Google is no stranger to antitrust scrutiny, but the walls may be closing in. As the next phase of Google's search trial nears, the company's lawyers have reportedly met with representatives from the US Department of Justice in hopes of heading off a breakup. Google is reportedly pushing the argument that forcing it to spin off parts of the business and limit certain investments would constitute a national security threat.

Google's antitrust situation got much worse this past August when it lost the long-running case targeting its search business. With Google branded yet again as a monopolist, the DOJ asked for stiff penalties, seeking to have US District Judge Amit Mehta force Google to sell its popular Chrome browser and end payments for search engine placement with other firms.

According to Bloomberg, Google met with the DOJ team last week to make the case for a lighter regulatory touch. Specifically, Google has stepped up its claims that forcing it to spin-off Chrome and limit AI investments could harm US national security, as well as security at the user level.

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Google's AI ambitions know no bounds. A new report claims Google's next phones will herald the arrival of a feature called Pixel Sense that will ingest data from virtually every Google app on your phone, fueling a new personalized experience. This app could be the premiere feature of the Pixel 10 series expected out late this year.

According to a report from Android Authority, Pixel Sense is the new name for Pixie, an AI that was supposed to integrate with Google Assistant before Gemini became the center of Google's universe. In late 2023, it looked as though Pixie would be launched on the Pixel 9 series, but that never happened. Now, it's reportedly coming back as Pixel Sense, and we have more details on how it might work.

Pixel Sense will apparently be able to leverage data you create in apps like Calendar, Gmail, Docs, Maps, Keep Notes, Recorder, Wallet, and almost every other Google app. It can also process media files like screenshots in the same way the Pixel Screenshots app currently does. The goal of collecting all this data is to help you complete tasks faster by suggesting content, products, and names by understanding the context of how you use the phone. Pixel Sense will essentially try to predict what you need without being prompted.

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It's time for Google's newest Pixel Drop update, which will deliver a batch of enhancements to the company's smartphones. Pixel Drops, which arrive quarterly, refine and expand the features on Pixel phones. This probably won't come as a surprise, but AI plays a big role in the changes rolling out to Pixels this time around. There are also some new connectivity and photography options.

A long-overdue update is coming to Google's Pixel Studio app, which is preinstalled on the Pixel 9 series. The app lets you generate AI images, but person generation was not available at launch because of well-documented problems with the Imagen 3 model's penchant for diversity. Google re-enabled person generation on the web about six months ago, but Pixel Studio is just now gaining this ability.

Google's AI will also begin butting in if it suspects a caller or message is attempting to scam you. Google says this feature (previously available as a limited beta) is not foolproof, as scammers often change up their tactics. However, it may help catch some of the less sophisticated scams that regularly ensnare your less technologically literate family and friends. This feature will be available in Google Messages with the Pixel 6 and later, but the phone call scam detection will require a Pixel 9 because it uses on-device AI features that only exist on Google's latest phones. That makes it a little less creepy.

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At Mobile World Congress, Google confirmed that a long-awaited Gemini AI feature it first teased nearly a year ago is ready for launch. The company's conversational Gemini Live will soon be able to view live video and screen sharing, a feature Google previously demoed as Project Astra. When Gemini's video capabilities arrive, you'll be able to simply show the robot something instead of telling it.

Right now, Google's multimodal AI can process text, images, and various kinds of documents. However, its ability to accept video as an input is spotty at best—sometimes it can summarize a YouTube video, and sometimes it can't, for unknown reasons. Later in March, the Gemini app on Android will get a major update to its video functionality. You'll be able to open your camera to provide Gemini Live a video stream or share your screen as a live video, thus allowing you to pepper Gemini with questions about what it sees.

It can be hard to keep track of which Google AI project is which—the 2024 Google I/O was largely a celebration of all things Gemini AI. The Astra demo made waves as it demonstrated a more natural way to interact with the AI. In the original video, which you can see below, Google showed how Gemini Live could answer questions in real time as the user swept a phone around a room. It had things to say about code on a computer screen, how speakers work, and a network diagram on a whiteboard. It even remembered where the user left their glasses from an earlier part of the video.

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Sergey Brin co-founded Google in the 1990s along with Larry Page, but both stepped away from the day to day at Google in 2019. However, the AI boom tempted Brin to return to the office, and he thinks everyone should follow his example. In a new internal memo, Brin has advised employees to be in the office every weekday so Google can win the AI race.

Just returning to the office isn't enough for the Google co-founder. According to the memo seen by The New York Times, Brin says Googlers should try to work 60 hours per week to support the company's AI efforts. That works out to 12 hours per day, Monday through Friday, which Brin calls the "sweet spot of productivity." This is not a new opinion for Brin.

Brin, like many in Silicon Valley, is seemingly committed to the dogma that the current trajectory of generative AI will lead to the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Such a thinking machine would be head and shoulders above current AI models, which can only do a good impression of thinking. An AGI would understand concepts and think more like a human being, which some would argue makes it a conscious entity.

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Google's Pixel phones include numerous thoughtful features you don't get on other phones, like Now Playing. This feature can identify background music from the lock screen, but unlike some similar song identifiers, it works even without an Internet connection. Sadly, it has been broken for months. There is some hope, though. Google has indicated that a fix is ready for deployment, and Pixel users can expect to see it in a future OS update.

First introduced in 2017, Now Playing uses a cache of thousands of audio fingerprints to identify songs you might encounter in your daily grind. Since it works offline, it's highly efficient and preserves your privacy. Now Playing isn't a life-changing addition to the mobile experience, but it's damn cool.

That makes it all the stranger that Google appears to have broken Now Playing with the release of Android 15 (or possibly a Play Services update around the same time) and has left it that way for months. Before that update, Now Playing would regularly list songs on the lock screen and offer enhanced search for songs it couldn't ID offline. It was obvious to Pixel fans when Now Playing stopped listening last year, and despite a large volume of online complaints, Google has seemingly dragged its feet.

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Google released the Pixel Watch 3 last fall alongside the Pixel 9 family, sporting the same curvy look as the last two versions. The Pixel Watch 3 came with a new feature called Loss of Pulse Detection, which can detect impending death due to a stopped heart. Google wasn't allowed to unlock that feature in the US until it got regulatory approval, but the Food and Drug Administration has finally given Google the go-ahead to activate Loss of Pulse Detection.

Numerous smartwatches can use health sensors to monitor for sudden health events. For example, the Pixel Watch, Apple Watch, and others can detect atrial fibrillation (AFib), a type of irregular heartbeat that could indicate an impending stroke or heart attack. Google claims Loss of Pulse Detection goes further, offering new functionality on a consumer wearable.

Like the EKG features that became standard a few years back, Loss of Pulse Detection requires regulatory approval. Google was able to get clearance to ship the Pixel Watch 3 with Loss of Pulse Detection in a few European countries, eventually expanding to 14 nations: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It noted at the time more countries would get access as regulators approved the feature, and the FDA was apparently the first to come through outside of Europe, boosting support to 15 countries.

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As Google's 2024 antitrust loss proved, the company has worked very, very hard to ensure its search engine is the primary roadmap for the Internet. Google scours the Internet for data about everything—even you. And if you don't want your personal info to wind up in Google search results, you can use the just-redesigned "Results About You" tool. The tool, which began its rollout in 2022, is easier to use now, and some of the most useful features are now better integrated with search results.

The first step in using Results About You—which has not changed—is a bit alarming when you've set out to obscure your personal information. Just head to the new hub for Results About You and enter your personal information. Google probably already knows your phone number, email, and even physical address, but this tells the tool what specific information to pluck out of search results. If that data is out there, Google has it whether or not you remove it from search results.

Before this update, most of the Results About You features were limited to this console, but the most important features are now integrated with the search results. They're not exactly prominently displayed, though. When scrolling through a Google search (after the AI overview, ads, knowledge graph, and more ads), you can use the three-dot menu next to a result to get data about it. This menu now includes options to remove the result right at the top.

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Generative AI has wormed its way into myriad products and services, some of which benefit more from these tools than others. Coding with AI has proven to be a better application than most, with individual developers and big companies leaning heavily on generative tools to create and debug programs. Now, indie developers have access to a new AI coding tool free of charge—Google has announced that Gemini Code Assist is available to everyone.

Gemini Code Assist was first released late last year as an enterprise tool, and the new version has almost all the same features. While you can use the standard Gemini or another AI model like ChatGPT to work on coding questions, Gemini Code Assist was designed to fully integrate with the tools developers are already using. Thus, you can tap the power of a large language model (LLM) without jumping between windows. With Gemini Code Assist connected to your development environment, the model will remain aware of your code and ready to swoop in with suggestions. The model can also address specific challenges per your requests, and you can chat with the model about your code, provided it's a public domain language.

At launch, Gemini Code Assist pricing started at $45 per month per user. Now, it costs nothing for individual developers, and the limits on the free tier are generous. Google says the product offers 180,000 code completions per month, which it claims is enough that even prolific professional developers won't run out. This is in stark contrast to Microsoft's GitHub Copilot, which offers similar features with a limit of just 2,000 code completions and 50 Copilot chat messages per month. Google did the math to point out Gemini Code Assist offers 90 times the completions of Copilot.

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Qualcomm and Google have joined forces to extend software updates on Android devices. With Google's assistance, the chipmaker has committed to providing extended vendor support to any OEM building on its most powerful chips, pushing the theoretical lifespan of Android devices to eight years. There are plenty of caveats, but this move could make your next phone more useful for longer.

The extended support window only applies to Android devices with the latest Qualcomm chipsets. To start, the eight-year support timeline will be extended to devices running the new Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile platform, which has powered devices like the OnePlus 13 and Galaxy S25. Later this year, the same policy will be applied to the company's new Snapdragon 8 and Snapdragon 7-series chips, and you can expect the same deal for at least the next five generations of Qualcomm silicon.

"Through this collaboration, OEMs can more seamlessly update the software and security on their devices, ensuring a more secure and long-lasting Android experience for our users," said Google's Android Platform manager Seang Chau.

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Nothing, the smartphone venture from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, is on its third generation of Android smartphones. The Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro will be officially announced on March 4, but there won't be much left to reveal. Not only has Nothing teased the phones a few times, there's also a new video highlighting the Nothing Phone 3a Pro's design. In it, Nothing's design team speaks at length about how they tried to incorporate the chunky camera module, but what they came up with is going to be divisive.

As we approach 20 years since the iPhone made touchscreen smartphones the default, the form factor is very fleshed out. Some of today's most popular smartphones have almost reached the point of anti-design—flat, unremarkable bodies that are intended to be covered up with a case. There's something to be said for that when most people slap a sheet of plastic on their phone and only remove it once in a blue moon. Nothing, however, designs phones with transparent panels and glowing "Glyphs" that are intended to be seen. In the case of the 3a Pro, there's also a camera module so big it's sure to stand out.

People generally want big screens and big batteries that don't make phones too thick or heavy. Some components have shrunk or been dropped entirely to free up space (a moment of silence for the dearly departed headphone jack). Camera modules, however, can't shrink infinitely. Smaller lenses and sensors have an impact on image quality, so expensive phones often have gargantuan camera arrays that can make phones top-heavy. For example, look at the Google Pixel 9 series, which features a camera bump that towers above the rest of the back.

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A username and password just won't cut it anymore. Users around the world logging into Gmail have often relied on Google SMS pings to securely access their accounts, but that's changing. Google now hopes to move beyond SMS, which has become so frequently abused that it negates any supposed security benefit. Instead of using SMS, the company will reportedly switch to using QR codes.

Currently, Google sends SMS codes for two reasons: to confirm that a new login is legitimate and to block spammers from opening Gmail accounts in bulk. You type in your credentials, and a moment later, Google texts a six-digit code for you to enter as well. It's not a terribly arduous process, and it can help protect your account, but SMS is not very secure.

SMS messages are delivered by mobile carriers without encryption, and they often go through intermediaries that can be compromised without your knowledge. Even if the line is secure, phone numbers have very little in the way of security.

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YouTube dominates online video, but it's absolutely crammed full of ads these days. A YouTube Premium subscription takes care of that, but ad blockers do exist. Google seems to have gotten the message—a cheaper streaming subscription is on the way that drops YouTube Music from the plan. You may have to give up more than music to get the cheaper rate, though.

Google started testing cheaper YouTube subscriptions in a few international markets, including Germany and Australia, over the past year. Those users have been offered the option of subscribing to the YouTube Premium plan, which runs $13.99 in the US, or a new plan that costs about half as much. For example, in Australia, the options are AU$23 for YouTube Premium or AU$12 for "YouTube Premium Lite."

The Lite plan drops YouTube Music but keeps ad-free YouTube, which is all most people want anyway. Based on the early tests, these plans will probably drop a few other features that you'd miss, including background playback and offline downloads. However, this plan could cost as little as $7–$8 in the US.

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After 14 years of trying and failing to gain a smartphone foothold, Amazon has announced it will discontinue its app store. Anyone who has content in Amazon's store will be able to access it for now, but all bets are off beginning on August 20, 2025. As part of the pull-back, the company is also discontinuing the Amazon Coins digital currency.

The Amazon Appstore made waves when it launched in 2011, offering an alternative to what at the time was known as the Android Market. Amazon even scored some early exclusives and gave away a plethora of premium content and Coins to anyone willing to do the legwork of installing the storefront on their Android phone.

That level of attention didn't last, though, and the Appstore today has hardly evolved from its humble beginnings, lacking most of the content and features people have come to expect from a mobile app store. If you want to check out the store on your phone before it goes away, you'll have to sideload the client by downloading an APK from Amazon. This process isn't hard, but it proved to be a significant barrier to entry for getting people into the Amazon ecosystem.

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Over the past few years, Google has embarked on a quest to jam generative AI into every product and initiative possible. Google has robots summarizing search results, interacting with your apps, and analyzing the data on your phone. And sometimes, the output of generative AI systems can be surprisingly good despite lacking any real knowledge. But can they do science?

Google Research is now angling to turn AI into a scientist—well, a "co-scientist." The company has a new multi-agent AI system based on Gemini 2.0 aimed at biomedical researchers that can supposedly point the way toward new hypotheses and areas of biomedical research. However, Google's AI co-scientist boils down to a fancy chatbot. 

A flesh-and-blood scientist using Google's co-scientist would input their research goals, ideas, and references to past research, allowing the robot to generate possible avenues of research. The AI co-scientist contains multiple interconnected models that churn through the input data and access Internet resources to refine the output. Inside the tool, the different agents challenge each other to create a "self-improving loop," which is similar to the new raft of reasoning AI models like Gemini Flash Thinking and OpenAI o3.

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