News and Updates from Gadget Hacks

If you’ve ever wondered whether your smartphone could be more ruthless about getting you out of bed, wonder no more. The mobile app landscape now includes alarms that refuse to snooze until you prove you are awake. Alarmy, nicknamed "Sleep If You Can," is one of the boldest versions, asking you to finish tasks before silence returns. Here is the kicker, research shows that wake-up tasks are tied to completing target behaviors and trimming the time it takes to feel truly awake. Task-based alarms...

Samsung's latest leak drops a clear hint. While we're all waiting for the Galaxy Tab A11 and A11 Plus to hit the market, the Plus variant looks set to outmuscle its smaller sibling. The Galaxy Tab A11 and A11 Plus aren't available quite yet, but the leaked specs sketch a gap budget shoppers should know about. Both tablets have a display with a 90Hz refresh rate. After that, the roads diverge in ways you will feel day to day.

Microsoft is shaking up the productivity playbook. Free Copilot Chat features are rolling out to Office apps for all Microsoft 365 business users. Not a tiny tweak, a line in the sand to democratize AI-powered productivity across Microsoft’s business ecosystem.

Apple's latest macOS release is here, and it's bringing some serious changes to your Mac experience. MacRumors confirms that macOS Tahoe is the latest version of macOS, set to launch this fall with a complete visual overhaul called Liquid Glass. This is not just another incremental update. We are looking at what MoneyControl calls "the boldest macOS update in over a decade," and they are not wrong.

You've probably been there: you hop in your car, connect your phone to Android Auto, and suddenly the media player looks... off. Maybe the icons are faded, unresponsive, or just plain weird-looking. If you're scratching your head wondering what's going on, you're not alone. Recent reports show users dealing with faded Android Auto icons that won't respond to touch, while Google continues to address bugs on the platform. And yes, Android Auto's media player has undergone significant changes...

Google's smart home landscape just shifted dramatically, and it's been a long time coming. The Google Home Spring 2025 update is not another incremental improvement, it is a transformation of how we interact with connected devices. Previous updates added individual features; this one reimagines the control paradigm. The standout feature is a new automation editor that brings YAML scripting to the masses, giving users serious control over their setups.

Two titans step into 2025 with swagger, long memories, and sharper elbows. Apple's iPhone 17 Pro Max chases higher performance and smarter cameras, while Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra arrived earlier this year packing the Snapdragon 8 Elite and an S Pen for serious note takers. The iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199, the Galaxy S25 Ultra at $1,299.99.

Apple's highly anticipated iOS 26 officially launched today, bringing what the company calls the biggest redesign since iOS 7. Millions of iPhone users can download it right now. The mood among developers, though, is mixed. The new Liquid Glass design has proved almost as controversial as that minimalist iOS 7 overhaul back in 2013. With compatibility extending to iPhone 11 series and newer, the update touches a huge crowd. The real question, should you install it today?

When Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 7, something felt different. This was not just another iterative update with minor tweaks and marketing fluff. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has achieved the highest pre-order numbers of any Galaxy Fold device in the United States, and frankly, it is about time. After years of Samsung playing it safe with foldables that felt more like expensive tech demos than practical daily drivers, the Z Fold 7 shows what happens when a company finally tackles the barriers that...

You know what really struck me about Apple's latest moves with the iPhone Air's MagSafe battery? It is not just that they brought back the MagSafe battery after years away. Or that they are charging $99 for a pack that provides up to 65 percent additional charge and bumps video playback from 27 to 40 hours. What jumps out is how blunt Apple is about charging limits, a rare bit of straight talk in 2025’s tangle of proprietary standards and peak-number bragging.

Something truly groundbreaking just happened in the Android gaming world. Android Authority reports that Eden Emulator has become the first Nintendo Switch emulator to land on the Google Play Store, a milestone that felt impossible just months ago. This is not just another emulation story. It is a shift that could reshape how we think about mobile gaming and platform boundaries. Eden is a fork of one of the most successful and infamous Switch emulators, now available for devices running Android...

Apple's iOS 26 update brings a significant expansion to the table: new hearing protection settings for AirPods Pro users in the EU and UK. This isn't just another minor software tweak, it is Apple turning everyday earbuds into serious health tools. Apple's Hearing Protection technology, including the Hearing Test, is now available to users in the EU and UK after receiving certification in those regions, a clear step beyond the initial US launch.

Apple's Sleep Score feature in watchOS 11 is a step change in how we read our nights. Competitors like Samsung, Garmin, and Fitbit have offered sleep scoring for years, but Apple's take lands differently. The feature assigns a single-number score from 0 to 100 to your sleep each night, built on over 5 million nights of sleep data from Apple's Heart and Movement Study and guidance from leading sleep organizations.

So you've got your eye on Apple's latest wearables, but you're wondering if the Series 11 is worth the upgrade from the Series 10? Let me break it down. Apple updated its entire Apple Watch lineup at its September event, with the Series 11 leading the pack. Here's the twist, visually, the Series 11 looks a lot like the Series 10, the same thin profile and edge-to-edge display. So the real question is simple, do the under-the-hood tweaks move the needle?

The mobile industry is shifting in a way that could change how we think about phone service forever. We used to walk into carrier stores or dial customer support to set up plans. Now apps can activate mobile service on the spot, no carrier visit required. Carrier billing and e-wallets will be worth $60 billion globally in 2025, and superapps are multifunctional platforms that integrate messaging, payments, e-commerce and more. Put those together and you get a new ecosystem where your next phone...

When Apple unveiled the iPhone X in September 2017, few could have predicted just how profoundly it would reshape the smartphone landscape. Eight years ago, the iPhone X set the table for everything that has come since, marking what Tim Cook called a device that would "set the path for technology for the next decade". The iPhone X was not just another incremental update. It was Apple's most important and most expensive smartphone in four years, introduced specifically to commemorate the tenth...

Samsung's latest security update isn't just another routine patch, it's an emergency response to a critical zero-day vulnerability that attackers are actively exploiting right now. Samsung has rolled out its September 2025 security update, tackling a flaw so severe that it's already being used to execute remote code on Galaxy devices in the wild.

Looking at the third-generation AirPods Pro that Apple just dropped, you are probably wondering if it is time to retire those trusty Pro 2s. For three years, the Pro 2s have been the gold standard for premium wireless earbuds, the ones that keep topping every best earbuds list worth reading. Still, Apple’s latest iteration brings genuinely compelling upgrades, from heart rate monitoring to significantly improved noise cancellation, that might nudge you to reconsider your current setup.

Apple's online store is showing that familiar "Be right back" message, a sign that something big is about to drop. The Apple Store is down ahead of iPhone 17 preorders, which are set to begin Friday, September 12th at 5AM PST. The ritual is predictable, still exciting. It signals that Apple has officially lifted the curtain on the iPhone 17 lineup, including the highly anticipated iPhone 17 Air model.

Apple device management just got a major upgrade. iMazing started life as a more powerful alternative to iTunes, but has since evolved into something far more comprehensive, a desktop solution that transforms how you manage Apple devices across personal, educational, and business environments. Not a sidekick, a control center.

When Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985, who guessed his next venture would become the tech that later saved the company he co-founded? After a boardroom power struggle he walked out, then invested $12 million of his own money to create NeXT, Inc. The paradox that followed is hard to beat, a company that would struggle to gain traction in the market yet ultimately become the startup that brought Jobs back to Apple and powered its biggest breakthroughs.

Apple's ecosystem just got a significant fitness upgrade, and it is not coming from where you might expect. Everyone has been waiting for the next Apple Watch breakthrough, yet the Powerbeats Pro 2 just received an iOS 26 update that feels genuinely transformative. Workout earbuds that can now do heart rate monitoring like the AirPods Pro 3, complete Apple Fitness integration, and enhanced tracking algorithms that work on both iOS and Android. Yes, earbuds.

The wearables market is having a moment, just not the kind Apple might have hoped for. While IDC data shows Apple secured a 17.9% market share in Q2 2024, making them a top-five player globally, the story under those numbers is messier. The global smartwatch market rebounded with 4% growth in Q2 2024 after six straight quarters of decline. Yet Apple’s sales velocity lagged competitors that rode the recovery more aggressively.

If you've been dealing with music that stutters, skips, or cuts out while using Android Auto, you're not alone. Drivers across brands and phone models are reporting the same thing, turning a simple commute into an audio mess. Multiple reports on Reddit point to a bug that causes music to stutter and skip when connected to Android Auto wirelessly. The issue shows up regardless of phone brand. Plenty of users have given up and switched to plain Bluetooth streaming, trading Android Auto’s nice...

Reviewed by Julianne Ngirngir

The Google Pixel 10 has been making waves in the tech community, and for good reason. iFixit's teardown reveals that this phone is shaping up to be one of the most repairable smartphones of 2025. With significant improvements over previous Pixel models and a provisional repairability score of 6 out of 10, Google seems to be listening to consumers who want devices that can actually be fixed. This is not just about making repairs easier, it is about making smartphones more sustainable and...

When Netflix's $320 million sci-fi epic The Electric State crashed and burned with a 30 Metacritic score and 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, it was not just another streaming flop, it was a wake-up call about a distribution strategy problem. The film's dismal reception sparked industry confusion about Netflix's filmmaking efforts, and the confusion is justified. Here is a streaming giant that can make genuinely great films like The Irishman, Roma, and All Quiet on the Western Front, yet the typical...

Google just dropped something that could fundamentally reshape how we handle digital content authenticity, and honestly, it is about time. Google announced on September 10, 2025, that the Pixel 10 phones support the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, C2PA, right out of the box to verify the origin and history of digital content. This is not a routine spec bump. It is a direct response to the flood of AI generated media that keeps getting harder to spot with the naked eye.

You know how your Gmail inbox has basically turned into a chaotic dumping ground for every Amazon order confirmation, shipping notification, and delivery update? Same. Gmail's new Purchases tab is finally here to rescue us from that mess, and Google’s timing shows it understands just how overwhelming email has become. Google announced a couple of additions to Gmail that make it easier to keep track of your purchases and potential savings, including a tab that corrals all your incoming...

Reviewed by Julianne Ngirngir

Google's latest move might surprise you. It fits a bigger pattern across the tech landscape. Google is shutting down Tables, its ambitious Airtable rival that launched on September 22, 2020. The platform, which let users create database tables and design custom views through kanban boards, offered 100 tables with 1,000 rows each for free. Here's the twist, Tables has been discontinued in favor of Google AppSheet, marking another chapter in Google's complex relationship with productivity tools.

Samsung's Galaxy XR headset is finally stepping out of the shadows, and this is way more than just another VR device announcement. After years under the Project Moohan codename, Samsung's answer to Apple's Vision Pro is taking shape with some serious credentials. The big hook is software and timing, the headset will use Google-made Android XR software and is tapped to arrive in October 2025, putting it squarely in the premium XR ring.

If you thought the smartphone chip wars were competitive before, Apple's A19 Pro just rewrote the entire playbook. We're talking about a mobile processor that's literally outperforming desktop CPUs, and when I say outperforming, I mean the A19 Pro is leaving AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 9950X eating dust in single-thread performance. After years of covering chip launches and testing countless devices, I can tell you this is not an incremental improvement, it is a fundamental shift in what mobile...

You know that feeling when a tech giant suddenly shifts their entire business strategy? That is exactly what happened with Microsoft’s Copilot announcements this October, and the implications run deeper than most organizations realize.

Reviewed by Julianne Ngirngir

Reviewed by Julianne Ngirngir

Android 16 QPR2 is finally polishing desktop mode. Android Authority spotted a new Universal Cursor toggle that lets you decide whether the mouse can cross between displays, preventing those moments when the pointer hops to the wrong screen while you are trying to work. Found in the first QPR2 beta, this addition gives users tighter control over Android's DeX-like desktop experience (Android Authority).

Samsung's camera innovation has always been impressive. Plot twist, though, Samsung Electro-Mechanics is developing a telephoto module with continuous optical zoom, yet Samsung is pitching the tech to Chinese brands like Xiaomi, which are usually quicker to adopt experimental features. And get this, Samsung has already filed patents in 2024 and 2025, so the work has been in motion for a while. If Samsung is building the future of zoom, why aren't Galaxy phones getting first dibs?

Reviewed by Corey Noles

Reviewed by Julianne Ngirngir