Google has introduced Gemini 2.0, the latest version of its multimodal AI model, signaling a shift toward what the company is calling “the agentic era.” The upgraded model promises not only to outperform previous iterations on standard benchmarks but also introduces more proactive, or agentic, functions. The company announced that “Project Astra,” its experimental assistant, would receive updates that allow it to use Google Search, Lens, and Maps, and that “Project Mariner,” a Chrome extension, would enable Gemini 2.0 to navigate a user’s web browser to complete tasks autonomously. Continue reading Google Releases Gemini 2.0 in Shift Toward Agentic Era of AI

Microsoft Copilot now helps subscription users create personal themes in Outlook using generative AI. In what Microsoft says is “the first instance of dynamic AI-generated theming in productivity applications,” Copilot can now display inboxes against dynamic backdrops based on geography, the weather, or anything else users can imagine. The new feature is available across all popular platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and the Web. Just like you might “spruce up your office with artwork or plants,” Copilot lets AI enhance your digital environment, according to Microsoft. Continue reading Copilot Now Enables Custom AI Themes in Microsoft Outlook

Alphabet’s revenue increased by 15 percent during the latest quarter, topping $88.3 billion. Powered by advertising and cloud services, profits surged 34 percent to $26.3 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations of $22.9 billion. The company experienced continued growth in the online marketplace with popular consumer services such as Google Search and YouTube while also expanding in B2B with cloud offerings. All this as the government explores dismantling its business while competitors such as TikTok and Amazon come after its market share. Advertising growth slowed in Q3, yet still notched a healthy year-over-year increase of 10.4 percent. Continue reading Alphabet Profits Climb 34 Percent, Powered by Cloud and Ads

Adobe is introducing a free, web-based Content Authenticity app that lets creators “sign” their work with the aim of protecting rights and controlling attribution against unwanted AI attention. It allows creators to assign “do not train” tags to images, video or audio. Batch designation is another convenience those with voluminous output will appreciate as a time saver. Users can select the Generative AI Training and Usage Preference options in the Adobe Content Authenticity app to set preferences, whether or not the work was created using Adobe Creative Cloud apps. Continue reading Free Adobe Content Authenticity Web App Shields Against AI

Google announced that the latest update to Password Manager now enables users to sync their passkeys across multiple devices. Previously, Google passkeys could only be easily saved to Password Manager on Android, limiting cross-device utility. Scanning a QR code on an Android device was previously required to use passkeys on non-native platforms. The update makes it possible to use Google Password Manager on desktop systems that run Windows, macOS and Linux. ChromeOS is currently being beta tested and Google says iOS support is “coming soon.” Continue reading Google Debuts Secure Passkey Sync Feature Across Devices

In its ongoing effort to strike the right balance between ad targeting and consumer data collection, Google Ads is introducing a new process it calls “confidential matching.” Relying on the hardware and software used for confidential computing in Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), Google says this new approach allows businesses to securely manage their first-party data. They’ll still be able to use it to reach customers and measure the impact of their digital ad campaigns, but the information will be isolated “during processing so that no one — including Google — can access the data being processed.” Continue reading Google Ads Adopts Open-Source TEE Setup for Data Privacy

YouTube has expanded its relationship with Shopify, allowing more merchants to make their products available for creators to tag in their shopping content. All eligible Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants in the U.S. are now able to sign up for YouTube Shopping’s affiliate program through the Google & YouTube app on Shopify, which is expected to significantly increase the number of participating brands and products. According to YouTube, viewers watched over 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos in 2023. Broadening the scope of its Shopify deal is expected to make YouTube more competitive with TikTok Shop. Continue reading YouTube Expands Retail Relationship with Shopify in the U.S.

Google has reconsidered its previously announced plan to turn off third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome browser in favor of an option to be controlled by consumers. The original plan was pushed back a few times but was expected to take place early next year. Competitors and regulators have raised concerns about the deprecation that would have left Google — which hauled in more than $237.86 billion in ad revenue last year — free to use its own tracking to serve targeted ads to those using Chrome. Google is now developing a new plan to let consumers make their own informed decisions about whether to allow third-party cookies. Continue reading Google Changes Direction with Plans for Third-Party Cookies

Google is implementing an internal reorganization that combines its Android and hardware teams. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a new Platforms & Devices team headed by Rick Osterloh, which includes Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Photos and all Pixel products. Pichai says the move will help speed development. Osterloh’s mandate is full-stack platform development that smoothly incorporates AI across all Google platforms, including smartphones, TVs and anything with Android OS. Hiroshi Lockheimer, who previously ran ops for Android, Chrome and ChromeOS, moves on to other projects at Google and Alphabet. Continue reading Google Merges Android and Hardware Units for AI Efficiency

The Apple WebKit team introduced the initial version of the Speedometer benchmark in 2014. Since then, it has become an industry-wide tool for gauging browser optimization and performance, even as some stakeholders complained that having been developed in the Apple ecosystem, it could not help but exhibit systemic biases that favored Safari. So, Microsoft, Google and Mozilla joined Apple to create Speedometer 3.0, “a new governance benchmark” that aims for neutrality across the architectures used by Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla’s Firefox. Continue reading Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla Team on Speedometer 3.0

Google’s multimodal Gemini large language model will offer chat capabilities that help advertisers build and scale Search campaigns within the Google Ads platform using natural language prompts. “We’ve been actively testing Gemini to further enhance our ads solutions, and, we’re pleased to share that Gemini is now powering the conversational experience,” Google said, explaining the functionality is now available in beta to English language advertisers in the U.S., UK and will be rolling out globally to all English language advertisers over the next few weeks, with additional languages offered in the months ahead. Continue reading Conversational Chatbot Optimizes Google Ads, Search Results

Earlier this year, Google introduced support for passkeys as part of a larger initiative to improve security and eventually eliminate the need for passwords. Since the launch, consumers have begun using passkeys across Google apps such as Search, YouTube and Maps. As the next step in establishing “a simpler and more secure way to sign into your accounts online,” and following positive feedback from early users, the company is offering passkeys as the default option across personal accounts. When signing into accounts, users will receive prompts for creating passkeys. Additionally, Google account settings will feature a toggle that reads “skip password when possible.” Continue reading Google Makes Passkeys Default Option on Personal Accounts

Passkeys — a secure way to login to accounts without passwords — are back in the news as a bevy of companies lend their support to the cryptographic technology. Windows 11, GitHub and Nintendo are among the latest to go passwordless. The standard, which began gaining momentum last year, has also been embraced by companies including Apple, Google, the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium. Each passkey involves two keys — one public and registered with an online service or app, and one private and stored on individual devices, like smartphones or computers. Continue reading Windows 11, GitHub, Nintendo Are Latest to Support Passkeys

Marching toward its goal of eliminating third-party cookies from its Chrome browser by the close of December 2024, Google has generally released its APIs for Privacy Sandbox, its privacy-oriented solution to cross-site consumer tracking cookies. The new system has begun shipping with the latest version of Chrome. The Privacy Sandbox tracks topics of interest based on browsing patterns and lets advertisers use that data to serve relevant ads. While clicking “got it” to close your first Sandbox pop-up activates the new system by default, it can be turned off by visiting the privacy settings. Continue reading Google Is Replacing Cookies with Privacy Sandbox in Chrome

Google is adding images and video to its Search Generative Experience (SGE), an AI-powered context tool the company began testing in May that some are already calling “the future of Google Search.” Those who have signed up for Search Labs and enabled SGE will begin seeing more multimedia at the top of their search results. The idea is to help searchers “get up to speed on a new topic, uncover quick tips for your specific questions or discover products and things to consider — with article links to dig deeper,” Google explains of its latest AI improvements. Continue reading Google’s AI-Powered Search Delivers Relevant, Visual Results