Google is currently running a beta test of its new Google Play Games for PC service, enabling you to play Android games on your Windows desktop or laptop. The free service allows you to play select titles on a bigger screen with a keyboard and mouse. Google syncs your progress …
Read More »This Woman Exec Beat Google in Court—and Hopes Others Follow
Earlier this month, Google executive Ulku Rowe became the first person to face Google in court over sexist discrimination since a 2018 mass walkout led the company to stop forcing employees to settle such matters privately. A Manhattan jury rendered its verdict last week, finding that Google had discriminated against …
Read More »DeepMind Wants to Use AI to Solve the Climate Crisis
It’s a perennial question at WIRED: Tech got us into this mess, can it get us out? That’s particularly true when it comes to climate change. As the weather becomes more extreme and unpredictable, there are hopes that artificial intelligence—that other existential threat—might be part of the solution. DeepMind, the …
Read More »None of Your Photos Are Real
Google’s pitch for the AI features in the new Pixel 8 phone reads like a promise: “do more, effortlessly.” And who can blame them? I certainly don’t. Not in this shitstorm of a year. Have you seen the news? Gone outside? Wondered why groceries cost an entire paycheck? I keep …
Read More »A ‘Green’ Search Engine Sees Danger—and Opportunity—in the Generative AI Revolution
In the era of search wars fought between giants, it’s tough to be small. Berlin-based Ecosia offers a search engine for the climate-conscious, promising to be carbon-negative by investing all of its profits into planting trees—more than 180 million of them since it launched in 2009. It’s not likely to …
Read More »Google’s AI Is Making Traffic Lights More Efficient and Less Annoying
Each time a driver in Seattle meets a red light, they wait about 20 seconds on average before it turns green again, according to vehicle and smartphone data collected by analytics company Inrix. The delays cause annoyance and expel in Seattle alone an estimated 1,000 metric tons or more of …
Read More »Google Steps Up Its Push to Kill the Password
Less than six months ago, Google announced that it was launching support for the password replacement known as “passkeys” for all personal accounts across its billions of users. Today, the company said it is going a step further and will make passkeys the default login setting for users. When you …
Read More »How to Use Google Bard to Find Your Stuff in Gmail and Docs
Google recently rolled out multiple updates to Bard, its AI chatbot. The new features include extensions that connect Bard to more aspects of Google’s portfolio, like Gmail, Docs, and YouTube. The company is continuing to experiment with artificial intelligence as part of the next wave of information retrieval. Although my …
Read More »Generative AI Is Coming for Sales Execs’ Jobs—and They’re Celebrating
Wining and dining, wooing clients with creative offers, and cashing big bonuses provide the glamor to sales work. Drafting answers to hundreds of dull questions posed by a prospective customer’s request for proposals? That’s just drudgery. Mercifully for workers, after months of speculation about ChatGPT-style AI taking over white-collar work, …
Read More »New Pixels, New Assistant, but the Same Old Google
It's finally nearing the end of a month filled with consumer tech announcements, and Wednesday’s Google event felt like the grand finale. While Google sells only a fraction of the number of phones and smartwatches pumped out by Apple and Samsung, the company’s work in mobile software, large language models, …
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