News and Updates from Gadget Hacks: Page 8

Apple is reportedly pressing developers to deepen Siri app integration ahead of iOS 27's unveiling at WWDC on June 8, Bloomberg reported last month. The mechanism at the center of that push is App Intents, an API that lets Siri execute actions inside third-party apps without the user ever opening them. Some of the world's largest app companies are hesitating to commit, not because the integration is technically demanding, but because Apple has not ruled out eventually charging for it.

Apple's MacBook Neo triggered supply strain almost immediately after becoming available March 11, 2026, following its March 4 announcement. Within weeks, demand had significantly exceeded expectations, prompting Apple to raise production orders and shift more manufacturing volume to Foxconn, Digitimes reported in April 2026. Tim Culpan reported in his Culpium newsletter, according to 9to5Mac, that Apple now plans roughly 10 million MacBook Neo units, about twice its initial order, requiring...

Microsoft today announced a Windows Update automatic driver rollback feature that can replace a faulty driver installed through Windows Update on affected devices without any action from the user or the hardware vendor. The feature, called Cloud-Initiated Driver Recovery, is currently in testing with hardware partners and is scheduled for a gradual rollout in September, The Verge reported today. It applies only to drivers delivered through Windows Update a scope boundary that defines both what...

Android users can already choose where new passkeys get stored. Moving the ones already inside Google Password Manager to another provider is a different story and that capability does not exist yet.

Strava updated its iPhone app today to enable AirPods Pro 3 support, reading heart rate data from the earbuds directly into recorded workouts. The update requires iOS 18 and AirPods Pro 3, works on iPhone with or without an Apple Watch, and is rolling out now.

Apple is working out how to bring agentic AI apps into the App Store without dismantling the review system that makes the platform defensible, AppleInsider reported. The internal debate, those sources say, is less about whether to open the platform than how to contain what gets in. The most capable AI agents — according to current industry reporting — the kind that write code, spawn programs, and act autonomously across a device, are exactly what App Review was designed to prevent. That tension...

Code embedded in the latest Google Translate Android update suggests that Google is building offline support for Live Translate, its real-time spoken conversation feature. Right now, attempting to use Google Translate's live translation feature offline throws an error. But that may be about to change, as per reports.

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Netflix's ad-supported plan now accounts for 60% of new sign-ups in markets where it's available, and the company expects ad revenue to double to $3 billion this year, according to its Q1 shareholder letter, reported by Adweek last month. That's not a coincidence it's a causal chain. The ad tier is pulling in subscribers; those subscribers generate inventory; that inventory is filling fast.

Google is pulling Groups, Community Feed, direct messages, and badges from the Fitbit app this month, replacing them with a Gemini-based AI coach available at a higher price point. The Fitbit app social features removed in this transition are not returning, according to reporting from 9to5Google and Gadgets & Wearables last week. The app itself automatically updates to Google Health starting May 19, with no new download required, Google announced last week.

Apple has released AirPods Pro 3 firmware update 8B40, and the official changelog covers it in five words: "bug fixes and other improvements." The new build replaces 8B39, which arrived in late March 2026 for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods 4.

Spotify launched "Spotify 20: Your Party of the Year(s)" yesterday, giving every user, free or premium, access to lifetime listening data the platform has never surfaced before. The feature went live as part of the company's 20th anniversary campaign and is available now in the mobile app. It's a different product than Wrapped, not an extension of it, and that distinction matters before you go looking for yours.

Thirty-five years ago today, Apple shipped an operating system that reset three assumptions Mac users had lived with since 1984: that the computer ran one application at a time, operated in isolation from other machines, and handled documents as static, standalone objects. The System 7 Mac release on May 13, 1991, dismantled all three. It was the most dramatic change to the classic Mac OS since the original Macintosh launched, according to InfoWorld, and the clearest evidence for that judgment...

Mystic Leaks has shared footage from an early Android build showing Google may be adding a full manual color picker to the Pixel's Wallpaper & style app, Android Authority and 9to5Google reported this week. The Pixel Material You color controls shown in the leak would let users choose any custom accent color directly, replacing a system that has generated palettes automatically from wallpaper since Android 12.

Apple plans to transform Siri from a voice command shortcut into a persistent AI layer running through search, the keyboard, third-party apps, and the Dynamic Island. According to Bloomberg reporting relayed by MacRumors this week, the iOS 27 Siri redesign will give the assistant the ability to answer open-ended questions drawing on web results, read what's on your screen, pull context from messages and photos, and complete multi-step tasks across apps. By all accounts, it's the biggest change...

The smartphone industry's upgrade pitch for the past two years has leaned heavily on artificial intelligence and folding screens. Consumers, when surveyed directly, are largely unmoved by both. A smartphone upgrade survey covering foldables and AI features makes this gap between what gets marketed and what gets bought about as stark as data gets, and understanding it tells you more about the next upgrade cycle than any product launch keynote.

Microsoft has disclosed internal engineering data showing File Explorer launches faster after being migrated to a newer UI framework, part of a structured initiative called Windows K2. The company hopes to push the changes out of development testing "soon," XDA Developers reported yesterday, covering Microsoft's own engineering disclosures. The Windows 11 performance improvements are real and measurable though independent benchmarks have not yet verified how the numbers translate across...

Google I/O 2026 runs May 19 and 20 as a free livestreamed event, with keynotes and sessions open online, per the official Google I/O site. Two questions dominate the pre-conference evidence: whether Gemini actually landed on the smartwatches, cars, and TVs Google committed to a year ago, and how prominently Android XR which received its most substantial platform update six weeks before the conference figures into the keynote.

Two battery complaints. Two different problems. One conversation that almost always mixes them up.

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Apple's biggest iPhone redesign in nearly a decade appears to be its weakest seller based on early buyer-share and supply-chain indicators. In the iPhone Air's first full quarter on sale, just 6% of US iPhone buyers chose it, according to a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners survey cited by CNN in January 2026. The standard iPhone 17 took 22% of purchases, the Pro took 25%, and the Pro Max took 27%. The Air captured less than a third of what the cheapest model in the lineup managed, and...

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Google is rolling out a redesigned Gemini overlay for Android, and 9to5Google reports it's showing up on stable Google app version 17.8. The update brings an expanded Tools menu directly into the floating UI, putting Deep Research, image and video generation, Canvas, and Guided Learning within reach without opening the Gemini app.

A Samsung camera team moderator has confirmed on the company's community forum that the One UI 8.5 stable rollout may be causing editing features to disappear from the Enhance-X app for some Galaxy users. A fix is in development, and Samsung plans to distribute it in phases a process the moderator said could take up to three days to complete once it begins, according to Android Authority.

Google's Android Identity Check anti-theft feature has expanded to cover third-party banking apps and password managers, closing the gap that previously left financial accounts exposed even when system-level protections were active. Apps integrating Android's Biometric Prompt API now automatically require biometric authentication outside trusted locations, meaning a thief who has both the device and the PIN still cannot open a banking app or access saved passwords without the owner's...

Place the Motorola Razr Plus 2026 and the Razr Plus 2025 side by side and you genuinely cannot tell them apart. Same 6.9-inch internal display, same 4-inch cover screen, same 73.99 x 171.42 x 7.09mm open dimensions, same 189g weight, per the spec table at Android Central. Yet the Motorola Razr Plus 2026 vs Razr Plus 2025 decision is not the same purchase at all, and the reason comes down to one number: $400. When CNET's first-impressions piece ran in late April, the 2025 model was selling for...

Walmart's Onn 4K Pro is sold out, and Onn 4K Pro scalpers on eBay and Facebook Marketplace are listing the $60 streaming box for $90 to $100 before shipping, Android Authority reported today. That's a 50 to 67 percent markup. The Pro is marked out of stock on Walmart's product page; the cheaper Onn 4K Stick remains available at $40, per the same report.

Ahead of Google's Android Show: I/O Edition event today, leaker Mystic Leaks published a 16-minute hands-on video of Aluminium OS on Telegram, one of the most detailed public looks yet at the Android-based platform Google intends as a long-term successor to ChromeOS. The Google Aluminium OS leak confirms the company has built a functional desktop shell. It also shows, in plain view, what's missing.

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