Gadget Hacks: Page 2

Xbox's disc-to-digital feature is now being tested across the Xbox Insider program, and the interesting part isn't simply that a physical game can unlock digital access.

iOS 27 splits Apple's Clean Up tool into three processing modes: Auto, Fast, and High Quality, and picking the right one is the difference between an edit that holds up and one that looks obviously doctored. This guide covers how to use Clean Up in iOS 27 Photos to remove unwanted objects from iPhone photos, including which mode to trust and when to override it. Hands-on tests from Macworld and TechRadar show High Quality producing noticeably more convincing results than Fast in complex...

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.

TikTok videos on Disney Plus are becoming real, and Disney+ subscribers will start seeing that content inside the app within the next few months. The rollout stems from a global Disney Plus TikTok partnership the two companies announced yesterday, according to The Walt Disney Company's announcement and USA Today. Opt-in creators will have their short-form videos appear on both TikTok and Verts, the vertical-video feed built into the Disney+ mobile app.

Apple released watchOS 27.0.1 for Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 on Sept. 23, with release notes describing bug fixes "including an issue that could cause the Apple Watch to restart unexpectedly," according to MacRumors.

A Tom's Guide reporter spent about four hours trying to book a family trip to Disneyland Paris, phone parked in an online queue the whole time. The reporter said the checks on that booking page came about every 20 minutes in that case, part of a range the same person observed elsewhere running anywhere from 10 minutes to a full hour (Tom's Guide, last week). That inconsistency is the whole problem with an otherwise clever tool.

Xiaomi has now launched the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max in China, locking in the camera hardware that was being teased before their Sept. 23 debut. Samsung, meanwhile, hasn't officially revealed the Galaxy S27 Ultra camera system yet, and leakers are still disagreeing over parts of its telephoto setup.

Crack an iPhone 17 screen without coverage and Apple bills $329; do the same to a Pro Max and the number climbs to $379. File that same repair through AppleCare+ instead, and the fee drops to $29 (iDrop News, about a year ago; Engadget, two weeks ago). That gap explains why AppleCare+ can be valuable, and also why so many people buy it without checking whether they actually need it.

The 2026 WNBA Playoffs began Sunday, Sept. 27, and the schedule is spread across broadcast networks, cable channels, and streaming services rather than one simple destination.

Typing "remove static IP Windows 11" into a search bar usually surfaces ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew. Those are real commands, but they won't remove a manually configured address on their own. /renew only works on adapters already configured to obtain an address automatically.

Samsung recently unveiled the Galaxy SmartTag3, and for the first time in the SmartTag lineup, the tracker supports iPhone finding and sharing alongside Galaxy devices. T

Searching for a Visible phone plan $5 discount for five years? The Visible promotional terms reviewed for this article describe a different offer: $15 off the $45-per-month Visible+ plan for 25 months, with enrollment that closed January 31, 2025, according to Visible.

Samsung just introduced the Galaxy Tab S12 series, a new tablet lineup built around Galaxy AI, a bundled S Pen, and a new MediaTek chip. The Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S12+ go on sale October 7 in select and major markets.

Apple confirmed this week that it's tightening macOS Full Disk Access controls, requiring a "very explicit user action" before any Mac app can receive the permission. The company says autonomous AI agents have pushed the risk of that access high enough to justify the change.

A new leak claims the standard Xiaomi 18, not the Pro or Pro Max, could ship with a 200MP main and 200MP telephoto Leica camera system, a 7,200mAh battery, and a 6.4-inch display, according to Trusted Reviews. That would give the base model a notably high-end spec sheet, well ahead of anything Xiaomi has confirmed about the standard phone directly.

Samsung budget Galaxy phone price hikes in the US have landed on four models that are already on sale, not a new generation revealed at launch. The Galaxy A17 5G, A27 5G, A37 5G, and A57 5G all carry higher Samsung.com prices this week than they did before, according to SamMobile and Engadget, which both reported the new figures.

Samsung raised official US prices on every Galaxy A phone it currently sells: the A17 5G, A27 5G, A37 5G, and A57 5G. Notebookcheck reported yesterday that Samsung's US site now lists higher prices across the full lineup, putting the Samsung Galaxy A series price increase into effect for anyone shopping Samsung.com right now.

Search for "Google Antigravity" from a Pixel or Galaxy phone, and nothing shows up in the Play Store. That's because Google Play marks ordinary Android phones as incompatible with the app, a restriction Android Authority confirmed last week by testing the listing directly. If the search result is confusing, that will probably explain why Google Antigravity isn't available on Android the way most Play Store apps are.

Apple's macOS Full Disk Access changes are arriving because AI agents are gaining enough autonomy to turn a convenience permission into a serious privacy risk, and the company says it needs to act before that risk grows further. A notice posted on Apple's developer site states that going forward, anyone who wants to grant Full Disk Access (FDA), the macOS permission that lets an app slip past most of the system's privacy protections, will have to take "very explicit user action," as reported by...

Amazon's October Prime Day sale is underway, and some of the strongest Google Pixel discounts of the fall have already arrived. Prime Big Deal Days runs Oct. 6 through Oct. 7, with Amazon releasing additional limited-time deals three times daily during the 48-hour event.