12 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content

Google

The name Google is synonymous with online searches, but over the years the company has grown beyond search and now builds multiple consumer products, including software like Gmail, Chrome, Maps, Android, and hardware like the Pixel smartphones, Google Home, and Chromebooks. Its name can also be found on internet services such as Google Fi, Flights, Checkout, and Google Fiber. Here is all of the latest news about one of the most influential tech companies in the world.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
The DHS is reportedly pressing social media platforms for info about ICE critics.

Google, Reddit, Discord, and Meta have received “hundreds” of subpoenas from the DHS in recent months, according to a report from The New York Times. The agency is reportedly asking the platforms for the names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other information associated with accounts that “track or criticize” ICE.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Google adds AI audio summarization to Docs.

Gemini-powered Audio Summaries give you a condensed overview of lengthy documents instead of reading the entire thing. The feature is starting to roll out to select business and Google AI users now, and can be found in the Tools menu in Google Docs.

Audio Summaries can be found in the Tools menu in Google Docs.
Audio Summaries can be found in the Tools menu in Google Docs.
Image: Google
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Gmail adds label creation on Android.

You’ve been able to add them via desktop for decades, and even iPhone users had the option, but finally Android is catching up. You still can’t customize the colors from your phone, but maybe we’ll get that in another ten years or so.

‘Shut up and focus on the mission’: Tech workers are frustrated by their companies’ silence about ICE

Across the industry, workers describe a ‘fear-based culture’ and pressure to ‘fall in line.‘

Hayden Field
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Edge cases only.

As Waymo uses AI-generated 3D worlds to simulate driverless cars’ encounters with tornadoes, floods, and even elephants, one commenter wonders if they could try AI school buses next.

cowboyfromspace:

They got elephants down but forgot about school buses?

Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Gemini becomes an AI interior decorator in Google’s Super Bowl ad.

The “New Home” commercial features nostalgic piano music and a heartfelt voiceover of a mother and son envisioning their new house with some help from Gemini. Notably, it steers clear of fact-focused prompts like the Gouda cheese stat Gemini got wrong in one of last year’s Super Bowl ads.

Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
“‘How long do we want to support this thing?’ And Jensen said, ‘For as long as we shall live.’”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, that is, re: the Nvidia Shield TV, likely the most supported Android gadget ever at over a decade. Nvidia’s Andrew Bell tells Ars Technica a new model isn’t in active development, but hints at what he’d add (like AV1 and YouTube HDR). He says Nvidia doesn’t profit off its Netflix button, BTW.

The Epstein filesThe Epstein files
Verge Staff
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Google co-founder Sergey Brin visited Epstein’s private island and traded emails with Ghislaine Maxwell.

The latest batch of documents released by the DOJ reveals that Brin had corresponded with Maxwell as early as 2003, and was invited to dinner at Epstein’s townhouse that year. The files also contain testimony that places Brin and his then fiancée, Anne Wojcicki, at the private island in 2007. It’s not a great look for one of the authors of “Don’t Be Evil.”

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Gemini will be your tour guide while using Google’s walking directions.

Google says you can now use the AI chatbot to ask questions while using walking or cycling directions in Google Maps, which already worked for driving directions.

When you’re exploring around town and navigating with Maps, Gemini can be your personal walking tour guide. Just ask, “OK Google, what neighborhood am I in?” If you’re hungry, follow up with “What are top-rated restaurants nearby?” and Gemini will recommend delicious options along your route based on Maps’ fresh, comprehensive information about the real world.

Update: Google’s blog post says it’s rolling out now on both iOS and Android.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Google is “exploring” letting publishers opt out of AI in Search.

At least in the UK, where the walkback comes after the country’s CMA opened a consultation on forcing Google to do just that, having given the company “strategic market status” last year. Ron Eden, Google’s principal for product management, says:

“We’re now exploring updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of Search generative AI features. Our goal is to protect the helpfulness of Search for people who want information quickly, while also giving websites the right tools to manage their content.”

Robert Hart
Robert Hart
Google’s more affordable AI Plus plan is now available in the US.

The plan is rolling out in 35 new countries and territories. It includes access to tools like Gemini 3 Pro and the Nano Banana Pro image model. There’s also 200GB of storage.

It’ll cost $7.99 a month, compared to $19.99 for AI Pro, but new US subscribers can get half off the first 2 months.

Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
TikTok moves to settle a major social media addiction case shortly before trial.

It follows Snap in reaching an agreement to resolve the first of several cases slated to go to trial this year about social media’s alleged harm to users, an attorney for the 19-year-old plaintiff confirmed. That leaves Meta and YouTube as defendants in the case going to jury selection today.