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Tech News
Google has opened a formal beta program for its Drive app, letting users opt in to test upcoming features before they roll out broadly. The program follows similar early-access schemes Google runs for other apps like Gmail and Photos.
A 15.5 GB file containing over 7.3 million Chess.com user records surfaced for free on two data-leak forums, with no ransom attached. Analysis of the archive found genuine, recent Chess.com data including emails, usernames, ratings, and subscription status, but no passwords or payment details, pointing toward large-scale scraping rather than a server intrusion.
Google is now widely deploying Gemini as the default digital assistant across Android Auto, replacing the standard Google Assistant for drivers who haven't already switched manually. Users can still enable it themselves via Settings, and once active, Gemini handles voice interactions, messaging, music requests and more inside the car.
A YouTube ad disguised as an iPhone low-storage system alert has been repeatedly reported by users but cleared by Google, which says it doesn't violate ad policy. When the author ran the same ad through Google's own Gemini AI, it flagged the ad as deceptive for imitating system UI and making unreliable claims, contradicting the human review team's verdict.
Software engineer Alex Wormuth built a simulated fruit fly brain using Google and HHMI Janelia's newly released connectome data, then wired it to control Doom frame by frame. Each frame generates thousands of brightness and color inputs that feed into the simulated brain's 25.6 million connections, translating neural activity into in-game controls, including a pain response modeled on real dopamine receptors.
Google Maps estimates how crowded entire areas, not just individual businesses, are by aggregating anonymous location data from users who have opted into Google Timeline. The feature combines data from nearby stores, restaurants, and parks, but excludes private residences, and typically only works in high-traffic zones like tourist areas or festival grounds where enough visitor data exists.
Insurers and reinsurers are exploring catastrophe bonds to help cover the massive, geographically concentrated value of hyperscale data centers, many of which sit in hurricane- and flood-prone regions. Industry experts told CNBC that while no dedicated data center cat bond has yet been issued, activity is building one step upstream through reinsurance vehicles like quota shares and sidecars as firms work out pricing and capacity.
Google Search has begun rewriting organic result links from readable URLs into a new google.com/goto?url= format that hides the actual destination inside an encoded, Google-specific parameter. Unlike the older google.com/url redirect wrapper, which kept the target link visible in plaintext, the new format requires a request back to Google's servers to retrieve the real URL from the Location header. As of late August 2026 this behavior appears consistently for logged-out and private browsing sessions, suggesting a wider rollout rather than a small test.
Following Google's release of a detailed 3D map of a male fruit fly's brain and nervous system, developers quickly began using the digital neural model to control video games. Engineers mapped sensory inputs from Doom, Beat Saber, and Super Mario 64 to the fly's simulated neurons, using dopamine-linked reinforcement signals to shape its in-game behavior. A separate female fly brain model from Princeton's Flywire project was similarly repurposed to play Minecraft.
A newly leaked specifications sheet, sourced from MacObserver, details Lenovo's upcoming Googlebook 15, revealing it as a high-end machine rather than a budget Chromebook. The leak points to an Intel Core Ultra 5 325 chip, up to 32GB of RAM, a 15.3-inch 120Hz OLED touchscreen, and a lightweight 2.84-pound chassis, though pricing and launch timing remain unconfirmed.
Security researchers found a flaw in Android's network stack that lets any app, without special permissions, send UDP packets through the device's Wi-Fi or cellular hardware that bypass VPN tunnels entirely. This occurs even when the 'Block all connections without VPN' setting is enabled, exposing a user's real IP address. The bug was reported through Google's Vulnerability Reward Program but closed without action, while GrapheneOS says it is working on a fix.
A new leak reported by MacObserver reveals specifications for the Lenovo Googlebook 15, one of the first Android-based laptops arriving under Google's upcoming Googlebook platform. The device reportedly includes a 15.3-inch 120Hz OLED screen with 2,880 x 1,800 resolution, an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of storage. It also carries a distinctive LED accent called a 'glowbar' and support for Gemini AI features like Magic Cursor.