardware and carrier deals right now, including the Pixel 11, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Chromebook Plus, and select Verizon plans. Those free accounts don't match the paid $19.99-a-month plan feature for feature. Google AI Pro trial restrictions are in Google's own product documentation.

Link to Windows remote shutdown restart sleep controls are now showing up for a small group of Android testers, letting a paired phone power down, restart, or put a Windows PC to sleep without anyone touching the keyboard. Beta build 1.26101.103.0 replaces the app's old single "Lock PC" button with a new Power menu that adds Sleep PC, Shut down, and Restart.

Google's search bar has a new look on Pixel phones, and it's a narrow one. Google rolled out a slightly taller pill-shaped search bar in the Pixel Launcher, along with larger Lens, voice search, and AI Mode icons, in Google app version 17.32 on the stable channel, according to 9to5Google.

Microsoft highlighted five cross-device capabilities yesterday for surfacing Android phone activity on the Windows 11 desktop: resizable phone-app windows, phone files inside File Explorer, one-click photo notifications, message previews in the Start menu, and a cross-device "Resume" feature that picks up where you left off. That's a notable expansion of Windows 11 Android phone integration, but it's not evenly documented.

Microsoft has created a new internal group called Xbox Labs, but what Xbox CEO Asha Sharma actually confirmed is a small research team exploring emerging technology, not a game, app, or AI-created port that players can use today. Sharma announced the group in an October 13 post on Microsoft's official Xbox Wire website, and PCMag Middle East reported that the move follows a rise in AI-assisted game decompilation among enthusiasts and software developers.

Samsung representatives confirmed earlier this year that the Galaxy S26 series uses 480Hz PWM dimming, with no higher-frequency mode, no DC-like dimming option, and no dedicated flicker-reduction setting, according to Android Authority.

Vurt, a vertical video streaming app built around short, serialized microdramas, recently launched dedicated apps for Apple TV and Android TV, bringing its phone-shaped 9:16 video to a wide-screen TV. The company says the apps unlock a catalog of 3,500 episodes across more than 100 shows, and that its user base has grown from 10,000 people at its March launch to 675,000, though those figures come from Vurt itself rather than independent tracking.

Apple's "Welcome Home" event on Tuesday introduced nine product lines in one announcement: three core devices and a six-piece Home Collection built with LG and Schneider Electric. Sort through all of that with a renter's eye, and most of it isn't something you can buy, use, and box up when the lease ends.

Google began rolling out Universal Cart across Search and the Gemini app in the U.S. yesterday, giving shoppers a way to save products from different retailers in one running list instead of juggling browser tabs and screenshots. The feature also sends alerts when saved items drop in price or come back in stock, built on top of Google's Shopping Graph of more than 60 billion product listings.

Google is testing a new Google Nest speaker firmware update, version 3.79.550760, but for now the rollout is limited to people enrolled in Google's speaker Preview Program. The build currently covers four older speakers, the original Google Home, Home Mini, Nest Mini, and Nest Audio, according to 9to5Google. The supplied reporting does not include a Google announcement describing the update.

Google is testing a redesigned Help Me Write flow for Android that could cut AI email drafting down to two steps, according to an APK teardown of Gmail version 2026.10.05.993506826 from Android Authority. The tested build swaps the current multi-step process for a default "Describe your message" box that drafts an email and drops it straight into the composer, no preview screen required.

Android users have been seeing the "number is now verified" system notification more often since last year, and a report from Kaspersky published three months ago explains why. Google's phone number verification check, which confirms that the SIM tied to a number is physically in the device, became widely visible to most users after a Google system update in September 2025, and now runs by default during setup and periodically afterward.

Searching "new YouTube app icons" turns up a story that sounds bigger than it is. The reported change isn't a platform-wide redesign of YouTube's icon library. What's actually circulating is narrower: on a limited number of Android phones, YouTube was testing watch-page buttons, including Like and Share, with their text labels removed when Android Authority reported the change in June 2026.

Nvidia RTX Spark Windows on Arm laptops are shipping at workstation prices before the software built around them is finished. The Surface Laptop Ultra configuration Tom's Hardware tested lists for $5,899 with 1TB of storage, and lead times on that unit already stretch into late December, according to Tom's Hardware's week-long review.

Apple's next iPad mini appears to be nearing its debut, and the latest clues suggest a bigger upgrade than a routine processor refresh. An unreleased Smart Folio has surfaced on Apple's French regulatory website, adding to leaked software references pointing to a faster chip, a relocated front camera and redesigned speakers.

If "Switch to Google Assistant" has vanished from the Gemini app's account menu, you may have been moved to Gemini as part of Google's mobile migration. Google still publishes switch-back instructions, but 9to5Google found that the option had disappeared on devices it tested in September.

Samsung's stable One UI 9 update, built on Android 17, started reaching US Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 units on Oct. 2 following an earlier stable release in South Korea. The rollout began with select carrier models and has since expanded to unlocked phones and additional US carriers.

The Exynos 2700 story has moved from early chip leaks to reported factory production. Samsung has started front-end mass production of the processor expected to power at least part of its 2027 Galaxy S27 lineup, according to industry sources.

Apple HomeView ships without an on-device app store. Third-party apps only show up when the display recognizes you and detects a paired iPhone or iPad that's been unlocked recently, a setup MacRumors compares to CarPlay. Apple confirms HomeView supports compatible third-party audio and video apps, but it hasn't published a HomeView-specific compatibility checklist. Checking your iPhone's CarPlay apps may help identify candidates, though it won't confirm which apps HomeView supports.

Most Tiny11 guides skip straight to a download link. That's the problem. Unofficial mirrors and repackaged Tiny11 images circulate widely, and downloading one means trusting whatever modifications its publisher made.

iOS 27 merges Siri and Spotlight into a single search interface, and by default the redesigned assistant now digs through Messages, Notes, and email to answer questions with more personal context. That's exactly why learning how to limit Siri access to personal data matters the moment you update: the same indexing that made Siri "much improved" in beta testing also means far more of what's on your phone is now readable by an AI system.

If you're trying to pin down LG Smart TV software update support years, the sources reviewed do not identify one support period covering every LG TV. The most concrete, sourced commitment comes from a specific 2024 initiative called the webOS Re:New program, and it names particular models rather than LG's whole lineup.

Apple unveiled HomeView at a New York event yesterday, its first dedicated smart home display, and the pitch sounds simple: a $299 screen that controls your smart home, recognizes who's standing in front of it, and turns a saved recipe into guided, hands-free cooking steps.

Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 owners have spent the past two months watching full charges stretch to two, three, even four hours, well beyond Samsung's advertised charging times for the Watch9 and the Watch Ultra2 in fast-charging mode. Samsung separately lists a 190-minute normal-charge time for the Ultra2.

Apple just released watchOS 27.2 beta 3, the third developer beta, alongside matching beta 3 builds for tvOS 27.2, visionOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, and other platforms in the same seed. The update swaps in fresh code for Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Vision Pro testers, but the available report doesn't name a single feature, fix, or interface change tied to any of those three platforms.

Google has announced YouTube background playback for cars with Google built-in, allowing users to watch YouTube videos while parked and continue listening to the audio when they shift into drive. The feature needs an active YouTube Premium subscription.

Office 2021 support ends on October 13, and after that date, Microsoft stops shipping security updates and technical support for the suite. There's no extension and no paid Extended Security Updates program at any price to push that date back. Office 2021 is expected to keep launching past that date, but it won't get another security fix, bug fix, or ESU patch of any kind. Weighing the real Office 2021 end of support options now beats scrambling later, after a vulnerability goes unpatched.

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra battery life test results are in, and they complicate the easy spec-sheet story. The phone jumped to a 5,000mAh battery using silicon-carbon technology, the biggest capacity increase in the Fold line's history, and it beat last year's model in nearly every Android Authority test scenario. It didn't improve by as much as the extra 600mAh might suggest, though.

Hold a phone to your ear during a call, and the display should go dark almost right away. If it doesn't, a cheek pressed against the glass can mute the microphone, hang up the call, or open a menu without anyone meaning to touch anything. That small failure is usually the first time most people stop to wonder what a phone proximity sensor does: it's a tiny component near the earpiece that tells the phone something, usually a face, has gotten close to the screen, so the system can shut the...

A new Wear OS app called Now On Wrist takes Pixel's ambient song-recognition feature and puts the result on your wrist instead of your lock screen. The Now On Wrist Wear OS app is live now on Google Play and works with any Wear OS 3.0 or newer smartwatch, not just the Pixel Watch.