GoKawiil
Tech News
Apple's foldable iPhone Duo reportedly forgoes FaceID facial recognition in favor of a TouchID fingerprint sensor built into the power button, similar to designs on Samsung foldables. The device also lacks the Camera Control button found on other current iPhones, and reportedly has less capable cameras and no true multi-window multitasking.
The iPhone 18 Pro's 48-megapixel main camera reportedly includes a variable aperture with six physical blades, offering four settings: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4. Users can adjust aperture through a six-dot control in the Camera app, though it only applies to the main lens in 1x and 2x modes, while other lenses keep a fixed aperture.
Apple allows iPhone users to individually disable Apple Intelligence functions, including message and email summaries, notification summaries, and notification prioritization. These can be turned off through separate menus in Settings for Messages, Mail, and Notifications, rather than through a single master switch.
Sincere Inc. has released a limited-edition 'After Hours' version of its Pixel Tunes portable Bluetooth CD player, priced at 12,980 yen (about $83). Unlike the brand's three other translucent colorways, this smoke-tinted model contains phosphorescent material that makes its shell glow green in the dark. The player includes modern touches such as USB-C charging, Bluetooth 5.3, and a 60-second anti-skip buffer, alongside 5-7 hours of battery life.
Amazon has discounted Apple's AirPods Pro 3 to $179 shipped, down from their $249 list price, ahead of the official Prime Big Deal Days sale. The price matches one of the lowest ever tracked for the earbuds, which have only been offered that low once before. The deal comes weeks after Apple added new software features to the AirPods Pro 3 via iOS 27, including Custom EQ, updated Adaptive Audio controls, and improved Find My integration.
A longtime Gmail user who had relied on the service for about 15 years switched to Mozilla's Thunderbird email client earlier this year, using it on Windows and Android for roughly seven months. The user cites frustration with Gmail's promotional smart features, ads and AI-heavy interface, contrasting it with Thunderbird's local storage, which allows offline access to emails without an internet connection.
Audible is testing three new AI-powered tools for its audiobook app: Character Guide tracks who is speaking and shows cast details, Interactive Story lets listeners converse within a narrative starting with Dracula, and Visual Explorer surfaces related imagery for context. The features are rolling out in limited beta in the US and UK, with Character Guide already live for 1984 and expanding to Dracula on October 1 and Exoplanet on November 5.
IEEE Computer Society published guidance on designing product interfaces that remain usable when AI features fail, such as when a model is unavailable, returns incomplete output, or misreads user intent. The piece frames this as an engineering challenge distinct from improving model accuracy, focusing instead on how interfaces should respond to failure.
A PR professional with nearly 15 years of experience writes that entrepreneurs often expect media coverage to directly translate into sales, but argues this is a misconception. The piece lists lessons for founders, including that PR encompasses more than press placements—covering conferences, trade shows and awards—and that success depends on consistently offering journalists real news and milestones.
OpenAI has globally launched two new ChatGPT shopping features: a virtual try-on tool that lets users upload a selfie or photo to see how clothing or accessories would look on them, and a Favorites option that saves discovered products to a Library for later reference. Both features run on the newly released ChatGPT Images 2.5 model, which OpenAI says improves lighting, texture and editing accuracy in generated images.
Apple's upcoming iPadOS 27.2 update will add a contextual Siri popup that appears when users select text with a trackpad or mouse, offering options like proofreading and rewriting suggestions. It will also bring user profiles to the Apple TV app on iPad, mirroring the feature already available on Apple TV 4K via tvOS.
HP has unveiled the OmniBook 5, a budget laptop starting at $699 that features a 2.5K OLED touchscreen with a 180-degree hinge. The device can be configured with up to an Intel Core 7 processor and an integrated NPU, weighs about 2.5 pounds, and HP claims up to 42 hours of battery life during local video playback. It ships this month in four colors, with a base configuration of 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD, though HP has not given an exact release date.