Setting Up Your Home Office

Google is adding one of the iPhone's most controversial features to its latest Pixel phones, but it's promising to show a bit more restraint than Apple did. Yes, as part of the November 2025 Pixel feature drop, Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 phones (excluding the Pixel 9a) are getting AI notification summaries. The problem with AI notification summariesIf you're reeling back after reading that, I don't blame you. This is one of the few AI features Apple beat Google to the punch on, and when they came out during the iOS 18.3 beta, the summaries were quickly criticized for handling hard topics like breakups with a cold tone, as well as for misreporting the news. Apple quickly pulled …

When companies like OpenAI and Google started rolling out generative AI models to the general public, I doubt they predicted how attached people would get to the technology—and the effect it would have on their collective mental health. Some ChatGPT users legitimately mourned when OpenAI shutdown its GPT-4o model, as they treated that specific model like a companion. Others have taken darker paths with their chatbots, resulting in lawsuit against AI companies whose technology allegedly advised and encouraged suicidal thoughts. This situation puts a lot of pressure on these companies, as it should: Generative AI is hugely influential right now, and there's a lot of respons…

If you have a Family Account through Google, you might assume you can control what your child can see or do on their device. You can, but, as it happens, only up to a certain point. When your kid turns 13, Google will send them an email, letting them know they can choose to disable your supervision over their account. You get an email too, but they don't need your permission to lock you out of their device. Once they decide they're ready for a relatively complete Google Account experience, it's their choice to make. Despite being Google's official policy, this situation was not common knowledge. Following a relatively viral LinkedIn post about the subject, parents were p…

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a fantastic security measure, but not all 2FA is created equal. SMS-based 2FA is by far the least secure authentication option, and yet, far too many companies use this method as default. Hackers know this, which is why they target users' 2FA codes to commit fraud and steal access to Google accounts. All that said, any 2FA is better than no 2FA, so it's worth tolerating SMS-based authentication if it's the only 2FA option offered. Now, however, the winds are changing: Google is the latest company looking to switch from SMS codes to an alternative method. As reported by Forbes, the company is planning to shift from SMS codes to QR codes. …

Scammers and cyber attackers are always looking for new ways to steal your information, and even the most cautious among us can be at risk when using our mobile devices for everyday activities. Google is rolling out new security features for Android to help users protect against scams, fraud, and theft, and revealed a bunch of them during its mobile-focused event "The Android Show: I/O Edition," leading up to this year's Google I/O event starting May 20. Here's what's coming soon to your Android device. Expanded scam detection featuresGoogle recently rolled out real-time, AI-powered scam detection that alerts users to possible fraud when suspicious conversational pattern…

It's one of the most annoying things a website can do: You visit a page, take a look, and decide for whatever reason you need to head back to the previous page you were on. Only when you click the back button, or you use a keyboard shortcut to go back a page, the current site simply reloads. So, you try again, only to reload the site once more. What gives? This is back button hijacking. Back button hijacking is an aggressive tactic websites can use to try to keep you browsing their pages for longer. By taking over your ability to go back a page, they can keep you on the same page, redirect you to other pages, or present you with ads you normally wouldn't have seen. It's a…

Google is bringing back its free year of Google AI Pro for U.S. college students, after releasing its new Gemini 3 Pro AI model today. Because so many of the new model's biggest features are hidden behind paywalls, it's not a bad deal, even if it's not the first time Google's done this. The deal follows similar promotions from April and August, although the most recent one ended in October. That this offer is coming so soon after the last one means Google might plan to keep rolling out these trials on a regular basis. How to claim your free year of Google AI Pro as a U.S. college studentTo get your free year of Google AI Pro, first head over to gemini.google/students and …

It's official: For the second year in a row, Google will be hosting "The Android Show: I/O Edition" ahead of its big I/O event. It's a sign the company once again has many announcements going into the developer conference, and, rather than cutting down on any specific category, would prefer to sequester the Android portion of the event into its own keynote. That's good news at least for Android fans, who will be watching for any developments on Google's mobile OS. That also indicates that Google I/O 2026 will focus on Google's endeavors outside of Android—perhaps, most importantly, AI. While Gemini is a key component of Android these days, the company is rolling out new…

Gmail is one of—if not the—most popular email platform in the world. But it's not the favorite for users who care about their privacy. Google doesn't offer end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for basic Gmail users, instead opting for "Transport Layer Security" (TLS). This provides security in transit, but doesn't help once the message reaches its destination. While TLS is better than nothing, it doesn't offer the same level of security as E2EE, which scrambles messages for everyone other than the sender, recipients, and whoever else has the decryption key. As such, privacy-minded users often look elsewhere for their email needs, like Proton Mail. But Google does offer more adva…

Google's Gemini AI is going beyond Android phones, the company officially announced today, prior to its Google I/O 2025 conference later this month. Specifically, Google says it will bring the AI assistant to smartwatches, cars, TVs, and even mixed reality headsets. This is a significant step forward for its Gemini push, as it'll allow people to use the service on almost all devices in the Google ecosystem. Gemini on Wear OS devices Credit: Google The goal of Gemini on your smartwatch is to ensure you've always got your AI ass…

Shopping online? Google wants you to trust AI to click the buy button for you. Rolling out today, Google's new "agentic checkout" adds onto the company's existing price-tracking feature, so it's not something you'll see all the time. Instead, when you get a price drop notification on an object you've been tracking, you might now see a new "buy for me" button that will send all the necessary information to the store's website and make the final purchase for you. Credit: Google Google says the AI will always ask your permission …

Google announced two new ways for users to remove their sensitive information from the web Tuesday morning—or, at least, remove that data from Google Search. The first lets users request that Google remove sensitive government ID information from Search, while the second gives users new tools to request the same for non-consensual explicit images. Google's "Results about you" tool is getting an update Credit: Google First, Google is updating its existing "Results about you" tool, which helps users scour the internet for their …

Take a look at the top of this article. See that headline? If it looks different than what you clicked on to get to this page, congratulations: Google might have chosen you to participate in its latest AI experiment: rewriting news headlines for some users in Google Discover. Evidence of the new effort was first spotted by The Verge, as it seems writer Sean Hollister was affected by the update. Here's what's going on: When you swipe right on your Pixel or Galaxy home screen (or scroll down in the Google app on iPhone, or open up a new Chrome browser window with Google as your homepage), there's now a chance the article previews you'll see from Google Discover were actuall…

Back in December, news outlets spotted Google messing with headlines on articles that appeared in Discover. As it happens, this was Google experimenting with AI-generated headlines; rather than show readers the headlines the outlets wrote themselves, Google's AI would take it upon itself to rewrite them. Why? According to Google, it was a "small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users" that "changes the placement of existing headlines to make topic details easier to digest." While those of us that actually write headlines would argue such an experiment isn't really necessary, Google apparently disagrees, as the experiment is now a feature. Articles in Google Search m…

Summer is on the way—at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere—and Google has pushed out some useful upgrades across several apps to make your travel planning a little easier (and a little more reliant on AI). First, the AI Overviews that you've no doubt noticed up at the top of Google search results are being expanded to cover travel itineraries for regions and countries, as well as cities. All you need to do is ask for a plan for a certain place (like the south of France), together with any requirements (such as kids or a specific budget), and the AI will do the rest. You get a day-by-day breakdown of where you should go and what you should do, and you can che…

Google's AI has gone through a couple of stages thus far. First, Google launched "Bard" as a direct competitor to ChatGPT. Soon after, the company rebranded to "Gemini," encompassing everything from its chatbot to its LLMs. During The Android Show: I/O Edition, Google revealed its newest AI iteration: Gemini Intelligence. It might sound suspiciously similar to another company's AI suite, but Gemini Intelligence offers a number of unique features—at least, according to Google. Gemini Intelligence's new agentic abilitiesGoogle is positioning "Gemini Intelligence" as an agentic assistant. While the company already offers agentic capabilities, like ordering cabs through Uber…

Google Workspace is getting a slew of AI-related updates, including a brand new app called Google Pics, which can generate and edit images for you. Many of these updates will be available to those who use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, and other Google Workspace apps, the company announced during the Google I/O 2026 keynote. This includes conversational features that will allow you to control Gmail, Docs, and Keep; a new AI inbox that aims to help you stay on top of your email; and a personal AI agent called Gemini Spark that can integrate with Google Workspace apps to get things done for you. Here are all the major Google Workspace updates unveiled during Google I/O …

Chromebooks have been a major success for Google, but they have their limits. While they're great for school and light work (especially if you're all-in on Google), they aren't necessarily the best choice for more intense or professional computer work. For that, people often turn to two main platforms: Mac or PC. It seems Google sees an opportunity to add another to the mix: The company looks like it wants to capture Android users who might be choosing from one of the other two platforms for their computing needs. iPhone users often choose Mac, after all, so maybe Android users would choose the right Google computer, too. Googlebooks are a new laptop from GoogleEnter Goo…

To coincide with the Samsung Galaxy S26 launch, Google announced three Gemini-related upgrades for Android, coming first to both the Galaxy S26 series and the Google Pixel 10 range. In fact, one of these new features seems like a significant step forward for AI on smartphones: the ability for Gemini to handle multi-step tasks on an Android phone. The examples Google gives are booking a ride through Uber or reordering a meal on DoorDash, where the AI takes care of everything in the background, leaving you free to worry about, well, whether it's going to work. Google wants Gemini to perform tasks on your behalf "When you're working on a repetitive daily task, it's easy to …

The Google I/O 2025 keynote was all about Gemini and AI. But it's nice to see that the Chrome desktop browser got some new updates and features, too. While Gemini has been available in every web browser so far, until now, it's still very much just been a website. Meanwhile, over on Android, the Gemini app integrates deeply into the ecosystem. Thankfully for AI fanatics, it can now do that in Chrome, too. Plus, Google is adding some quality-of-life upgrades to the password management system, as the browser can now change your passwords for you, automating one of the most tedious but important security tasks there is. Gemini comes to Chrome on desktop Starting tomorrow, Gem…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. At Google I/O 2026 today, Google announced it will release its first "Intelligent Eyewear" smart glasses this fall. The glasses are a joint product between Samsung and Google, with Samsung providing the hardware and Google the software, and will be available for both Android and iOS. No price was announced. Here's what Google's first "Intelligent Eyewear" glasses look likeThe company showed off two frame designs, one from Gentle Monster and another from Warby Parker. Here's what they look like: Credit:…

Anna's Archive, a popular website for pirating books and articles, seems to be square in Google's sights, according to copyright and digital rights publication TorrentFreak. The search giant is said to have blocked some 749 million Anna's Archive URLs from showing up in search results, TorrentFreak found, after combing through a recent transparency report. The removal wasn't necessarily targeted, as Google regularly delists content at the request of copyright holders. At time of this writing, has taken down links to 15,125,359,564 pages since 2011. But this is the latest in an ongoing, AI-prompted saga that is seeing copyright holders crack down on so-called "shadow libra…

Thanks to some smart (and aggressive) marketing, Duolingo has cemented itself as one of the most popular language learning apps in the world. That said, it isn't without competition: There are plenty of alternatives to consider, and if you're peeved about Duolingo's plans to phase out its contract workers in favor of using AI, you might be looking into them. There's now a new competitor for Duo's crown, but it certainly isn't a replacement for the AI-averse. It's also far from an underdog, considering the service comes from none other than Google. Yesterday, the company announced a new AI-powered language learning experience it calls Little Language Lessons. It isn't an …

Google has issued another round of significant AI model announcements, upgrading its Gemini offerings across the board to bring users and developers artificial intelligence engines that are, according to the company, more capable and reliable. In the wake of DeepSeek's rise and new OpenAI models, the pace of AI development isn't slowing down. First up, the Gemini 2.0 Flash model that appeared in December for a select few is now rolling out to everyone, so you'll see it in the Gemini apps on desktop and mobile (this actually began appearing last week, so you may have already used it). The Flash models are designed to be faster and more lightweight, without too many perform…

The pace of AI progress is showing no signs of slacking. Following ChatGPT's big image upgrade a few weeks ago, it's now Google's turn to show off new models for generating videos and pictures from text prompts: We've got Veo 3 (for video) and Imagen 4 (for pictures), announced during Google I/O 2025, and they come with some significant improvements. Starting with Veo 3, it's the next step up from the Veo 2 model that was recently pushed out to paying Gemini subscribers last month. Google says Veo 3 brings with it notable improvements in real-world physics (something AI video often struggles with) and details such as lip-syncing. In short: Your clips should look more real…