Trending on Gadget Hacks: Page 2

Yes, a laser pointer can damage a phone camera sensor, but the outcome isn't a single fixed result. Research on camera sensors shows effects ranging from temporary overexposure that clears on its own to permanent dead pixels or a sensor that stops producing usable images altogether. None of the studies cited here support the blanket claim that any laser pointer aimed at any phone will wreck the camera. The risk depends on the laser's power, wavelength, exposure duration, and how much energy...

Google wants Android users in parts of Canada to check their phones before Nov. 1, the day several provinces and territories stop turning clocks back.

Motorola has started rolling out stable Android 17 to the Razr Ultra 2025, but only a narrow group of owners has confirmed receiving it so far. The update has been reported on an unlocked unit in the United States, according to Android Authority and TuttoAndroid.

A Gartic Phone Halloween party game only works if the host plans around one detail: most guests will be drawing monsters with their thumbs on a six-inch screen, not a tablet or laptop. Gartic Phone works in iOS Safari and Android Chrome with touchscreen drawing built in, but a guide covering the game's mechanics says detailed drawing is harder on a phone than on a larger screen.

Google confirms that blood-pressure and insulin-resistance trend tracking are included free with Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, while the same two tools require a Google Health Premium subscription on Fitbit Air and the newly released Fitbit Edge.

Google quietly confirmed that receipt scanning is coming to Google Wallet in the changelog for Google Play Services v26.40, dated Oct. 12, 2026. The entry says users can now scan to add receipts, a change that could make it easier to save purchase records without entering their details manually.

Microsoft says Windows 11 is now "up to 20% more responsive," with measured improvements across Search, Start, right-click, Settings, Snipping Tool, and File Explorer. The company also says its broader performance work extends from boot and logon through Microsoft 365 and Edge, according to an Oct. 15 Windows Experience Blog post. Microsoft singles out PCs with 8GB of RAM as seeing an "especially meaningful difference" from new memory-management work.

Spotify Family plan address verification can block people who genuinely live with the plan manager, and missing a follow-up verification request can cost them their spot on the plan entirely.

Full Android Auto work profile support doesn't exist yet, and this new discovery doesn't change that. It does suggest Google is quietly building toward it.

Microsoft is reshaping Copilot Notebooks from a source-grounded question-and-answer tool into something that can act on notebook content: delegating tasks, running recurring automations, and editing Office files directly inside a notebook, according to Neowin.

Nothing's $399 Headphone (1) Pro launched Sept. 29, immediately setting up a direct comparison with Sony's WH-1000XM6, which carries a $449.99 list price.

Microsoft has resolved a known issue that caused black screens, desktop loading failures, and Explorer crashes right after sign-in on some Windows 11 systems.

Foldable phones survive drops and folds better than many people expect. In lab testing last year, Which? tested 59 foldable phones through 30,000 open-close cycles on a folding machine, and 58 came through without a fault.

Samsung has started rolling out the stable, Android 17-based One UI 9 update to the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5. The rollout began in South Korea and has since expanded to parts of Europe, although availability still varies by country, carrier, and device variant.

A one-time passcode arrives on your Android phone as a text, but it never shows up in Phone Link on your PC, and no desktop notification appears either. That's the specific symptom this guide fixes: an MFA code not showing in Phone Link on Windows 11, specifically SMS-based codes that already reached the phone.

The documented discount on a Roku Pro Series OLED TV sale belongs to the standard 120Hz model, not the faster 144Hz Pro Series LX OLED. During a past sale event, Amazon had the 55-inch Pro Series OLED at $699.99 and the 65-inch at $799.99, well under the set's $999.99 and $1,199.99 list prices (Tom's Guide, two weeks ago). The standard model is confirmed available nationwide on Amazon right now; the pricier LX was only announced for an October 2026 launch, and no sale price has been documented...

A Plex stream that stutters doesn't always mean the server needs more muscle. These Plex tips and tricks are built around one diagnostic habit: checking whether buffering comes from your network, a forced transcode, or an undersized server before you spend a dollar fixing a problem that isn't there.

Apple has closed so much of the feature gap between its standard and Pro earbuds that the AirPods 5 vs AirPods Pro 3 decision isn't really a spec-sheet question anymore. It comes down largely to whether an open-ear bud resting against your ear beats a sealed tip sitting inside your ear canal.

Xbox has pushed back on a report claiming it secured exclusive GTA 6 Xbox streaming rights, with the company's chief strategy officer saying the game "will not be streaming exclusively or to PC."

Samsung's internal testing reportedly found the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 overheating and throttling in Galaxy S27 Ultra prototypes, fueling talk of a switch to Samsung's Exynos 2700 chip.

Spotify flipped the switch today on its first fully native in-car app, and for the first time the software runs directly on a car's own infotainment hardware instead of mirroring a connected phone. The Spotify native in-car app for Audi is live now in five 2026-model-year vehicles, distributed through the Audi Application Store rather than the Google Play Store (Audi, today).

Google started rolling out the Pixel VIPs widget redesign last month, and if you already use the Contacts app widget daily, it's worth checking for the update now.

Microsoft started rolling out a rebuilt Photos app for Windows 11 to Windows Insiders on October 15, combining a new Gallery, Editor, and Viewer into a single interface that pulls in photos from a PC, OneDrive, and iCloud.

Google began rolling out Gemini Personal Intelligence on Android Auto on October 20, letting the assistant use information from connected Google services, including Gmail and Photos, to personalize responses and assist with tasks such as navigation. The feature is rolling out to eligible personal Google accounts, though Google has built in enough restrictions on region and account type that not everyone with Android Auto will see it right away.

Google's 120x Pro Res Zoom on the Pixel 11 Pro sounds like a spec-sheet gimmick, and at its most extreme setting, much of what you see can come from generative AI reconstruction rather than detail resolved by the lens.

Amazon introduced two new Bee AI devices on October 15, 2026: the $74.99 Bee Frontier wearable, available now, and the $99.99 Bee Eclipse magnetic phone attachment, which Amazon says will arrive soon with no confirmed release date.

Moto Tag 2 is available to buy from Motorola's US store now, while Google says its own tracker won't go on sale until Nov. 11, 2026. That's the should-you-wait-for-Pixel-Tag question at the center of this comparison: buy the Moto Tag 2 now, or hold out a few weeks for Google's hardware.

OPPO is reportedly developing a 16:9 wide-format flagship smartphone with a body wider than most conventional Android phones currently sold, according to a Weibo post from tipster Digital Chat Station, cited by Android Authority on October 9.

Google Maps on Apple CarPlay can now surface Gemini mid-drive, letting U.S. users ask multi-step questions and chain follow-up commands without leaving the map screen. It's the first time Google Maps has put a conversational voice assistant inside CarPlay itself, rather than confining that experience to the iPhone's own display, according to 9to5Google.

Microsoft 365 Current Channel Version 2609 Build 20430.20182 started reaching devices on October 13, 2026, and Microsoft's update-size page lists it as the most current Current Channel release.

Roku's TV lineup used to be a simple three-rung ladder: Select, Plus, Pro. That changed last month, when Roku added two OLED models under the Pro name, which means "Pro" now covers three different panels at three different prices. Comparing Roku Select vs Plus vs Pro isn't a three-way decision anymore. It's a five-way one.

Google has confirmed that it encrypts and stores a user's enrolled selfie video on its own servers, rather than only on the device used to record it. That server-side storage is intentional. Google says the purpose of selfie video sign-in is to help people recover accounts after losing access to a device that holds their passkeys, so the reference video needs to work across devices.

Verizon has confirmed the Verizon iPhone Handoff cost: $10 a month, or $120 a year at that rate, to use one phone number on two iPhones, according to 9to5Mac's October 16 report. That's double the $5 a month T-Mobile charges for the same iOS 27 feature, as 9to5Mac previously reported. Apple's current support page lists T-Mobile and Telekom, not Verizon, as supported carriers, and Verizon's statement does not provide a public enrollment date.

For apps that show an active Uninstall command, Settings is the supported path to remove them in Windows 11: open the three-dot menu, click Uninstall, done. Try that on certain preinstalled apps, though, and Uninstall is grayed out or missing, with the app sometimes listed under System Components instead. Learning how to remove system apps in Windows 11 starts with understanding that label, because it often means removal isn't offered through the normal path for that particular app.

Apple published official iPhone Duo repair costs ahead of the foldable reaching customers, and the numbers are blunt. An inner-display repair without AppleCare+ runs $999, dropping to $99 with coverage, while the catch-all "other damage" category tops out at $1,499 uninsured.

GarageBand is free for Mac users and comes stocked with a large library of bundled sounds and effects, plus support for up to 255 audio tracks, according to Apple and a PCMag UK review. For this workflow, there's no need to buy additional plug-ins or sound packs. This GarageBand for Mac beginner tutorial walks through how to make music in GarageBand for Mac starting from a blank project, built from Apple Loops, Drummer Loops, and optional recorded audio.

An alert claiming your Apple Account email changed unexpectedly could be a scam built to panic you into clicking, or it could mean someone actually got into your account. Those two situations call for different first moves, and guessing wrong wastes time you don't have if the second one is true.

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.

Learning how to use AI Network Guard on Samsung One UI 9 won't turn your phone into a systemwide ad blocker, but it can prevent new ads from loading inside certain offline-capable apps.

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.