The name Google is synonymous with online searches, but over the years the company has grown beyond search and now builds multiple consumer products, including software like Gmail, Chrome, Maps, Android, and hardware like the Pixel smartphones, Google Home, and Chromebooks. Its name can also be found on internet services such as Google Fi, Flights, Checkout, and Google Fiber. Here is all of the latest news about one of the most influential tech companies in the world.
A new “take notes” button is rolling out now for paid Workspace accounts that records audio from your mic so Gemini can generate notes for in-person meetings. Just like the virtual version of the feature, it also generates a transcript and “action items” and saves them to a Google Doc in your Drive account.
[Workspace Updates Blog]
The new Gemini 3.7 Flash makes the Spark AI agent “more efficient for knowledge work with improved tool use for Google Workspace apps, delivering improved accuracy and output quality for complex, multi-skill workflows,” Google says. The AI model itself also offers “substantial” improvements in software engineering and web development workflows, according to the company.
Google still hasn’t launched its long overdue 3.5 Pro model.
[Google]
Is the shakeup at Google DeepMind a strategy or a crisis?
We live blogged almost 90 minutes of a show that was, honestly, better than expected. Our video team cut it down to eight.
We’re ready for some bad jokes during Google’s celebrity-packed live show.
Anthropic updated its Chrome extension so using the side panel bot now saves chats to your history, where you can continue them outside in the browser in Claude’s desktop, web, or mobile apps.
The Cowork version is available today for Max and Team users, and coming to Pro users “over the coming weeks.”
The Made By Google keynote, hosted by Trevor Noah, kicks off at 6PM ET. Stay tuned to this website starting at 5:30PM for our live blog. Victoria Song will be there live, with Jay Peters, Jake Kastrenakes, and myself following remotely. Let’s see what happens.
The Vergecast crew will be live in 30(ish) minutes, at 1PM ET, running down all the details on the new Pixel phones, Pixel Watch, Pixel Tag, and everything else. We’re going to have a lot of feelings about photos, how we capture them, and what they even are anymore. Hope to see you there!
Samsung’s online-exclusive “Pistachio” version of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 looks great, and has apparently been selling well. But I’m a much bigger fan of Google’s Pixel 11 finish by the same name. It looks a lot closer to the color of a good pistachio gelato, unlike whatever minty nonsense Samsung is up to.
It’s not a brand-new set of earbuds, but in addition to a new olive color, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 will get a firmware update that can improve ANC based on how the buds sit in your ears. Expect the update to roll out sometime in September.
We’re talking offline Gemini, proactive AI suggestions, better GPS maps, insulin resistance trends, and a $50 price hike.
Google’s new Camera Looks feature will do less computational photography — and that’s a great thing.
More helpful features, less AI slop.
The Google co-founder, and world’s fourth-richest person, has spent $102 million so far to put a stop to the one-time, five percent tax on the wealth of California billionaires, according to filings tallied by Bloomberg. California voters can have their say on Proposition 40 for free come November.
Aptoide is the first third-party app store inside Google Play after Epic’s victory, but Aptoide CEO Paulo Trezentos tells me “I’d say 50% of people with a US account are not yet able to access it.” Most Verge staffers I’ve asked can, but a fully updated Pixel 9 review unit can’t. Google spox Dan Jackson tells me the feature is fully rolled out. Can you see it?
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal filed by the tech companies, allowing more than 3,000 child safety lawsuits to proceed, according to Reuters.
Separately, the court also rejected Meta’s request to push back a trial linked to social media addiction allegations from dozens of state AGs. The trial kicks off on Wednesday.
The now-former chief scientist of Google DeepMind has shared a pic of the HP laptop he turned in on the way out the door. While he notes that he also had a MacBook to use at home, his “second (& primary)” machine looks to be a five- or six-year old HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook.
Google announced that you can now pay with your Venmo account on the Play Store, allowing you to purchase games and other content with your existing funds, linked cards, or bank accounts.
Just like the orange and grey special edition of the Fitbit Air we got in May, a new leak shows the Pixel Watch 5 with a similar band, suggesting Steph Curry will be lending his name to more Google gear.
9to5Google reports that Android Canary 2608 includes an interface for generating custom lockscreen clock designs using AI prompts, similar to Android’s “Create My Widget” feature. It also includes options for uploading a reference image or using “Ideas” Google suggests, but according to 9to5Google “server-side functionality” for the feature isn’t live yet.
