Alphabet’s record-breaking $85B raise for Google’s AI business is a helluva good signal
If Alphabet’s record-breaking, $85 billion stock sale signals investor appetite for AI-related offerings, we can see that investors are ready to chow.
Google’s Dreambeans, its weirdest-named AI tool to date, will turn your life into a cartoon
Dreambeans is a curated list of AI-illustrated “stories” culled from the personal data in your Google account.
The best Qi2 batteries for iPhone and Pixel
Compact power banks have gotten a lot faster in the past year — and it’s not just their USB-C charging speeds that have received a boost. The newest Qi2.2-certified models can wirelessly charge an iPhone 16 or later at up to 25W. Combine that with their ability to magnetically snap on via MagSafe, and you’ve […]
Publishers will be able to opt out of AI Search, thanks to new regulation
U.K. regulators are requiring Google offer a tool allowing website publishers to opt-out of generative AI search features. The option will be tested in the U.K. then rolled out globally.
AI has a water problem. Google thinks it has a fix
In the face of widespread backlash to the AI data center buildout throughout the US, Google is touting its efforts to minimize the environmental impact by actually increasing water for local communities. The company laid out five commitments around water use in a new blog post published Wednesday, including a goal to replenish more water […]
Google must let publishers opt out of AI Search features, rules UK
Online publishers are getting more control over whether their websites appear in Google’s AI Search features, thanks to a UK regulatory ruling. The new conduct rule imposed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) requires Google to let website owners keep their content out of features like AI Overviews and prevent it from being used […]
Google’s Phone app will tell you if a scammer is impersonating one of your contacts
Google is launching a new feature for its Phone app that aims to protect you from AI impersonation scams. Now, when you receive a call from a scammer that appears to be coming from the same number as one of your contacts, Phone by Google will flag the call as suspicious so you can hang […]
Gemini Spark is the most impressive and terrifying AI experience I’ve had yet
According to every product demo from the last four years, planning a trip is a killer use case for AI. Just tell it where you’re going, they all promise, and your chatbot / agent / other buzzword will exhaustively search travel options, read up on all the fun things to do, check all the local […]
Alphabet plans to raise $80B to pay for AI buildout
“The company is experiencing strong demand for its AI solutions and services from enterprises and consumers, at levels that are exceeding the company’s available supply,” Alphabet said in its statement.
The Google Pixel Watch 5 may have been spoiled by… the creator of Borderlands
We may just have gotten an early look at the Google Pixel Watch 5 – and from an unusual source. Randy Pitchford, the creator of the Borderlands game franchise, posted a pair of images of a watch on X, saying that his friend found it underwater while scuba diving near Saint Martin, as reported earlier […]