Tootfinder

Google plans to make Magic Editor and other AI editing tools, previously limited to Pixel phones and paid users, available to all Google Photos users for free (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/10/goog

Google brings AI-powered editing tools, like Magic Editor, to all Google Photos users for free | TechCrunch
Google Photos is getting an AI upgrade. On Wednesday, the tech giant announced that a handful of enhanced editing features previously limited to Pixel

There’s a hidden Google search setting that makes searches more precise
Turn on #verbatim #mode in Google searches
On the search results page, look for a menu that says Tools. It may be on the far right side of the screen. 
• On desktop, look on the far right side of the page, to the right of any buttons …

How to Make Google Show You the Good Search Results Again
Off-target search results are getting more and more common, and we can only lay part of the blame on the results being cluttered with AI-generated junk and human-generated SEO-bait. I don’t have a fix for what people (and bots) are writing, nor can I reach into Google’s ranking algorithm and shuffle the pages around. But I can tell you how to get Google to actually search for the thing you typed in.

Sundar Pichai says Google One crossed 100M subscribers, highlighting Google's efforts to move users away from free plans; YouTube Premium recently hit 100M subs (Wes Davis/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/10/2406853

Google One hits 100 million subscribers
Google One now has 100 million subscribers as Google continues pushing users to transition from free plans to its paid tiers by ditching the benefits of the no-cost version.

Google announces Vids, an app to help companies and consumers make collaborative, shareable video, powered by Gemini, launching in public beta in summer 2024 (David Pierce/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/9/24124168/google-vids-video-ai-work…

Google Vids is the latest AI-powered app in Workspace
The new Vids app joins Slides, Sheets, and Docs as Google’s apps for work, as Google tries to embrace an increasingly video-first way of communicating at work.

Google details Workspace updates: Gmail "Help me write" voice input and "instant polish", Docs tabs, Sheets tables, Gemini in Chat, Meet translation, and more (Abner Li/9to5Google)
https://9to5google.com/2024/04/09/google-workspace-cloud-nex…

Gmail adding voice input, Gemini for Google Chat, Meet ‘Translate for me,’ & more
Besides Vids, Google Workspace is getting a slew of new features and Gemini capabilities at Cloud Next 2024...

Sources: OpenAI plans to announce its AI-powered search product on May 13 (Anna Tong/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-plans-announce-google-search-competitor-monday-sources-say-2024-05-09/

OpenAI plans to announce Google search competitor on Monday, sources say
OpenAI plans to announce its artificial intelligence-powered search product on Monday, according to two sources familiar with the matter, raising the stakes in its competition with search king Google.

Google launches Google Wallet for Android in India and partners with 20 brands to let users store boarding passes, loyalty cards, event tickets, and more (Aamir Siddiqui/Android Authority)
https://www.androidauthority.com/google-wallet-indi…

Google Wallet and Google Pay will co-exist in this country
Google has launched the Google Wallet app in India to store boarding passes, tickets, and more. The app will co-exist alongside Google Pay.

Google makes its Imagen 2 image generator generally available in Vertex AI, and adds inpainting and outpainting to remove or add elements and expand borders (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/google-releases-imagen-2-a-vi…

Google releases Imagen 2, a video clip generator | TechCrunch
Imagen 2 can now create short, four-second videos from text prompts, along the lines of AI-powered clip generation tools like Runway, Pika and Irreverent Labs.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian unveils AI updates: corporate Gemini users can "ground" responses in reliable sources, Search as a Gemini answer source, and more (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Google Shows AI Model Is Enterprise-Ready After Gemini Mishaps
The company unveiled updates to its AI offerings at its annual cloud conference

How Google rolled out Street View in Germany after 10 years of resistance, as Street View's utility trumped privacy concerns in Europe's most private country (Jeremy Gray/PetaPixel)
https://petapixel.com/2024/03/08/germa<…

Germany vs Google: How Street View Won the Privacy Battle in Europe's Most Private Country
How Germany lost its spirit of privacy in the face of technological progress.