Trending Now Mashable Selects Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Getting Technical with Mashable Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Versus In My Bag Mashable @Home Top creators, ranked Creator Playbook All Series Don't get too excited about this one, but it's still important. Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Google has released the second beta for the third quarterly platform release of Android 17, available for installation on Pixel devices now.

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Chrome warns you about suspicious websites now - how to turn on Google's new scam protection Google's browser will flash two types of warnings based on whether the site is deemed dangerous or just suspicious. Lance Whitney is a technology journalist with an IT background. He's written for TechRepublic, PCMag, Macworld, and Time, among others, He also teaches classes in AI, cybersecurity, and social media. Chrome will now warn you about suspicious websites.

Image caption, DeepMind is Google's AI company Google is facing a backlash from some staff members over the company's deployment of its AI technology for military use. The BBC has spoken to several tech workers who have either recently resigned from Google's AI company, Google DeepMind, or are in the process of leaving, over concerns with the tech firm's military contracts. Sofia Liguori, a London-based research engineer, is one of them. She resigned from Google DeepMind this week and spoke about her concerns exclusively with the BBC, despite her contract restricting her from doing so. Realising my company is pushing more and more for AI systems in military operations makes me feel ashamed to work at Google, Liguori said, speaking in a personal capacity. Image caption, Sofia Liguori resigned from Google, saying the company's push for more AI technology in the military made her feel ashamed to work there In response, a Google spokesperson told the BBC: We work with public sector organisations worldwide and follow a consistent process for reviewing and entering these contracts, including compliance with our acceptable use policies and AI principles.

If you're one of the many CarPlay users who prefers Google Maps for navigation, Google has begun rolling out a small but meaningful update for the iOS version of Maps. Now you can use the company's conversational driving experience, Gemini in navigation, through CarPlay. With Maps open, you'll see a new Gemini icon toward the bottom right of the interface. Just tap the bottom to start asking questions of the company's chatbot. "It's a conversational way to find stops on-the-go, report traffic disruptions, get information about places, and more," Google explains, adding Gemini is particularly adept at answering multi-part questions like "what park is famous for gorgeous views overlooking the city?"

PCWorld reports that Google Chrome 156 introduces a new Media understanding feature, allowing users to ask Gemini AI to summarize or explain videos and audio content directly in the browser.

At the start of the year, Google debuted Personal Intelligence, a Gemini feature that allows the chatbot to pull information from your other Google apps to generate more personalized responses. An expansion in March brought Personal Intelligence to free accounts after it was previously only available to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. And now Google has begun rolling out the feature to Android Auto users. In practice, the company says today's update will improve Gemini's reasoning capabilities in cars. It will also make the assistant capable of delivering more specific details as they relate to your questions and prompts.

Hexa-Bouncer is the latest in a series of'useless but mildly interesting ball bouncing machines.' More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. The Hexa-Bouncer has one purpose--and one purpose only. In a world where tech leaders are racing to build autonomous machines that can do almost anything, one hobbyist is going the complete opposite route: an over-engineered robot that does exactly one thing and one thing only. T-Kuhn's Hexa-Bouncer only bounces a ping-pong ball, but looks like it's capable of far more.

Getting Technical with Mashable Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Versus Trending Now In My Bag Mashable @Home Top creators, ranked Creator Playbook All Series Google says Gemini 4 Argon agents beat'Minecraft' without human help The team of AI agents took down the Ender Dragon after 605 deaths. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and . Google claims its newest AI model, Gemini 4 Argon, just beat -- no human help required.

Governments around the world have moved to ban these AI platforms from app stores. Governments around the world have moved to ban these AI platforms from app stores. US teens can access'nudify' apps despite Apple and Google's parental controls, report finds In December 2025, Morgan Dorfman received distressing news: a student at her daughter's Pennsylvania high school was making AI-generated pornographic material using the daughter's image. He was using an artificial intelligence image-editing app called Movely to create sexual videos from pictures of her daughter and five other girls. What Dorfman's daughter experienced is not an anomaly: students in high schools across the US are reporting similar cases.

Disney Asked Character.AI to Go Bankrupt for a Get-Out-of-Lawsuits Card The entertainment giant hopes to get trust and safety tech, among other IP, from a startup whose chatbots dozens of states allege encouraged minors to self-harm and kill their parents. This week, Character.AI declared bankruptcy. While some saw the fall of a chatbot platform as a harbinger for the industry, court filings indicate that the decision was actually a key part of a deal that has let Disney hire most of Character.AI's staff--including its now former CEO Karandeep Anand --potentially acquire most of Character.AI's technology, and avoid the beleaguered startup's many legal liabilities and obligations. In the past few years, Character.AI has faced multiple private lawsuits over the safety of its chatbots, as well as investigations from regulators around the world. In a declaration filed as part of the bankruptcy, Character.AI's newly appointed CEO explained that the goal of the bankruptcy was to reach a "consensual resolution" with personal injury claimants and a group of states investigating the company, while maximizing the value of the company's assets for shareholders.