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.
The company built Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) into Google Wallet earlier this year, a technology that allows users to verify their age across different apps and platforms without linking it to their identity.
Google has now put the ZKP codebase on GitHub so developers can use it to build more private apps and tools. Countries in the EU can also use it to build digital wallets, which are set to launch next year.
The company will appeal the payout, which will otherwise go to Android users in California whose cellular data was used to transmit information back to Google for uses like targeted advertising.
There’s a similar case going to trial in April 2026 on behalf of users in the other 49 states, not to mention a separate class action alleging Google collected some data even from users that had opted out.
Backyard Baseball 2001 is getting remastered for Steam, iOS, and Android as Backyard Baseball ‘01, releasing July 8th.
The quarter-century-old sports game was the first of the series to include real MLB players, and 28 of the original 31 pros return in the remaster: including Mike Piazza, Carlos Beltran, Derek Jeter, Mark McGwire, and Jose Canseco. So you can reunite the The Bash Brothers to take on some kids.
Android Headlines says it has the specs for the two new Pro Pixels, a week after dropping the details of the base model.
It sounds like not much is changing from last year on the hardware side, but the XL model will reportedly start from 256GB of storage, double the 10 Pro’s 128GB, suggesting Google is trying the same ploy Apple used to justify the iPhone 15 Pro Max price jump in 2023.
[androidheadlines.com]
Gmail’s AI-powered search upgrade will now take recency, most-clicked emails, and frequent contacts into account when surfacing messages for Google Workspace users, instead of just returning results in chronological order based on keywords. It rolled out to regular users in March.
Google says this update makes it easier for business users to find the emails they actually need, “saving you valuable time and helping you find important information more easily.”
Kyle Chayka, who wrote for this website about the “airspace” aesthetic created by social media, is now looking into how LLM models affect creativity. He suggests that if Silicon Valley once homogenized decor — and, to some degree, created beige influencers — it may now be making LLM users less original, too.
[newyorker.com]
In an update on Monday, Google says Chrome 138 is the last version of the browser that will support Android 8 and Android 9, both of which were released over five years ago. The browser will continue to work on these versions, but it won’t receive additional updates.
Chrome 139 and up will require at least Android 10 when it launches in August.
Netflix’s Squid Game: Unleashed, previously a mobile exclusive game, is coming to Chromebooks (and Android tablets) in the “coming weeks,” Google says. “You’ll be able to experience immersive gameplay on a bigger screen, with keyboard and mouse support, updated control layouts and graphics that take full advantage of your device’s display.”
The original source of the report, Cybernews, says that since the start of the year, its researchers have “discovered 30 exposed datasets containing from tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each. In total, the researchers uncovered an unimaginable 16 billion records.”
This isn’t a breach of one company or another’s systems, but compiled records, with some believed to be from “infostealer” malware, as well as previous leaks. As Bleeping Computer points out, what you should be doing hasn’t changed -- using unique passwords with a password manager, enabling two-factor authentication, and adding other forms of security like passkeys and security keys that can replace passwords altogether.
[bleepingcomputer.com]
The US District Court in Washington, DC, was the home of two of the most important tech trials in decades — plus so much more.
Primordial Soup’s new short film feels like a snapshot of everything that’s disappointing about gen AI.
The hit roguelike Enter the Gungeon is coming to iOS and Android “soon,” Devolver Digital announced today. Exit the Gungeon, which was delisted from Apple Arcade last year, will also be back on iOS and is coming to Google Play. Playing the games on mobile will be a good warmup to next year’s Enter the Gungeon 2.
Yesterday Google announced updates to its Gemini models, including a new 2.5 Flash-Lite, but didn’t mention a bigger change: the Gemini app apparently now lets you upload videos for analysis, asking Gemini to describe clips or answer questions about video content.
I say “apparently” because the option hasn’t appeared on our devices yet, though 9to5Google says availability “varies,” so you might be lucky. It’s only for iOS and Android, with no web support yet.
[9to5google.com]
