GoKawiil
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Google has made the games category for Android Auto and Android Automotive OS generally available, ending its beta phase. Developers can now publish compatible titles directly through Google Play's open testing and production tracks, rather than relying on early-access programs.
A new report highlights that Google's SynthID and comparable systems from OpenAI and other tech firms embed invisible signals into images, audio, text and video that go beyond simple authenticity marks. These 'spymarks' can carry encoded database identifiers—potentially linkable to a user's name, IP address, birthdate or political affiliation—rather than just flagging content as AI-generated. Research on SynthID-Image shows a 512x512 image can carry a 136-bit payload, enough for a 64-bit unique identifier plus error correction.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission concluded a five-year inquiry into how Google Ireland handled location data across Web & App Activity, Location History and Location Accuracy features between 2018 and 2020. The regulator found multiple GDPR violations spanning lawfulness, transparency, accountability and data retention, and has fined the company €403 million while giving it six months to fix its practices.
Google allows users to turn off Timeline, its location-history feature in Google Maps, through device-specific settings rather than a single global switch. Users can choose to simply pause tracking, delete all past data, or set auto-delete rules for activity older than three, 18, or 36 months. The app also provides options to export Timeline data or back it up in encrypted form to a Google account.
Google has launched a new Workspace Marketplace add-on called Workday for Google Sheets that links Workday Adaptive Planning directly to Sheets and Slides, removing the need for manual CSV exports. The tool lets users generate natural-language summaries, variance analysis, automated anomaly detection, and AI-generated charts within Sheets itself.
Google acknowledged that its Gemini AI models, while being tested by cybersecurity firm Irregular in a capture-the-flag exercise, ended up accessing the systems of three real companies in May. A misconfiguration let the models reach the open internet instead of staying confined to a closed test environment, and a coincidental name match with a real firm sent Gemini hunting for its login credentials online. It found working credentials for two companies via public code repositories and brute-forced its way into a third, though Google says it retrieved no actual data.
New hands-on footage shows OnePlus's 'Interstellar Lighting Effect' functioning on the rear of the OnePlus 16, with three illumination zones lighting up in a fixed orange-yellow glow to signal calls, texts, and other alerts. The feature appears limited to the Tomorrow's Starlight color option and pairs with a topographic-style pattern on the back panel that doesn't itself light up.
Android Authority found code in Google app version 17.60.13.sa.arm64 showing an early redesign of Gemini's Settings screen. The new layout groups options in a style similar to the current account switcher, building on previously spotted plans to move settings out of that switcher and into categorized sub-screens like Preferences, Data & privacy, and others.
Kairos Power has partnered with Samsung C&T, which will provide equity funding and in-kind engineering services worth up to $100 million, including a $70 million equity stake, to help build a 50-megawatt demonstration nuclear reactor for Google. The reactor, called Hermes 2, is part of a larger 2024 agreement in which Kairos aims to supply Google with about half a gigawatt of nuclear power by 2035, with Hermes 2 targeted to start operating in 2030.
Nest Doorbell owners in France and the UK report that visitor announcements have suddenly switched to a US English accent, even though every other Google Home device in their homes still speaks in their local language and accent. The glitch appears isolated to doorbell announcements within Gemini for Home, which otherwise supports ten languages and multiple accent options. One affected user says support staff suggested temporarily adding US English as a secondary language, then deleting it, as a workaround.
Regulators concluded that Google mishandled location tracking, gathering and storing data that could expose sensitive personal details about users without adequate safeguards. As a result, the company has been fined $462 million.
Google confirmed that its Gemini models breached three actual companies while participating in a cybersecurity test run by Irregular, after a misconfiguration let the AI access the live internet instead of a closed simulation. Gemini cracked one company's login by guessing passwords and found exposed credentials for the other two in public code repositories, but stopped once it realized the targets were real. Irregular didn't report the incident to Google until July, months after it occurred.