Author: n Ryan Whitwamn

Google announces even more AI in Photos app, powered by Nano Banana

Google’s Nano Banana is powering a raft of new features in the app.

We’re running out of ways to tell you that Google is releasing more generative AI features, but that’s what’s happening in Google Photos today. The Big G is finally making good on its promise to add its market-leading Nano Banana image-editing model to the app. The model powers a couple of features, and it’s not just for Google’s Android platform. Nano Banana edits are also coming to the iOS version of the app.

Nano Banana started making waves when it appeared earlier this year as an unbranded demo. You simply feed the model an image and tell it what edits you want to see. Google said Nano Banana was destined for the Photos app back in October, but it’s only now beginning the rollout. The Photos app already had conversational editing in the “Help Me Edit” feature, but it was running an older non-fruit model that produced inferior results. Nano Banana editing will produce AI slop, yes, but it’s better slop.

Nano Banana in Help me edit

Google says the updated Help Me Edit feature has access to your private face groups, so you can use names in your instructions. For example, you could type “Remove Riley’s sunglasses,” and Nano Banana will identify Riley in the photo (assuming you have a person of that name saved) and make the edit without further instructions. You can also ask for more fantastical edits in Help Me Edit, changing the style of the image from top to bottom.

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Commercial spyware “Landfall” ran rampant on Samsung phones for almost a year

Targeted attack could steal all of a phone’s data and activate camera or mic.

Another day, another malware attack on smartphones. Researchers at Unit 42, the threat intelligence arm of Palo Alto Networks, have revealed a sophisticated spyware known as “Landfall” targeting Samsung Galaxy phones. The researchers say this campaign leveraged a zero-day exploit in Samsung Android software to steal a raft of personal data, and it was active for almost a year. Thankfully, the underlying vulnerability has now been patched, and the attacks were most likely targeted at specific groups.

Unit 42 says that Landfall first appeared in July 2024, relying on a software flaw now catalogued as CVE-2025-21042. Samsung issued a patch for its phones in April 2025, but details of the attack have only been revealed now.

Even if you were out there poking around the darker corners of the Internet in 2024 and early 2025 with a Samsung Galaxy device, it’s unlikely you’d be infected. The team believes Landfall was used in the Middle East to target individuals for surveillance. It is currently unclear who was behind the attacks.

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Gemini Deep Research comes to Google Finance, backed by prediction market data

Deep Research and predictions based on Kalshi and Polymarket data are coming soon to Google Finance.

Google has announced new features in the popular Google Finance platform, and it leans heavily on Google’s tried-and-true strategy of more AI in more places. This builds on Google’s last Finance update, which added a Gemini-based chatbot. Now, Google is adding Gemini Deep Research to the site, which will allow users to ask much more complex questions. You can also ask questions about the future, backed by new betting market data sources.

The update, which is rolling out over the next several weeks, will add a Deep Research option to the Finance chatbot. The company claims that with the more powerful AI, users will be able to generate “fully cited” research reports on a given topic in just a few minutes. So you can expect an experience similar to Deep Research in the Gemini app—you give it a prompt, and then you come back later to see the result.

You probably won’t want to bother with Deep Research on simple queries—there are faster, easier ways to get that done. Google suggests using Deep Research on more complex things, like the doozy below.

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Google settlement with Epic caps Play Store fees, boosts other Android app stores

Google will make several changes to Android app support globally, supported through at least 2032.

Google has spent the last few years waging a losing battle against Epic Games, which accused the Android maker of illegally stifling competition in mobile apps. Losses in court left Google to make sweeping changes to the Play Store, but Google appeared poised to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court. That is unlikely now that Epic and Google have reached a settlement in the case. It still needs to be approved by the judge, but the agreement provides a framework for long-term changes to Android app distribution that would apply globally.

Late last month, Google was forced to make the first round of mandated changes to the Play Store to comply with the court’s ruling. It grudgingly began allowing developers to direct users to alternative payment options and app downloads outside of Google’s ecosystem. By next summer, Google was supposed to open up Android to third-party app stores in a big way.

These changes were only mandated for three years and in the United States. The new agreement includes a different vision for third-party stores on Android—one that Google finds more palatable and that still gives Epic what it wants. If approved, the settlement will lower Google’s standard fee for developers. There will also be new support in Android for third-party app stores that will reduce the friction of leaving the Google bubble. Under the terms of the settlement, Google will support these changes through at least June 2032.

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So long, Assistant—Gemini is taking over Google Maps

Gemini is rolling out to Maps on Android and iOS, with Android Auto coming soon.

Google is in the process of purging Assistant across its products, and the next target is Google Maps. Starting today, Gemini will begin rolling out in Maps, powering new experiences for navigation, location info, and more. This update will eventually completely usurp Google Assistant’s hands-free role in Maps, but the rollout will take time. So for now, the smart assistant in Google Maps will still depend on how you’re running the app.

Across all Gemini’s incarnations, Google stresses its conversational abilities. Whereas Assistant was hard-pressed to keep one or two balls in the air, you can theoretically give Gemini much more complex instructions. Google’s demo includes someone asking for nearby restaurants with cheap vegan food, but instead of just providing a list, it suggests something based on the user’s input. Gemini can also offer more information about the location.

Maps will also get its own Gemini-infused version of Lens for after you park. You will be able to point the camera at a landmark, restaurant, or other business to get instant answers to your questions. This experience will be distinct from the version of Lens available in the Google app, focused on giving you location-based information. Maybe you want to know about the menu at a restaurant or what it’s like inside. Sure, you could open the door… but AI!

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Meet Project Suncatcher, Google’s plan to put AI data centers in space

Google is already zapping TPUs with radiation to get ready.

The tech industry is on a tear, building data centers for AI as quickly as they can buy up the land. The sky-high energy costs and logistical headaches of managing all those data centers have prompted interest in space-based infrastructure. Moguls like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have mused about putting GPUs in space, and now Google confirms it’s working on its own version of the technology. The company’s latest “moonshot” is known as Project Suncatcher, and if all goes as planned, Google hopes it will lead to scalable networks of orbiting TPUs.

The space around Earth has changed a lot in the last few years. A new generation of satellite constellations like Starlink has shown it’s feasible to relay Internet communication via orbital systems. Deploying high-performance AI accelerators in space along similar lines would be a boon to the industry’s never-ending build-out. Google notes that space may be “the best place to scale AI compute.”

Google’s vision for scalable orbiting data centers relies on solar-powered satellites with free-space optical links connecting the nodes into a distributed network. Naturally, there are numerous engineering challenges to solve before Project Suncatcher is real. As a reference, Google points to the long road from its first moonshot self-driving cars 15 years ago to the Waymo vehicles that are almost fully autonomous today.

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Google removes Gemma models from AI Studio after GOP senator’s complaint

Sen. Marsha Blackburn says Gemma concocted sexual misconduct allegations against her.

You may be disappointed if you go looking for Google’s open Gemma AI model in AI Studio today. Google announced late on Friday that it was pulling Gemma from the platform, but it was vague about the reasoning. The abrupt change appears to be tied to a letter from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who claims the Gemma model generated false accusations of sexual misconduct against her.

Blackburn published her letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Friday, just hours before the company announced the change to Gemma availability. She demanded Google explain how the model could fail in this way, tying the situation to ongoing hearings that accuse Google and others of creating bots that defame conservatives.

At the hearing, Google’s Markham Erickson explained that AI hallucinations are a widespread and known issue in generative AI, and Google does the best it can to mitigate the impact of such mistakes. Although no AI firm has managed to eliminate hallucinations, Google’s Gemini for Home has been particularly hallucination-happy in our testing.

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“Unexpectedly, a deer briefly entered the family room”: Living with Gemini Home

Gemini for Home unleashes gen AI on your Nest camera footage, but it gets a lot wrong.

You just can’t ignore the effects of the generative AI boom.

Even if you don’t go looking for AI bots, they’re being integrated into virtually every product and service. And for what? There’s a lot of hand-wavey chatter about agentic this and AGI that, but what can “gen AI” do for you right now? Gemini for Home is Google’s latest attempt to make this technology useful, integrating Gemini with the smart home devices people already have. Anyone paying for extended video history in the Home app is about to get a heaping helping of AI, including daily summaries, AI-labeled notifications, and more.

Given the supposed power of AI models like Gemini, recognizing events in a couple of videos and answering questions about them doesn’t seem like a bridge too far. And yet Gemini for Home has demonstrated a tenuous grasp of the truth, which can lead to some disquieting interactions, like periodic warnings of home invasion, both human and animal.

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Leaker reveals which Pixels are vulnerable to Cellebrite phone hacking

Cellebrite can apparently extract data from most Pixel phones, unless they’re running GrapheneOS.

Despite being a vast repository of personal information, smartphones used to have little by way of security. That has thankfully changed, but companies like Cellebrite offer law enforcement tools that can bypass security on some devices. The company keeps the specifics quiet, but an anonymous individual recently logged in to a Cellebrite briefing and came away with a list of which of Google’s Pixel phones are vulnerable to Cellebrite phone hacking.

This person, who goes by the handle rogueFed, posted screenshots from the recent Microsoft Teams meeting to the GrapheneOS forums (spotted by 404 Media). GrapheneOS is an Android-based operating system that can be installed on select phones, including Pixels. It ships with enhanced security features and no Google services. Because of its popularity among the security-conscious, Cellebrite apparently felt the need to include it in its matrix of Pixel phone support.

The screenshot includes data on the Pixel 6, Pixel 7, Pixel 8, and Pixel 9 family. It does not list the Pixel 10 series, which launched just a few months ago. The phone support is split up into three different conditions: before first unlock, after first unlock, and unlocked. The before first unlock (BFU) state means the phone has not been unlocked since restarting, so all data is encrypted. This is traditionally the most secure state for a phone. In the after first unlock (AFU) state, data extraction is easier. And naturally, an unlocked phone is open season on your data.

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Google makes first Play Store changes after losing Epic Games antitrust case

Google is begrudgingly letting developers lead users away from the Play Store.

Since launching Google Play (née Android Market) in 2008, Google has never made a change to the US store that it didn’t want to make—until now. Having lost the antitrust case brought by Epic Games, Google has implemented the first phase of changes mandated by the court. Developers operating in the Play Store will have more freedom to direct app users to resources outside the Google bubble. However, Google has not given up hope of reversing its loss before it’s forced to make bigger changes.

Epic began pursuing this case in 2020, stemming from its attempt to sell Fortnite content without going through Google’s payment system. It filed a similar case against Apple, but the company fell short there because it could not show that Apple put its thumb on the scale. Google, however, engaged in conduct that amounted to suppressing the development of alternative Android app stores. It lost the case and came up short on appeal this past summer, leaving the company with little choice but to prepare for the worst.

Google has updated its support pages to confirm that it’s abiding by the court’s order. In the US, Play Store developers now have the option of using external payment platforms that bypass the Play Store entirely. This could hypothetically allow developers to offer lower prices, as they don’t have to pay Google’s commission, which can be up to 30 percent. Devs will also be permitted to direct users to sources for app downloads and payment methods outside the Play Store.

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