India bans streaming apps you’ve never heard of — but millions watch
India has ordered the blocking of 25 streaming services — many with millions of viewers and even paying subscribers — for allegedly promoting “obscene” content.
Google gets its swag back
This week, I take a look at the surprisingly strong state of Google, Meta gets a new chief AI researcher, and more. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out this week’s Decoder episode about deepfakes and where they are headed. Also, do you use an AI coding tool like Cursor or GitHub Copilot? […]
Google took a month to shut down Catwatchful, a phone spyware operation hosted on its servers
Google has suspended the Firebase account of Catwatchful following a TechCrunch investigation. The spyware operation was caught using Google’s own servers to host and run its surveillance app, which was stealthily monitoring thousands of people’s phones.
Meta to stop selling political ads in the EU from October
In response to the European Union’s incoming regulation of political advertising, Meta said on Friday that it would stop selling and showing political ads in the EU from October 2025.
I tried Gemini on the Pixel Watch. Here’s what it’s like
I’m just getting acquainted with Gemini on the Pixel Watch I’m wearing when it tells me that there’s a kind of pastry called “nun’s farts.” This relationship is off to a good start. “Nun’s farts” was a totally appropriate response, by the way. I’d asked it for a list of pastries with silly names, prompted […]
Google is testing a vibe-coding app called Opal
Google is testing a new vibe-coding tool called Opal, available in the U.S. through Google Labs, that lets users quickly spin up web apps with just a few prompts.
Syncing desktops and better AI wallpapers are coming to ChromeOS
Google has released a new version of ChromeOS that allows you to sync desktops between devices, ideal for anyone who works across more than one Chromebook. It also significantly improves the AI wallpapers available on Chromebook Plus laptops with a completely freeform prompting field. Desk sync is designed to help you pick up where you […]
Google rethinks search results with its new AI-curated ‘Web Guide’
On Thursday, Google launched Web Guide, a new AI-powered search feature that “groups links in helpful ways” for people who opt in to the test on Labs. Web Guide runs on a custom version of Google’s Gemini AI model to process search queries, reorganizing the traditional “10 blue links” by sorting results and finding related […]
