Do you think AI has made Google search better of worse? Please include as much detail as possible. How have your search habits changed with the introduction of AI overviews?

Google is making it easier for people to support their favorite publications by introducing a new "Preferred Sources" button webmasters can add to their websites. "When readers click this button, it adds the site as a Preferred Source on Google and immediately directs them back to where they left off on the publisher's page," Google explains. After clicking the button, you'll see the publication appear more frequently Google Search, including in Top Stories, AI Overviews and AI Mode. The button formalizes something publishers, including Engadget, had been independently adding their websites for a while now. Even with referral traffic from Google declining in recent years due to products like AI Overviews and AI Mode, the company's search engine remains an important source of revenue for many media outlets.

Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Safety Net Creator Hub Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Switch Off Trending Now In My Bag All Series And college students can get Google AI Pro for free. Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. Google expands Gemini offerings and Search functions as students head back to school. As districts across the country debate the efficacy of tech-enabled classrooms, Google wants to upgrade the average students' school supplies with new AI features. And they don't even need to leave the Google homepage to find them.

PCWorld reports that Geekom mini PCs, including the A7, A8, AE7, and AE8 series, were compromised after attackers injected backdoors into drivers hosted on an outdated support page, enabling spying and password theft. Only users who downloaded drivers through unofficial search engine results are affected, while the current official Geekom website remains safe. Affected users should disconnect from the network, run antivirus scans, change passwords, and consider a factory reset. Detailed instructions are provided below. A few days ago, Tom's Hardware and Videocardz reported on a Geekom incident affecting several of the manufacturer's mini PCs. Attackers were able to inject malware onto several devices via a tampered driver--one that was hosted on an official Geekom support page, which, according to the company, had already been taken offline. Geekom confirmed the incident and explained that, although the outdated website had been replaced by a new one, it could still be found via search engines. The attackers exploited this to insert a backdoor into the driver package, enabling them to install malware on Geekom mini PCs.

The people-search tool ClarityCheck says its reverse image search service is "private and secure"--but it left a database containing more than 9 million image files exposed. When someone uploads a photo to the people-search tool ClarityCheck, the website has a clear message: "Your reverse image search is private and secure." New research, though, shows that the website left more than 9 million image files, including photographs of people's faces, publicly exposed . And a second misconfiguration publicly exposed people's email addresses and phone numbers. Overall, according to findings from independent security researcher Jeremiah Fowler, the exposed ClarityCheck database contained roughly 450 GB of images, including what appeared to be profile images, screenshots, and other photographs of adults, teenagers, and children.

New AI toolbars and prompts are showing up in Google Docs and Gmail. If you don't want Gemini's help in writing documents and emails, here's how to turn that stuff off. Have you noticed how desperate tech companies are to get you to use their artificial intelligence features, even if you don't want to use them? They're adding buttons to user interfaces and using pop-up tool tips to implore you to click them and become a dedicated user of their AI creations. Google Docs, for example, is rolling out a giant Gemini bar at the bottom of the screen for some users.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. These six commands make it much easier to find the page, file, or answer you need. Quotation marks, minus signs, and a few short commands can cut through pages of search clutter and turn you into a Google Search pro. Most of the time, Google's smart enough to understand the jumble of random terms you typed in. But if it can't make sense of your word salad and the results miss the mark, a few small commands can clean up the search.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. A useful free scan, clear exposure reports, and affordable automated removals make Optery a strong starting point for data cleanup. Dashboard "View" links are not guaranteed matches Optery gives users a clear, useful look at where their personal information is exposed online, but its real cleanup value depends on upgrading to a paid plan and trusting its removal process. Most people don't know how many data brokers have built profiles on them until a service like Optery shows them the list. Names, addresses, phone numbers, and other personal details can end up scattered across people-search sites, public records, and data-broker databases.

If you're tired of sponsored and AI-summarized search results, Kagi gives you a curated--and human-centric--way to find what you're looking for. If you're of a certain age, you'll remember the way the web used to be: sites made and developed by humans. You could load up a directory like AltaVista or Yahoo and click through categories including Home & Family, Science, and Computers. In those listings you'd find pages put together by hobbyists, academics, and tech nerds. People gathered around forums and bulletin boards, and web developers tended to avoid putting images on their sites because it would slow down page loading.

Google has been fined €890m (£759m) by the EU for allegedly abusing its power by favouring its own apps and services over those from rivals. It is the first major action against the tech giant under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark law aimed at curbing the power of the world's biggest tech companies. The Commission argued Google's practices limited consumer choice and gave its own services an unfair advantage over rivals. But the firm criticised the decision, arguing the EU's requirements could damage services used by millions of European customers. To comply, we are having to strip away real-time Search features Europeans love - like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights and restaurants - and dismantle safety protections on Google Play, said Google's president of global affairs Kent Walker.