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.
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The biggest findings in the Google Search leak
A set of 2,500 internal documents, including some related to search, call into question past statements made by the company.
Google Zero is here — now what?
Search is an invisible platform that shaped the entire web. And it’s changing.
Google’s Pixel 8A is a midrange phone that might actually go the distance
It’s still $499, but this time, it comes with seven years of software updates.
The super simple gadget trying to replace your phone
Plus, in this week’s Installer: a music history doc you’ll love, the surprisingly great new Yahoo News app, Apple’s new Passwords app, and much more.
Looks like Motorola will be the next company to get into the tracker tag game. MySmartPrice spotted the Moto Tag on a UAE certification site, and seems to be an extremely likely candidate to join Google’s Find My Device network.
There’s no information about a potential launch date, but the sooner the better — tracking tags from Chipolo and Pebblebee are both on backorder.
Phone Link already lets you share files from PC to certain Android phones — a new Windows Insider Preview now adds your phone directly to the Windows Share menu, too. Also, you can quickly summon jump lists by right-clicking an app pinned to the Start Menu. More here.
Next, can I get phone mirroring without needing to unlock my Samsung, pretty please?
Apple and OpenAI make a deal
On The Vergecast: the inner workings of Apple Intelligence, Xbox handhelds, and the future of movie theaters.
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Pixel 8 and 8 Pro review: in Google we trust?
These might just be the Pixel phones we’ve been waiting for, but it all depends on how much trust you’re willing to put into Google.
Android Authority reports that the latest APK for Google Messages contains a new fab that allows users to chat with Gemini directly instead of tapping the button at the bottom of the messages list.
It's a slightly more streamlined process, but given this isn’t even available to beta testers yet there’s no word on when it could be generally available.
YouTube is experimenting with the ability to search for videos via Google Lens, with a “small percentage” of Android users being enrolled to test the feature.
The description says tapping the Lens button in the YouTube search bar will retrieve videos based on the picture you snap — which doesn’t sound particularly useful but might provide some entertainment value.
[support.google.com]
And it looks a lot like the Pixel Watch 3 leaks we saw the other day. Just bigger. How much bigger? Apparently the case will be 45mm, which as far as chonky smartwatches go isn’t that big. Even so, we love to see a bigger size option for folks with larger wrists — especially if that means a larger battery too.
The people who ruined the internet
SEO experts got very rich filling the web full of garbage. But are they to blame, or is Google?
Google says there are some changes coming to the Meet call UI to bring it in line with the company’s Material 3 Design System. The first tweaks are very minor updates to in-call controls, but more changes are coming “over the course of the next year.”
Because bad news, it’s going kaput starting July 8th. After that, you’ll have to use the app. It’s not super surprising given how much effort Google’s put into redesigning the Fitbit app. Or how long it’s been since the web dashboard’s had a meaningful update of its own. Even so, it’s the end of an era.
Data centers already use a lot of water and electricity, and adding AI overviews to Google Search only makes those problems bigger.
AI uses “orders of magnitude more energy” than traditional search engines, Hugging Face researcher Sasha Luccioni tells Scientific American.
Correction: Apple’s AI emoji are generated on device, not in data centers.
[Scientific American]
I’ve been trying out the new widget, now available in Public Preview, which lets you put shortcuts to Google Home devices directly on your Home screen, and it’s very useful.
It can be resized to one tile, three tiles, six tiles, or a total of 9, and can control devices like lights directly, but cameras and thermostats launch the Home app.
Correction: The widget is still only available in Public Preview, not for everyone, and it has up to 9 tiles.
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The Light Phone 3 is a little less light — but a lot more useful
Striking the right balance for a minimalist phone is hard, and sometimes a couple of new features can go a long way.