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If you’re embarrassed every time you have to hand over that Gmail address you came up with in 2006, you’re in luck. Google is finally allowing users to change their Gmail username without creating an entirely new account. The update will allow you to edit your email address to any that isn’t taken. Until now, Google only offered the option to create an alternate email and forward your mail to a new @gmail.com address. But, if you wanted any of your documents, pictures, or other media, then it required you to transfer all the data over—a process that is far from smooth. Now, Google is offering the ability to keep all of that information, whether you’ve changed y…

Australia has proposed taxing digital giants Meta, Google and TikTok on a part of their revenue to pay for news reporters. The government released draft legislation Tuesday it intends to introduce to Parliament by July 2 that would create a financial incentive for the social media companies to strike deals with news organizations to pay for journalism. The platforms’ criticisms included that the proposal was a “digital services tax” that misunderstood the evolving advertising industry and would fail to deliver a sustainable news sector. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a monetary value needed to be attached to journalists’ work. “It shouldn’t just be ab…

Google’s logo just got a little bit blurrier. In a new logo quietly rolled out across iOS and Pixel, the search giant ditches its color blocked “G” for gradients. Google’s new logo keeps the same letterform, as well as the bright red-yellow-green-blue color sequence, but now those colors blur into each other. The new “G” is Google’s biggest update to its visual identity since retiring serfs for its current sans-serif font, Product Sans, in 2015. Why a gradient? In 2013, Google was among the first tech companies to move from skeuomorphic, dimensional lettering to a flat logo design. It arguably ushered in the “blanding” era—a moment when companies embraced s…

Starting today, thousands of changemakers and leaders will descend upon Austin for one of the biggest festivals and conferences of the year: South by Southwest (SXSW). It’s the “level playing field” event where startups and Fortune 500 companies share the same stage to discuss the hottest topics and trends in film, tech, sustainability and travel, social good, and health and wellness. It’s where brands unveil new products, relationships are formed, and celebrities premiere their films. However, despite its popularity as a must-attend event, you won’t find SXSW in your Google Calendar app. You also won’t find two other cultural events in March: Women’s History Month o…

Google is rapidly expanding its AI search capabilities, as reflected in the announcements it made Tuesday at its Google I/O developer conference. The search giant announced the general availability of AI Mode, its chatbot-format AI search product; some changes to its AI Overviews search results; and its plans to add new visual and agentic search features this summer. Google’s biggest announcement in the realm of search was the general availability of its AI Mode, a chatbot-style search interface that allows users to enter a back-and-forth with the underlying large language model to zero in on a complete and satisfying answer. “AI Mode is really our most powerful vers…

For more than two decades, users have turned to search engines like Google, typed in a query, and received a familiar list of 10 blue links—the gateway to the wider web. Ranking high on that list, through search engine optimization (SEO), has become a $200 billion business. But in the past two years, search has changed. Companies are now synthesizing and summarizing results into AI-generated answers that eliminate the need to click through to websites. While this may be convenient for users (setting aside concerns over hallucinations and accuracy) it’s bad for businesses that rely on search traffic. One such business, educational tech firm Chegg, has sued Google i…

Sundar Pichai is guiding Google through the AI revolution with a leadership style that balances bold innovation with thoughtful responsibility. View the full article

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is expected to take the stand on Wednesday morning at a trial in Washington where antitrust enforcers seek an order forcing the company to sell its Chrome web browser and take other measures to boost competition among online search providers. Pichai will testify in the Alphabet unit’s defense against proposals by the U.S. Department of Justice that the company has said would cause unintended harm to browser developers, smartphone makers and internet users. The outcome of the case could fundamentally reshape the internet by potentially unseating Google as the go-to portal for information online. The DOJ and a broad coalition of state at…

Google released its new Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental AI model late last month, and it’s quickly stacked up top marks on a number of coding, math, and reasoning benchmark tests—making it a contender for the world’s best model right now. becoming apparent that the new reasoning model may be the best model in the world, at least for now. Gemini 2.5 Pro is a “reasoning” model, meaning its answers derive from a mix of training data and real-time reasoning performed in response to the user prompt or question. Like other newer models, Gemini 2.5 Pro can consult the web, but it also contains a fairly recent snapshot of the world’s knowledge: Its training data cuts off at the e…

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. I’m Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company, covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy. This week, I’m focusing on gathering some informed opinions from people trying out Google’s new Gemini 3 Pro AI model. I also look at another “circular” AI investment agreement. Sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. And if you have comments on this issue and/or ideas for future ones, drop me a line at sullivan@fastcompany.com, and follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @thesullivan. What smart people are saying about Google’s Gem…

Google is rolling out new AI features designed to quickly flesh out Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides using data from the web and your existing Google files. The overall aim is to eliminate much of the busywork involved in filling out templated documents, transferring data from saved files or internet sources into spreadsheets, and tweaking slide presentations to add new facts and figures—all while reflecting the personal and professional preferences expressed in people’s previous work. “It’s not enough to simply generate a generic email or brief,” says Yulie Kwon Kim, VP of product for Google Workspace. “People want AI to understand your specific context, delivering result…

Google will confront an existential threat Monday as the U.S. government tries to break up the company as punishment for turning its revolutionary search engine into a ruthless monopoly. The drama will unfold in a Washington courtroom during the next three weeks during hearings that will determine how the company should be penalized for operating an illegal monopoly in search. The proceedings, known in legal parlance as a “remedy hearing,” feature a parade of witnesses that includes Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal judge to order a radical shake-up that would ban Google from striking the multibillion dollar deals with Apple an…

What does the future of computing look like? Is it voice chat? Floating holographic displays? A generative AI fever dream with no escape? At Salone de Mobile—the annual design fair in Milan—Google is suggesting something less literal: It’s light that’s as pliable as fabric. Since first attending in 2018, Google has become a staple of Milan’s annual design festival, where the installations draw long lines and buzz. The company has measured how different rooms make you feel, demonstrated that water informs their design, and explored the ties of color and emotion through immersive spectacles. This year, Google’s project is called Making the Invisible Vis…

AI image generators used to be terrible at handling text. Even once the models mastered hands with five fingers, the presence of mangled, nonsensical, vaguely Cyrillic-looking text was a dead giveaway that an image was generated by AI. Not anymore. Today’s most advanced image generators have slowly improved their text generation. OpenAI’s image generator within ChatGPT handles basic text tasks fairly well. And design-centered models like Ideogram are great for simple, practical text tasks like creating video thumbnails. This week, though, Google has released Nano Banana Pro, an updated version of its wildly popular AI image editing tool. Nano Banana P…

The best thing I can say about Google’s Pixel Watch 4 is that I don’t think about it all that much. Whenever I wear my Apple Watch, it’s kind of a nuisance. Stand up. Breathe. How are you feeling right now? Looks like you’re on a walk. Was that an exercise you just started? Even just regular notifications for emails and text messages can get overwhelming. The Pixel Watch 4 is unintrusive by comparison. While it’s full of fitness tracking features and can put notifications on your wrist, it doesn’t ask for much of your attention in return. In a way, that’s pretty refreshing. Fitness optional My big disclaimer with this review is that I’m not big into quantif…

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud services has led to a massive demand for computing power. The surge has strained data infrastructure, which requires lots of electricity to operate. A single, midsize data center here on Earth can consume enough electricity to power about 16,500 homes, with even larger facilities using as much as a small city. Over the past few years, tech leaders have increasingly advocated for space-based AI infrastructure as a way to address the power requirements of data centers. In space, sunshine—which solar panels can convert into electricity—is abundant and reliable. On November 4, 2025, Google unveiled Project Sunca…

Well over a decade on from its initial launch, it’s safe to say that Google Glass was not a success. While the product had some forward-thinking ideas, it’s generally not a good sign when your product leads to the coinage of a brand-new insult. The design was off-putting and the technology wasn’t ready—and neither was society. Today, things are a little different. Meta and Ray-Ban’s smart glasses are a hit, despite offering the same camera capabilities that turned so many off Google Glass in the first place. It helps, of course, that they just look like normal Ray-Bans. So for Google’s second swing at the product category, it’s focusing on design and functionality…

Generative AI has rapidly become core infrastructure, embedded across enterprise software, cloud platforms, and internal workflows. But that shift is also forcing a structural rethink of cybersecurity. The same systems driving productivity and growth are emerging as points of vulnerability. Google Cloud’s latest AI Threat Tracker report suggests the tech industry has entered a new phase of cyber risk, one in which AI systems themselves are high-value targets. Researchers from Google DeepMind and the Google Threat Intelligence Group have identified a steady rise in model extraction, or “distillation,” attacks, in which actors repeatedly prompt generative AI systems in …

Five years after its California debut, Gwyneth Paltrow’s fast-casual concept, Goop Kitchen, is officially expanding to its second state. The delivery-focused chain plans to open seven new restaurants in New York by the end of 2026, beginning in Midtown West. New York is the state where Goop’s consumer brand awareness is strongest, according to the Academy Award-winning actress. And while larger fast-casual rivals like Sweetgreen and Chipotle Mexican Grill have lately struggled to lure diners, Paltrow tells Fast Company that Goop Kitchen is “pretty much in line with most other fast-casual restaurants in terms of what they charge. And I would argue that our ingredients …

Below, Amy Leneker shares five key insights from her new book, Cheers to Monday: The Surprisingly Simple Method to Lead and Live with Less Stress and More Joy. Amy is founder and CEO of the Center for Joyful Work. She has helped more than 100,000 leaders and teams, including those at Fortune 100 companies, lead with less stress and more joy. With more than 25 years of leadership experience, including a decade in the C-suite, she has studied leadership at Yale, neuroscience at the NeuroLeadership Institute, and stress resilience at Harvard Medical School. She leads the annual national workforce study, The State of Stress and Joy at Work, and hosts the Less Stress, More…

State officials are warning Americans not to respond to a surge of scam road toll collection texts. The texts impersonating state road toll collection agencies attempt to get phone users to reveal financial information, such as credit or debit cards or bank accounts. They’re so-called smishing scams — a form of phishing that relies on SMS texts to trick people into sending money or share sensitive information. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she received one purporting to be from the statewide GeauxPass toll system. “It is a SCAM,” Murrill posted on Facebook this week. “If you ever receive a text that looks suspicious, be sure to never click on it. You don…

Users of several trendy AI tools will now be able to demonstrate their proficiency with the software directly in their LinkedIn profile. On January 28, the company announced partnerships with three vibe coding platforms—Lovable, Relay.app, and Replit—that will allow qualified users to link their accounts on those apps to their accounts on LinkedIn, adding certificates based on their proficiency with the tools. The level of certification can increase over time as people continue to use a tool and demonstrate their sophistication with it, says Pat Whelan, head of career products at LinkedIn. While the details of the certification process are up to the individual partner c…