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.

With Google's recent partnership with Mercedes-Benz, a "next-generation navigation experience" is not too far away. In this deal, Google Maps will provide geospatial data and navigation capabilities for the car manufacturer, while Mercedes-Benz will use Google Cloud's AI and machine learning capabilities to create, train and deploy AI models at speed. This will enhance customer experience, alongside building faster and more efficient data processing platforms to analyse fleet data. Additionally, it also plans to leverage Google's open infrastructure to secure and scale from on-prem to the edge to the cloud, across its technology ecosystem. Google chief Sundar Pichai said that the company will provide AI and data capabilities to accelerate their sustainability efforts, advance autonomous driving, and create an enhanced customer experience.

Google is updating critical features for the millions of drivers who depend on its technology to help them get around. The tech giant announced the upcoming changes Thursday to Google Assistant and Android Auto driving modes and a new automaker, Honda, will have Google technology installed in its vehicles. Google said that drivers using Google Assistant on Android phones will soon see a new dashboard they say will reduce "the need to fiddle with your phone while also making sure you stay focused on the road." Instead of scrolling while driving, Google said drivers could tap to see who just called or sent a text and have access to several apps to listen to music with the new dashboard. The dashboard will also include a new messaging update where drivers can say, "Hey Google, turn on auto-read," to hear their new messages read aloud when they come in and respond by voice.

Google and Ford have announced a first-of-its-kind partnership "that promises to transform both Ford and the auto industry," Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian, told reporters during a virtual press conference on Monday. "We both believe that the relationship between Google and Ford will establish an innovation powerhouse," David McClelland, Ford vice president strategy and partnerships, added. "It will accelerate the modernization of our business and Ford, and most importantly, it will let us exceed our customers expectations." The under the terms of the six-year partnership, Ford has named Google as its preferred cloud provider and, beginning in 2023, millions of Ford and Lincoln vehicles will operate using Android Auto (just as we saw in the Polestar 2) with Google apps, such as Assistant and Maps, embedded into the infotainment system. But don't worry iPhone owners, Ford will continue to support Apple CarPlay and Amazon Alexa functionality moving forward.

Car manufacturers are catching on the new tech wave. After the pandemic hit and social-distancing became our new normal, a personal vehicle became one of the safest ways to travel -- with proper sanitation, of course. And as we're all moving to a touchless future, the automotive industry is no exception. According to the study by Voicebot.ai While analysts from Frost & Sullivan predict that the importance of digital voice assistants in automotive branding will increasingly grow. We believe that in the next few years, voice technology will become one of the key drivers transforming the automotive industry.

In the ongoing war for control of the digital space that is the modern car, Google just conquered a major swath of territory. This week, it and General Motors announced that the tech giant's Android operating system will underpin the infotainment systems in GM's cars, starting with some model year 2022 vehicles. For future Chevy, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC drivers, that means built-in access to Google Maps and the ability to use Google Assistant to make calls, send texts, tune the radio, and more, without plugging in their phones. For GM, it's an admission that people don't want its house-made infotainment tech, and to give them what they do want. For Google, it's more direct access to more consumers--GM accounts for 17 percent of new car sales in the US--in the rare place where they're not supposed to have their phone in their hand.

The demo house Amazon built inside one of the towers at its Seattle headquarters to show off its Echo smart speakers has a new room, and an important one: a garage. Inside the garage is a concept electric car--or, more specifically, the immobile insides of such a vehicle--that Amazon uses to show automakers the full spectrum of things its Alexa Auto software platform can do. That includes in-car versions of typical Alexa tasks such as audio streaming, messaging, voice calls, and reminders. And because it's a car, Alexa can also do things like roll the windows up and down and control the cabin temperature, all at the verbal request of the driver. Amazon has been working hard on Alexa Auto for the past two years.