The Latest from Gadget Hacks: Page 2

A developer named Ismail Shah announced on LinkedIn three weeks ago that he built the Knit Easy Android app to fix a problem he says plagues knitters and crocheters working from printed or PDF patterns: losing track of the row mid-stitch. The post describes a row highlighter, linked counters, and fully offline operation, and includes a Google Play link. However, the app's current listing details, including its price, permissions, and user ratings, have not been independently verified.

OnePlus has squeezed a 9,000mAh battery, a built-in cooling fan, and high-refresh-rate gaming hardware into its latest Chinese smartphones. The Ace 7 and Ace 7 Pro offer an enticing glimpse of what could arrive in the next OnePlus R-series phone, although the unannounced OnePlus 16R may not inherit everything.

Google Photos now packs a Redact tool into its Markup editor, letting Android users blur license plates, account numbers, and other sensitive details before sharing a photo or screenshot. The Google Photos Redact tool started rolling out globally on Android last month, with no beta sign-up required.

Most Apple TV owners use three remote gestures on repeat: swipe, click, and "Hey Siri, open Netflix." Plenty of other built-in interactions sit untouched on the same remote, and several of them are shortcuts most people never try. Learning even a few of these Apple TV remote shortcuts can save you from restarting the whole box when an app freezes, or from digging through settings just to switch where sound plays.

Googlebook OS may soon stop making owners rebuild their workspace from scratch every time the laptop restarts. Code strings discovered by Android Authority in Android 17 QPR3 Beta 2 point to an unreleased "App restore on reboot" setting for Googlebook OS.

Apple just gave iPhone owners a direct way to control Siri AI's access to apps, and it's a fix years in the making. iOS 27.2 adds a new Settings > Siri > Excluded Apps menu that lets users block Siri's AI engine from reading specific apps, replacing a multi-toggle setup that previously required disabling several settings per app or turning off Siri AI entirely.

Apple has redesigned the removable AC plug on its 70W and 140W USB-C power adapters, and the new pill-shaped fitting does not accept older C7-style duckheads or the previous extension cable. That creates a compatibility problem for travelers who want to reuse Apple's older plugs or extension cables with the newly revised chargers.

A Samsung Galaxy phone can meet every obvious requirement, Bluetooth enabled, signed into the same Google Account, and fully updated, and still refuse to show up as an option under ChromeOS's Connected devices setup.

A new leak claims the Samsung Galaxy A58's rear camera setup will carry the same megapixel counts as the Galaxy A57: a 50MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide, 5MP macro, plus a 12MP front camera. The claim comes from Dutch outlet GalaxyClub and has since been relayed by outlets including GSMArena and Tech Advisor.

Tom's Guide put the iPhone Duo and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 through a 20-minute 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test earlier this week, and the result reads backwards at first glance. The phone that ran hotter to the touch also posted the stronger sustained performance. In Tom's Guide's test, the Duo registered approximately 103°F on its rear surface, compared with roughly 96°F for the Galaxy Z Fold 8.

Samsung's latest Galaxy Watch 7 update isn't packed with new features, but it targets parts of the smartwatch experience that owners use throughout the day. Watch faces, the always-on display, and Quick Settings are among the areas receiving attention in the fifth One UI 9 Watch beta.

Night mode can turn a dark porch into a glowing Halloween scene, but depending on how dark the scene is, the capture can stretch to several seconds, Apple says. That's exactly what trips people up once trick-or-treaters start moving.

Google revised its privacy policy on Oct. 16 to say that data shared between Gmail, Google Photos, or Drive and certain other Google services may now be used to personalize content, including ads. The update adds an exception to language that previously ruled out using content from those apps for ad personalization, according to The Verge and Ars Technica.

Apple released iOS 18.7.11 and iPadOS 18.7.11 earlier this week, delivering a fix for a CoreGraphics flaw the company says "may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals" on iOS versions before iOS 27. This is the iPhone XR and iPhone XS security update that matters most right now, since it's the only version that brings the fix to iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, hardware that can't run iOS 26, along with the seventh-generation iPad.

Google is rolling out a Google Home and Nest speaker update that the company says fixes disappearing speaker groups and stereo pairs, the exact symptom Nest owners have been describing for months. The release notes name the bug directly: stereo pairs and speaker groups that "unexpectedly disappear or become undiscoverable" in the Google Home app, according to Google's October 29 release notes, also reproduced by 9to5Google. The same update bundles in faster local device discovery and a separate...

Apple released watchOS 27.2 on Oct. 26, adding conversation memory to Siri AI on Apple Watch for the first time. Apple's release notes confirm Siri AI can retain useful context from previous interactions, including the ability to recall recommendations made days earlier. For example, users can ask Siri about restaurants it suggested last week without repeating the original conversation.

A Rust-based open-source project called OpenLogi is drawing attention as a telemetry-free alternative to Logitech Options+, the configuration app most Logitech mouse owners already have installed. OpenLogi runs on macOS 13 or later, Windows, and Linux, and the project's own documentation confirms support for button remapping, DPI adjustment, and SmartShift configuration, all without requiring a Logitech account.

Samsung has begun releasing a second October 2026 update for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 8, and Galaxy Z Flip 8, following the earlier security patch that expanded from South Korea to Europe and India.

The iPhone Duo can finally double as a digital notepad, but owning an Apple Pencil doesn't necessarily mean you're ready to start writing. Apple's foldable iPhone now supports stylus input through iOS 27.2, released October 26, 2026, but only the Apple Pencil (USB-C) works. Even the more expensive Apple Pencil Pro is incompatible.

Samsung's next budget fitness tracker is coming into focus, and anyone expecting a dramatic redesign may be disappointed. Newly uncovered Galaxy Fit 4 renders show a device that looks remarkably similar to the Galaxy Fit 3, with Bluetooth 5.4 emerging as the clearest documented upgrade.

A no-logs policy sounds straightforward. A VPN provider says it does not log your activity, so your browsing should remain private.

Samsung has started rolling out the Galaxy M54 One UI 9.0 update, based on Android 17, according to SamMobile and Zoomit, which reported the release on Oct. 27. Zoomit cites SamMobile for the global rollout, rather than independently confirming a separate release. Samsung's model-specific update documentation has not yet established which Galaxy AI features are included.

A working fork of the open-source Aves gallery app, posted to GitHub about a month ago, demonstrates something readers trying to search Android photos without cloud upload have been asking for: typed description search and visual similarity matching that run entirely on the phone, with photo indexing and search described by the developer as running locally, without uploading photos, videos, or search queries.

Apple shipped tvOS 27.2 for Apple TV 4K this week, and tucked inside that release is the first expansion of Apple TV profiles to iPhone and iPad. The mobile side rides on a separate iOS and iPadOS 27.2 update rather than tvOS itself, and it matters most for anyone who shares a phone or tablet with family, kids, or roommates and wants a Continue Watching list that doesn't fill up with someone else's shows.

Google Photos has replaced its old shortcut grid with a layout users can actually control, giving people a real way to rearrange the Collections tab instead of relying on shortcuts the app picked for them, according to Android Authority and Android Police.

WhatsApp scheduled messages on iPhone are now in testing, but access right now is limited to select iOS beta users, not the general public. The tool has surfaced in WhatsApp's iOS beta version 26.42.10.19, distributed through Apple's TestFlight program, according to Digital Trends. If you're hoping to schedule a WhatsApp message on your iPhone today just by updating the app, that won't work unless you're already enrolled in that specific beta.

If Microsoft Teams won't open on Windows 11, first check whether your PC is managed by an organization or fully yours. That determines which fixes you can safely try. Most of the troubleshooting also applies to Windows 10, although some Settings menus differ.

Before installing anything billed as the latest AMD chipset drivers for Windows 11, check two things first: the exact chipset on your motherboard and the version already installed. AMD currently lists chipset driver revision 8.09.28.1124, released Oct. 21, 2026, as its Windows 11 64-bit package for both the X870 and WRX80 platforms.

iOS 27 introduces a change to how iPhone handles sound: alarms, ringtones, and notification alerts no longer have to share one volume slider. Owners can now turn down a ringtone or text alert without quietly lowering the alarm that's supposed to wake them up. That's the practical answer to a question a lot of iPhone owners have been asking for years: how to set separate alarm and ringer volumes on iPhone without one setting dragging down the other.

The new Shortcuts features in iOS 27.2 arrived this week, covering automation triggers, actions, and editor tools documented in Apple's release notes. Several of these Shortcuts improvements also extend to iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS, which received their matching 27.2 updates on October 26.

Creating a password-protected ZIP on Android starts with choosing a file manager that supports encrypted archives. Files by Google can create ordinary ZIP files, but its documented compression workflow doesn't include a password option. That's a limitation of Files by Google, not Android as a whole.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate got cheaper this year, but figuring out how to get the most out of your subscription takes more than glancing at the new price. Starting April 21, 2026, Ultimate dropped from $29.99 to $22.99 a month, with PC Game Pass falling from $16.49 to $13.99, according to Microsoft. Prices vary by region, so those US figures might not match what appears on your bill.

The Samsung Galaxy A37 has worn three different price tags in about six months, and that's the central question of this Galaxy A37 review. The hardware hasn't changed.

Google's program is scheduled to become available on December 1, 2026, on devices running Android 17 QPR2 or later in the countries listed in Google's official eligibility FAQ, provided a third-party store has completed registration and received approval.

Apple's current support page lists up to 25W MagSafe charging for iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max, while iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are rated for up to 22.5W. An independent Techtest report also found faster charging with a third-party Qi2.2 pad after updating an iPhone 16 Pro Max to iOS 26.

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.

Got an Apple TV Siri Remote and a Mac nearby? Here's how to use a Siri Remote with a Mac: pair it over Bluetooth, and macOS immediately recognizes a small set of built-in commands with no extra software required. The clickpad won't move your cursor or navigate apps on its own, though. Apple built this remote for tvOS, not macOS, so getting more out of it means installing something extra (AppleInsider, today).

Choosing a VPN in 2026 is not as simple as finding the provider with the largest server network or the fastest advertised speeds.

So, how much are old Samsung phones worth? In an Oct. 23 snapshot, a like-new 256GB Galaxy S23 Ultra could bring a top cash buyback offer of $291, compared with a reported average completed sale price of $404 on Swappa, before fees. That's a $113 difference for handling the sale yourself instead of accepting a buyback offer, according to Engadget.

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...