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“Why did you press so hard for catalog access if you’re willing to throw it out the window today?” asks Judge Donato.

That’s Judge James Donato, continuing to be skeptical, addressing Doug Bernheim, the Epic economist.

Bernheim says he “would love to have all” of the anti-Google monopoly recommendations he originally argued for, but that he’s just analyzing what’s in front of him, and that Judge Donato’s existing injunction simply doesn’t last long enough at just three years rather than six.

“You called catalog access THE critical remedy to counter the network effects and the pattern of dominance,” says Donato, suggesting that Bernheim is attempting to mislead by suggesting the settlement would be viable without forcing Google to offer up its catalog of apps to rival app stores.

Hume AI’s CEO, Alan Cowen, and some of its leading engineers will join DeepMind as part of a licensing agreement, Wired reported. The news follows a growing trend of big-ticket “acqui-hires” and licensing deals in the AI industry.

He appears to have been commissioned by Epic to analyze the settlement’s modified injunction vs. Judge Donato’s original injunction. “There are some very important pluses, there are some very important minuses,” says Bernheim.

He’s just been sworn in, and he’s prepared slides; Unfortunately, the screen on my side of the room is dead, so I’ve migrated to the other side, apologizing to several people who graciously moved for me. Bernheim featured prominently during the trial portion of this case.

We’re about to hear the bitter foes-turned-BFFs explain why Judge James Donato should accept their settlement after five-plus years of legal battle. Judge Donato has just entered; Sweeney was on his phone but has put it away. Samat was waiting patiently; he’s got an eye-catching thin beaded bracelet on his wrist.

9to5Google spotted reports across Reddit that Pixel phones’ Take a Message live voicemail transcription is leaking audio from the recipient’s microphone back to the caller. It doesn’t seem to be affecting every Pixel — 9to5Google couldn’t replicate the bug — and could be limited to older handsets. Google says it’s investigating.

That’s how Google Play’s “chief product explainer” Matthew Forsythe describes the in-development Android sideloading workflow designed to allow “experienced users” to install apps from unverified developers, with multiple warnings to explain the risks.

“Google traffic from organic search to over 2,500 sites was down by a third (33%) globally between Nov 2024 and Nov 2025 and by 38% in the United States,” according to Chartbeat data included in a report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

The codename for Gemini 2.5 Flash Image is actually named after a person — Google product manager Naina Raisinghani, specifically, who gave a variation of her nickname to the AI model.

Google’s new Personal Intelligence launch for Gemini includes a familiar enough marketing example: asking AI for help buying tires instead of the human expert that was yards away at the time.

The ChatGPT creator lost out when Apple and Google announced a deal for Gemini to power Siri, but a source told the Financial Times that the company made “a conscious decision to not become the custom model provider for Apple,” instead prioritizing its own AI hardware with ex-Apple designer Jony Ive.

Rahman has reported on a dizzying number of new features coming to Android over the past 10 years — we’ve covered many of his findings! — but he’s leaving Android Authority for something new, he announced today. Wishing him all the best!

Google is launching a revamped “Explore” page in Trends, featuring a new side panel for Gemini that will automatically identify and compare trends related to your search. Along with a refreshed look, you can now compare more terms at once, as well as view double the number of rising queries.

Google is adding Meet’s automatic conference room detection feature to the Meet and Gmail mobile apps. First launched on laptops last year, it uses silent ultrasound signals that are picked up by your phone’s mic to automatically check you into your conference room and prompt you to join Meet calls with your device in Companion mode, avoiding annoying feedback or other problems.