GoKawiil
Tech News
Domestic auto manufacturers are lobbying the US government to prohibit the import and sale of cars produced in China. The push reflects growing concern within the industry over competition from lower-cost Chinese vehicles, particularly electric models, entering Western markets.
MapQuest has rolled out experimental Android Auto integration, letting its navigation app appear on vehicle dashboards for the first time. The September 1 update also introduces crowdsourced incident reporting for crashes, closures, and speed traps. Early testers report bugs like a zoomed-out map view and leftover iOS-related code, including a stray CarPlay notification.
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto VI, the first new entry in the franchise in 13 years, launches November 19 with nearly 5 million pre-orders worldwide. Workers across industries are already planning to take days off around the release, echoing the informal 'sick day' culture that surrounded Fallout 4's 2015 launch. Employers are bracing for a noticeable dip in productivity as employees prioritize gameplay over work.
A teardown of Android Auto beta version 17.6.663424 reveals Google testing a new color palette for Google Maps, with a darker map background and a dark-gray turn indicator replacing the current light background and teal accent. The change also appears in dark mode, where the map surface would become even darker and the turn indicator would drop its teal tint for gray.
Dyson has launched an electric toothbrush combining brushing with an integrated water-jet cleaning system, marketed under Brush, Auto-jet, Deep clean, and Variable modes. The company cites clinical and lab-based testing, including a six-week 204-participant study, to support claims of improved plaque removal and cleaning in hard-to-reach areas compared with manual toothbrushes. The device connects to the MyDyson app for tracking and settings, expanding Dyson's product lineup beyond appliances into personal care.
Google is trialing a new Quick Settings panel inside Android Auto's beta version 17.6.663424, accessible from the notification shade at the top of the screen. So far only a single Do Not Disturb tile has appeared, letting drivers silence phone notifications without opening the full settings menu. The feature arrives alongside a new app icon and a raccoon-themed weather animation spotted in the same beta build.
A hidden feature in Android Auto beta version 17.6.66 shows a small animated raccoon, internally named 'Jimothy' after the viral social media character, hopping across the music player interface to display weather information. The widget also shows rain, clouds, or sun icons depending on local conditions, and currently only appears after manually switching the device theme in settings. Google has not confirmed a timeline or plans for a wider public rollout.
Google is rolling out a refreshed Android Auto app icon, replacing the familiar blue design with a green one featuring rounder corners, spotted in version 17.6.663424. The change appears tied to a broader Android Auto redesign expected in the coming months that will bring widget support, video playback, and a more fluid visual style.
The unofficial Android Auto app Xtream Player, successor to Fermata Xtream, has released version 1.4.0 with a new Games add-on for Premium subscribers, starting with Chess and Connect 4, meant only for use when the car is parked. The update also refreshes app icons, improves YouTube Music playback behavior, and fixes a bug that caused a black screen when using the side-panel skip control.
Google's Call Assist feature can screen unknown or suspicious calls before they ever ring through, either by prompting users manually or, on supported Pixel devices, handling the interaction automatically. If the call is identified as spam, the phone disconnects it; otherwise it rings and shows details about how the caller responded. The feature runs locally on the device without needing internet access, and Google says it doesn't store call audio or transcripts in user accounts.
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto VI is set to launch November 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, and multiple fans told The Wall Street Journal they're taking extended vacation time to play it immediately. Examples include a software engineer taking five days off before Thanksgiving, a medical-sales rep blocking out a full week, and a Brazilian civil servant cashing in ten vacation days.
A security researcher tested Anthropic's Claude Code Opus 5 in its default Auto Mode and found that a crafted website-summary request could hijack the agent into executing malicious code, succeeding in 60-80% of attempts on a small sample. The exploit tricks Claude into fetching a ZIP archive, writing its own Python decoder, and unknowingly running it inside an attacker-controlled folder where a poisoned struct.py file shadows Python's standard library and triggers code execution.