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Tech News
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 rolled out Play Store version 53.8 with a new Sidekick feature called Playbacks that lets users retroactively save the last 30 seconds of gameplay locally on their device. The update also adds video citations with timestamps to Ask Play answers and lets users share Play Shorts clips via links viewable on Android, iOS, and the web. Separately, Play Services is gaining support for connecting Android XR glasses to phones.
Code within Find Hub version 3.1.787-04 shows Google is building 'Left-Behind' separation reminders that work across item tags, headsets, and other supported accessories. The code also points to trusted exclusion zones that can silence alerts at chosen locations, and the ability to move notification and reverse-ringing settings between devices without unpairing them.
Google has updated Google Docs to let users open, edit, and collaborate on Markdown (.md) files directly, without converting them into Google's native document format. The files keep a small .md badge in the title and support existing Docs tools like comments, suggested edits, and version history. Google Drive also now shows formatted Markdown previews, available to all Google account holders.
Android Auto users can install games from Google Play's Android Auto category or a curated collection, then access them via the dashboard launcher when connected by USB or wirelessly. Titles confirmed to work include Angry Birds 2, Candy Crush Soda Saga, My Talking Tom Friends, BB Racing 2, and the built-in GameSnacks service. Games are meant to be played only while the car is parked.
Code found in the Android 17 QPR3 Beta 2 by Android Authority suggests Google is developing multi-profile support for Health Connect, its on-device tool for managing fitness and health app data. Currently, Health Connect only works for a single user per device, meaning other profiles can't access its permissions or stored data.
A how-to guide explains how iPhone and Android users can merge contacts scattered across multiple synced accounts into one central service, such as Google Contacts, by exporting and importing CSV or VCF files. It also details how to disable syncing for unwanted accounts in iOS and Android settings to prevent duplicate entries, and how to set a default account for saving new contacts.
Google announced that its Beam 3D video conferencing technology, formerly known as Project Starline, is being deployed at 20 United Service Organizations locations globally. The expansion follows a successful pilot that linked a Beam system in Fort Bliss, Texas with one in Poland, allowing active military members to connect with family using lifelike 3D displays.
Digital Wellbeing, Google's built-in Android screen-time tracker, has been installed more than 10 billion times but is rarely opened deliberately because it lacks a home-screen icon and sits inside the Settings menu. The app tracks app usage, unlock counts and notification volume, and offers tools to set time limits, holding a 4.1-star rating across 1.49 million reviews. Some manufacturers, including Samsung and Huawei, ship their own equivalent tools instead, since Google requires makers to include some screen-time and parental-control feature but not Digital Wellbeing specifically.
Students who paid to upgrade from free Google AI Plus student plans to discounted AI Pro subscriptions are reporting that Google unexpectedly canceled the upgrades and issued refunds they didn't request. Rather than reverting to their original free AI Plus plan, affected accounts dropped to the free tier, losing prior benefits including expanded Google One storage. One UK student said the cancellation left their storage full, forcing them to pay again to restore capacity.
Android Authority reports that Google's Pixel VIPs widget has been significantly upgraded, becoming more interactive with a new full-screen layout showing more contact information. Despite calling the update an improvement over the original Android 16 version, the outlet identifies several shortcomings, including limited third-party app support beyond WhatsApp and no ability to search notes attached to contacts.
Android Authority surveyed over 1,400 readers on what matters most when choosing an Android tablet, with options including Google Play Store access, hardware quality, software support and price. Google Play Store access came out on top with 28.1% of votes, while hardware and display quality tied for second place alongside another option.