GoKawiil
Tech News
Google has clarified that the newly spotted 'Android Pulse' app is an official Google system service designed to monitor device health, rather than an unknown or suspicious background process. The company said a recent update caused Pulse to become visible in Google system service settings, explaining why users only just started noticing it despite it existing internally beforehand.
DuckLabs, the Amsterdam-based company founded by DuckDB creators Mark Raasveldt and Hannes Mühleisen, announced it will join Amazon Web Services effective early September. The team plans to stay together in Amsterdam and continue developing DuckDB, DuckLake, Quack and related community projects. DuckLabs said the core DuckDB stack will remain free and open source under the MIT license, with the nonprofit DuckDB Foundation continuing to oversee governance.
Android Authority's reviewer spent weeks testing the Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max, a €1,149 flagship phone with an aluminum frame, Kunlun Glass, and a notably large camera module. Despite Huawei's US ban and shrinking global market share since losing Google services seven years ago, the reviewer found the build quality and craftsmanship rival any top-tier device on the market.
Google is quietly rolling out Motion Assist, a feature that overlays moving dots on the screen edges to counter motion sickness while using a phone in a vehicle. The dots shift direction based on data from the accelerometer and gyroscope, mimicking how the outside world would appear to move if you looked up. It's appearing on Pixel devices running Android 17 through a staged Play Services rollout, with no separate app or update required.
Google has released Play Services v26.33 and Play Store v52.9, adding a feature that lets Googlebook devices access apps directly from a paired phone. The update also expands Ask Play, the Gemini-powered search tool, to show video highlights for apps and games alongside other developer-facing changes.
A large DDoS attack that began early Monday knocked out parts of Norway's shared government digital infrastructure, run by Digdir and operator Vivicta. Services like ID-porten and eSignering were briefly unreachable and remain partially degraded, with users facing connection failures and slow logins. Digdir says no breach or data compromise occurred, and this marks the third such attack on the agency since June.
The Australian Recording Industry Association has updated its Charts Code of Practice to exclude music that is wholly AI-generated from national chart eligibility, effective with the chart dated August 31. Songs made with AI assistance can still qualify, but only if the recording is substantially human-made, with humans writing the song and performing lead vocals and primary instruments using authorized tools.