News/Google
Google’s AI Mode now books restaurants for $250/month subscribers
Google has introduced agentic AI capabilities to its AI Mode search feature that can help users find restaurants and make reservations automatically. The new functionality, currently limited to Google AI Ultra subscribers paying $250 per month, represents Google's latest attempt to bring AI agents into practical consumer applications after previous efforts like Duplex failed to gain widespread adoption. How it works: AI Mode now leverages Project Mariner, Google's AI agent technology, and partnerships with booking platforms to streamline restaurant discovery and reservation booking. Users provide details like party size, date, time, location, and preferred cuisine in a single text prompt....
read Aug 21, 2025Iowa teachers prepare for AI workforce with Google partnership
Iowa's College Community School District hosted professional development sessions for educators this week, featuring speakers from Google and the University of Iowa to help teachers understand how artificial intelligence will reshape the workforce their students will enter. The training comes as Cedar Rapids prepares for two major data center projects from Google and QTS, highlighting the growing intersection between AI infrastructure and educational preparation. What you should know: The professional learning sessions were designed to bridge the gap between current education practices and future workforce demands in an AI-driven economy. Superintendent Doug Wheeler emphasized that educators need to prepare students...
read Aug 21, 2025Google reveals Gemini AI uses 0.24 watt-hours per query
Google has become the first major tech company to publicly release detailed energy consumption data for its AI systems, revealing that an average Gemini text prompt uses 0.24 watt-hours of energy and emits 0.03 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent. The transparency milestone comes as AI's environmental impact faces increasing scrutiny, with 61% of Americans expressing concern about AI electricity usage according to recent polling. What you should know: Google's methodology provides the most comprehensive view of AI energy consumption to date, accounting for factors typically overlooked in public estimates. The company tracked not just active computing power but also idle...
read Aug 20, 2025300K Grok AI conversations exposed on Google after users hit “share”
Over 300,000 Grok AI chatbot conversations have become publicly searchable on Google after users clicked the "Share" button, exposing private chats that were likely intended for limited sharing. This privacy breach mirrors a similar incident with ChatGPT shared conversations and highlights growing concerns about how AI platforms handle user data and content sharing permissions. The big picture: When Grok users share conversations through the platform's built-in feature, those chats receive publicly accessible URLs that Google's web crawlers can index and display in search results. The issue stems from how "shareable" URLs are structured and whether AI companies adequately protect users...
read Aug 20, 2025Google replaces Assistant with Gemini on Home devices this October
Google is replacing Google Assistant with its more advanced AI model Gemini on Google Home devices starting in October, marking a significant upgrade to the company's smart home ecosystem. The transition will bring more natural language processing and enhanced integration capabilities to devices like the Google Nest Hub, potentially transforming how users interact with their connected homes. What you should know: Gemini will be available for both free and paid Google Home users, though specific pricing and feature tiers haven't been announced yet. The update launches in early access in October, with Google promising to "share more details soon" about...
read Aug 20, 2025Pixel Watch 4 adds curved display and satellite communication for $349
Google unveiled the Pixel Watch 4 at its Made by Google event, featuring a striking curved domed display beneath the signature teardrop glass design. The smartwatch maintains the same $349 starting price as its predecessor while delivering enhanced AI capabilities through Gemini integration, improved battery life, and upgraded internals including emergency satellite communication. What you should know: The Pixel Watch 4's most distinctive feature is its Actua 360 domed display that curves beneath the glass, creating better visibility at angles. The display offers 10% more active area and 15% smaller bezels compared to the Pixel Watch 3, with maximum brightness...
read Aug 20, 2025Google adds Gemini AI coach to Fitbit Premium this October
Google is integrating its Gemini AI into Fitbit to create an AI-powered health coach, marking the latest addition to the growing trend of AI-enhanced fitness wearables. The feature will be available to Fitbit Premium subscribers starting in October, transforming the platform from a passive data collector into an active wellness advisor that provides personalized fitness, sleep, and health guidance. What you should know: Fitbit's AI coach represents a fundamental shift in how wearable devices interact with users, moving beyond simple data collection to active health coaching.• The AI coach functions as a "fitness trainer, a sleep coach, and a health...
read Aug 19, 2025Google strikes nuclear power deal to fuel AI data centers
Google has struck a groundbreaking deal to power its data centers with advanced nuclear energy, marking a significant shift in how tech giants plan to meet their soaring electricity demands. The partnership involves Kairos Power, a nuclear technology company, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), one of America's largest public power providers, to build a next-generation reactor specifically designed to support Google's operations. The collaboration centers on the Hermes 2 plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which will begin delivering clean electricity to Google's data centers in Tennessee and Alabama starting in 2030. This represents the first time a U.S. utility...
read Aug 18, 2025Google Gemini now runs natively on Oracle’s cloud infrastructure
Google has partnered with Oracle to bring its Gemini AI models directly to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, marking a significant departure from typical exclusive cloud-AI partnerships. This integration allows enterprise customers to access Gemini's advanced language and multimodal capabilities natively within Oracle's cloud environment, bypassing traditional barriers to cross-cloud AI adoption and positioning Oracle as a multi-vendor AI platform provider. What you should know: Oracle customers can now consume Gemini models as part of the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Generative AI suite, not just as external APIs. The partnership starts with Gemini 2.5 and plans to expand to include models for image,...
read Aug 18, 2025New data reveals Google AI summaries cut publisher traffic 10%
Google's AI Summaries have caused significant traffic declines for major publishers, with median year-over-year referral traffic from Google Search dropping 10% in just eight weeks, according to new data from Digital Content Next (DCN). The nonprofit, which represents household names like The New York Times, Bloomberg, and NBC News, warns that AI-generated summaries could lead to "fewer sources, weaker journalism, and a less informed public" as publishers struggle with reduced click-through rates. The big picture: Google's AI Overviews, which began their nationwide rollout in May 2024, are fundamentally changing how users interact with search results—and not in publishers' favor. The...
read Aug 18, 2025Android 16 QPR2 brings AI agents, flexible parental controls, and UWB upgrades
Google is accelerating Android development with a new twice-yearly release schedule, and the upcoming Android 16 QPR2 update represents the company's first "minor" release under this faster cadence. QPR stands for Quarterly Platform Release—Google's system for delivering significant updates between major Android versions. This December release will introduce three substantial improvements that signal Google's broader push into AI-powered mobile experiences and enhanced device connectivity. While these updates may seem technical on the surface, they represent meaningful shifts in how businesses and consumers will interact with their Android devices. 3 major features coming to Android 16 QPR2 1. AI agents that...
read Aug 15, 2025Text-to-worldbuilding: Google’s Genie 3 turns text prompts into explorable 3D worlds
Google DeepMind has released Genie 3, an AI "world model" that can generate entire explorable virtual worlds from a single text prompt at 720p resolution and 24 frames per second. This represents a significant leap forward in generative AI capabilities, potentially transforming gaming, education, training simulations, and virtual exploration by creating interactive 3D environments that users can navigate and modify in real-time. What you should know: Genie 3 creates fully interactive virtual worlds that respond to keyboard or touchscreen controls and maintain consistency for several minutes. The system generates worlds on-the-fly, theoretically making them infinitely explorable as new areas load...
read Aug 14, 2025Google quietly expands Gemini data use for AI training—here’s how to opt out
Google is quietly expanding how it uses customer data to train its artificial intelligence models, and users who don't pay attention to their privacy settings might inadvertently become part of the training process. Starting September 2, files, photos, videos, and screen captures that users share with Gemini, Google's flagship AI assistant, could be sampled and used to improve the company's AI services. This represents a significant shift in how Google handles user-generated content within its AI ecosystem, bringing the search giant's data practices more in line with competitors like OpenAI. The change arrives as Google races to keep pace with...
read Aug 14, 2025Google’s tiny Gemma 3 270M is no pipsqueak, brings AI to smartphones
Google has released Gemma 3 270M, a compact open AI model with just 270 million parameters that can run locally on smartphones and web browsers. The tiny model represents a shift toward efficient, on-device AI that prioritizes privacy and low latency over raw computational power, offering developers a fast-tuning alternative to massive cloud-based models. What you should know: Gemma 3 270M delivers surprising performance despite its small size, running efficiently on mobile devices with minimal battery drain.• The model scored 51.2% on the IFEval benchmark for instruction-following, outperforming other lightweight models with more parameters.• Testing on a Pixel 9 Pro...
read Aug 14, 2025Oracle partners with Google to offer Gemini AI through cloud services
Oracle and Google's cloud computing units have struck a deal allowing Oracle to offer Google's Gemini AI models through its cloud services and business applications. The partnership enables Oracle customers to access Google's text, video, image, and audio generation capabilities while paying through Oracle's existing cloud credit system, advancing Oracle's strategy of providing diverse AI options rather than pushing proprietary technology. What you should know: This collaboration mirrors Oracle's recent partnership with Elon Musk's xAI from June, establishing a pattern of strategic AI integrations. Software developers using Oracle's cloud can now tap into Google's Gemini models for content generation across...
read Aug 14, 2025Semantics soaring: Google’s AI Flight Deals finds flights from descriptive searches
Google has introduced Flight Deals, an AI-powered tool that helps travelers find cheap flights based on descriptive searches rather than specific destinations. The beta feature allows users to describe their ideal trip—such as "a tropical destination with snorkeling" or "a weekend countryside getaway with trail rides"—and uses AI to suggest matching flights and destinations. How it works: Flight Deals takes a conversational approach to flight searching, letting users describe their travel preferences in natural language.• Users can specify activities, trip duration, flight time preferences, and general location desires without naming specific destinations.• Google's AI processes these descriptions and suggests both...
read Aug 13, 2025Perplexity AI makes $34.5B bid for Chrome amid Google antitrust breakup
Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence search company, has submitted a $34.5 billion bid to acquire Google's Chrome browser, marking the first public attempt by an outside party to break up a key piece of the tech giant. The dramatic move comes as Google awaits a federal judge's decision on potential antitrust remedies, with the Department of Justice explicitly calling for Chrome's divestiture to level the playing field for search competitors. What you should know: Google faces its most significant antitrust challenge since the Microsoft case over two decades ago, with Chrome at the center of the dispute. A federal ruling...
read Aug 13, 2025Tornado Valley? Google invests $9B in Oklahoma AI and cloud infrastructure
Google will invest an additional $9 billion in Oklahoma over the next two years to expand its artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure. The massive investment underscores the intensifying competition among Big Tech companies to secure strategic locations and talent as demand for AI services and cloud computing continues to surge. Key details: The investment will fund significant infrastructure expansion across two Oklahoma locations.• Google plans to build a new data center campus in Stillwater while expanding its existing facility in Pryor.• The expansion aims to bolster U.S. AI and cloud capacity to meet growing demand for these services.• The...
read Aug 13, 2025YouTube’s AI age detection now requires ID from misidentified adults
YouTube will begin using artificial intelligence to automatically detect users' ages on Wednesday, requiring adults incorrectly flagged as minors to provide government ID, credit card information, or biometric data to prove their age. The system aims to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content, but privacy advocates and users are raising concerns about data security and the burden placed on adults who may be misidentified by the AI. How it works: The AI analyzes user behavior patterns to determine whether someone is under 18, regardless of the birthdate they provided when signing up. The system examines signals like video search patterns,...
read Aug 13, 2025Google’s Gemini now remembers your chats automatically—here’s what that means for privacy
Google's Gemini AI chatbot will now automatically remember details from past conversations to personalize future responses, eliminating the need for users to manually prompt the system to recall previous discussions. The update expands Gemini's memory capabilities beyond its current manual "remember" feature, positioning Google to compete more directly with ChatGPT's cross-chat memory functionality while raising questions about AI safety and user privacy. How it works: Gemini will automatically store and reference key details and preferences from your conversation history to tailor its responses. If you previously discussed creating a YouTube channel about Japanese culture, Gemini might later suggest video ideas...
read Aug 12, 2025YouTube’s AI age verification sparks 50K-signature privacy backlash
YouTube faces mounting backlash from tens of thousands of users protesting its new AI-powered age verification system, with a Change.org petition rapidly approaching 50,000 signatures. The system analyzes viewing habits to identify users under 18, then requires government ID, credit card, or selfie verification to lift content restrictions—a move critics argue threatens privacy and digital freedom. What you should know: YouTube's AI estimates user ages by analyzing viewing patterns, search behavior, and account longevity, automatically restricting accounts it deems underage. Users flagged as under 18 face disabled personalized ads, mandatory digital wellbeing tools, and limits on repetitive content viewing. To...
read Aug 12, 2025New home for Chrome? Perplexity AI bids $34.5B for top browser as Google faces divestiture pressure
Perplexity AI has made an unsolicited $34.5 billion bid to acquire Google's Chrome browser, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and CNBC. The surprise offer comes as Google faces a pending antitrust ruling that could force the tech giant to divest Chrome, with the Justice Department seeking to break up Google's browser monopoly. Why this matters: The bid represents a bold move by Perplexity to acquire one of the world's most dominant web browsers, potentially reshaping the competitive landscape in search and browsing technology. The numbers: Perplexity's offer significantly exceeds its own $18 billion valuation, with the AI...
read Aug 11, 2025NASA and Google build AI medical assistant for Mars missions
NASA and Google have developed the Crew Medical Officer Digital Assistant (CMO-DA), an AI-powered medical tool designed specifically for Mars missions and long-distance space travel. The system addresses critical challenges of space medicine, including communication delays of up to 223 minutes with Earth and the impossibility of medical evacuations or sample returns during multi-year missions. How it works: The CMO-DA runs on Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform and uses open-source language models like Llama 3 and Mistral-3 Small to provide independent medical diagnostics. NASA retains full ownership of the tool's source code, while Google provides the cloud infrastructure and AI...
read Aug 8, 2025OnePlus 13 gets AI Perfect Shot to fix blinks and bad expressions
OnePlus 13 users are receiving a software update that introduces AI Perfect Shot, the company's version of Google's Best Take feature for automatically fixing facial expressions in photos. The feature can recognize faces and replace unwanted expressions like blinks or turned heads with better alternatives from the same photo session, ensuring users always capture the perfect shot. What you should know: AI Perfect Shot works similarly to Google's Best Take by analyzing facial expressions and swapping in better alternatives from the same photo sequence.• The feature can fix common photo problems like poorly-timed blinks or people looking away from the...
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