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Tech News
Google Docs offers dark mode on its mobile app but not on the web version, leaving a gap between platforms despite frequent feature updates including Gemini-powered AI tools. Users seeking a dark interface on desktop must rely on workarounds rather than a built-in setting.
Google's payment app has gone through several rebrands since launching as Google Wallet in 2011, becoming Android Pay in 2015, then Google Pay in 2018, before reverting to the Google Wallet name in 2022. The two names now refer to distinct but related products, which has caused confusion among users about which app does what.
Google updated its content guidelines to explicitly prohibit fake bylines and AI-generated headshots, stating it will no longer prioritize sites using these deceptive practices in Search and Google News. The change follows a Futurism investigation into Brown Brothers Media, a company that built an AI content farm using invented journalists with fabricated credentials, which drew tens of millions of monthly page views largely via Google traffic. Google had already suppressed Brown Brothers' sites after the investigation, and the company halted publication shortly after.
Google suspended product vulnerability submissions to its Open Source Software Vulnerability Reward Program as of October 1, citing a surge of invalid, AI-generated reports. The company said supply chain reports and Google Cloud VRP submissions are unaffected, and it plans to provide an update on the program by early 2027 while it reworks the process.
The Wall Street Journal reports that schools deploying AI chatbots like Google's Gemini have seen declines in student performance, with teachers and students describing weakened critical thinking and comprehension. Examples include a Pennsylvania eighth-grader who failed a math final after relying on AI, and a Miami teacher who saw grades drop after her district rolled out Gemini to all students.
A website has launched that lets users compare old maps with present-day locations by layering historical cartography over current satellite and street views. Users can scroll through different time periods to see how a specific location has changed over decades or centuries.
Google is testing a prototype data center positioned in space to explore running AI workloads beyond Earth's surface. The initiative examines whether solar power and the vacuum of space can support computing infrastructure typically housed in terrestrial facilities.
Google is rolling out a fix for a bug that removed cellular signal strength indicators from Android Auto dashboards earlier this year. Google employee Mishaal Rahman confirmed the fix is currently rolling out, after some users reported the icon's return in the Android Auto v17.8 beta build. The fix is not yet widely available on the stable channel.
Google has launched Android 17 QPR3 Beta 1, the first preview of its next quarterly platform release, for Pixel phones ranging from the Pixel 6a to the Pixel 11 series. Most devices receive build DP11.260918.006, while Pixel 11 models get DP11.260918.005, with Google noting the release focuses on bug fixes.
Google has added a new Map tool to the Gemini app, currently available only on Android and iOS mobile versions. The tool shows users' location on a live map with zoom and search functions, and an 'Explore this area' button that adds map data to prompts. Separately, a beta version of the Google app is replacing the forward-slash shortcut with an @ symbol for accessing skills and connectors.
GrapheneOS says Android 17 QPR1, released for Pixels on September 15, contains a regression in the Pixel kernel driver tree that causes stuttering, lag and freezes under memory pressure, severe enough to trigger process kills. GrapheneOS inherited the bug through its firmware/driver updates but says it has shipped a fix in today's release, linking the kernel commit on GitLab.
A CNET writer connected Google's Gemini chatbot directly to a Gmail account containing more than 192,000 unread messages, including over 93,000 in the Promotions folder. Gemini generated targeted Gmail search queries, such as filtering Nextdoor alerts about lost or dead animals, which the writer then ran manually in Gmail's search bar to locate and bulk-delete unwanted threads.