Gadget Hacks

I've been testing wearables for years, and I've always been fascinated by the mountain of data they collect. Heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep stages—the sensors keep getting better, but here's what caught my attention: Apple just dropped research suggesting that how you move, sleep, and live might be more telling than any biometric reading your watch can take. This isn't just another incremental sensor upgrade—it's a fundamental shift in how we understand health monitoring.

Your iPhone's notification sound just went off for the third time in five minutes – one spam email, one social media like, and one random app trying to sell you something. Meanwhile, the truly important text from your spouse about picking up the kids got buried in the noise. Sound familiar?

A Google executive just confirmed what tech insiders have been whispering about for months: ChromeOS and Android are becoming one. During a recent interview, Google's Android Ecosystem President Sameer Samat dropped the bombshell: "We're going to be combining ChromeOS and Android into a single platform."

Well, well, well—looks like Samsung couldn't keep its own secret. While the tech world has been buzzing about Huawei's triple-folding Mate XT, Samsung just accidentally gave us our first real look at their answer: what might be called the Galaxy G Fold. And honestly? The leak came from inside the house—literally baked into their own One UI 8 software.

Picture this: You wake up to find your favorite AI app suddenly vanished from Google Play Store, not because of a bug or developer decision, but because an entire nation's privacy watchdog pulled the nuclear option. That's exactly what's happening with DeepSeek in Germany, and it's about to reshape how we think about AI apps on Android.

Picture this: You're about to download factory images for your Pixel 6a, maybe to flash some custom firmware or restore from a bootloop, and suddenly… they're gone. Google has quietly pulled all Pixel 6a factory images from its developer portal, and the timing couldn't be more telling. This move comes just as the company prepares to roll out a mandatory battery update that will fundamentally change how affected devices work.

Spoiler: it's not all bad news, but if you were counting on using your favorite travel dock or AR glasses with the Switch 2, you're about to be disappointed. Nintendo pulled a classic Nintendo move—they've essentially encrypted their way out of universal compatibility.

You've probably heard this song before: "world's thinnest foldable phone!" But the Honor Magic V5 might actually deserve the hype. At just 8.8mm thick when folded and weighing a mere 217g, this thing makes other foldables look chunky by comparison. Honor didn't just chase thinness records though, they packed in a 64MP periscope telephoto camera and the world's first 6,100mAh silicon-carbon battery for a foldable. The engineering feat represents something bigger than spec sheets: it's the moment...

The swiping just got a lot more serious. Tinder is expanding its identity verification tech to the US, bringing along facial recognition that's supposedly safer, smarter, and more foolproof than ever. But as always with biometric data, there's more happening under the hood than a simple selfie check.

You lose cell service in the middle of the day, and twenty minutes later, your bank account is empty. Welcome to SIM swapping—the nightmare scenario that's plagued millions and cost victims over $25 million in 2024 alone. The good news? AT&T just rolled out a feature that could slam the door on these attacks before they start. ZDNet reports that Wireless Account Lock is now live for both postpaid and prepaid customers, joining T-Mobile and Verizon in offering SIM protection tools.

While iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 officially launched in September 2024, Apple has continued refining the experience with frequent updates. Now that the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 (yes … not 19) development cycle is up, future 18 updates may be isolated to bug fixes and security patches.

Apple's next big software updates for iPhone and iPad — iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 — are ready to test out. If you're willing to live on the bleeding edge, the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 betas let you explore the new features months early — just be prepared for the occasional bug or app crash along the way.

YouTube just dropped another AI bombshell, and spoiler alert: it's not all sunshine and seamless video discovery. The platform is testing AI-generated search carousels that surface video clips before you even click play—and content creators are already seeing dollar signs disappear.

Picture this: you're walking downtown, phone in pocket, completely unaware that a small device nearby is quietly intercepting your calls, texts, and location data. This isn't some dystopian future—it's happening right now with "Stingray" surveillance devices. But Android 16 might finally give you the heads-up you never knew you needed.

Picture this: you're halfway through binge-watching your latest obsession when that dreaded notification pops up — you've hit 90% of your monthly data cap. Sound familiar? Well, if you're a Comcast customer (or considering becoming one), those days might finally be behind you.

Picture this: you're firing off a quick text about weekend plans when a friendly AI bubble pops up in Google Messages, ready to help craft the perfect response. Seems harmless enough, right? Here's the kicker: that helpful assistant is quietly collecting way more than you probably signed up for—and Google openly admits human reviewers might be reading your conversations for up to three years.

Imagine your iPhone adapting to each app you open — text that's always the right size, buttons you can spot at a glance, and a steady cursor that never blinks — all without touching your system-wide settings. It sounds like magic, but it's all thanks to a tucked-away feature.

You're probably walking around with a portable power bank in your pocket and don't even realize it. Yes, that iPhone of yours doubles as a quick-charge station for all your other pocket-sized gadgets. But it's important to understand precisely how this feature works, including its limitations, the devices you can charge, and how effectively it does the job.

Your iPhone has a powerful feature that can keep your secrets hidden from other people. With it, you'll never have to worry about sharing or showing someone something embarrassing or incriminating ever again.

The thinnest Galaxy ever feels incredible in the hand, but its diet comes with sacrifices you need to know about before spending $1,099.

With Apple's Photos app, you no longer need a third-party tool on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to blur or pixelate faces in your photos, helping you safeguard identities when sharing online.

When typing an email or website address in a compatible input field on an iPhone, most people will manually type in the domain extension. But there's a much faster way to enter domain suffixes for email addresses and website URLs that you should be using on your keyboard. Even better, there's a way to customize what domain extensions appear in the keyboard shortcut.

You can lock practically any app on your iPhone or iPad behind biometric or passcode protection. And we're not talking about using any funky workarounds. There's now an official Apple way to protect sensitive apps and their data. It even safeguards your personal information, keeping it out of sight across the system. You can even hide apps, making it harder for others to know they're there.

Apple Notes may not have all the bells and whistles that a more powerful word processor like Apple Pages has, but this simple text editor has plenty of helpful features that make it more than just a basic note-taking app. One of these features gives you the ability to highlight text and change font colors, giving you another way to make important details stand out.

Apple's iOS 18.5's code has introduced a new localization string that suggests the company is preparing support for "5G Advanced," the next evolution of cellular technology.

Apple expanded its Food topic in Apple News into a full-blown section with recipes, restaurant reviews, kitchen tips, and more with the iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 software updates. The new Food section is exclusive to Apple News+ subscribers, but nonsubscribers can still view select stories and recipes.

A good e‑reader lets you disappear into a story without the headaches of blue‑light glare, notification pings, or dead‑weight battery anxiety. The latest crop goes further, adding color E Ink for comics, warm front‑lights for night reading, and waterproofing so you can finish that chapter poolside. We put the year's most compelling models to the page‑turn test and narrowed the field to five standouts for every kind of book lover.

It can feel pretty chaotic when you have a lot of open windows on your Mac that are different sizes, but there's an easy way to organize the mess in just a few seconds.

Even if you don't know a gundark from a gonk droid, you can still sling Baby Yoda stickers and lightsaber emoji like a seasoned Jedi Master. And if you happen to be reading on May 4, may the 4th be with you.

Pinned tabs in Safari lock your most-frequented sites to the very top of each Tab Group, so the pages you rely on are never more than two quick taps away.

Over time, your Android phone or tablet has likely connected to dozens of Wi-Fi networks — and it remembers every single one. Whether it's a hotspot at home, school, work, the gym, a coffee shop, a relative's apartment — or even from a friend's phone — each time you type in a Wi-Fi password, your Android device saves it for safekeeping and easy access later.

Speech-to-text technology can be seen on your iPhone in various places, from the Dictation tool to Apple's new behind-the-scenes, auto-created transcripts for podcast episodes. Your iPhone also has some pretty impressive text-to-speech capabilities. With them, your iPhone can read webpages, documents, or whatever text is on the screen out loud to you — only some of these tools aren't easy to find.

Flagship earbuds like Apple's AirPods Pro, Sony's WF‑1000XM5, Jabra's Elite 10, and Soundcore's Liberty 4 Pro sound fantastic, but they come with equally premium price tags. Luckily, there are plenty of stellar alternatives that won't gut your wallet. Spend less than $100, and you can still land punchy audio, rock‑solid active noise canceling (ANC), and marathon battery life without feeling like you settled.

Your iPhone can already send messages with your voice, reply with a tap, and suggest words while you type. Now, with iOS 18.4, it can instantly launch a specific conversation from virtually anywhere on your device. Thanks to a new action in the Shortcuts app, you're just one tap (or Back Tap) away from texting your favorite contact.

Your iPhone's Mail inbox may look a little different lately — with faces, initials, brand logos, and even icons like an airplane, shopping bags, storefronts, or a heart with an ECG waveform on it showing up beside emails. That's by design, and if it's not your thing, you can turn it off.

Safari is always evolving, but most of its improvements happen behind the scenes, making the web feel faster, more secure, and more polished without you even noticing. There aren't any flashy new browser UI changes in iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, but it does upgrade what Safari is capable of in small but meaningful ways.