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 Authority spotted code in Android 17 QPR3 Beta 1 hinting at a new “Face Active Illumination” feature that might help Pixel phones recognize users’ faces in low light. It appears to have a brightness slider and toggles for turning it on in various settings, like after bedtime or when “Do Not Disturb” is active.
[Android Authority]
Tomorrow’s event will announce more than $1 billion in commitments for the Trump admin’s “Genesis Project” AI push and investments from the NSF and Energy Department, reports Axios, including $100 million in credits from something called National Compute.
Meanwhile, Fox News and Bloomberg report Trump will award the National Medal of Science to Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Sergey Brin, and Lisa Su, while Michael Dell and Satya Nadella are in line for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. It’s the first time Trump has ever given out the awards, which usually don’t go to well-known tech execs, judging by previous recipients.
Following reports on the Google Home subreddit from many users unable to change the color of their connected smart lights yesterday, Google responded that it investigated the problem and rolled out a fix that appears to have resolved the peculiar issue.
Google warned some apps might have performance issues on the Intel Googlebooks, but now Android Authority reports that Google says only “96.6% of the top 10k+ most-used applications” work “flawlessly” on them. There are also new app compatibility ratings for the Googlebooks, but we haven’t found many with the “Made for desktop” tag yet.
The tool checks images, video, and audio files for Google’s SynthID watermark, a system that embeds a near-invisible marker into AI-generated content.
Google first made its SynthID Detector available to media professionals last year, but now anyone can use it by logging into synthid.com.
It’s now available to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in India on desktop and Android, along with the Android version of Google’s Gemini in Chrome browser assistant. Auto browse launched earlier this year, allowing Gemini to complete multi-step tasks in Chrome, like shopping, filling out forms, or researching hotel prices.
Claude for Google Workspace, now in public beta on all paid Claude plans, adds a sidebar where you can prompt Claude to edit your files, similar to Google’s Gemini sidebar. Anthropic’s also launching new connectors for creating and editing Google Workspace files directly in Claude.
Google’s new laptop OS shows lots of promise for Android phone owners, but there’s a long road ahead.
EmbeddingGemma 2 can work with more than just text, featuring capabilities across coding, images, video, and audio. Google says the upgraded model has 740 million parameters and is designed to perform on-device tasks like finding a video clip from a voice memo or searching through audio recordings based on a text prompt.
I might be The Verge’s part-time PC handheld reviewer… but I don’t actually have any modern Android ones! Now there’s software that easily makes an Android handheld act like a Steam Deck, I should probably try again. Or should I wait for one with the new 6th-gen Snapdragon Elite?
In a growing thread on the Google Home subreddit many users are reporting an unusual issue today with the platform being unable to change the color of various brands of connected smart lights either through the app, or by using voice commands. Their brightness can still be adjusted, and the lights can be turned on or off, but changing the color only works in each bulb’s respective apps.
I now get notifications when my dog takes a dump on my lawn. This is Google’s Gemini for Home features in action, detailing everything going on in my garden. Jen Tuohy convinced me to pay the extra to try them out, and I’ve actually found them fun for spotting when birds or animals come to visit.
As Google explains:
Markdown is a standard text format widely used by Large Language Models (LLMs) to preserve structured content, like tables, headers, and bulleted lists, without the bulk of heavy file formats. Previously, you needed to import and convert Markdown files into a Doc format, which often altered formatting, stripped comments, and fragmented files.
You’ll also be able to preview Markdown files in Drive. The feature starts rolling out today.
According to GSMA database listings spotted by OVR Plus, the Pixel 12 Pro Fold appears to have a higher inner display resolution of 2296 x 2404, up from 2076 x 2152 from this year’s model. However, as 9to5Google points out, the aspect ratio suggests Google might not switch the next Pro Fold to a passport-style design.
A few of us in the newsroom got a Monday morning delivery of Google-powered laptops, and we’re starting to set them up. (All five of them!) We have lots of testing to do, and lots of questions to answer. Questions like, do I actually want Android apps on my laptop? But we also want to know what you want to know! If you have questions, drop ‘em here — we’ll answer as many as we can here, and in all our coverage this week.
(Also, if you buy one, tell us which one and why. And whether the people at Best Buy had any idea what you were talking about.)
After Samsung bumped up prices on its Galaxy S26 and midrange A-series phones last week, Google quietly did the same for its Pixel 10A. It was $499, but now starts from $599 — a hard sell for a phone that was already almost identical to the 9A from a year before.
[Google Store]
The OSS VRP — which paid out for bugs found across Google’s open-source ecosystem — will be frozen until at least next year. It’s slop’s fault: the pause is down to a “significant rise” in AI submissions, “the vast majority of which are not valid.” Linux has been suffering from a similar problem.
[X (formerly Twitter)]
To distribute an Android app in Brazil, Thailand, Singapore, or Indonesia — even outside Google’s Play Store — developers must now go through Google’s verification. It’ll roll out everywhere else from next year. Unverified apps can still be sideloaded, but the new process includes a 24-hour waiting period before apps can be installed.
A satellite equipped with Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday. The mission is part of Google’s Project Suncatcher, an experimental initiative that could eventually put AI data centers in space.
Advanced Protection, which launched last year as an option for people who need stronger security safeguards, will now automatically lock down a device if it detects repeated authentication failures within settings menus and apps.
This builds upon several other capabilities available with Advanced Protection, including features that block unknown USB chargers and prevent apps from abusing accessibility features.
After a French far-right politician used AI to strip a real Muslim woman of her hijab last month, The Guardian tested ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini’s image editors and found that all the chatbots would comply with such requests. This issue has persisted for many months, adding to fears about how easily AI tools can be used to undress and violate women and children.
Several wacky keyboard designs have been showcased by Google Japan every October for the last few years. Each has their own challenges for practical typing, but especially this new conveyor belt-inspired creation. You’ll learn patience by waiting for the keys you need to roll around — such a moving design.
The reusable, custom instructions for Gemini are also rolling out to Workspace users starting October 5th and in the Gemini app starting October 13th. Google’s shutting down Gems starting in November for individual users, and as early as March 1st, 2027 for Workspace users.
