Google

Michael Fisher’s latest video has a great interview with Google devices boss Rick Osterloh. When asked whether Google has interest in creating a more affordable flip-style Pixel, Osterloh suggests that Samsung and Motorola have that foldables category pretty well handled for now.

As for adopting Qi2 wireless charging, he says it’s “a matter of time.” Maybe the Pixel X?

Opting out of Google’s generative AI overviews means you become invisible in search — a no-go for most publishers. But keeping content in search means it can be scraped for AI Overviews. As one publisher puts it:

You drop out and you die immediately, or you partner with them and you probably just die slowly, because eventually they’re not going to need you either.”

The education tool has now been around for a decade, and Google is adding some new features, including a way for parents to keep tabs on the work students are getting assigned. Google also says that it’s bringing Gemini to Google Classroom “soon” for English users globally.

They’re on different sides of a debate over how to counteract pollution from data centers’ energy use, Financial Times reports.

Amazon and Meta are part of a lobby group that wants more lax standards for renewable energy certificates, which can pose similar risks as carbon offset credits. Google, meanwhile, backs a different strategy for bringing more renewables online wherever data centers operate.

Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli explains why the problem started and why its autonomous cars are quieter now (shown in the livestream below):

We recently introduced a useful feature to help avoid low speed collisions by honking if other cars get too close while reversing toward us. It has been working great in the city, but we didn’t quite anticipate it would happen so often in our own parking lots. We’ve updated the software, so our electric vehicles should keep the noise down for our neighbors moving forward.

Here’s what Eric Schmidt, who was Google’s CEO from 2004 to 2011 and then chairman until 2015, had to say recently during a talk at Stanford:

Google decided that work-life balance and going home early and working from home was more important than winning. And the reason startups work is because people work like hell.

Update, August 14th: It appears that Schmidt didn’t intend for his comments to make headlines! Stanford has taken the video of his talk down, so here’s a clip that is still online:

Peloton announced today that starting in September, Fitbit Premium users will get free access to more than 10 types of Peloton classes, including those for strength training, Pilates, running, and boxing.

That’s all part of a “multi-year” agreement between Peloton and Google. Peloton members will also be offered deals on the Google Pixel Watch and Fitbit Charge 6.

The most likely targets to be spun out are Google’s Android mobile operating system or its Chrome browser, Bloomberg reports. DOJ’s antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter has long signaled he prefers structural remedies (legal speak for breakups) in many cases. Either way, Bloomberg says DOJ is likely to ask for a ban on exclusive contracts the judge found helped reinforce Google’s monopoly. A DOJ spokesperson said it’s evaluating the ruling and “No decisions have been made at this time.”

A big Wired piece with the Google team behind the Pixel cameras just hit. Let’s gaze upon the philosophical justification for the ongoing AI-powered what-is-a-photo apocalypse:

To Reynolds and the broader Pixel Camera team, it’s not necessarily the photo that’s important, but your memory. [...]

“What some of these edits do is help you create the moment that is the way you remember it, that’s authentic to your memory and to the greater context, but maybe isn’t authentic to a particular millisecond.”

No huge problems teaching people they can’t trust any photos at all worth thinking about there!

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold feels more premium than Google’s original foldable. Some people are inevitably going to miss the unique shape of the first-generation Fold, but by every other measure, my first impression of the 9 Pro Fold is that it could be something special.

Thing is, there’s no getting past that $1,800 price — especially when the cameras are far from Google’s best.