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A WIRED software reporter ran a day-long comparison of six always-on AI agents installed on an iPhone: Meta's Muse, OpenAI's Dots, Instinct, Anthropic's Claude Duet, Google's Gemini Spark and xAI's Grok Bot. The agents vary widely in price and access, from Meta's free Muse app to OpenAI's $100-a-month Dots, with Claude Duet only released as a wait-listed preview the night before testing.
Google has outlined how Gemini Spark, an always-on AI agent available to Gemini Pro and Ultra subscribers, can run tasks in the background even when a user's devices are off. Capabilities include summarizing a week's worth of emails, building to-do lists, and automatically adding appointments to a calendar, provided users enable connections to Gmail, Calendar and Drive, which are off by default. Google states Spark checks with users before taking major actions, and notes some features may not be available in all regions.
Google has detailed Gemini Spark, an AI personal assistant first announced at its May I/O conference, that can take background 'proactive action' on tasks assigned by users. It works across Google Workspace apps including Docs, Calendar, Slides and Gmail, and draws on Personal Intelligence to tailor suggestions using data from a user's Google apps. Example uses cited include building an email style guide from past responses or setting up an internship tracker.
Meta's Muse is a new autonomous AI assistant designed to perform tasks in the background with 24/7 execution capabilities, rather than functioning as a conversational chatbot like ChatGPT or Gemini. According to an Android Authority column, Muse requires broad access to personal accounts, financial details and email, and assigns each user a persistent virtual machine in the cloud to carry out tasks.
Android Authority found new elements activated in version 17.62.9 of the Google app, including a selector to toggle the Gemini overlay between standard Chat mode and a Spark-related Task mode. The update also surfaces a bell icon for quick access to recent conversations and a still-inactive Proactive Assistance icon, alongside a browser-switching option for Gemini Spark tasks.
Google is rolling out a new Redact feature within Google Photos' Markup tools, letting users pixelate license plates or other sensitive content in images. The update also brings new fonts and thickness sliders for pens and highlighters, and is available to all Android users globally. Google separately expanded Wardrobe, Gemini Spark image editing, Moods filters, and 15 new Remix templates to more users in select countries.
Google unveiled its new Googlebook laptop lineup, a hybrid of ChromeOS and Android built by hardware partners including HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo, and ASUS. Pre-orders began immediately through Google's online store and Best Buy, with retail sales starting October 4 and prices beginning at $899 depending on specs and brand.
Google has launched a dedicated Gemini desktop application for Windows, following its earlier macOS rollout, giving users a native app rather than relying solely on the browser. Users can summon Gemini with a keyboard shortcut, share their screen or local files for context-aware help, and connect the assistant to Gmail, Drive, Docs and Calendar.
Google has launched a standalone Gemini desktop app for Windows, letting users summon the AI assistant instantly with the Alt+Space shortcut while working in other programs. The app also supports deeper tasks like drafting documents using Gmail and Drive content, delegating multi-step work to the Gemini Spark agent, and generating images and video via Nano Banana and Gemini Omni.
Google has released a dedicated Gemini application for Windows PCs, accessible via an Alt+Space keyboard shortcut similar to its Mac counterpart launched earlier this year. The app connects with other Google AI tools including Gemini Spark, Gmail, Google Drive, Nano Banana, and Gemini Omni for image and video generation.
Android Authority found code in a beta build of the Google app (version 17.56.14) suggesting Gemini's floating overlay could soon let users assign tasks to Spark, Google's autonomous AI agent, without launching the full Gemini interface. The same handover option is also being tested in the main Gemini app, alongside a possible model-switching shortcut in the overlay.
Google Photos is expanding two features: a virtual wardrobe tool that scans users' photos to catalog clothing items and suggest outfit combinations, complete with an AI-generated try-on preview, and Manual Photo Stacks, which lets Android users group selected photos together for easier organization. The wardrobe tool had a slow initial rollout since April but is now being pushed more broadly across the US, while Manual Photo Stacks finally arrives on Android after being available on iOS for nearly a year.