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.
Android Headlines and leaker OnLeaks have shared CAD renders of next year’s affordable Pixel handset based on leaked info, and you’d be hard-pressed to spot the difference between it and this year’s 9A. Hopefully Google has some upgrades planned under the surface if the design really is going to change so little.
Android Authority has done its usual digging around and discovered code for home screen widgets in Android Auto. They’re clearly still a work-in-progress, but should eventually let you run one widget at a time on the left third of the screen.
The glasses combine “Magic Leap’s waveguides and optics with Google’s Raxium microLED light engine” according to a Magic Leap announcement, and they’re under 50 grams and have a monocular design. Magic Leap is also now positioning itself as an “AR ecosystem partner to support companies building glasses.”
YouTubers will be soon be able to make use of Adobe Premiere editing tools through a new hub, Create for YouTube shorts. It’s launching soon, both inside the new Premiere mobile app and built directly into YouTube itself.
Expect “exclusive effects, transitions, templates and more.”
The AI model switcher has been shunted down to the prompt bar. It’s more convenient, sure, but importantly it means you can now switch AI models without needing to start a new conversation.
I don’t remember Google prodding me to “Upgrade to Google AI Pro” here before, though.
Hosts can enable a waiting room ahead of the start of a meeting, Google says.
The issue is caused by a font in the latest update to the app (version 10.x) that’s only available through Google Play Services. As a result, it’s crashing or simply failing to launch on phones running GrapheneOS and other “de-Googled” versions of Android, reports Android Authority.
6
Verge Score
Smart security, no hands required.
After a ten-month investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority has designated Apple and Google’s mobile platforms with “strategic market status,” describing them as having “substantial, entrenched market power.” The companies now face extra anti-competition regulations in the UK, following a similar ruling for Google Search.
Google appears to have pulled the latest Android 16 QPR2 beta release just hours after it went out, amidst reports of it causing crashes linked to Android’s desktop mode.
[Android Authority]
After about an hour or so of reports from around the world of problems with YouTube, the video streaming platform is back online, and a support forum post confirms the issue is now resolved.
The only problem left now is for people criticizing its newly updated and now more transparent video player.
You can now add or remove photos to a collage, as well as change your layout without losing your progress. Google has also rolled out new templates that you can browse before you decide which photos to put in them.
Apple’s quiet announcement that its streaming service is now just Apple TV, which definitely won’t create confusion with its Apple TV app and Apple TV hardware, brought the best out of The Verge’s comment section, but there was only going to be one winner:
PSVita:
It’s your turn Google, change Android Auto to Google Drive
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Four new Farsight face options have landed for the latest Nest Learning Thermostat, the best of which might be a recreation of the original, colorful Nest face from way back when. There’s also a minimalist face, a temperature controller, and a seasonal number with 12 monthly floral designs by artist Mathilde Loubes.
Keep your eyes peeled for a new photo feature coming to Google Search soon. Google says Create mode will let you transform images with AI, courtesy of its popular image editor Nano Banana.
Nano Banana is also coming to NotebookLM’s Video Overviews and, eventually, Photos.
