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Apple posted iOS 27.2 release candidate build 24B115 to its Developer releases page on Monday. An RC follows several rounds of beta testing, and 9to5Mac reports Apple is now putting the final touches on the update. If testing doesn't turn up anything that requires another build, this exact build could become the version everyone gets once iOS 27.2 goes public, though the available Apple release listing doesn't give an exact public-release date.

Microsoft started rolling out a rebuilt Photos app for Windows 11 to Windows Insiders on October 15, combining a new Gallery, Editor, and Viewer into a single interface that pulls in photos from a PC, OneDrive, and iCloud.

More than 2,700 Android Authority readers answered a blunt question this week: handed $2,000 of their own money, would they spend it on Apple's iPhone Duo or Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8?

Google's 120x Pro Res Zoom on the Pixel 11 Pro sounds like a spec-sheet gimmick, and at its most extreme setting, much of what you see can come from generative AI reconstruction rather than detail resolved by the lens.

Apple added the 2017 Retina 12-inch MacBook to its obsolete products list this week, a designation that now covers every 12-inch MacBook the company ever sold.

Moto Tag 2 is available to buy from Motorola's US store now, while Google says its own tracker won't go on sale until Nov. 11, 2026. That's the should-you-wait-for-Pixel-Tag question at the center of this comparison: buy the Moto Tag 2 now, or hold out a few weeks for Google's hardware.

Google AI Plus is losing Pro model selection. Google has begun emailing subscribers to say the option will disappear from the $4.99-a-month plan starting November 13, 2026, according to 9to5Google.

Google Maps on Apple CarPlay can now surface Gemini mid-drive, letting U.S. users ask multi-step questions and chain follow-up commands without leaving the map screen. It's the first time Google Maps has put a conversational voice assistant inside CarPlay itself, rather than confining that experience to the iPhone's own display, according to 9to5Google.

Pre-orders for Apple's HomeView are available now at $299 in the US, with the device launching November 13. Before handing over money, there's a detail worth understanding: Apple's updated CarPlay developer documentation says CarPlay audio and video apps also work on HomeView without developers modifying the app specifically for the new device.

Roku's TV lineup used to be a simple three-rung ladder: Select, Plus, Pro. That changed last month, when Roku added two OLED models under the Pro name, which means "Pro" now covers three different panels at three different prices. Comparing Roku Select vs Plus vs Pro isn't a three-way decision anymore. It's a five-way one.

Spotify podcast memberships began rolling out in 34 markets on October 20, giving eligible shows a way to sell exclusive content through Spotify, with purchases handled on the web. Creators can offer paid Memberships with multiple tiers and pricing options, charging listeners in addition to any Spotify plan they already have.

Verizon has confirmed the Verizon iPhone Handoff cost: $10 a month, or $120 a year at that rate, to use one phone number on two iPhones, according to 9to5Mac's October 16 report. That's double the $5 a month T-Mobile charges for the same iOS 27 feature, as 9to5Mac previously reported. Apple's current support page lists T-Mobile and Telekom, not Verizon, as supported carriers, and Verizon's statement does not provide a public enrollment date.

Italy's Piracy Shield sports piracy crackdown has scaled into a website-blocking system that reaches tens of thousands of destinations, and the most detailed technical measurement of it, published in September 2025 by RIPE Labs, found the platform blocking 10,918 IPv4 addresses and 18,849 domains as of June 2025. The RIPE Labs research counted more than 500 confirmed websites unrelated to streaming caught in those blocks, a number that grew into the thousands over time. For anyone running an...

Apple published official iPhone Duo repair costs ahead of the foldable reaching customers, and the numbers are blunt. An inner-display repair without AppleCare+ runs $999, dropping to $99 with coverage, while the catch-all "other damage" category tops out at $1,499 uninsured.

Samsung's foldable phones could look considerably different in 2027. A new leak suggests the company is preparing six Galaxy Z devices, including three versions of the Galaxy Z Fold 9, a second-generation TriFold, and a phone with a screen that slides outward instead of unfolding.

An alert claiming your Apple Account email changed unexpectedly could be a scam built to panic you into clicking, or it could mean someone actually got into your account. Those two situations call for different first moves, and guessing wrong wastes time you don't have if the second one is true.

Microsoft PowerToys version 0.102.2803.0 is a confirmed pre-release for Windows 11, published October 8, 2026.

Learning how to use AI Network Guard on Samsung One UI 9 won't turn your phone into a systemwide ad blocker, but it can prevent new ads from loading inside certain offline-capable apps.

Apple spent this week shipping something Google has only sketched out in app code. On October 13, Apple announced HomeView, a $299 smart display built for shared households, with facial recognition for up to six family members, Siri AI, and controls that adapt as someone walks closer. Pre-orders are open now, and the device starts shipping November 13.

WhatsApp is reportedly developing a call screening feature for Android that would let unknown callers explain why they're calling before the recipient decides whether to answer. The tool, which WABetaInfo describes as a new call filtering feature, would replace the app's single-toggle Silence Unknown Callers setting with three selectable modes.

Samsung has started pushing the Galaxy S26 October 2026 security update to the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, and Galaxy S26 Ultra, marking one of the first maintenance updates for the lineup since One UI 9.0 (Android 17) went stable, according to SamMobile. The patch addresses 62 security issues, per the same report.

Microsoft's support documentation confirms that disabling Copilot's personalization and memory settings stops future responses from being shaped by details remembered from earlier conversations. That's the short answer for anyone searching how to turn off Copilot chat history personalization: switch off the relevant setting, and Copilot stops using those memories to personalize future responses.

Apple Wallet can store a state-issued driver's license or ID, but that doesn't mean every state qualifies as one of the states that accept a driver's license in Apple Wallet at TSA checkpoints.

Microsoft says it has optimized Windows 11 for 8GB RAM machines, reworking memory management so the OS can keep up to 2GB more active data in RAM instead of shuffling it off to slower storage. The claim comes from a post on Microsoft's official Windows blog. The reporting reviewed doesn't name a build number, release channel, or a list of qualifying devices, so there's no way yet to confirm whether a specific 8GB PC has actually received this change.

Google built Googlebook to run on Android, then quietly defaulted several of its biggest apps away from it. That's the short answer to why Googlebook apps run as web apps instead of native Android experiences: Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Sheets, and YouTube all open as Chrome-based web experiences on these laptops, not the Android apps that ship on phones. Google Keep is the one confirmed exception, running natively on Android Authority's test unit, though a single result doesn't prove every...

Sony has officially canceled the Android 17 update for the Xperia 10 VI, abandoning a software commitment it made when the midrange smartphone launched in 2024. The device was originally promised three major Android upgrades, but it will now stop at Android 16 after receiving just two.

Link to Windows remote shutdown restart sleep controls are now showing up for a small group of Android testers, letting a paired phone power down, restart, or put a Windows PC to sleep without anyone touching the keyboard. Beta build 1.26101.103.0 replaces the app's old single "Lock PC" button with a new Power menu that adds Sleep PC, Shut down, and Restart.

Google has confirmed that Android Auto's squiggly media progress bar is sticking around, closing out months of uncertainty after the design repeatedly appeared and disappeared for some drivers.

Microsoft highlighted five cross-device capabilities yesterday for surfacing Android phone activity on the Windows 11 desktop: resizable phone-app windows, phone files inside File Explorer, one-click photo notifications, message previews in the Start menu, and a cross-device "Resume" feature that picks up where you left off. That's a notable expansion of Windows 11 Android phone integration, but it's not evenly documented.

Apple lists Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K among the compatible devices for its current remotes, but the compatibility entries hinge on the tvOS version, not just the device name. That distinction is the whole ballgame for anyone trying to sort out Siri Remote compatibility with older Apple TV hardware before spending money.

Samsung representatives confirmed earlier this year that the Galaxy S26 series uses 480Hz PWM dimming, with no higher-frequency mode, no DC-like dimming option, and no dedicated flicker-reduction setting, according to Android Authority.

A Pixel 10a owner reported low audio recording volume during video capture, describing it as "extremely low and faint" in a complaint posted on the Google Pixel Community three weeks ago. A day earlier, a separate Pixel 11 Pro owner said recordings in any app sounded roughly half as loud as recordings made on an iPhone 17 Pro, according to a post on the Google Pixel Community.

Apple's "Welcome Home" event on Tuesday introduced nine product lines in one announcement: three core devices and a six-piece Home Collection built with LG and Schneider Electric. Sort through all of that with a renter's eye, and most of it isn't something you can buy, use, and box up when the lease ends.

Apple shipped the fourth developer beta of iOS 27.2, build 24B5110a, recently, alongside a matching iPadOS 27.2 beta 4 and a separate macOS 27.2 beta 4 build, 26B5112a. These are developer beta builds distributed through Apple's beta software channels, separate from public beta releases.

Google is testing a new Google Nest speaker firmware update, version 3.79.550760, but for now the rollout is limited to people enrolled in Google's speaker Preview Program. The build currently covers four older speakers, the original Google Home, Home Mini, Nest Mini, and Nest Audio, according to 9to5Google. The supplied reporting does not include a Google announcement describing the update.

Apple opened preorders for HomePod mini 2 on October 13, and the pitch leans on five capabilities framed as reasons to buy. Run a HomePod mini 2 vs HomePod mini comparison against Apple's own materials, though, and the comparison gets harder to make than the marketing suggests: Apple's October 13 announcement does not provide enough acoustic specifications to establish a measurable improvement over the original HomePod mini.

Android users have been seeing the "number is now verified" system notification more often since last year, and a report from Kaspersky published three months ago explains why. Google's phone number verification check, which confirms that the SIM tied to a number is physically in the device, became widely visible to most users after a Google system update in September 2025, and now runs by default during setup and periodically afterward.

Apple's own buy page for the full-size HomePod used alt text describing a "multi-colored Siri AI glow on top" on a speaker Apple has not announced Siri AI support for. The find has fueled speculation that Siri AI is coming to full-size HomePod sooner than Apple has said, but the available reports describe it as a clue, not confirmation.

Nvidia RTX Spark Windows on Arm laptops are shipping at workstation prices before the software built around them is finished. The Surface Laptop Ultra configuration Tom's Hardware tested lists for $5,899 with 1TB of storage, and lead times on that unit already stretch into late December, according to Tom's Hardware's week-long review.

Google Pixel Connected Camera support is rolling out to 11 additional apps, including Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack, through an update to Pixel Camera Services spotted by Android Authority.