Tag: google

Google tests removing the Search button for, you guessed that one right, more AI

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google continues to make changes to Google Search. After introducing AI mode and some other AI features recently, it is now reportedly testing removing the trusted Search-button for another round of AI infusions.

The report comes from Search Engine Watch noting that some users are now seeing the new AI first search page now instead. While the search field remains for now, Google has removed the search button for three AI-powered features: Create images, ask about files and brainstorm. The “I am feeling lucky” button remains for now though.

While that is not a big problem for users who know that you can simply press the Enter-key to start a search, it may confuse some Google users nevertheless. They may activate the AI mode button, which opens an interface to interact with Google’s AI Gemini.

Pressing the three other buttons starts other activities, but not the classic search. According to Search Engine Watch, two of the three AI features work without a Google account, at least for now. Those are “ask about files” and brainstorm. Only create image remains locked for Google account customers.

So, is this a problem? Probably for some users who used the button all the time to start their searches and do not know about pressing the Enter-key.

The test shows that Google continues to focus on pushing AI options to Google Search and some of its other products, such as Google Maps or Gmail. I’m not a huge fan of this. Not because I have something against AI, but because it is causing problems for the remaining independent site owners and blog writers out there.

Ever since Google’s Panda update, things have been going downhill for many. Now with Google keeping more and more visitors to its search engine on its own site, thanks to AI delivering the answer right on site, even larger publishers have faced declines in traffic.

You can now use a selfie to sign-in to your Google account

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google announced a new option to sign-in to a Google account this week. Called “Selfie Video”, it is specifically designed for signing-in when you are locked out or use a device that is not your “usual phone or computer”.

However, for this to work, it is necessary to set up Selfie Video prior to making use of it, Google notes.

Note: I got the “Selfie isn’t available as a sign-in option for this account” error when trying to set this up for tests. Not sure whether the feature is region-locked, as Google does not make any mentions of limitations.

Google describes the new feature in the following way:

Setting up a selfie video is simple: You just look at your device’s camera and complete a few short, guided head movements to capture multiple angles.

If you’re having trouble signing in later on, you just take another selfie to get back into your account. Selfie video compares the new video to the one you set up to confirm it is really you and help you get back into your account.

What about privacy and security? Google says the selfie video “is recorded and securely stored with your consent” and only used for sign in help, unless you decide to “share it for additional purposes”. The video is encrypted at rest according to Google, and there are “multiple layers of security to help prevent impersonation attempts”.

Here is my take: while this may look like yet another feature to get more data from its users, it is actually not the worst of ideas in some cases. First, it is optional, which means that you don’t have to use it and the majority of Google users probably won’t.

The main advantage is that this is independent of devices or security keys. If you don’t have access to your smartphone or computer anymore, you may lose access to your accounts or have troubles authorizing yourself. This selfie option could provide a way out in emergency situations. That is, provided that it works as advertised.

For users heavily invested — and thus trusting — in Google’s ecosystem, it could be an option for disaster recovery.

What about you? Would you use such a feature? Let me know in the comments below.

Google Search: AI Overviews reduces click-throughs by 60 percent, research suggests

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Ah Google Search, everyone’s favorite search engine that started out as an excellent source for Internet resources using links and is openly being turned into a service that eats everything that is in its way, even the very sites that fuel it.

A new report, cited by the Wall Street Journal, suggests that major US publishers have noticed sharp drops in organic Google Search traffic between June 2025 and June 2026.

According to the report, sites noticed decreases of organic traffic by up to 85 percent and the main reason for that appears to be AI Overviews. When Google Search displays an AI generated overview on a search results page, traffic to sites drops by about 60 percent according to the study. This leaves Discover traffic as the remaining traffic source from Google, but this comes with its own set of caveats, including a tendency for clickbait.

Major US publishers and sites, including Reddit, Politico and Business Insider, may turn to drastic measures to put an end to Google’s strategy of becoming the one and only destination on the Internet that users need.

Reddit, the Wall Street Journal reports, is considering dropping a potential renewal of its $60 million per year deal with Google. This would disallow Google from using the content published on Reddit for AI training and also prevent the company from showing Reddit content in its AI overviews.

Apart from losing the money, Reddit might also notice another drop in referrals from Google as a consequence, as it would likely no longer be listed by the AI Overviews feature.

My personal take: Google’s decisions have led to a decline in Internet blogs, at least in the tech sector. Independent owners of sites like Freeware Genius stopped publishing or pulled their sites entirely from the Internet because of Google. Now, the beneficiaries of Google’s algorithmic changes are facing a similar situation. Google is keeping the users that it used to send to these sites and now it is their business model that is in jeopardy.

Here is the outcome: Some will survive, as they may provide value that Google can’t replicate. Some will merge, others will vanish. Even big publications or sites may go down. Google might eventually notice that AI can’t generate fresh information on its own though.

Android

Google changes Android backup rules so that everything counts against storage quotas

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Many mobile phone users rely on the automatic backup feature of their devices. On Android, users can back up images and videos, settings, the call history or SMS.

Not all of the backed up data counted against the storage quota of the user, which is 15 GB by default for free Google account users.

While Google has been pushing users towards backing up photos and videos online, likely also to get them close to the free limit and push paid storage, it has discounted some data up until now.

This changes in less than two months. Google is emailing Android users currently about the upcoming change to Android’s backup storage policy.

The main change: All data counts against a user’s storage quota. Google says this includes things such as SMS messages, the call history or device settings.

The email reveals the extra storage requirements for the particular user, which was 0.07 GB in my case and should be around 40 MB on average. It seems unlikely that this will drive the quote of the majority users across the treshold.

Google is also extending the backup capabilities. When you open the back up other data section in the preferences, which Google says is rolling out, you find options to turn off backups for device data or app data. Each entry is listed with the storage it occupies on the device currently, making it easy to find the largest sections. However, there is no option to sort by data, which can make browsing the app data section time consuming.

Google App for Desktop is now available and it is all about AI

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Interact with AI right from the desktop. That is the main idea of Microsoft’s integration of Copilot in Windows and now also of the new Google App for Desktop.

Google released the app officially for Windows; other desktop systems are not supported right now. It is only available in English and works under Windows 10 and Windows 11. The app’s main slogan is “Ask anything with the
Google app for desktop” and that is exactly what you get: direct access to the Gemini AI from the desktop.

Once installed, you may bring up the Gemini prompt with the shortcut Alt-Space. Clearly, this requires an active Internet connection as all the processing happens remotely on Google servers.

You may wonder why you’d consider using the app when all the AIs are just a browser-click away on the World Wide Web. Google has added screen sharing and Lens into the app. This means you can share part of the screen or the entire screen with the AI.

While that is also possible online, by taking a screenshot first, it is more convenient this way. The built-in search feature covers local files and files on Google Drive, according to the description. Google claims that the index that it uses for file searches is stored locally and not on Google servers.

The battle for desktop supremacy

Google is invading Microsoft’s “turf” with the release of Google’s new desktop tool. Up until now, Microsoft had little competition for its Copilot AI that it added to the operating system.

Both AI tools have several things in common, but there are also differences.

The Similarities

  • AI access: Generative AI that supports conversations, follow-ups and some extra features, like summarizing documents or drafting emails.
  • Keyboard-Shortcut: The Google App maps to the Alt + Space shortcut, while Windows Copilot may be summoned via Windows Key + C or the dedicated hardware Copilot key on newer keyboards. However, starting with Windows 11 version 24H2, Microsoft allows users to map the Copilot key to other applications.
  • Screen-Access: Both AI tools can get access to the desktop.
  • Unified Search: Both offer local and Internet search capabilities, especially for cloud-storage files.
  • Access: While Copilot used to be integrated deeply into Windows, it is now a standalone app just like Google’s app. This means that both apps can’t make changes to the system anymore.

The Differences

  • AI Models: Copilot or Gemini, that is the main difference between the two services.
  • Ecosystem: This one is obvious. The AIs are tied heavily to the Google or Microsoft ecosystem. For example, Google’s App can access Google Drive content while Microsoft’s app integrates with OneDrive and Microsoft 365.
  • Installation: Microsoft Copilot is built directly into Windows 11. Google’s app needs to be installed.

Closing Words

Google is making an offer to Windows users: here is our AI app, which you may use instead of Copilot. Users who already use Gemini may find that offer attractive enough to give it a try.

Windows users who prefer Copilot will stick to the AI, especially if Microsoft is introducing new useful functionality that Google can’t replicate with its desktop app.

As for those who do not use AI, they won’t use the Google App anyway. Since it is a manual install, there are no precautions to take.

Android

Google outlines the new flow for sideloading Android apps

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Depending on who you ask, sideloading apps is either the best thing ever when it comes to application ecosystems or the worst thing. Those in favor argue that it allows for an open environment that is not limited by a specific store or developer. Opponents point out that sideloading is often used to install malware on devices of unsuspecting users.

To address this issue, Google announced changes to sideloading on Android some time ago. It did not cut off sideloading altogether, something that was on the table, but decided to introduce a new installation flow on devices that run Android.

This new workflow deliberately takes time and effort. Google says that this prevents certain common scenarios where users may be pressured or installations happen remotely.

Here is the new workflow:

  1. Enable Developer Mode: Android users need to enable developer mode before they can sideload apps. Google says that this prevents “prevents accidental triggers or “one-tap” bypasses”.
  2. Confirmation: A check to make sure that no one is asking the owner of the device to make the change.
  3. Restart and reauthentication: This is done to cut-off remote access or active phone calls.
  4. Waiting period: A 24 hour wait period before the owner can confirm that sideloading should be activated.
  5. Installation: Users may enable sideloading for a seven day period or indefinitely, according to Google.

These steps are designed as hurdles that users have to overcome. It may reduce the number of unwanted sideloaded installations on Android. Experienced users still have to complete the necessary steps before they can unlock sideloading on their devices (again). It is annoying, but Google makes it sound as if this could be a one-time process. If that is indeed the case, experienced users might want to complete the necessary steps immediately after the new system is introduced on their devices to avoid any issues later on.

Now it is your turn. What is your take on the changes? Important to protect the masses from unwanted installations or overreach? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Google Chrome 146: Security update fixes two vulnerabilities that are already exploited

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

It is this time of the week again. Google has just released a security update for its Chrome web browser to patch two security issues with known attacks in the wild.

The update, which is available for Chrome on all desktop platforms and for Android, addresses two security issues. Google rates both with a severity rating of high.

The first issue is an out of bounds write in Skia, the specialized 2D graphics engine that is responsible for nearly everything that you see on the screen. It draws shapes, renders text, or displays images.

The second vulnerability is an inappropriate implementation in V8, another core component of all Chromium-based browsers. It is Google’s open source JavaScript and WebAssembly engine.

Google writes:

[N/A][491421267] High CVE-2026-3909: Out of bounds write in Skia. Reported by Google on 2026-03-10

[N/A][491410818] High CVE-2026-3910: Inappropriate implementation in V8. Reported by Google on 2026-03-10

Google is aware that exploits for both CVE-2026-3909 & CVE-2026-3910 exist in the wild.

Most unmanaged Chrome installations should receive the update automatically. You can speed it up by loading chrome://settings/help, if Chrome is open. Windows users may also run winget upgrade google.chrome.exe from the command line to upgrade the browser without opening it.

Expect upgrades for other Chromium-based browsers in the coming hours and days as well, as all use the very same components.

Android

The Epic War is Over: Google Play Drastically Changes Its Rules (and Fees)

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

After nearly six years of legal bombshells and courtroom drama, the walled garden of the Android app ecosystem has finally cracked. This week, Google announced a massive, platform-altering overhaul to its Android operating system, officially marking the end of its legal battle with Epic Games.

In a move that will fundamentally reshape the economics of mobile software, the tech giant says it is rolling out a “new era” of openness that drastically alters how the Google Play Store operates.

Google decouples service and billing fees, allows registered third-party app stores, and gives developers choice when it comes to payments.

Here is an overview of the announced changes by Sameer Samat, President of the Android ecosystem:

  • Expanded Billing Choice: Developers can now use their own billing systems alongside Google Play’s or direct users to their own websites for purchases.
  • Registered App Stores Program: A new initiative to streamline the installation flow for third-party app stores that meet specific safety and quality benchmarks.
  • Revised Fee Structure: A new business model that decouples billing fees from service fees, reducing the in-app purchase service fee to 20% (or as low as 15% for those in specific developer programs).
  • Resolution with Epic Games: The post also notes that these updates officially resolve Google’s long-standing global legal disputes with Epic Games.

The changes are a major shift from the walled-garden approach of Google and also Apple. While it is uncertain how this change affects Apple, if at all, it will open up Android.

The effects for users and developers

The biggest immediate effect is the end of the 30 percent fee that Google is charging for any transaction on the platform. Google replaces it with the following system:

  • The service fee is dropped to 20 percent as the new baseline.
  • Developers who participate in the new “App Experience” or “Play Games Level Up” programs pay 15 percent.
  • Billing fees, if developers want to still use the billing system of Google Play, adds “market-specific fees” to the bill. Google set it to 5 percent in core markets such as US, UK and EEA.

Developers who choose to distribute their apps through their own store and process payments using their own billing system pay nothing to Google under the new system.

Sideloading is changing as well with the official Registered App Stores program. Third-party app stores that are accepted into the program get a “streamlined, friction-free installation process”. Provided that Google allows competitors, like the Epic Games Store, into the program, it will make it easier to install games offered through these stores.

When is this coming?

The rollout will happen in phases.

  • By June 30, 2026: US, UK, and EEA.
  • By September 30, 2026: Australia.
  • By December 31, 2026: Japan and Korea.
  • By September 30, 2027: The rest of the world.

It remains to be seen how this will all work out and whether it will really be that easy for developers to set up their own store and billing system.

Google teases three new Chrome features that sound familiar

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google announced three new features for its Chrome web browser on its official The Keyword blog recently. The new features — split view, save to Drive, and annotate — improve the productivity of Chrome users according to Google.

Users of several other browsers may not find the features as exciting as Google, as at least some of the features have been supported by other browsers for some time.

Split View is coming to Chrome

Split View is a typical example of such a feature. It allows you to display two websites next to each other in a single tab. Instead of displaying the two sites in two browser windows next to each other, you may display them in a single window.

This has some advantages, like easier handling as you interact with a single window only. However, there are also some disadvantages, including that only one address is shown in the address bar at a time.

Split View is not a new feature. In fact, Google is late to the party. Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Opera or Brave Browser support the mode already. Mozilla has also launched the feature in its Firefox web browser, but it is experimental at the time of writing.

How to use Split View in Chrome

Simply right-click on a tab in the web browser and select “Add tab to new Split View”. Chrome splits the space in half, with the right side empty in the beginning. Just select an open tab, which Chrome displays, type an address or pick a bookmark to load it in the second half.

Chrome displays both open websites in the same tab, but only the URL of the active tab in the address bar.

PDF annotations

If you open PDF documents in Chrome, you can now “highlight text and add notes” to it right in the browser. Google says that this eliminates the need to use a separate application for that.

This is not exactly a new feature either, as both Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox have supported the feature for quite some time.

To use it, open a PDF document in Chrome and click on the draw icon in the toolbar once it is displayed. Here you find the new options to annotate directly to the PDF file.

Save to Drive

This is probably the strangest edition in this feature update. Google is reaching feature parity with Split View and PDF annotations, which is a good reason to introduce the features.

However, Save to Drive is the outlier. It enables you to save PDF documents that you view in Chrome to Google Drive. Google says this keeps important documents backed up in the cloud.

It is not as if this was not possible before already, at least in many cases. If you run Google Drive on your system, you could simply put the file into the Drive folder to store it locally and online. I guess it helps if you do not run the software and want to save PDFs to Drive directly. Saves the step of saving the document locally first before uploading it.

Now You: what is your take on the new features? Something that would make you switch to Google’s browser?

No Login? No Problem: 5 Google Maps Alternatives That Respect Your Privacy

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you have used Google Maps until now without a Google account, then you may have noticed that something is off in the past couple of days.

When I launched Google Maps today in Firefox, I immediately noticed that Google was limiting information. Listings did not include user reviews anymore among other things, and Google displayed a disheartening “You’re seeing a limited view of Google Maps” and “Get the most out of Google Maps. Sign In” message at the bottom of each listing I opened.

It appears that Google is limited access for anonymous users. While you can still look up listings, use route planning, and get ads, you won’t get what some what say is the most vital information on Google Maps: user reviews.

Read Also: Google Maps is getting a new feature that you either love or dislike

Five Google Maps Alternatives

While you could sign-in to a Google account to restore full access, some may prefer switching to a different service entirely.

Here are five good alternatives that you could try:

  • Organic Maps — Organic Maps is widely considered the “gold standard” for privacy-conscious users. It is a fork of the original Maps.me, created by the original developers who wanted to strip out all the trackers and bloatware.
  • Magic Earth — If you miss Google Maps’ real-time traffic alerts and lane guidance, Magic Earth is your best bet. It manages to offer advanced “smart” features while remaining strictly no-profile.
  • OsmAnd — OsmAnd is the most feature-dense mapping app available. It’s not just a map; it’s a professional-grade geographic tool.
  • Apple Maps — In mid-2024, Apple finally brought Apple Maps to the web (currently in beta). Unlike Google, Apple’s web version actually functions better without a login, as it currently doesn’t even support signing in to an Apple ID on the browser.
  • DuckDuckGo Maps — If you are looking for the most seamless “Google Maps-like” experience in a web browser without ever being asked to sign in, DuckDuckGo is the winner. It uses Apple Maps’ MapKit JS framework, giving you high-quality visuals without the data-tracking baggage.

There are also regional apps and maps that sometimes offer better information and services than Google Maps. Kakaomap, for example, is seen as the superior app in almost any area, if you are in Korea.

Now You: do you use a map app or service? Any app that you can recommend?