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.
Letting people easily alter images with an AI prompt was a bad idea.
The company may be releasing its own take on an AirTag-like item tracker.
Instead, the company is just going to build its vibe coding tool directly into Gemini. Around 800,000 pre-ordered the mobile app after it was announced in May, but Google has decided to just make Gemini its one-stop AI shop. The robust web platform isn’t going anywhere, though, for those with bigger vibe-coded aspirations.
Saw this on 9to5Google. Bad name, IMO. I prefer the previously-rumored “Pixel Glow” is better.
[9to5Google]
Gemini Spark in Chrome can do things like “scheduling viewings for apartments you’ve saved or researching flight options and starting the booking process,” according to Google. However, a human will have to push the button on tasks like making payments.
Spark is also now available on Google’s AI Pro tier in 160 more countries. It initially was available only on the more expensive AI Ultra tier, and just recently came to AI Pro in the US.
As spotted by 9to5Google, you can change the background to different colors and images, including uploading your own, and set the background to refresh everyday, like on the desktop version of Chrome. The new backgrounds are under “Customize new tab page” in Chrome’s three dots menu.
Francis deSouza will begin as CEO on August 10, taking over from the interim CEO who has been leading the company since Alexandr Wang, its founder and former CEO, joined Meta in June 2025. Joe Osborne, a spokesperson for Scale AI, said the company’s new focus on building AI applications for enterprises and governments, rather than solely data labeling, has it projecting more than $1 billion in 2026 revenue.
Google is bringing its Nano Banana 2 image generation model to Google Earth, allowing you to generate AI images using the satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery in the web app. Some examples shared by Google show how you can give a building a makeover, visualize projects, or create an infographic about what you’re seeing.
Google is teasing its upcoming smartphone again ahead of the August 12th launch event. The company has already shown off the glowy orb in the camera bar that’s visible in this new ad, and while Google still hasn’t said what the light is for, it might be called Pixel Glow.
With the update, you can hold the Fn key in any window to interact with Gemini by talking aloud. You can also opt into a feature that allows Gemini to “see” what’s on your screen and perform tasks within your open windows. This update is rolling out in English to all Gemini app users on macOS.
A new Google Workspace update lets Gemini summarize and respond to comments, like highlighting all the unresolved changes in a document, Android Authority reports. You can also ask Google’s AI to draft new comments and replies and add suggested edits based on comments.
Illustrators, authors, and musicians are optimistic about their chances in court, if not about the future of AI.
Android Authority found and enabled the home screen widget after digging through the latest version of the Google Translate app, which could make Android’s “Live Translate” feature easier to access, and keep it working if you close the app. We don’t know when (or if) it’ll roll out, but this is what the widget currently looks like:
Aside from labeling and filtering AI slop, YouTube says you can directly chat with its Ask Studio bot to build thumbnails that are “tailored to your video’s specific themes and to your specific style.” It’s also added custom thumbnail uploads for Shorts if you’re in the YouTube Partner Program, and suggested thumbnail frames for Shorts.
President Donald Trump threatened a “substantial” tariff on Europe for what he claimed were “discriminatory” fines against US tech companies over alleged competition violations, most recently involving Google. While Trump claimed Europe’s high fines started during the Biden administration, some early fines were also imposed during Trump’s first term.
The Google partnership has yielded two new Onn outdoor security cameras: the $34.87 Outdoor Camera Plug-In and $77 Floodlight Camera Hardwired. Each 1080p HDR camera features live views, night vision and two-way talk accessible from the Google Home app. You’ll need a Premium subscription to unlock AI-driven features like event descriptions, searchable video history, and daily summaries.
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Google’s more powerful, conversational assistant for the home is now available on first-generation Google Home Mini speaker and Google Nest Hub display. You’ll need a Google Home Premium subscription to make it work though.
The new agentic AI platform, announced at Google I/O earlier this year, will be available to Google AI Pro subscribers in the US starting today. It’s also rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers worldwide with local language support. Access to the OpenClaw-like agent was previously limited to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US.
It’s a sizeable jump from the 750 million Gemini users Google reported in February. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, shared the stat as part of its Q2 2026 earnings report (pdf), which also revealed a 24 percent increase in revenue to $119.8 billion.
Plus the first specs, including a battery life better than Meta’s.
A federal judge dismissed Google’s lawsuit against the web-scraping service SerpApi after finding that the tech giant’s allegations were “insufficient” to prove a copyright violation.
Google accused SerpApi of using “deceptive means” to scrape its search results, to which SerpApi argued that it’s just doing “what Google does to everyone else.“ The judge is giving Google 21 days to amend its complaint.
[Search Engine Roundtable]
It’s been in beta for a little while, but Samsung’s new foldables mark the official launch, together with an expansion to more than 40 apps.
Samsung Smart Switch will make it easier to jump from iOS to a Galaxy Z Flip 8 or Fold 8, sharing photos, videos, contacts and more with just a QR code, no iOS app install required. Similar features are already rolling out on some Pixels with Android 17.
The smart glasses come with Google’s Gemini AI on board and will debut this fall with the designs we first saw in May — plus these two new ones from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker.
Reddit has discussed shutting off Google’s access to data used to train its Gemini AI models. Or maybe it’s just a renegotiation bluff now that its $60 million-a-year deal is coming to an end. According to The Wall Street Journal:
… with AI-generated answers to queries reducing clicks to outside websites, Reddit executives are assessing what the upside is of continuing to feed its content to Google, said the people familiar with the matter.
Google Zero comes for us all, eventually.
The “revamped” homepage, rolling out starting today, lists all of your upcoming meetings with links to notes and calendar attachments for each one. It also has options for navigating through weeks and months to see past and future meetings.
According to a Droid Life report, spotted by 9to5Google, an image of the phone briefly showed up on the Google Fi website, ahead of an August 12th Pixel launch event. Google appears to have removed the image, but the phone in Droid Life’s screenshot matches the “Dune” colorway in an earlier Pixel 11 leak.
Nilay called it back in 2024, and now the Gray Lady is on board with recognizing the demise of the open web. It takes a look at how Google went from being a gateway to the internet to becoming the internet for many users who never leave the cozy confines of its AI summaries.
