Guy is running a Google rival from his laundry room
Link: https://www.fastcompany.com/91396271/searcha-page-seekninja-diy-search-engines
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45197187
Android will *not* be getting most of the Unicode 17 updates.
Some of its fonts are over a decade out of date - and Google refuses to re-use its own Noto font stack.
I've raised the issue at:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/366415133
If you're a Googler please ask someone to prioritise this issue. Can everyone else please hit the +1 button.
I used to love my Google Pixel phone (mostly for the great camera), now I want to throw it out the window. Every damn day it's some new AI BS. Just saw this while trying to edit a photo of a cat. Yesterday an AI Assistant I thought I'd turned off intercepted a phone call I was expecting from a hospital, and I would have missed the call if I hadn't been actually looking at my phone. Google's new motto is Be Evil. I'm about to just go back to a flip phone since the only options are Google or the equally evil Apple. #AI #Google #MonopoliesSuck
Google to Obey South Korean Order to Blur Satellite Images on Maps
Link: https://www.barrons.com/news/google-to-obey-south-korean-order-to-blur-satellite-images-on-maps-653e934e
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45181626
Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars
Link: https://medium.com/@eslam.elsewedy/weaponizing-ads-how-governments-use-google-ads-and-facebook-ads-to-wage-propaganda-wars-199c707704cc
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45181094
https://www.alojapan.com/1365733/googles-ai-mode-to-offer-japanese-language-support/ Google’s AI Mode to offer Japanese language support #AiMode #AI. #Google #Japan #JapanNews #Japanese #JapaneseNews #language #news Google said Monday its AI-powered search engine AI Mode, which launched in May in only English, is set to be available in Japanese and four other languages as it looks to broaden its global reach. Aside from Japanese, the company said it is set to be available in Korean, Hindi, Indonesian and Brazilian Portuguese
A new supply chain attack on GitHub, dubbed 'GhostAction,' has compromised 3,325 secrets, including PyPI, npm, DockerHub, GitHub tokens, Cloudflare, and AWS keys.
https://www.alojapan.com/1365367/googles-ai-mode-adds-5-new-languages-including-hindi-japanese-and-korean/ Google’s AI Mode adds 5 new languages including Hindi, Japanese, and Korean #AiMode #Google #GoogleAiMode #Japan #JapanNews #Japanese #JapaneseNews #news Google is expanding AI Mode — its AI-powered Search experience — to five new languages, opening access to additional users around the world, after being limited to English for over six months. On Monday, Google announced that AI Mode will now support Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean
Great write up by Jay Peters of The Verge with regards to the Nova Launcher/Branch situation that I wrote about this morning.
Dominic reached out to me via LinkedIn this morning and asked some questions to get some insight.
You can read that here:
Google Tells Court 'Open Web is Already in Rapid Decline' After Execs Claimed It Was Thriving - Google has stated in a court filing that "the open web is already in rapid decline... - https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/08/188234/google-tells-court-open-web-is-already-in-rapid-decline-after-execs-claimed-it-was-thriving?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed #google
Microsoft cuts 42 more jobs in Redmond, continuing layoffs amid AI spending boom - Microsoft has laid of more than 15,000 people in recent months. (GeekWire File Ph... - https://www.geekwire.com/2025/microsoft-cuts-42-more-jobs-in-redmond-continuing-layoffs-amid-ai-spending-boom/ #artificialintelligence #workforcereduction #washingtonstate #aiinvestment #hiringtrends #satyanadella #techindustry #techlayoffs #10-kfiling #microsoft #layoffs #redmond #amazon #google #meta #ai
Google gets away almost scot-free in US search antitrust case
Link: https://www.computerworld.com/article/4052428/google-gets-away-almost-scot-free-in-us-search-antitrust-case.html
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45169584
→ Commission fines Google €2.95 billion over abusive practices in online #advertising technology
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_1992
“Any person or company affected by #anticompetitive behaviour as described in this case may bring the matter before the courts of the Member States and seek damages. […] Even though the Commission has fined the company concerned, damages may be awarded by national courts without being reduced on account of the Commission fine.”
I'm writing this post here today in hopes to bring some attention to something that is near and dear to my heart, and that's an update to the current situation with Nova Launcher, that I worked for and with for nine years up until August of 2024.
For those that haven't seen the news, Kevin Barry, the founder and developer of Nova has left Branch which in turn means he's now no longer involved with Nova Launcher in any way going forward.
https://teslacoilapps.com/nova/solong.html
For the past year or so Kevin has stated that he was working on the open source version of Nova Launcher so that if/when this time came, it would be out in the open and the community could take it over and contribute to it and have it continue being developed.
However, it seems that Harish Thimmappa and others at Branch had told him to stop working on that effort as they didn't want him to continue doing that for unknown reasons. This is sad news because this was something that former CEO, Alex Austin, had promised both via a contract and publicly that if Kevin were to ever leave Branch, Nova Launcher would become open source. You can find that quote here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/w2q6al/comment/igzoniu/
and another very similar quote with similar conversation here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/w2q6al/comment/ih25ntz/
The reason for this post is to try and draw some attention to the folks at Branch, specifically folks like Harish Thimmappa to do the right thing and honor these promises and any writings in the contracts from 2022 and to fully focus on releasing Nova Launcher as an open source app.
The community deserves this more than anything, since that was something that Kevin was very adamant about when he allowed Branch to acquire Nova Launcher back in 2022. Plus, this is just something that Branch should do since it is something that has been promised.
There is currently a petition on Change.org to try and get Branch to do this as well. After only 3 days of it being posted to Change.org, it sits at almost 1,500 signatures, and that's with very little to no press coverage at this time, which is something that would be super useful to bring full attention to this situation. You can find the petition here:
https://www.change.org/p/make-nova-launcher-open-source-let-the-community-continue-its-development
I ask that everyone who sees this post can share it with their followers as I would love to see Branch do the right thing and follow through with their promises that were made back in 2022 when they acquired Nova Launcher and release it fully as an open source app now that Kevin is no longer working for Branch and not involved in Nova Launcher.
I'm going to tag some folks below that I worked with at Branch in hopes of getting this post seen by as many folks there as possible.
#Google #Chrome is now popping up a "let us help you cheat on your school work" popup in the URL bar when it thinks you're on a school site. OK, actually it says "homework help" but it amounts to the same thing. It's driving schools crazy because it's even popping up on quizzes and tests. There appears to be no way to reasonably disable it, and responses from Google suggest they don't give a damn as long their horrific AI gets used more. It's even popping up on sites that have NOTHING to do with schools -- I'm getting it on technical sites that happen to have the word "tutorial" in their URL. More nightmare sauce from #Google.
AOSP gets four months! Delays in security updates due to Google's deliberate sabotage system of verified developer procedures
Google is actively destroying the project!
With 4 months of security patch delay you might as well throw your Android device away
#AOSP #Android #programming #Google #updates #delayed #InfoSec
A survey for Android users: If "sideloading apps" becomes heavily restricted by Google as announced, what do you plan to do?
#android #google #sideloading #restriction #control #iphone #linux #smartphone
Google Moves Forward With AI Only Search Results
The next shoe is beginning to drop for independent websites as Google moved forward with AI only search results.
https://www.freezenet.ca/google-moves-forward-with-ai-only-search-results/
@baldur
#Google backs out of their "Zero Carbon" pledge?
All those who are surprised, raise your hands.
I don't see any hands. 
If there's ONE company with the reach & know-how to use "Distributed Processing" to power an #AI-based information system, it would be Google (every Android phone & every PC on the planet using their software is at their disposal.) The only reason they haven't is b/c they're insanely protective of their code. And for this, the #Environment must die. 
Nach Google-Milliardenstrafe: Neue US-Zölle angedroht
Wegen Wettbewerbsverstößen muss Google in der EU eine Geldstrafe zahlen. Jetzt meldet sich dazu auch US-Präsident Trump.
