GoKawiil
Tech News
Google's Pixel release date page lists exact support end dates for each device. Pixel 6 and 7 series phones get five years of updates, while Pixel 8 and later models get seven years, with a-series phones following their own release-based timelines. Phones up to the Pixel 5a are already out of support.
Waze, the crowdsourced navigation app owned by Google since 2013, includes a 'Drive to friends & family' feature that lets users start directions to a saved contact's address without typing it in manually. The feature requires granting Waze access to a phone's contact list, which can later be revoked through device settings on iPhone or Android.
Google has replaced Google Assistant with Gemini in its Google Built-in infotainment platform, now live across sixteen car brands. New features include AI-enhanced Google Maps with real-time traffic and EV routing, voice control over messages and email, playlist creation, food ordering, and a camera-enabled Gemini Live mode for discussing surroundings. The rollout began earlier this summer with Android Auto before expanding to automakers including Honda, Chevrolet and Volvo.
Google has released Playground through Google Labs, letting users type plain-language prompts to generate playable in-browser games, with options to refine designs or upload reference images, videos, or models. The tool builds on Google's practice of testing experimental AI products via Labs before wider release, and follows a similar game-generation feature Meta introduced in September called Horizon Create.
David Robinson, a safety leader at OpenAI, has resigned and written an essay for The Atlantic arguing that AI companies' reliance on a 'trial and error' development approach must stop. He described himself as joining a growing group of former employees who have left AI firms including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind over concerns about the technology's risks and uses, such as copyright infringement and military applications.
The traditional 3-2-1 backup rule—three copies of data, on two different media types, with one copy stored offsite—is being reinterpreted by users as technology changes, with CDs largely abandoned in favor of external drives and cloud services like iCloud and Google Cloud. Reporting notes that cloud sync settings can sometimes delete files from the cloud when removed locally, and that offsite backups can still be vulnerable to ransomware if the storage device remains networked.
Owners of foldable phones say they cannot place outgoing calls through Android Auto when their devices are closed, with one user receiving a prompt to 'flip open to continue.' Reports on Reddit and in Google and Motorola support forums indicate incoming calls still work fine, and several affected users say the problem began after they started using Gemini. Google and Motorola representatives have been gathering details from affected users but have not confirmed a cause.
Google Maps allows users to set or edit a 'home' shortcut via the web or mobile app for faster navigation to their most frequent destination. The feature can be adjusted whenever someone moves or hasn't yet configured a home address.
Since 2010, Google Japan has released a new novelty keyboard concept each year under its Gboard team banner, ranging from a single-key Morse code keyboard to a robotic joystick-controlled finger, a party-blower keyboard, a bubble-wrap keyboard, a bendable spoon keyboard, a teacup keyboard, and a single-row alphabetical bar keyboard. One of these gag concepts, Morse code input, was later actually added to Android's Gboard in 2018.
Google Maps includes a feature allowing users to drop a pin on any spot on the map, even if it isn't a registered address or business. The pin can be used for navigation, sharing a meeting spot, or remembering a specific location like a parked bike or scenic viewpoint.
Easy Fox, maker of the voice-controlled Steam demo Teach My Little Sister How To Drive, says a 20-fold surge in players has pushed its daily AI spending past $1,000. The game relies on Google Gemini and a ChatGPT fallback to interpret voice commands, and the studio took out a bank loan to keep the free demo running. Easy Fox says the paid release will fold AI usage costs into the purchase price rather than charging players per token.
Google has launched a new product called Googlebooks, according to a report questioning the company's continued commitment to the open web. The report frames the release as evidence that Google's priorities have moved away from the web-as-platform vision it once championed.