Monthly Archives: July 2024

Apps that offer limited functionality will soon be removed from the Google Play Store. This includes apps that offer very little content or engagement, such as text-only apps, single-wallpaper apps, and apps that are intentionally designed to "do nothing."

Google regularly attempts to improve the app store by updating its policies and removing unwanted apps. Millions of old apps were delisted from the Play Store in 2022, and Google implemented stricter safety requirements for the Play Store in 2023.

On August 31st, Google will implement a revised Spam and Minimum Functionality policy in an effort to further improve the Play Store. The original Spam and Minimum Functionality Policy barred "apps that are designed to do nothing," while the revised policy explicitly adds that apps without "app-specific functionality" or "an engaging user experience" also count as spam.

" Were updating the Spam and Minimum Functionality policy to ensure apps meet uplifted standards for the Play catalog and engage users through quality functionality and content user experiences Apps should provide a stable, responsive, and engaging user experience. Apps that crash, do not have the basic degree of adequate utility as mobile apps, lack engaging content, or exhibit other behavior that is not consistent with a functional and engaging user experience are not allowed on Google Play."

Interestingly, Google did not revise the "Broken Functionality" section of its Spam and Minimum Functionality policy. This is despite the fact that some major apps, including the Sonos app, are regularly criticized for broken functionality.

The downside of today's "app purge," as with previous cleanup campaigns, is that Google will inevitably cull some apps that people care about. Users may also question why "do-nothing" or "static" apps are the focus of Google's effortsaren't scam apps a more prescient concern?

To Google's credit, the Play Store SDK Requirements and Malware policy have been revised for clarity. But these policies haven't actually changed in any way, and Google says that its "enforcement standards and practices remain the same."

You can read Google's revised Spam and Minimum Functionality policy at the Play Console Help website. Please note that this policy will not be put into effect until August 31st. If an app is delisted from the Play Store before that date, it's because the app violated a different policy (or was simply removed by the developer).

Source: Google via The Verge

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Google Is Removing "Do-Nothing" Apps from the Play Store - How-To Geek

With the Made by Google event less than a month away, the Pixel 9lineup has beenrevealed via leaks. Sick of those leaks, Google has decided to show off the new Pixel 9 Pro themselves.

The tech giant released a teaser video that reveals the Pixel 9 Pro, at least part of it (h/t The Verge). It also teases AI and Gemini integration, which isn't surprising considering all the announcements Google made at I/O back in May.

The video and images on apre-order page Google releasedgive a confirmed look at the redesigned camera array, which is losing the edge-to-edge bar format in favor of a more pill shape.

As for the cameras themselves, it's been rumored that the Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL will use the same 50MP sensor found in the Pixel 8 Pro. However, the entire lineup is supposed to get new Sony IMX858 sensors that should improve low-light photography.

We also get to see the phone in white, though it is expected to come out in black, green and pink.

As for the display, which we get a brief glimpse of, we've seen rumors of displays anywhere from 6.1 inches up to 6.5 inches, slightly less than the rumored 6.7 inches the XL version might feature.

Weirdly, the most consistent rumor is that the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro will have 6.1-inch displays, a slight decrease from the 6.2-inch display on the Pixel 8.

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As of this writing, the pre-order page won't let you put down for the new phone. The site says pre-orders will open up at the end of the Made by Google event, which takes place on August 13. For now, you can sign up for more information if you're so inclined.

Google is expected to launch four new Pixel phones soon at the August event: the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, the Pixel 9 Pro and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. They should also have a new Pixel Watch 3, which might come in an extra large size.

Today's best Google Pixel 8, Google Pixel 8a and Google Pixel 8 Pro deals

Deal ends Thu, Jul 25, 2024

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Google Pixel 9 Pro official design just revealed by Google heres your first look - Tom's Guide

There have been leaks aplenty in recent weeks showing every angle of Googles Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL. But so far, the companys second-generation foldable phone has managed to keep better cover ahead of next months product event. So much for that! As reported by Android Authority, new regulatory photos from Taiwans National Communications Commission (NCC) have fully revealed the Pixel Fold 2 Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

The images confirm that Google is moving away from the short and squat passport-style design that helped the original Pixel Fold stand out from Samsungs tall, narrow Galaxy Fold. Now, were getting something closer to the OnePlus Open. The outer display still looks very usable in terms of how much screen real estate youve got to work with, but its definitely taller than before.

Around back, these photos also confirm that the 9 Pro Fold will ditch the camera bar, which has become one of Googles signature hardware elements. This time, itll be... well, Im not quite sure what youd call this style of camera housing. It looks big enough to prevent the phone from having an annoying wobble when laid down on a table at least. As for the inner display, again, the screen ratio is noticeably taller and narrower compared to the original Fold, and it looks as though Google has managed to shave down the bezels some.

The tradeoff there is that the inner camera is now a cutout on the upper-left part of the display, whereas, last time, it was part of the bezel, giving you an uninterrupted display. I think I prefer the latter approach, but it is what it is. Another thing that has me a little wary is the battery. Apparently Google is going with a slightly smaller capacity (4,560mAh) this time, and the first Pixel Fold (4,727mAh) wasnt exactly what Id call a longevity champ. Maybe the companys latest Tensor processor will help make up for that with some efficiency gains.

Ive used the Pixel Fold as my daily driver for a good chunk of the last year. Theres just something about it that continues to feel special. Sure, it quickly got lapped in screen brightness by the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, the speakers sound pretty bad, and many app developers never really bothered optimizing their software for the device. Heres hoping the second try can correct a few of those downsides for a better overall package even if its still likely to cost upward of $2,000.

Aside from yet more photos of the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL, the regulatory images also showcase a new 45-watt USB-C charger that is likely to ship with at least some of these devices. Its much more rounded than the charger that Google has been including alongside Pixel phones for several years.

Update, July 16th: The story has been updated to include details about the 45-watt charger thats also in the NCC regulatory filing.

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Heres a very clear real-world look at Googles Pixel 9 Pro Fold - The Verge

Google, which became one of the worlds most valuable companies through its search engine and other consumer internet services, is nearing its largest-ever acquisition to improve what it can offer to business customers.

Google is in talks to buy Wiz, a New York-based cybersecurity start-up, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions, who were not authorized to discuss them. Wiz was last valued at $12 billion.

The companies have valued the deal at roughly $23 billion, said one of the people, easily making it Googles most expensive acquisition and nearly double what the company paid for Motorola Mobility in 2012.

While a deal looks likely, talks could still fall apart, the people said.

Google and Wiz did not respond to requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the companies were discussing a deal.

Google has moved forward with negotiations despite the possibility that regulators might try to block the deal. But the company may be willing to fight to beef up its cloud-computing division, which lags behind Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

Google was sued by the Justice Department in two separate antitrust cases, one targeting its ubiquitous search engine and another seeking to break up its digital advertising-technology business. A verdict in the search case is expected this summer.

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Google Close to Its Biggest Acquisition Ever, Despite Antitrust Scrutiny - The New York Times

Were still almost a month away from when the Google Pixel 9 line will probably launch, but you can already get a somewhat official look at all four expected models namely the Pixel 9, the Pixel 9 Pro, the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold (which is thought to be the launch name of the Pixel Fold 2).

This is thanks to the NCC (a Taiwanese regulatory agency), which via Android Authority has published photos of all four of these devices.

As this is an official government agency, its likely that the images and accompanying details are accurate, though things could still be subject to change until Google announces them.

Image 1 of 4

In any case, the images some of which you can see above line up with previous leaks, showing a new camera block design for the non-foldables, which doesnt run quite to the edges of the back.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold has bigger changes, with a square camera block on the back, while the selfie camera for the foldable screen has been moved into a punch-hole cut-out, rather than being in the bezel as it was with the original Google Pixel Fold.

The Pixel 9 Pro Folds bezels also appear to be smaller than its predecessors, and the crease looks like it might be smaller too, so Googles second foldable could be a significant visual upgrade on its first.

As well as photos, the NCC also published battery capacities for the four phones, listing the Google Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro as having 4,558mAh batteries, the Pixel 9 Pro XL as having a 4,942mAh one, and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold as having a 4,560mAh one.

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These are likely the rated capacities (which are the minimum you can expect) rather than the typical capacities (which is what companies tend to advertise). For comparison though, the Pixel 8 has a 4,485mAh rated capacity and a 4,575mAh typical one, the Pixel 8 Pro has 4,950mAh rated capacity and a 5,050mAh typical one, and the Pixel Fold has a 4,727mAh rated capacity and a 4,821mAh typical one.

So based on this the Pixel 9 might have a slightly larger battery than its predecessor, while the Pixel 9 Pro XL probably has a similar capacity to the Pixel 8 Pro (which its expected to be more comparable to than the Pixel 9 Pro is), and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold could have a slightly smaller battery than the Pixel Fold.

Finally, the NCC tests reveal approximate charging speeds for the four phones. Sadly this doesnt reveal the maximum speeds on offer. But with the Pixel 9 Pro XL achieving a speed of 32.67W, its likely that it will officially support at least 35W charging, which would be slightly higher than the 30W of the Pixel 8 Pro.

As for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, that achieves 20.25W here, though as Google never got specific about the maximum charging speed of the Pixel Fold, we dont have anything to compare it to here.

The other phones are in line with their predecessors, suggesting the Pixel 9 could have an advertised charging speed of 27W, and the Pixel 9 Pro of 30W.

We should know for sure soon, as the Pixel 9 series is expected to be unveiled on August 13.

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All four rumored Google Pixel 9 models have been photographed by a regulatory agency - TechRadar

What if you could turn all the bad emissions from fossil fuel-intensive industries into plastics, paints and more? Thats the dream behind Copenhagen-based climate tech startup Again, which has raised $43 million in Series A funding from Google Ventures (the venture arm of Google parent Alphabet) and HV Capital, Fortune exclusively reveals.

The company will use the funds to devote more resources to researching food and feed products that can be made of carbon dioxide.

Cofounder Max Kufner told Fortune that the company plans to roll out its first operations by the end of 2025 or early 2026 at the latest.

Agains technology pumps carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere into bioreactors. Bacteria then convert this carbon into valuable products used to make plastics, paints, and soaps.

Refining petroleum to extract different chemicals is responsible for 4% of the worlds direct greenhouse gas emissions, or about 1.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, making the petrochemicals industry the third most polluting in the world.

COURTESY OF AGAIN

Again has raised about $100 million to date, partly from a European Union grant and partly from venture capital funding. The company received a $10 million injection from GV, ACME Capital and Atlantic Labs to set up a production site.

Founded in 2021, the company was born from a research project developed over 10 years at the Danish Technical University, Stanford, and MIT. That gave Again a leg up when it launched, as much of the learning curve of developing the technology had been crossed, making it easier to build the company and focus on scaling up.

Torbjrn Jensen and Alex Nielsen, academics involved in the research, later became cofounders at Again, along with early-stage investor Kufner.

Climate tech has expanded 45 times in the last decade, according to Dealroom. But as global temperatures and extreme weather events continue rising, theres still a need for significantly more.

Agains technology helps solve one of climate technologys biggest barriersthe ability to scale it. One of the biggest challenges with modern climate tech companies is that theyre trying to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turn it into a very small form and pump it back into the earth, Kufner explains.

Jensen told Fortune that the process of capturing and converting carbon dioxide efficiently is what makes Again stand out.

We are basically cleaning up the emissions and we just so happen to also produce a super valuable product at the same time, he said. But it needs to be cheap, it needs to be robust, it needs just to operate 24/7 all year round.

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Exclusive: Google Ventures is backing a Danish startup 'brewing' CO2 thats decarbonizing the future - Fortune

In addition to the Pixel 9 Pro tease today, Google today is Introducing the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold this afternoon.

Besides confirming the long brand name, this a A foldable phone built for the Gemini era. We see the inner screen open in full for Oh hi, AI. However, we dont see the hole-punch front-facing camera in the top-right corner. The rounded rectangular camera bar is quite prominent, while we can somewhat make out how thin this device is unfolded.

Google again chose to showcase the Porcelain model with clear gold tones. Weve also seen in it Obsidian, with the first-generation color palette retained. Hopefully, fun colors will eventually make their way to the foldables.

Out with the old. In with the Fold.

It has the same breakup letter-magical theme, starting on the cover screen, ahead of the August 13th Made by Google 2024 event.

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Google teases the Pixel 9 Pro Fold [Video] - 9to5Google

As part of the wider tech industry's wider push for AI, whether we want it or not, it seems that Google's Gemini AI service may now reading private Drive documents without express user permission, per a report from privacy activist and current Facebook Privacy Policy Director Kevin Bankston on X.com embedded below.

Update (7/16, 7:33 AM): We've updated this story with Google's response.

Bankston goes on to discuss reasons why he believes that this may be glitched for users like him in particular. And, if he is correct, the apparent lack of control being given over his sensitive, private information would be concerning. Google, however, disputes these assertions.

Our generative AI features are designed to give users choice and keep them in control of their data. Using Gemini in Google Workspace requires a user to proactively enable it, and when they do their content is used in a privacy-preserving manner to generate useful responses to their prompts, but is not otherwise stored without permission," a Google spokesperson wrote to us.

So, what exactly is going on here? Kevin Bankston has some theories, after providing much more detail in the full thread. Contrary to the initial posting, this is supposedly happening within the larger umbrella of Google Drive and not Google Docs specifically, though it seems like the issue could apply to Docs as well.

But what caused this issue? According to Google's Gemini AI, the privacy settings used to inform Gemini should be openly available, but Bankston says that they aren't.

What's more, Bankston did eventually find the settings toggle in question... only to find that Gemini summaries in Gmail, Drive, and Docs were already disabled. Additionally, it was in an entirely different place than either of the web pages to which Gemini's bot initially pointed.

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For Bankston, the issue seems localized to Google Drive, and only happens after pressing the Gemini button on at least one document. According to him, the matching document type (in this case, PDF) will subsequently automatically trigger Google Gemini for all future files of the same type opened within Google Drive. He additionally theorizes that it may have been caused by him enabling Google Workspace Labs back in 2023, which could be overriding the intended Gemini AI settings.

We heard from Google after initially publishing this article and the company pointed us to a blog post about how it protects Google Workspace data. It notes that Workspace data is not ingested or used for training and that, if the feature is enabled, content from an open doc can be summarized but is not retained. The company also suggested that Bankston may have used Gemini via the side panel in Drive and that closing the panel might solve the issue.

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User alleges Gemini AI scanning Google Drive hosted PDF files without explicit permission Google says otherwise - Tom's Hardware

Enlarge / Now I'm going to show you a series of photos of Pixel Folds, and you just tell me if you recognize any of them from the bank earlier today, okay?

NCC/Android Authority

Can you really call them "leaks" if, every year, Google's Pixel phones end up being sloshed all over the web for months before their official release? What volume of photos, hardware specifications, and other details constitutes a leak, rather than a quick-draining colander?

Google's Pixel 9 series of phones are expected to be launched at an event on August 13. Because those phones need to be certified by various regulators, including the Taiwanese National Communications Commission, or NCC, there are now photosso many photosof all four phones Google is expected to announce next month. The Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Google's second attempt at a folding phone, have been sized, measured, rated for battery life and charging speed, and even disassembled for a look inside.

As has been suggested by Pixel 9 renders, renders of all three non-folding phones, and pictures of prototypes, the NCC pictures confirm that Google's "Pro" phone in this series is the same size as the standard model 9 but with three rear cameras and upgraded, possibly AI-friendly, specs. The NCC filings don't confirm all internal specs, such as the eye-popping 16GB of RAM seen in an earlier Pixel 9 Pro prototype. Google has previously noted that keeping certain generative models to be "RAM-resident" requires more RAM.

The potential Pixel 9 Pro XL, as seen at the Taiwanese NCC, complete with quirky "This is not Google, per se" logo remix.

NCC/Android Authority

The putative Pixel 9 Pro, disassembled to some degree.

NCC/Android Authority

The purported Pixel 9 Pro Fold, taken down to its screens, batteries, and camera holes.

NCC/Android Authority

The Pixel 9 and 9 Pro get a 4,558 mAh battery, according to NCC filings, while the 9 Pro XL packs in 4,942 mAh. That represents a very slight bump from the Pixel 8 for the Pixel 9, and about even between the Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL (which, reminder, are now the "big" phones, even if some people might consider the 6.1-inch screens on the base models not quite "small"). Charging speeds are roughly the same between the Pixel 8 and 9, as Android Authority notes, though the "big" Pixel phone jumps from roughly 27 W in the 8 series to almost 33 W on the Pixel 9 Pro XL listing.

The new Fold's battery is cited as 4,560 mAh, compared to the prior model's 4,727mAh. As noted in our review of the Pixel Fold, Google managed to fit the biggest battery in the category into it, but the category has an inherent issue with battery life. Actually using that big OLED screen for the things that make it fun to use, like watching videos or playing games, drains the battery faster than a similar experience with a tablet, which can have twice the battery cells packed in.

All four Pixel phones have Thread radio support listed, and all but the base model Pixel 9 have ultra-wideband (UWB) support noted. There's also a new Google-white-and-smooth 45 W charger submitted with these phones.

Android Authority has the best layout of photos of the Pixel 9 series made visible by the NCC. The devices seem like a lock to be debuted at the Made by Google event on August 13.

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All four of Googles Pixel 9 phones get lined up and shot (by regulators) - Ars Technica

That appears to still include the IDF. WIRED identified several Israeli government statements and documents published since 2022 that confirm the IDFs continued involvement with Project Nimbus, although they do not provide details of the tools and capabilities it uses.

For instance, a government document published on June 15, 2022, that outlines the scope of the project, says "The Ministry of Defense and the IDF will get a dedicated digital marketplace of services they can access under Project Nimbus.

In July 2022, The Intercept also reported on training documents and videos provided to Nimbus users in the Israeli government that revealed some of the specific Google technologies the contract provided access to. They included AI capabilities such as face detection, object tracking, sentiment analysis, and other complex tasks.

Official government pages old and new, both in Hebrew and English, feature the same boilerplate description of Project Nimbus. It calls the contract a multiyear and wide-ranging flagship project, led by the Government Procurement Administration in the Accountant General's Division in the Ministry of Treasury together with the National Digital Unit, the Legal Bureau in the Ministry of Finance, the National Cyber Unit, the Budget Division, the Ministry of Defense and the IDF. The statement appears on one of the main government pages about Project Nimbus, an undated news release, a 2022 cloud strategy document, and a press release from January 2023.

A version of the statement has also been posted in an Amazon guidance document about Nimbus from January 2023, and on the event page for the 2024 Nimbus Summit, a privately run event that brings together tech workers from Amazon, Google, and the dozens of other companies that have played some hand in modernizing Israels tech infrastructure in recent years.

Social media posts by Israeli officials, Amazon employees, and Google employees suggest the countrys military remains closely involved with Project Nimbusand the two US cloud companies working on it.

In June 2023, Omri Nezer, the head of the technology infrastructure unit at the Israeli Government Procurement Administration, posted a recap of a cloud conference held by the Israeli government to LinkedIn. He wrote that it was meant to bring together people from different government offices within Project Nimbus.

Nezers post mentions a panel at the conference that featured an IDF representative and the head of engineering IT for Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, a defense company originally created as a research and development company for the Israeli military. The Intercept reported last month that Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries, both Israeli government-backed weapons manufacturers, are obligatory customers of Google and Amazon through Project Nimbus. Amazon spokesperson Duncan Neasham tells WIRED that Rafael is not required to use AWS or Google only for cloud services and can also use other cloud providers services.

National security agencies remain an important part of Project Nimbus. In a 2023 LinkedIn post tagged #nimbus, Omri Holzman, defense team lead at Amazon Web Services, summarized a recent event AWS put on for defense customers. We had attendees from each security organization in Israel, Holzman wrote, without specifying which agencies. AWS puts a lot of focus on the National Security (NatSec) community which has its unique needs and requirements.

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The Hidden Ties Between Google and Amazons Project Nimbus and Israel's Military - WIRED