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Barret Zoph, a co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab, has left the startup to join Google as a vice president of research. Zoph had previously spent time at OpenAI before helping start Thinking Machines Lab.
Apple has started displaying advertisements in its Maps app in the US and Canada, marked only with a small 'ad' label next to some search results. The rollout is inconsistent—not every search or city shows ads yet—and there are no sponsored pins as seen in Google Maps, but unlike other apps, Apple has not provided any toggle to turn the ads off.
Google confirmed via its Nest Community account that it has resolved a bug causing Google Home devices to play unrelated songs, albums, or playlists instead of the ones users requested. The issue had been reported by multiple users on Reddit's r/googlehome, with some saying it persisted for months across services like Spotify. Google has not detailed the cause of the bug or what specifically was changed to fix it.
After users reported that Gemini on Google Home devices couldn't properly add items to Google Keep lists, a Google spokesperson confirmed the company is rolling out a fix. Google described the issue as a set of 'UI issues' rather than a change to Keep support, and said the patch should reach all affected users within a few days.
Multiple Pixel users are reporting on Reddit that apps like Google Photos, Spotify, and CapCut are randomly crashing or refusing to stay open, while music apps skip tracks. Reports span devices including the Pixel 9 and Pixel 11, suggesting the issue isn't limited to newer hardware. One user says joining Google's System Services beta and updating resolved the crashes on their device.
Google is expanding Gemini Live beyond casual conversation, adding features like Personal Intelligence, Daily Brief, hands-free Gmail management, and integration with Gemini Spark. The Spark integration lets users speak unstructured thoughts aloud, which Gemini Live then organizes into actionable, multi-step tasks such as meal planning or grocery lists. Some features, including Spark and Daily Brief, require paid Google AI Pro or Plus subscriptions.
Dolly Parton, the country music icon and philanthropist, died on August 25 at age 80. Fans and public figures responded with tributes ranging from landmarks illuminated in pink to a special Google search Easter egg celebrating her life and career.
Apple confirmed its September event with the English tagline 'Surprise and shine,' widely seen as hinting at a foldable iPhone reveal. A Twitter user noticed that Google Translate's rendering of the Chinese-language version of Apple's event teaser reads 'A new chapter unfolds, dazzling and brilliant,' which some fans see as an intentional nod to a folding device.
Google's newest Gemini Live update introduces distinct features—chat, Spark, and Daily Brief—each with its own icon and navigation slot in the Gemini app. Daily Brief pulls data from Gmail and Calendar to generate proactive updates, but it often surfaces unsolicited or unsettling information, like resurfacing old search history, rather than truly useful alerts. Spark, meanwhile, is a capable AI agent for taking actions on a user's behalf, but Google has needlessly turned it into its own branded sub-product rather than folding it into a unified assistant experience.
Google has moved its AI-responsibility team out of the DeepMind research division as part of an internal reorganization. Researchers within the team have voiced concerns that the shift could compromise their independence and reduce their ability to identify risks in Google's newest AI models.
Google has launched Gemini 3.5 Transcribe, a new voice-to-text AI model that automatically strips out filler words and stumbles to produce cleaner transcriptions. Already running Gboard's Rambler feature on the Pixel 11, the model is set to expand across Google's products. Google says it is roughly 70 percent faster than its predecessor, Chirp 3, and slightly more accurate, with a live-speech error rate of 5.5 percent versus 7.32 percent.
Apple has scheduled its annual product launch for Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. PT in Cupertino, streamed live from the Steve Jobs Theater. The event is expected to introduce a new foldable iPhone alongside updated Pro and Pro Max models, new Apple Watches, and AirPods, with cheaper iPhone variants reportedly pushed to a spring release.