News and Updates from Gadget Hacks: Page 2

Pocket Casts does not currently support Apple TV. That is the last documented position from the company, stated on its support page two and a half years ago, with a note that support may come in the future. Nothing in the app's current App Store listing changes that picture. What has changed is the platform Pocket Casts would be entering: Apple announced last month that it is rebuilding Apple Podcasts on tvOS from scratch, adding video playback, optional 4K creator support, and in-show episode...

Warner Bros. Discovery yesterday began testing HBO Max Shorts with a limited group of U.S. iPhone users: a vertically scrollable feed of scenes, trailers, and bonus clips drawn entirely from the existing HBO Max library. The feature is not original programming. It is existing content reformatted for vertical mobile playback, designed to pull subscribers from a 30-second clip into a full episode or series. Broader availability across devices and markets is planned, with no timeline attached.

Starting tomorrow, Thursday, August 6, T-Mobile customers will be able to spread the cost of a new phone, including taxes and activation fees, across 36 months instead of the previously available 24-month term, with well-qualified buyers paying nothing at checkout, according to WebProNews. The T-Mobile 36-month phone financing plan actually comes in two distinct versions, and the gap between them decides whether a customer walks out paying $0 or simply pays less than before.

Warner Bros. Discovery this week launched two new mobile features for HBO Max subscribers in the U.S.: a swipeable vertical Shorts feed and a conversational AI search tool called Ask HBO Max. Both are built around the same problem too many choices, not enough watching and neither is available to all subscribers yet.

Days before Google's Pixel 11 launch event, code teardowns show the company finalizing onboarding screens for a feature called Proactive Assistance, currently gated to Pixel 11 hardware only, according to Android Authority. The discovery gives the clearest look yet at a feature that could become one of the more visible AI additions on Google's next flagship, and at how far the company is willing to let Gemini reach into a user's inbox, calendar, and text messages before being asked.

A full set of press renders for the Lenovo Googlebook 15 surfaced this week, giving the clearest look yet at Google's new Android-based laptop category before either company has said a word about it. The images, first shared by Digital Citizen, show a 15-inch laptop built for Google's Gemini-first computing push, complete with a new Google 'G' key that leak reports identify as a Gemini shortcut.

Galaxy Watch owners are flooding Reddit with the same complaint for the third time this year: their watches are hemorrhaging battery life for no obvious reason. The latest wave of Galaxy Watch battery drain reports surfaced today, according to Android Authority, hitting Galaxy Watch 6, 7, and 8 owners just as Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Samsung has not publicly acknowledged the problem at any point during this cycle.

New Apple TV and HomePod mini hardware is reportedly "nearly ready to launch," with September or October the likely window for both devices, according to MacRumors citing Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. That report puts a firmer shape on the HomePod mini 2 release date and features that have been circulating for months, but the hardware itself isn't really the story here.

Samsung's latest foldable lineup has broken a Galaxy preorder record in South Korea that had stood since 2019. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold8, and Galaxy Z Flip8 drew more than 1.44 million preorders during a seven-day reservation period, surpassing the roughly 1.38 million recorded by the Galaxy Note10 series seven years earlier.

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is now on sale across 106 markets at $2,099.99. Within Samsung's lineup, the Ultra name is supposed to mean the company's highest performance tier, and Samsung frames this phone as bringing that standard to foldables for the first time. In its review, PCMag called it Samsung's most capable foldable yet, citing faster performance, a longer-lasting battery and sharper cameras than any other Z Fold.

Uninstall a Microsoft Store app, wait for the progress bar to finish, then check your storage. The number barely moves. If you're wondering why Windows 11 storage does not change after uninstalling apps, the answer depends on where the app came from: MSIX-packaged apps and traditionally installed desktop software can fail to free up space for two entirely different reasons. For a Store app, that result can be normal even when removal from your account went through without a hitch.

Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station says Oppo is testing a camera system for the Find X10 Pro built around two 200MP sensors, one for the main camera and one for the periscope telephoto, both allegedly using large 1/1.3-inch-type formats, according to GSMArena. If it holds up, the Oppo Find X10 Pro 200MP camera sensor setup would put matching resolution on both ends of the phone's zoom range, not just the telephoto lens.

Rivian's chief software officer has a blunt answer for anyone still shopping for Apple CarPlay in an electric truck: the debate itself, he argues, no longer matters. That's a striking claim from a company whose own buyers once ranked CarPlay as their single most-requested feature, according to The Verge, two months ago.

A satellite passing overhead has no opinion about a stairwell, a parking garage, or a windowless office. A phone's antenna does. That gap, between where a satellite can technically reach and where a phone can actually use it, sits at the center of Starlink direct-to-cell coverage limitations. Regulatory approvals for the service have piled up steadily over the past two years, but the public record says almost nothing about whether the signal holds up where people actually spend most of their...

Google's own product page for the Pixel 11 shows a short video of a color-shifting orb glowing on the side of the camera bar, The Verge reported last month. That single detail is confirmed, straight from Google's store, not a leak. The rest of the Google Pixel 11 Pro teaser story, including the feature's name, whether it's limited to the Pro model, and whether it replaces an existing sensor, comes from one outlet's reading of leaked information rather than any spec sheet Google has published,...

Google's Made by Google 2026 event lands this Wednesday, August 12, in New York, where the company is expected to unveil a new Pixel lineup that ZDNET describes as four phones: the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and a Pixel 11 Pro Fold. CNET's coverage of the same Google Pixel 11 launch event corroborates three of those four models and adds a Pixel Watch 5 to the guest list, though its reporting doesn't specifically name the Pro XL.

No iOS 27 developer beta 5 or iPadOS 27 beta 5 turns up in the reporting compiled for this piece. The newest confirmed build documented is developer beta 4, released July 20, which iClarified describes as continuing to refine both operating systems ahead of their fall launch.

Samsung has stopped delivering Google Play System updates to devices running beta versions of One UI, including the Galaxy S26's One UI 9.0 (Android 17) beta. The company says the move happened "in coordination with Google," according to SamMobile, which first reported the pause earlier this week.

Jennifer Bailey, the Apple vice president who built and ran Apple Pay, Apple Wallet, and Apple Card, is retiring after 23 years at the company, AppleInsider reported today. Bloomberg broke the news first, and Apple's Eddy Cue confirmed the departure in a note to employees, according to AppleInsider. Bailey spent the last 12 years as vice president of Apple Pay and related services, a run that began when she joined Apple in 2003, per AppleInsider.

Samsung opened public applications for the Samsung Galaxy Card on July 22, timed to coincide with Galaxy Unpacked, where the company unveiled new foldables and watches. The card is issued by Barclays U.S. Consumer Bank on the Visa network, carries no annual fee, and comes in both virtual and physical form. New cardholders who spend $2,000 within the first 90 days earn a $200 cash bonus.

Google has shipped two Snapseed updates for Android this month, and the Snapseed next update new features are already rolling out no waiting required. Version 4.1 adds support for RAW files from major camera manufacturers alongside in-tool undo and redo. A follow-up release, version 4.1.1.x, brings geotagging, original-image preservation, and custom save folders to Snapseed Camera. iOS users are confirmed to be getting these changes eventually, but no date has been set, per Android Authority.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the world's lightest book-style foldable, at 201g, and among the thinnest, measuring 4.5mm unfolded, which Android Authority confirmed is slimmer than the Galaxy S25 Edge at 5.8mm. Those numbers reflect genuine engineering progress. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 thinner and wider design trade-offs, though, deserve closer examination than the spec sheet provides: the redesign that produced a lighter, more pocketable phone also created an opening for Samsung to move key features up...

Apple added one of CarPlay's most significant upgrades to iOS 27: users with supported vehicles will be able to browse and play videos directly from the infotainment screen, without selecting the video on their iPhone, once compatible cars and apps become available. The feature, called "video in car," got no keynote time at WWDC 2026. Apple discussed it in a developer session and has said little publicly since.

When Samsung brought back the flip phone in 2020, the product practically marketed itself. The clamshell form factor carried decades of cultural memory, and Samsung packaged that nostalgia into a premium device that felt genuinely different. For a few years, the Flip was the clear winner in Samsung's foldable lineup, according to SamMobile, a remarkable result for what was, structurally speaking, a phone that folded the wrong way for productivity.

Samsung smart glasses arrived last week at Galaxy Unpacked in London with a notably smaller promise than most of this category has tried to make. No liberation from your phone. No ambient computing revolution. The phone stays essential; the glasses reduce the friction of reaching for it.

Leaked specifications circulating this week indicate Samsung is splitting its Galaxy Z Fold 8 lineup into two distinct display tiers. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra screen size is reported at 8 inches for the main panel and 6.5 inches for the cover screen, matching the current Fold 7's dimensions. The standard Fold 8, by contrast, drops to a 7.6-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch cover screen. Android Authority, Notebookcheck, SamMobile, The Verge, and Trusted Reviews have all reported on the...

Samsung Austria has dropped the free storage upgrade from its Galaxy Z8 preorder promotion, requiring buyers to cover part of the cost of moving to a higher-capacity model.

Samsung launched the Samsung Health Assistant beta Tuesday, opening its first fully integrated AI-powered health tool inside Samsung Health to eligible U.S. users. Rather than presenting biometric data as graphs to decode, the assistant lets users ask questions about their health, check their daily Energy Score, and receive personalized health guidance across five wellness pillars: sleep, activity, nutrition, mindfulness, and vitals. The shift Samsung is positioning here is from a dashboard you...

If you're trying to find out whether the Google Health app is down, the short answer is: not broadly. What's actually happening is narrower and, for affected users, more frustrating. A Fitbit-branded permissions screen is looping on Pixel Watch devices, blocking access to health apps and, in some cases, stopping data from syncing entirely. Google has not issued a public statement, and no user-side fix has been confirmed.

The Galaxy Z Flip 8 last Samsung foldable rumor is unconfirmed. Samsung hasn't said a word about ending the line. What it has done is allocate 2.8 million display panels to its new Wide Fold, 2 million to the Fold 8 Ultra, and 1.5 million to the Flip 8, dead last in its own lineup, according to industry sources cited by TrendForce this week. Reports from Android Police and SamMobile from earlier this month suggest the Flip 8 could be Samsung's final clamshell. Neither has confirmed it.

Amazon has added Luna game streaming directly to the Prime Video app, giving Prime members access to a rotating catalog of streamable games through a new Games tab on Fire TV devices. No console required, no separate download. On geography, the two outlets that confirmed today's rollout don't agree: Engadget says the launch covers the US and UK, while VGC specifies the UK only. Both confirm Fire TV as the starting point, with additional devices and countries to follow in the coming months....

A detailed specs leak ahead of tomorrow's Unpacked event reveals a deliberate first-gen tradeoff: no display, a phone-dependent Gemini assistant, and battery life that varies wildly depending on how you actually use them.

A new Google Pixel 11a leak claims the budget Pixel will run Tensor G6, the same chip debuting in the flagship Pixel 11 on August 12. That's a meaningful claim: the Pixel 10a shipped with a recycled Tensor G4 because the G5 was reportedly too expensive for the A-series price point. Leaker Mystic Leaks now says the Pixel 11a, codenamed "Formosan," would run that same G6 platform from launch.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Motorola Razr Fold matchup is the most competitive the book-style foldable category has seen. For seven years, Samsung refined this segment largely without a serious large-format rival. The Motorola Razr Fold is Motorola's first attempt at that space, and it comes in swinging on hardware: a 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery against the Z Fold line's 4,400mAh, and charging speeds of 80W wired and 50W wireless against Samsung's 25W and 15W (PCMag UK reported in...

Samsung confirmed that the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Flip 8 all ship with silicon-carbon batteries, making them the first Galaxy phones to use the chemistry, per Android Authority. The disclosure didn't come from a keynote slide or a press release. It came out in Q&A at a media briefing.

Connecting certain LG UltraGear monitors to a Windows 11 PC can trigger the automatic installation of adware-like software that displays McAfee subscription ads on every boot, according to reporting from heise, Hardware Busters, and TechSpot. The software arrives through Windows's device-metadata system, which matches peripheral hardware IDs against a catalog and fetches associated software automatically. No prompt. No consent dialog. No click required.

Netflix spent a decade competing on 4K resolution and frame-rate clarity. This week, to mark Stranger Things' 10th anniversary, the platform released the Stranger Things VHS Special Edition: all eight episodes of season 1 engineered to look like a tape pulled off a shelf at a video rental store in 1983. The release dropped July 15, the exact date season 1 originally debuted on Netflix, Polygon confirmed this week.

Code strings buried inside the latest Google Maps beta suggest Google is preparing to connect the app directly to Gmail, Google Photos, Calendar, and other Google services so Maps could show reservation or flight details drawn from connected Google apps.

Microsoft has crossed a meaningful threshold in how AI operates inside Excel. The latest update to editing with Copilot in Excel turns Copilot from a suggestion engine into an agent that can act directly inside a live workbook, creating PivotTables, generating forecasts, and executing multi-step tasks from a plain-English prompt, without a user clicking through each step.

Screenshots from an internal One UI 9 build for the Galaxy S25 Plus, shared on X today, show a feature called Samsung My FanCam, a Galaxy AI tool that reportedly lets you tap a subject in footage you've already recorded and generate a reframed clip that keeps them centered throughout, Android Authority reported this morning. Samsung has not confirmed the feature exists. The One UI 9 public beta remains limited to the Galaxy S26 series; Samsung has not officially opened it to S25 devices at all,...