Google Play awards points for purchases like apps, in-app purchases, movies, books, and eligible subscriptions, but many users never spend them. Those points can be exchanged for gift cards from retailers including Amazon, Starbucks, Best Buy, DoorDash, Walmart, Target, and Uber, priced at $5 for 750 points, $10 for 1,500, and $20 for 3,000. Unused points expire 12 months after the last account activity, with that window resetting each time points are earned or spent.
Waymo announced plans to bring its autonomous vehicles to Munich, aiming to launch commercial robotaxi service there by the end of 2027, marking its first deployment in the European Union. The company will begin mapping streets and testing with safety drivers in the coming weeks while seeking permits from local, state and federal authorities. Munich follows London, where Waymo hopes to start public rides as soon as next month, as part of a broader European push that includes new subsidiaries in France, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
A ZDNET writer tested FydeOS, a free Linux-based operating system built to mimic ChromeOS, by installing it on an aging Windows laptop. The OS successfully replicated the Chromebook experience—fast boot times, background updates, and support for web, Android, and Linux apps—though selecting the correct build for the hardware proved confusing.
Google is extending Gemini's ability to generate interactive 3D models and simulations, first announced in April, to all Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users meeting age requirements. The feature lets users ask Gemini to visualize complex concepts—like DNA structures—as manipulable models rather than static images. It is available immediately in the Gemini app.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority paused a Boston federal judge's injunction that had blocked Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting in 23 states and DC, ruling the states lacked standing to sue because they couldn't prove concrete harm. The court did not rule on whether the order itself is legal, leaving that question for future litigation, while a separate nationwide injunction against the Postal Service implementing the order remains intact for now.
Paleontologists digging in Egypt's Western Desert uncovered fossilized teeth belonging to at least seven previously unrecorded extinct shark species. The find suggests the now-arid region was once submerged beneath ancient seas that supported diverse marine predators.
The official CPython documentation lays out Big O complexity tables for core operations on built-in types like list and tuple, covering actions such as append, insert, slicing, concatenation, and membership testing. It notes these figures apply specifically to CPython's exact built-in types, and that subclasses or other Python implementations may behave differently.
Divers have located the remains of HMS Gladiator, a Royal Navy cruiser that split apart and sank in 1908. The wreck was found largely intact, giving researchers new physical evidence about how the vessel broke apart and went down.
New CAD-based renders of the Galaxy S27 Ultra, produced by Android Headlines with leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer, show a colored, detailed model built from leaked case-maker measurements. The design departs sharply from the S26 Ultra's vertical camera stack, replacing it with a large, lopsided camera island, while the phone's overall dimensions (about 163.76 x 78.25 x 7.97mm) remain close to this year's model.
Nintendo announced two new Switch 2 bundles: a refreshed Mario Kart World package for $550 and a new Nintendo Switch Sports Resort bundle for $530, both including a 90-day individual Switch Online membership. These arrive as the Switch 2 console price rises to $500 starting September 1, up from $450.
Sony has released the Xperia 10 VIII, a midrange Android phone that keeps most hardware from last year's Xperia 10 VII, including its 6.1-inch OLED display, Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip, 8GB RAM, 5,000mAh battery and dual-camera setup. The main changes are a brighter screen, louder speakers, a translucent back panel and a quick-payment shortcut, yet UK pricing jumps to £549, about £150 more than the previous model. The phone launches in September in three colors, though it remains unavailable in the US.
Researchers from the Zoological Society of London used underwater microphones and AI software to track blast fishing near Indonesia's Spermonde Archipelago, detecting over 3,500 explosions in 3,600 hours of recordings. They estimate more than 8,000 underwater detonations occur annually in the region, as fishers use homemade explosives to stun and kill fish for local markets.
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