Google

Per a regulatory filing, Google will pay SpaceX $920 million per month from October 2026 through June 2029, as reported by TechCrunch.

After removing some features from the AI image-maker in February, Google has shut down the app completely and directs users to Gemini instead, as reported by 9to5Google. Pixel Studio launched in 2024 alongside the Pixel 9.

I wasn’t able to enable it in Google’s Chrome Canary developer sandbox, but Windows Report got it working using a Ctrl+Shift+Space keyboard shortcut on Windows. It opens as a standalone window centered on the screen, with AI Mode at the heart of the experience.

Starting this summer, users in Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, and Estonia will be able to scan their passports to create a digital pass within the Google Wallet app. Unlike in the US, people can’t use Google’s ID passes for travel in the EU, but they can be used for online age verification as requirements sweep across the globe.

The company is lagging behind Anthropic, OpenAI, and even Microsoft when it comes to AI coding tools, but 404 Media reports it’s found a novel way to expand its training base of code: offering to pay Android developers for access to the innards of their apps.

Gozde Oznur, the product manager behind the new app, told me the idea is to use Dreambeans as a place to experiment with using AI to combine all the data Google has about you into proactive, helpful “stories.” I’ve had the app for a couple of days, and outside of a lot of shopping recommendations, some of the stuff is cool! It told me to get my devices ready for WWDC, and had some helpful info for a train trip. But I cannot get used to these AI-generated pictures of me. Just can’t do it.

Companies regularly share product specs with official accessory makers, but Google is encouraging DIYers to make their own straps, cases, and mounts for the Fitbit Air by releasing its technical specifications, 2D CAD drawings, and guidelines for the best materials to use.

It uses data from your pictures to mix and match outfits in a virtual try-on you can save and share. It’s rolling out in the US, India, and Brazil as part of the June Android drop, starting with AI Pro/Ultra subscribers and “other select users” on Android, but you’ll need at least 1,000 photos of yourself to be eligible to try it out without a subscription.

The new feature in Google Home lets you add your pets’ faces to your indoor cameras, so you get alerts that tell you which cat is walking on the counter rather than just that a cat is traversing the kitchen. To enable it, type your pet’s name and species into the Ask Home search box in the Home app; you need Google Home Premium Advanced ($20/month).

Alongside a $35 outdoor camera, $23 plug-in indoor cam, and $45 wired video doorbell launched last week, the retailer has leaked a floodlight camera at the end of a promo video. Question is, will it or the rumored Onn speaker launch first?

The Omotesando, Tokyo Google Store will be Google’s first physical store outside the US, as Engadget reports. It will also be Google’s 11th store worldwide since opening its first physical store in 2021. Google says the new shop will offer Pixel devices, AI experiences, on-site repairs, and online order pickups.

Android president Sameer Samat says the update also includes a feature that detects whether the page you’re about to scan is a duplicate, while automatically switching blurry scans to “the highest-quality frame.” The new scanner operates on-device and is available to Android users with 8GB of RAM or more.

The new Google Workspace feature, rolling out to users starting June 3rd, adds an option to share a snapshot of Gemini conversations using Google Drive’s sharing interface. As Neowin reports, whoever you share Gemini chats with can continue them, but “those new changes do not alter the owner’s original thread.”

In a brief order, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Texas to move forward with implementing its App Store Accountability Act while the case seeking to block it plays out. It’s an early test of a method that is being considered across several states, and in Congress.

As spotted by Android Authority, the Pixel Buds app is getting updated with a new icon in the same style as the recently-updated Google Workspace icons. Google is also tweaking the app’s landing page, which will now show all the Pixel Buds headphones paired with your phone on one screen.

If you’ve set up preferred sources — like, say, The Verge — they’ll be labeled in AI Overviews and AI Mode, according to Google. The company says that “people are twice as likely to click through to a Preferred Source.”

Since Friday, Google hasn’t shown an AI Overview for the word “disregard.” The term was making AI Overviews “disregard” instructions instead of giving an AI search result summary.

Since Google announced its Search box overhaul at I/O last week, DuckDuckGo says its own iOS installs have increased by an average of 33 percent week over week in the US. Visits to the “No AI” version of DuckDuckGo’s search platform also jumped by up to 27.7 percent compared to the week prior.

We started seeing them in our apps earlier this month, but Google said Tuesday that it’s rolling out the icons over the “next several weeks.” I’m not a fan of the changes — the Gmail and Sheets ones look particularly bad to me — but I suppose I’ll get used to them over time.

As noted on Bluesky, if you search “is it 2027 next year,” Google’s AI Overviews occasionally state that 2027 is two years from now. But this apparently isn’t even a new issue: when I got AI Overviews to mess up, it cited old Instagram and Reddit posts making fun of wrong responses to the same query.

9to5Google reported Friday morning that a Nest support page had been updated to say that nearly all Chromecast devices except for the most recent one that was released in 2022 were no longer receiving critical security updates. Later, the page changed back and once again shows all Chromecasts except the 1st gen version are still getting critical updates.

Pixel users can now AI-generate disco ball-style icons for their entire phone. Haters, shield your eyes.