PCWorld tested Google's new Magic Pointer, an AI-powered mouse feature for upcoming Googlebooks that uses Gemini to interpret gestures for tasks like image editing and web interactions. The feature represents Google's attempt to revolutionize computer interaction through AI, potentially allowing users to edit documents or book reservations with simple mouse movements. Early testing reveals the Magic Pointer shows promise but remains clunky and limited, requiring significant improvements before becoming truly useful for everyday computing tasks. A signature feature of Google's upcoming Googlebooks promises to put a fresh AI twist on one of the oldest computer interfaces: the mouse pointer. With the Magic Pointer, a product of Google's DeepMind lab, you'll be able to wave the pointer at an object or area on the computer screen and simply tell Gemini what you want it to do-anything from editing the image you're pointing at to adding ingredients from a recipe to a shopping list, with the AI-enabled mouse pointer acting as a shortcut for prompting. The Magic Pointer is one of top-line features for Google's new Googlebooks, the Gemini-powered successor to Chromebooks that are due in the fall.

Googlebook Is Google's New AI-Powered Laptop Platform Built on Android They won't replace Chromebooks, but Googlebooks have an Android-centered operating system, AI-first features like the Magic Pointer, and a promise of desktop-grade apps. Almost exactly 15 years since Google introduced Chromebooks and ChromeOS --which ushered a wave of cheap, functional, web-based laptops that would come to dominate the US education market--the company has announced a new laptop platform called Googlebook. It's built around artificial intelligence and Android, and while it isn't replacing Chromebooks, it could give the company a more meaningful foothold in the premium computer market. Google announced the platform on The Android Show on YouTube, where it also detailed new features coming in Android 17 and Gemini Intelligence (you can read more about that here). Google is purposefully not sharing the operating system's name yet (it was codenamed Aluminium OS internally); Googlebook is the platform, and Dell, Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo have all signed up to produce Googlebooks coming later this fall.