Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Not impressed with Google Maps? Make Waze your default on Pixel - here's how If you're tired of Google Maps failing to get you where you need to go, set Waze as the default on your Pixel. I've finally figured out how. Jack Wallen is what happens when a Gen Xer mind-melds with present-day snark.

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Gemini on Android Auto can access my photos, emails, and calendar now - why I'm OK with that (mostly) The latest Android Auto update lets the AI assistant tap into your Google services for context-based responses. Kerry Wan is a Senior Contributing Editor and a former Editor-in-Chief of ZDNET. Google is rolling out Gemini Personal Intelligence on Android Auto starting today. This gives the AI assistant access to your Photos, Gmail, Calendar, and more.

I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen With Google set to retire Assistant, and Gemini not exactly the replacement many of us want, Dicio is a solid option. Dicio is a solid replacement for Google Assistant. Dicio handles basic tasks very well (including hands-free calling). The free app's main drawback is that it does not work with Android Auto. I recently wrote about the problems Gemini has with reliably making hands-free calls .

I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen With Google Assistant shutting down this fall, Android users will be left with inferior voice calling, thanks to Gemini. Google is removing Assistant as an option in September. This leaves only Gemini for things like hands-free calling. Gemini is not nearly as reliable as Assistant for this feature. Google is officially shutting down its Assistant tool in September, leaving Android with only one official option for a digital assistant: Gemini.

Google I/O, the company's big annual developer conference, is almost upon us . But the company isn't waiting until then to reveal what it has in store for Android. There was just far too much news on that front to squeeze into the I/O keynote, so Google revealed the details in the latest edition of The Android Show today. And, my goodness, were there a lot of details to reveal. From Gemini Intelligence and new laptops in the form of Googlebooks to an AirDrop-related update and Instagram editing tools in Android, Google had plenty of announcements to make. So, without further ado, here's an overview of everything Google announced during The Android Show: I/O edition.

You'll soon be able to generate your own widgets or ask Gemini to finish a booking in Chrome on Android. The Google I/O annual developer conference is around the corner--May 19--but in what is quickly becoming a tradition, Google announced new features for Android and Gemini a week early. The news came on Tuesday via the second-ever Android Show on YouTube . This livestreamed presentation helps Google spread out the cavalcade of updates from the often jam-packed I/O keynote. The Android Show focused on new features in Android 17, the next version of Android coming later this summer, as well as several updates to the Gemini assistant experience. It continues the theme set last year by Sameer Samat, president of the Android ecosystem, of turning Android into an "intelligent operating system."

The app reads your email inbox and your meeting calendar, then gives you a short audio summary. It can help you spend less time scrolling, but of course, there are privacy drawbacks to consider.

Gear News of the Week: Matter 1.5 Adds Smart Home Camera Support, and Gemini Comes to Android Auto Plus: Omega debuts a new Seamaster Planet Ocean, and DJI has a new action camera. The promise of interoperability for your smart home gadgets that Matter was supposed to bring has been a slow process, but it is starting to deliver, and the addition of cameras in the 1.5 release may be its biggest win yet. The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) says the latest release supports all kinds of cameras, so we're talking indoor security cameras, outdoor security cameras, video doorbells, baby monitors, and pet cameras . This could vastly improve a seriously fractured landscape, enabling you to easily add and access your cameras on whatever platform you choose. It's also something that can potentially be delivered in a software update, so some of the cameras you already own might get Matter support.

With the release of Android 14 creeping closer, Google just announced a makeover for the Android brand, which was last updated in 2019. The logo has been modernized, and the Android mascot, called Bugdroid, has a fresh 3D look. The company also unveiled a handful of new features for Google apps and Android devices, including a Google Assistant-powered widget and the option to store digital versions of library and gym cards in your Google Wallet. The new look is designed to "reflect Android's core ethos of being open, iterative, and inclusive." From now on, it's Android with a capital "A," and the Android logo has grown curvier, bringing it closer to the style of the Google logo.

The opening keynote address of the Google I/O developer conference today was stuffed with announcements of new devices and AI-powered features coming to familiar software tools. The company leaned hard into generative computing, loudly characterizing itself as a decades-long leader in AI tech. It also gleefully put AI at the forefront of nearly every service and device it operates, including the new Pixel phones and tablet it unveiled today. Here are all of Google's announcements from I/O 2023. Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh announces the Pixel Fold on stage.