The Latest from Gadget Hacks: Page 6

Some PCs upgrading from Windows 11 23H2 or 24H2 to 25H2 run into a specific, confusing failure: "We couldn't update the system reserved partition," paired with error code 0x800f0922 (also logged as 0xc1900104). A Microsoft Q&A thread posted late last year reports a connection between this failure and devices running a 100 MB EFI System Partition, smaller than Microsoft's current sizing minimum (Microsoft Q&A). That's the scenario driving this look at Windows 10 to Windows 11 upgrade partition...

If your Netflix or Hulu session suddenly feels like it's mostly commercials, you're not imagining it. Ad minutes per hour across top U.S. streaming services rose 18% between January and August 2026, according to Ampere Analysis data shared with Business Insider this week. That figure covers major U.S. streamers as a group, not a confirmed increase on every platform or plan.

A "Remember this with Gemini" shortcut buried in Gemini's app code could bring an early version of the Gemini Remember this image feature to Android's share sheet, letting users save details from photos and screenshots without typing anything. Android Authority found the code three weeks ago, enabled it manually, and got it to run (Android Authority). Google hasn't announced the shortcut, and it isn't available to regular users yet.

Pixel owners describing connectivity trouble often lump three different problems into one complaint. Wi-Fi that won't hold a connection, mobile data that switches on without being asked, and weak cellular reception in marginal spots are separate issues with separate causes, and treating them as one blurs what's actually going on with Google Pixel Wi-Fi connectivity issues this year.

Some App Store apps now let you pay for an annual subscription in monthly installments instead of one upfront charge. Apple calls it "monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment," and it's easy to mistake for a flexible, cancel-anytime monthly plan.

Apple TV boxes don't ship with automatic content recognition, and the Apple TV 4K can't inspect video coming through a television's other inputs, giving it a privacy edge over most other streaming devices and smart TVs, according to Ars Technica's reporting from last year. That's a real advantage, but it doesn't touch app tracking, diagnostics, Siri's data handling, or how the Apple TV app personalizes recommendations. That's where the Apple TV privacy settings below come in.

The most common mistake people make when a phone breaks is comparing the repair quote to the price of a brand-new phone instead of a realistic used or refurbished replacement. That comparison almost always makes replacing look better than it actually is, according to The Repair Plus. Once that comparison is fixed, the answer to "should I repair or replace my phone" usually comes down to three things: whether the fault is isolated, whether the phone still has real software-support life left, and...

Less than a month after launch, Pixel 11 owners are running into a scattered set of problems: a phone that won't survive its own setup screen, videos full of static, spotty Wi-Fi, and a hit game that refuses to launch at all.

The Apple CarPlay settings to change after that first pairing aren't hidden exactly, but they do live in two different places: the iPhone's Settings app and CarPlay's own on-screen Settings, reached from the car's display. CarPlay ships with a handful of options that adjust how it looks and behaves, and most are worth checking once the initial setup is done (Engadget, yesterday).

Hideo Kojima's Physint has moved to Xbox after Sony ended its involvement in the project, according to statements reported today by VGC and Variety. Xbox will now work with Kojima Productions on the game, replacing PlayStation Studios as its publishing partner.

Apple's iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB, and pricing is expected to climb to roughly $3,000 at the top storage tier, according to Gurman's reporting (Apple, this week; MacRumors, this week). Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 sits close behind at a reported $1,900 (9to5Google, 6 weeks ago). At that price, "it's a foldable" stops being an excuse for missing features on either side, which raises the obvious question: which iPhone Duo features Android foldables should copy, and which Apple claims...

iOS 27 began rolling out yesterday, September 14, and it arrived with a screen most people will tap through without reading: a prompt titled "Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence" offering two choices, "Share Audio and Text" or "Not Now." That single screen is the answer to how to stop Apple using Siri data to train AI. It's the specific control that decides whether Apple can collect and use your Siri, Dictation, and Translate interactions to help train its Foundation Models (9to5Mac reports).

Outlook throwing "Your message can't be displayed right now" sends most people straight to a search bar looking for a one-click fix. There isn't one published yet. The Microsoft material reviewed for this guide does not document a fix for this exact wording. What follows is a troubleshooting heuristic for narrowing down whether the problem is a local app glitch, a single damaged message, an account-level issue, or something happening on Microsoft's end. It's not a Microsoft-confirmed diagnostic...

Microsoft has confirmed that its September 8, 2026 security update can knock out USB audio on some Windows 11 PCs, cutting off sound from speakers, headsets, and microphones that connect over USB. If you're trying to find a Windows 11 update broke USB audio workaround, the scope here is narrower than "audio is broken" across the board, and the only reported workaround that may help is limited to one of two failure patterns showing up in reports.

Apple released macOS 27 Golden Gate on Sept. 14, 2026, as a free update for eligible Macs, calling it a stability and performance release recommended for all macOS 27 users (Apple Support, yesterday). The headline macOS 27 Golden Gate new features center on Siri: Siri AI now lives inside Spotlight for conversational search, while a separate Siri AI app handles saved conversations synced through iCloud. Apple says Siri AI is rolling out gradually and that users should turn it on in Settings...

Mention MapQuest in conversation and Google Maps tends to come up as some kind of corporate cousin. It isn't. The short answer to who owns MapQuest is System1, a digital-advertising company, not Google (SlashGear, Monday). System1 bought MapQuest from Verizon in 2019, in a deal small enough that Verizon didn't break it out separately in its financial filings (SlashGear, Monday; Wikipedia).

Apple's macOS 27 "Golden Gate" puts Siri AI into Spotlight, the right-click menu, and screen-aware queries, but the first hands-on account of it found Siri itself only "occasionally useful." Gizmodo's Kyle Barr spent time with the macOS 27 beta two months ago and came away more impressed with a different feature: AI-assisted Shortcuts, which he called "the real gold" of the release.

Serial leaker Evan Blass posted a partial image of a Galaxy tablet on X paired with the text "7 October," and multiple outlets are reading that as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 launch date. 9to5Google reported yesterday that the wallpaper visible in Blass's image matches the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra, and separate coverage says the tip covers both the Tab S12+ and Tab S12 Ultra, not just one model (SamMobile; GSMArena, both reported yesterday). 9to5Google's report also raises the possibility that...

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 reach store shelves this Friday, September 18, but the feature drawing the most scrutiny won't be on anyone's wrist that day. Siri Recap, the new always-on conversation summarizer, ships in beta later this year with no confirmed date attached, The Next Web reported yesterday. Once it arrives, it's designed to listen to conversations throughout the day and quietly summarize them, and Apple says the raw audio behind those summaries is inaccessible to anyone,...

Samsung's own posts about the Galaxy S26 series still describe an active beta program, not a finished software release. The company's August 28 and September 1 updates document expanding beta activity for One UI 9, with no accompanying stable-release note for the Galaxy S26, S26+, or S26 Ultra.

iOS 27 rolled out today, September 14, and buried inside it is something AirPods owners have asked for through several software cycles: a working iOS 27 AirPods customizable EQ that lets owners push lows, mids, and highs up or down instead of trusting Apple's automatic tuning alone. Apple Intelligence and a beta version of Siri AI ship the same day.

Apple TV won 28 television Emmys this year, more than any other outlet, with parent company Apple's total reaching 29 once a separate commercial-category award is folded in. It's the first time Apple TV has finished at the top of the Emmy tally since the service launched in 2019, according to The Hollywood Reporter today.

A friend texts a Spotify track link. You tap it on your phone, and instead of the song landing where you actually listen, you get Spotify's web player, a blank page, or nothing useful at all. For a YouTube Music listener, that link hasn't gotten the song any closer to playing where it should.

This Pixel 10 Pro vs Pixel 11 Pro comparison sticks to the Pro model, not the standard Pixel 11, because the Pro is the 10 Pro's direct successor and the phone most likely to tempt someone weighing a new flagship against a discounted last-gen one. Getting the models right matters before comparing a single spec. Pair the wrong ones and the price math falls apart.

Apple Music subscribers don't have to wait until December to see their year in music laid out. The 2026 Replay playlist has been quietly taking shape since late winter, breaking down top songs and artists as the year goes rather than dropping all at once (9to5Mac). This guide covers how to get your 2026 Apple Music Replay playlist in the Music app, how to pull up the same stats on the web, and what to check if Replay still isn't showing on your account seven months in.

At roughly $1,300 apiece, the iPhone 18 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra make price almost irrelevant at the starting line. The real choice comes down to how differently the two phones approach cameras, battery life, software, design, and the features you'll use long after the novelty wears off.

Spotify Lossless has been part of Premium since last year, but there's a good chance it's never touched your ears. The feature launched in September 2025 as a free addition to Individual, Duo, and Family plans, no separate HiFi tier required, and Spotify expanded it to more than 50 markets by October 2025 (Spotify Newsroom). The catch is that it ships off by default, so most Premium subscribers who technically qualify have never actually flipped the switch (Audio Endgame).

Google is testing a way to bring Gemini's Daily Brief to the Pixel lock screen, according to a teardown of the latest Android System Intelligence app.

Should you buy the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold? Early reviews from PCMag and iGeeksBlog put it head-to-head against Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8, and the verdict lands in a specific place: buy the Pixel for Google's software and camera approach, not because it's the stronger all-round foldable.

The most interesting evidence for Apple's rumored home hub isn't a spec sheet. It's a home-screen system borrowed straight from the Apple Watch, and it does more to justify buying several units than any display resolution or chip upgrade could. That's the real story buried in this month's Apple HomePad rumors: not a bigger screen, but a smarter one.

The OnePlus 13R and Google Pixel 11 are no longer a comparison between a phone you can buy and one that exists only in leaks. Google unveiled the Pixel 11 on August 12 and released it on August 20, giving buyers confirmed prices, battery specifications, cameras, and software support to weigh against the older OnePlus.

Code buried inside a macOS Tahoe 26.7 update shows how Apple's rumored Home Hub might figure out who's standing in front of it. The strings describe ambient sensing, built-in cameras, and possibly voice cues working together to verify a person's identity and then switch to that person's own profile. MacRumors reported the find, and AppleInsider spotted matching code in the same build, which it describes as a 26.7 release candidate.

Google Photos still has a setting that restores date headers in the grid. On Android, the redesigned Photos view switched those headers off by default and replaced them with a floating date indicator that appears while scrolling.

Google Messages beta code contains a hidden "Select chats to pin" screen that caps selections at six conversations, displaying a "Limit reached" message if a user tries to add another after six have been selected, according to Nerds Chalk's APK teardown, reported August 3.

The Google Pixel 11 price increase lands the phone at $899 to start, essentially the same as Samsung's $899.99 Galaxy S26 and $100 above the iPhone 17's $799 starting price, according to Android Authority. For a phone line that built its reputation on undercutting Apple and Samsung, that's not a minor pricing update. It's the end of an era.

Apple released iOS 27 Public Beta 4 on Aug. 17, one week after Public Beta 3 and just hours after iOS 27 developer beta 6. Anyone with a compatible iPhone can get the update by enrolling in the Apple Beta Software Program.

Installing iOS 27 next month may not hand you Siri AI on the spot. Beta evidence points to a four-step sequence: update, enable Apple Intelligence, join the iOS 27 Siri AI waitlist, then wait for a notification, according to 9to5Mac on August 25 and MacRumors on August 24.

Samsung's One UI 9 Beta 6 update adds a toggle that lets Galaxy S26 owners disable AI Select's long-press trigger on the Edge Panel handle, according to Android Authority. Here's how to disable AI Select in One UI 9 Beta 6 without switching off Edge Panels altogether. It's a fix for a recurring annoyance reported by users: lingering slightly too long while swiping out an Edge Panel would freeze the screen and launch the AI Select overlay, whether they meant to trigger it or not.

Chrome for Android is testing a redesign that finally puts core browsing controls within thumb's reach on today's tall phones, and in the same stroke adds a second persistent toolbar that crowds the screen with more interface than the browser has carried in years. That's the tension at the center of the Chrome Android bottom navigation bar redesign: a legitimate ergonomic fix wrapped around a feature nobody asked to have permanently on screen.

Google has told suppliers it plans to produce every Pixel smartphone, watch, and wireless earbud outside China starting in 2027, according to Nikkei Asia's report, which ties the move to ongoing tension between Washington and Beijing.