Illustration: The Verge Google has spent the past year dealing with two of the biggest threats in its 25-year history: the rise of generative AI and the growing drumbeat of regulation. AI, in particular, has shaken the company to its core: it’s made big search changes, realigned the Search, Android, and hardware teams around AI, and launched its own Gemini AI model to capitalize on the opportunity. Google execs cut projects and laid off employees to refocus, and yesterday, it announced its first-ever dividend and a $70 billion share buyback alongside its Q1 2024 earnings. Investors, at least, are eating it up: Google parent company Alphabet has finally officially hit and maintained a $2 trillion market cap for a whole day of trading after briefly touching $2... Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Think about everything you do across Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, and everything else Google owns, and you get some idea of how much data you’re giving up to the company each day. For most of us, it’s... a lot. Whether or not you think the data collection and targeted advertising is a worthwhile trade for the free apps you get in return, Google does at least provide a comprehensive online dashboard you can use to see some of what’s being gathered. You can use it to delete everything Google has already collected, stop it from collecting anything in the future, or automatically delete your data after a set period (like three months). You can also use these features to clear the records if you’re planning to delete your Google... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google is testing its AI listening skills with a feature that lets people speak into their phones and practice English with a conversational AI bot. Google first rolled out the speaking practice experience in October 2023. Originally, the feature only provided feedback on spoken sentences. Now, users can practice having ongoing conversations in the language they’re learning. TechCrunch reports that the feature is currently available for Search Labs users in Argentina, Colombia, India, Mexico, Venezuela, and Indonesia. Search Labs is Google’s sandbox for potential new Search features; however, the feature may also pop up based on translating to or from English with Google on an Android device. For now, the feedback and conversation... Continue reading…

Image: Android Headlines We’ve already seen a bunch of images revealing what Google’s Pixel 8A might look like, but now, leaked marketing materials shared by Android Headlines give us an even better picture of what we can expect. The promotional images suggest that the budget-friendly Pixel 8A will come with seven years of security updates. But the materials don’t indicate whether the phone will come with seven years of Android OS upgrades, something its flagship Pixel 8 and 8 Pro have. Still, the seven years makes a big difference from Google’s previous policy for Pixel phones, which only provided five years of security updates and three years of Android OS upgrades. Image: Android Headlines There isn’t a mention of Android OS upgrades. ... Continue reading…

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Illustration: The Verge The reminders you’ve jotted down in Google Keep will soon show up in Tasks. Google says the long-requested integration is coming over the next year, allowing you to see, edit, and complete your Keep reminders across Tasks, Calendar, and Assistant. The change will make Tasks the central hub for all to-dos and reminders, hopefully making them far easier to manage. It’s something my colleague David Pierce suggested when talking about Google’s upgraded Keep app last year, saying, “Now, Google, make Keep reminders show up in Tasks. It’s right there!” Image: Google Even though Tasks doesn’t support location-based reminders like Keep does, Google states (referring to Keep) that you can still “add time or location-based... Continue reading…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google is working on a fix to block crafty individuals from gaining access to the emails of accounts logged in to some Android TV units. The Android TV operating system, which is preloaded on many smart TVs on the market, could allow people with physical access to get into Gmail and other services associated with the owner’s account, as reported by 404 Media. Since Android TV is just Android under the hood, it treats the owner’s Google account login as a persistent one, allowing them to automatically log in to allowed apps from the Play Store. Chrome is not allowed by Google to install on Android TV, but there’s a workaround that could get it installed, allowing easy access to Gmail, Drive, and other services — as demonstrated by... Continue reading…

An illustration of a woman holding her phone with two tasks shown next to her: “Set up bake sale” and “Pick up dry cleaning.” Other illustrations show someone baking and one of the tasks in Google Keep.