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NotebookLM now lets you chat with expert guides from top publishers, and Shakespeare - here's how

Google / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Google announced Monday that it is expanding the repertoire of NotebookLM, its AI-powered note-taking and research platform, to include the works of some prominent publishing names. Also: NotebookLM now lets you share your notebooks with anyone with a single link. Here's how The company is collaborating with a cohort of scientists, nonprofits, authors, and news publishers to deliver a series of featured notebooks for NotebookLM users. These notebooks cove

ChromeOS Needs More Love and Attention Than a Mobile Makeover With Android

After diving into the luxurious Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, I have ChromeOS on my mind. Apparently, so does Google. In an interview with TechRadar, Android “daddy” Sameer Samat dropped a small bombshell about the future of ChromeOS, though without providing any of the raw details. He said Google plans to combine ChromeOS and Android “into a single platform.” This project seems to be in the early phase of development. Samat said he was analyzing what apps people are using on their PCs or Macs, whi

Android’s Desktop Mode gets a handy shortcut to pin your favorite apps to the taskbar

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority TL;DR Google is improving Android’s still-in-development Desktop Mode by adding the ability to pin apps to the taskbar for quick access. A new “pin to taskbar” shortcut appears in an app’s context menu, letting you add it to the dock for easy launching even after it’s closed. This is a small but necessary step in Google’s effort to make Android a more viable desktop competitor, especially against platforms like the iPad. Android finally has a proper Desktop

Google’s generative video model Veo 3 has a subtitles problem

Getting rid of them isn’t straightforward—or cheap. Users have been forced to resort to regenerating clips (which costs them more money), using external subtitle-removing tools, or cropping their videos to get rid of the subtitles altogether. Josh Woodward, vice president of Google Labs and Gemini, posted on X on June 9 that Google had developed fixes to reduce the gibberish text. But over a month later, users are still logging issues with it in Google Labs’ Discord channel, demonstrating how d

Rivian adds Google Maps features to its navigation app

Rivian, the American EV manufacturer, is integrating Google Maps into its navigation app. The update should provide Rivian owners with more detailed information about their route, disruptions and places they're passing. These new features include updated traffic data and reroutes if another option turns out to be quicker along your journey. Drivers will also have access to real-time road disruption reports from the Google Maps community. Plus, places of interest should now be available right on

Rivian taps Google to bring custom maps into its EVs and app

For 18 months, Rivian and Google engineers worked together. Today, they’re showing off their work. Rivian is pushing out a software update that will bring a unique version of Google Maps into its EVs. It’s the latest step in Rivian’s continued effort to distinguish its vehicles with software — an effort that has helped it strike up a joint venture with one of the world’s biggest automakers, Volkswagen. This isn’t a typical the Google Maps integration and it’s unlike the tech company’s other co

Google inks $3B deal to buy hydropower from Brookfield

As it races to build ever larger data centers, Google on Tuesday said it has agreed to pay more than $3 billion to source carbon-free hydropower from Brookfield Asset Management’s company, Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners. The first contracts under the deal include 20-year power purchase agreements, the companies said, altogether amounting to $3 billion, for 670 megawatts of capacity from two hydropower plants in Pennsylvania. The deal is part of a broader framework agreement that will allo

Beware! Research shows Gmail’s AI email summaries can be hacked

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR A researcher recently demonstrated a Gemini flaw that could be exploited to inject malicious instructions while using Gmail’s email summary feature. These instructions were hidden in plain text under the body of the email. Google responded to the research, stating that it had updated its models to identify such prompt engineering measures and block phishing links. Big tech companies have been billing AI as the ubiquitous tool that frees us from munda

Pixel Watch 4 battery upgrade is coming, but don’t expect magic

TL;DR Google’s next-generation Pixel Watch models could get a modest battery capacity increase. The 41mm Pixel Watch 4 may arrive with a 327mAh battery, and the 45mm Watch 3 getting a 459mAh component. Compared to Watch 3 models, that would represent a capacity increase of 7% and 9%, respectively. What do you expect from a new generation of wearables? Samsung just introduced its Galaxy Watch 8 series, and the company’s move to embrace that squircle design across the entire lineup has proven c

Exclusive: Google Pixel Watch 4 to use the same processor as Pixel Watch 2 and 3

TL;DR Google’s next-gen Pixel Watch 4 is keeping the same Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chip that’s been used since the Pixel Watch 2. Both 41mm and 45mm models should receive slightly larger batteries. As we approach Google’s 2025 Pixel event, we already know almost everything about its next generation of phones, but the same can’t be said about the upcoming Pixel Watch 4. Other than some renders and a color options leak, there’s been nothing concrete said about the new smartwatches. We heard some info

Gemini Space needs to fix a Pixel home screen issue we’ve had for years

Joe Maring / Android Authority Thanks to a recent APK teardown, we discovered that Google’s At a Glance feature on Pixel phones is getting a major overhaul. What we know as At a Glance will be rebranded as “Gemini Space,” and with that, Google is also adding more contextual cards to the longstanding widget — including sports scores, birthday reminders, finance updates, and more. From what we’ve seen, Gemini Space aims to show a lot more contextual info than At a Glance currently does, bringing

Google’s Discover feed may be getting an AI feature no one asked for

Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Google is testing AI summaries for articles in the Discover feed. Like AI overviews in Google Search, Discover feed summaries combine information from multiple sources instead of just referencing one. Google is also testing a new button to bookmark articles that can be revisited later. Of late, Google has been experimenting with multiple ways to make its AI applications more visible, especially to users who have steered clear of Gemini so far. After rolli

I hope Google doesn’t screw up these things when it merges Chrome OS into Android

Ryan Haines / Android Authority A Google executive confirmed in an interview that the company is combining Chrome OS and Android. This comes a while after we exclusively reported that Chrome OS will effectively be absorbed into Android. It also comes after Google said it would develop Chrome OS on “large portions of the Android stack.” This all sounds very interesting on paper, but I have some reservations about such a merger. Here are the things Google can’t afford to screw up when it combine

Google's Reverse Acquihire of Windsurf and the Future of AI Developer Tools

The reverse acquihire of Windsurf by Google is more than a corporate reshuffle. It offers a rare glimpse into the strategic realignments happening in AI-powered developer tools – a space that is powerful, promising, but still deeply unsettled. Windsurf set out with an ambitious bet: bringing “agentic” capabilities directly into the IDE. It wasn’t just about generating code snippets faster; it aimed to create a true coding partner, capable of understanding high-level intent and navigating large

Google Keep could finally add the search option you’ve wanted for years (APK teardown)

TL;DR Google Keep might finally let users search within a single note. The app currently allows finding content across all notes. With the new “Find in note” feature, users will be able to locate something specific within one particularly long or detailed note. For years, Google Keep users have been asking for a simple but much-needed feature, and it looks like their pleas are finally being answered. We’ve found strong evidence suggesting that Google’s note-taking app will soon give users the

Five 'new' iOS 26 features that feel familiar (I've been using them on Android for years)

Kerry Wan/ZDNET Apple's WWDC annual developer conference signaled the first major redesign of iOS since 2013, with flashy demos of iOS 26's Liquid Glass design and AI-driven features. Apple sometimes takes its time bringing features to its many surfaces, but when it does, it's often a highly polished and well-considered take on a familiar theme. Let's unpack a few ways where Apple is catching up, and how they stack up against their Android counterpart. 1. Call Screening and Hold Assist Kerry

NotebookLM adds featured notebooks from The Economist, The Atlantic, and others

Google is transforming its popular AI-powered research and note-taking assistant, NotebookLM, into more of a destination. The company announced Monday it would add a series of featured notebooks from various authors, publications, researchers, and nonprofits that allow NotebookLM users to explore a wide array of topics from health and life advice to travel tips and financial analysis, and more. The initial collection, which includes notebooks from The Economist, The Atlantic, as well as profess

Cognition to buy AI startup Windsurf days after Google poached CEO in $2.4 billion licensing deal

In this photo illustration, a man seen holding a smartphone with the logo of US artificial intelligence company Cognition AI Inc. in front of website. Artificial intelligence startup Cognition announced it's acquiring Windsurf, the AI coding company that lost its CEO and several other senior employees to Google just days earlier. Cognition said on Monday that it will purchase Windsurf's intellectual property, product, trademark, brand and talent, but didn't disclose terms of the deal. It's the

Google’s reconsidering its approach to Circle to Search within Gemini (APK teardown)

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority TL;DR Circle to Search has been a great tool for working with on-screen content, and Google’s been developing similar solutions across its ecosystem. Earlier this year we first uncovered evidence of a Circle to Search-like feature for Gemini. While still not user-accessible, Google’s been changing how this tool is labeled and what happens once you activate it. Google’s long had a bit of overlap when it comes to all the various services and apps it offers, s

Google adds featured notebooks on selected topics to NotebookLM

Google is adding what it calls "featured notebooks" to NotebookLM as a way to demo its AI-powered software and offer interactive, high-quality resources on everything from personal advice to William Shakespeare. The company tried something similar after its developer conference in May, when it created a NotebookLM notebook trained on everything that was announced at Google I/O 2025. The new featured notebooks have their own dedicated tab on the NotebookLM homepage and were created in partnershi

Google Will Merge Android and ChromeOS, Exec Says. That's Taking a Page Out of the Apple Playbook

In a move that could make life easier for folks using devices based on its operating systems, Google will eventually unify Android and ChromeOS, according to a high-ranking Google executive. Merging the systems could have positive outcomes for customers using, say, a Chromebook and an Android cellphone, much like Apple users have seamless functioning among MacBooks, iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches. "We're going to be combining ChromeOS and Android into a single platform, and I am very interes

Google’s curated AI ‘notebooks’ talk you through topics from parenting to Shakespeare

is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Google is partnering with authors, researchers, and publications to launch “featured” notebooks within its AI notetaking app, NotebookLM. These notebooks come pre-filled with research, and let you interact with the app’s tools, including its AI podcast maker, to learn more about each topic. Google has released eight featured notebooks to start, inc

Cognition, maker of the AI coding agent Devin, acquires Windsurf

Cognition, the startup behind the viral AI coding agent Devin, announced in a blog post on Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AI coding startup Windsurf. The announcement comes just days after Google hired away Windsurf’s CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and research leaders in a $2.4 billion deal, a reverse-acquihire that left the rest of the startup’s 250-person team behind. Google’s deal occurred just hours after OpenAI’s $3 billion offer to acquire Windsurf

Hate Google TV home screen ads? There’s a new one for you to ignore

Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Google has started displaying a new Star Wars/Coca-Cola ad on Google TV home screens. The new ad is displayed at the top of the For You page and takes over the majority of the UI. Google TV has had similarly annoying ads for Taco Bell, March Madness, and more. As much as Google TV gets right, the platform’s obsession with displaying advertisements and sponsored content is by far one of its greatest pitfalls. Most recently, one of the newest ads to hit peo

Pixel 10 Pro Fold may not be skinny, but it might have a larger battery

TL;DR The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is expected to have a slightly larger cover display. Google may have also increased the Fold’s battery capacity. The foldable should have a Tensor G5 chip with 16GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options. Recently, there has been a growing number of Pixel 10 series leaks as we inch closer to the eventual launch date. However, there isn’t nearly as much information about Google’s next foldable as there is about the rest of Pixel 10 family. That gets correc

Google’s underrated AI tool just got a major upgrade with featured notebooks

Andy Walker / Android Authority TL;DR Google is adding expert-curated featured notebooks to NotebookLM, expanding its role beyond personal research and note-taking. Topics include the complete works of Shakespeare, Yellowstone travel tips, and predictions from The Economist. The new feature is desktop-only for now and follows the recent rollout of public notebook sharing. NotebookLM was already doing a good job as anything from a personal research assistant to an advisor on your car maintena

Google quietly confirms ChromeOS-Android merger - here's what it means for you

NurPhoto/Getty Images The long-standing rumor of ChromeOS and Android's merger was finally confirmed in the most understated way. TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff recounted his conversation with Sameer Samat, Google's president of the Android ecosystem. Samat noticed that the reporter was wearing an Apple Watch and using a MacBook. He asked Ulanoff why he was using a Mac. Samat confessed that he asked because "we're going to be combining ChromeOS and Android into a single platform, and I am very inte

Google Will Merge Android and ChromeOS, Exec Says. That's Taking a Page out of the Apple Playbook

In a move that could make life easier for folks using devices based on its operating systems, Google will eventually unify Android and ChromeOS, according to a high-ranking Google executive. Merging the systems could have positive outcomes for customers using, say, a Chromebook and an Android cellphone, much like Apple users have seamless functioning among MacBooks, iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches. "We're going to be combining ChromeOS and Android into a single platform, and I am very interes

NotebookLM adds featured notebooks from The Economist, The Atlantic and others

Google is transforming its popular AI-powered research and note-taking assistant, NotebookLM, into more of a destination. The company announced Monday it would add a series of featured notebooks from various authors, publications, researchers, and nonprofits that allow NotebookLM users to explore a wide array of topics from health and life advice to travel tips and financial analysis, and more. The initial collection, which includes notebooks from The Economist, The Atlantic, as well as profess

Chrome OS is “combining” with Android, but what does that mean?

Android and Chrome OS have been developed in parallel for years, but Google is planning to streamline its operating systems. In a recent interview, Android Ecosystem President Sameer Samat stated bluntly that Android and Chrome OS are merging. This shift, a long time in the making, could give Google more room to maneuver as it plans for new mobile computing experiences. In the interview, TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff had other things on his mind, but Samat peppered him with questions about how he u