GoKawiil
Tech News
DuckStation, widely regarded as the top PS1 emulator on Android, has resumed active development after its creator said earlier this year it had been abandoned. The app has been rewritten from the ground up, with an alpha released October 11 and beta updates continuing through October 31 via its official website.
A coalition including Google Threat Intelligence Group, TrendAI and Japan's National Police Agency disrupted a botnet of more than 1.3 million Android TV boxes and projectors spanning over 200 countries. Google says Shenzhen-based manufacturer Videostrong Technology deliberately built a backdoor called XCPE into device firmware and sold access to criminal affiliates, who installed malware modules to route traffic through unsuspecting owners' home networks. The group also took down command-and-control domains tied to affiliate modules and said it has cut ties with Videostrong, banning it from shipping devices with preloaded Google apps.
Google has been automatically attaching a verified phone number to every Google account signed into the same Android device since a September 2025 Play services update, without notifying users first. The behavior came to light only recently as users noticed it, and it ties together accounts a person may have intended to keep separate, such as work and personal profiles.
Google has confirmed that a system status bar showing the time and icons like airplane mode and Do Not Disturb will launch with Wear OS 8. The company had previously let developers test the feature in a Wear OS 7.1 emulator but said it wouldn't ship until a later release, and has now shared an image of the status bar's design.
YouTube said over the weekend that it had fixed the 'Server Error 400' bug affecting Android users, but has since reversed that claim. Google confirmed in an updated support thread that some Android users are still hitting the error when opening the app or loading videos, and gave no new timeline for a fix.
Google has begun rolling out Snapseed version 4.2 to Android and iOS users. The update brings the previously iPhone-only Motion Blur tool to Android, adds a depth-based Lens Blur mode with a Bokeh Boost slider, and lets users import LUTs and presets in formats including .cube, .xmp, .3dl, .png, and .snapseed. It also adds support for sharing custom Looks with their LUTs, browsing community Looks, and full multi-wheel Color Grading.
Redmagic's new 12 Pro gaming phone extends its liquid-cooling system with built-in RGB lights, alongside a camera ring, side light and shoulder-button strips. The company also boosted the liquid cooling's output pressure by 85 percent to 130kPa, paired with a fan and vapor chamber to manage the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip.
Google says it has severed its relationship with Videostrong Technology, the OEM/ODM behind MECOOL Android TV boxes, after finding the company built a backdoor called XCPE into its devices. Google says the backdoor turned over 1.3 million TV boxes into a botnet, which Videostrong allegedly sold access to for ad fraud, data exfiltration and enrolling devices into residential proxy networks.
YouTube announced new accessibility tags for its in-browser Playables games, covering controls and input, audio and visual options, and gameplay adjustments. The 24 tags, visible in each game's 'Game Info' section, let players see upfront whether a title supports touch-only play, keyboard remapping, color alternatives, adjustable difficulty, and more. Titles like Bubble Shooter and Fin Friends already display the new tags, which follow standards set by the Accessible Games Initiative.
Google's November 2026 System Services release notes confirm a new Android Family Hub, described as a dedicated space for family management tools within Android Settings. The feature rolls out with Google Play services version 26.43, following earlier sightings of the tool in testing on Pixel 11 phones.
Google's November 2026 System Services release notes confirm a feature that automatically backs up photos and videos from Android phones to Windows PCs using Quick Share, shipping with Google Play services v26.43. The update is rolling out gradually, and earlier teardowns indicated Samsung phones and PCs would initially be excluded from support.
Google's Threat Intelligence Group worked with industry partners to take down a botnet, dubbed XCPE, built from more than 1.3 million Android TV set-top boxes. Investigators traced the malware to Videostrong Technology Co., a Chinese manufacturer accused of preloading devices with backdoors that resold users' internet connections through residential proxy services and enabled advertising fraud. Google took legal action to seize the domains and servers used to control the botnet.