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May 19, 2026, 10:05 PM
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| New York Times: |
Google overhauls its search box, letting users ask longer queries, upload photos and videos, and use Gemini 3.5 Flash-powered agents to automate searches — Powered by a new Gemini A.I. model, the tech giant is overhauling its search box to answer longer queries, introducing a video-generation …
More: TechCrunch, The Keyword, The Guardian, The Verge, VentureBeat, PYMNTS, Adweek, Android Central, Near Media, Inc, Constellation Research, Engadget, Tom's Guide, MakeUseOf, PCMag, Associated Press, Inc, TechRadar, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mashable, Fast Company, Times of India, Moneycontrol, Yahoo Finance, ZDNET, Aftermath, Crypto Briefing, Business Today, and The Sun
X: @rmstein, @alexgroberman, @iwatchiam, @shishirshelke1, @garrettkidney, @5le, @lvlstothis, @mikeisaac, @andrewcurran_, @loudmouthjulia, @markocantdunk, @duckduckgo, @loudmouthjulia, @googleai, @alliekmiller, @google, @mediaevan, @officiallogank, @wongmjane, @loudmouthjulia, and @dearmadisonblue. LinkedIn: Dale Askey
Bluesky: @heykellyjensen, @jjaron, @aleyda, and @loudpenitent
Mastodon: @zrail@hachyderm.io and @stefan@stefanbohacek.online
Forums: r/BetterOffline, r/Fauxmoi, r/technology, and Slashdot
| The Keyword: |
Google rolls out Gemini 3.5 Flash, its “strongest agentic and coding model yet”, for tackling long-horizon agentic tasks, in the Gemini app and Search's AI Mode — Gemini 3.5 is built to help you execute complex, agentic workflows. — Today, we're introducing Gemini 3.5 …
More: The Keyword, Techstrong.ai, TestingCatalog AI News, Runtime, Inc, The Next Web, WinBuzzer, iClarified, and Tech Times
X: @koraykv, @theo, @emollick, @levie, @rakyll, @synthwavedd, @andonlabs, @deredleritt3r, @victortaelin, @_arohan_, @teortaxestex, @mweinbach, @sundarpichai, @koraykv, @github, @mweinbach, @scaling01, @newsfromgoogle, @artificialanlys, @artificialanlys, @teksedge, @lafaiel, @kchonyc, @jeffdean, @officiallogank, @thomasortk, @deryatr_, @scaling01, @mark_k, @noamshazeer, @kimmonismus, @scaling01, @oriolvinyalsml, @mattturck, @_simonsmith, @koraykv, @championswimmer, @scaling01, @artificialanlys, @koraykv, @noamshazeer, @jeffdean, @noamshazeer, @mweinbach, and @levie. LinkedIn: Ashish Gupta
Forums: Hacker News and r/Bard
| Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog: |
More: The Verge, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, DigiTimes, The Next Web, and Livemint
X: @lafaiel, @lyalindotcom, @theo, @simonw, and @daniel_mac8
| Lance Whitney / ZDNET: |
Google restructures its AI plans, introducing a $100/month AI Ultra plan for developers and cutting the top-tier Ultra subscription from $250 to $200/month — ZDNET's key takeaways — Google has introduced a cheaper AI Ultra plan at $100 a month. — The full Ultra Plan is now $50 cheaper at $200 a month.
More: The Keyword, Thurrott, Phandroid, WinBuzzer, Android Police, and 9to5Google
| Josh Woodward / The Keyword: |
Google says the Gemini app has 900M+ MAUs across 230 countries, up from 400M at I/O 2025, and launches Neural Expressive, a new design language for Gemini — Gemini is becoming a more helpful AI assistant, with an intuitive new UI, proactive daily briefs and Gemini Spark, an agent to help you get things done around the clock.| Ina Fried / Axios: |
More: The Economic Times, Wired, Business Insider, The Register, Mumbrella, OSnews, Agence France-Presse, Fortune, Reuters, Digit, The Deep View, MobileSyrup, Yahoo Finance, Crypto Briefing, Livemint, The A.V. Club, and CNET
X: @officiallogank, @edzitron, @google, @mweinbach, @kimmonismus, and @alliekmiller. Bluesky: @jamespmcleod.ca
| Mariella Moon / Engadget: |
Google announces Gemini Spark, a “24/7 personal AI agent” that is powered by Gemini 3.5 and supports integrations with Google Workspace apps, including Gmail — The AI agent is rolling out to testers this week. — Google has announced a “24/7 personal AI agent” … | Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: |
Google unveils Universal Cart, a shopping assistant that works “across merchants”, built on the Universal Commerce Protocol, rolling out in the US today — At I/O on Tuesday, Google introduced Universal Cart, its so-called agentic hub for managing shopping in one place.
More: The Keyword, SiliconANGLE, Google on YouTube, Search Engine Journal, The Next Web, and 9to5Google
X: @backlon, @vidssrinivasan, and @google
| Daniel Cooper / Engadget: |
More: The Verge, 9to5Google, Bloomberg, PhoneArena, The Next Web, GB News, AndroidGuys, CNET, and Droid Life
| Carl Franzen / VentureBeat: |
Google launches the Gemini Omni multimodal model, saying it can “create anything from any input”, starting with video generation, for Google AI subscribers — Although it was already discovered by intrepid AI power users weeks ahead of the official unveiling today at Google's annual …
More: The Keyword, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, Gizmodo, XDA Developers, TestingCatalog AI News, The Verge, The Tech Portal, PhoneArena, Business Today, Moneycontrol, Tech Times, Digital Trends, NPowerUser, PCMag, Decrypt, CNET, and The Decoder
X: @googledeepmind, @emollick, @sundarpichai, @venturetwins, @sundarpichai, @googleai, @google, @google, @googleai, @googledeepmind, @geminiapp, @championswimmer, @geminiapp, @officiallogank, @kimmonismus, @google, @google, @google, @joshwoodward, @ammaar, @geminiapp, @natanielruizg, @clmt, @demishassabis, and @googleai
| Sanuj Bhatia / Android Central: |
Google adds a conversational search feature to YouTube and rolls out the new Gemini Omni model in YouTube Shorts Remix and the Create app — Seriously, who is asking for all these tools? … What you need to know — Ask YouTube now supports conversational searches instead of relying only on simple keywords.
More: YouTube Official Blog, CNET, PhoneArena, Pocket-lint, Tom's Guide, Neowin, Mashable, 9to5Google, and Search Engine Journal
| Macy Meyer / CNET: |
More: The Keyword, SiliconANGLE, Wired, Android Central, and Fast Company
| Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: |
Google introduces Antigravity 2.0, featuring an updated desktop app that lets users orchestrate multiple agents, alongside an Antigravity CLI tool and SDK — Google is introducing a new version of its agentic coding app, Google Antigravity 2.0, with an updated desktop app, a CLI tool, and an SDK for custom workflows.| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Google's web-based AI Studio now lets users build native Android apps; Google says the apps are for personal use only for now and publishing is on the roadmap — The AI coding boom is now coming directly for Android app development. On Tuesday, Google announced new native Android app creation capabilities …
More: Android Developers Blog, The Keyword, The New Stack, How-To Geek, PCMag, Crypto Briefing, and The Verge
| Madison Mills / Axios: |
Andrej Karpathy joins Anthropic to help launch a team focused on using Claude to accelerate pretraining research; he helped found OpenAI and worked at Tesla — Andrej Karpathy, one of the best-known AI researchers in the world and a founding member of OpenAI, announced Tuesday that he's joining rival AI lab Anthropic.
More: TechCrunch, Business Insider, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Next Web, The New Stack, The Decoder, Wall Street Journal, Implicator.ai, San Francisco Business Times, VentureBeat, MarketWatch, The Information, The Economic Times, and Neowin
X: @karpathy, @nickevanjoseph, @mtslive, @signulll, @phequals7, @nottombrown, @infoxiao, @chamath, @chshersh, @bcherny, @jackclarksf, @katedeyneka, @zck, @stevehou, @growing_daniel, @jeremyphoward, @ccatalini, @alexeheath, @emostaque, @swyx, @jxnlco, @scaling01, @alexalbert__, @julien_c, @inafried, @yuchenj_uw, @benhylak, @polynoamial, @teortaxestex, @yuchenj_uw, @daveshapi, @altryne, @himanshustwts, @jbulltard1, @rasmic, @helloitsaustin, @avitalbalwit, @rasbt, @scobleizer, @claudedevs, @amritwt, @scaling01, @iterintellectus, @miles_brundage, @__nmca__, @film_girl, @yuchenj_uw, @signulll, @levelsio, @levie, @andrewcurran_, @natolambert, @_sholtodouglas, @sleepinyourhat, @elonmusk, @trq212, and @bentossell
LinkedIn: Vimox Shah and Michael Koker
Forums: Hacker News, r/singularity, and Slashdot
| Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer: |
Threat actors published 600+ malicious versions to npm as part of the Shai-Hulud supply chain campaign; most of the affected packages are in the @antv ecosystem — Threat actors earlier today published more than 600 malicious packages to the Node Package Manager (npm) index as part of a new Shai-Hulud supply-chain campaign.| Wired: |
Hands-on with Google and Samsung's Android XR smart glasses from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, and with XReal's Project Aura, all set to arrive this fall — Here's your first look at smart glasses coming from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, powered by Google and Samsung's XR platform.
More: The Keyword, BBC, The Information, SiliconANGLE, Gizmodo, Engadget, Tom's Guide, MacRumors, MobileSyrup, Android Police, Channel NewsAsia, Barron's Online, Android Authority, PhoneArena, Fortune India, Digital Trends, PCMag, SamMobile, AndroidGuys, Bloomberg, TechRadar, The Verge, T3, GamesBeat, CNET, Crypto Briefing, iPhone in Canada, Road to VR, The Verge, CNET, Gizmodo, and Times of India
X: @studio_vron, @mikeisaac, @jmdagdelen, @qualcomm, @android, @vadimyuryev, @benz145, @google, @anshelsag, @grace_huckins, and @snapdragon. Bluesky: @julianchokkattu. Threads: @warbyparker. Forums: r/Android
| New York Times: |
Meta begins laying off 8,000 employees, or 10% of staff, in a push to become an AI-first company; another 7,000 workers will be reassigned to AI initiatives — Meta told employees last month that it would carry out mass layoffs on May 20, as the Silicon Valley giant tries to transform into an A.I.-first company.| Hayden Field / The Verge: |
Google says it is expanding access to CodeMender, an “AI agent for code security” it debuted in October, by inviting select groups of experts to test the API — The company is marketing its CodeMender tool as a way to “help secure the world's code bases.”| Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: |
| Lauren Feiner / The Verge: |
The Take It Down Act, a law requiring social networks to remove nonconsensual intimate images within 48 hours of reporting or face fines, took effect on May 19 — The Take It Down Act is in full force, but it could be a gift to government censors — not victims of image-based sexual abuse.
More: Gizmodo, Wired, CNET, Techdirt, Indicator, Federal Trade Commission, NewsOn6.com, Free Malaysia Today, Tech Times, CNN, Federal Trade Commission, and MyNewsLA.com
X: @repmariasalazar, @senkatiebritt, @sentedcruz, @amyklobuchar, @firstladyoffice, and @sentedbuddnc
Bluesky: @eff.org and @socialmedialab.ca
| Damien Wilde / 9to5Google: |
Google teases Android Halo, which makes an AI agent's status visible via “subtle communication” at the top of the phone screen, coming later this year — At Google IO, we were given a tease of an upcoming “Android Halo” feature that, at least on first glance, isn't clear how or what it will do.| Bloomberg: |
Sources: SpaceX expects to proceed with its acquisition of Cursor 30 days after its public trading debut, which is expected to occur on June 12 — SpaceX expects to proceed with its acquisition of artificial intelligence coding startup Cursor 30 days after Elon Musk's company begins trading publicly …
More: The Information and The Next Web
| Jess Kinghorn / PC Gamer: |
Discord says voice and video calls outside of stage channels are now end-to-end encrypted by default, after launching its encryption protocol in September 2024 — “Likely one of the internet's most platform-diverse E2EE voice and video implementations.”
More: Discord Blog, BleepingComputer, TechCrunch, Engadget, and The Next Web. Bluesky: @durumcrustulum.com
| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
Plex says the price for the Lifetime tier of its Plex Pass plan will increase from $249.99 to $749.99 in July — Plex has announced a massive price increase for the Lifetime tier of its Plex Pass plan. Starting in July, Plex says that the Lifetime Plex Pass price will increase from $249.99 to a whopping $749.99.
More: Plex, AppleInsider, MacRumors, The Verge, Pocket-lint, XDA Developers, MakeUseOf, and iPhone in Canada
X: @film_girl. Bluesky: @arik.org, @lastgamerontheleft, @ernie.tedium.co, and @rohmersimpson. Threads: @chancehmiller
Mastodon: @tommorris@mastodon.social and @dangillmor@mastodon.social
Forums: r/Piracy, r/pcmasterrace, r/technology, r/homelab, and r/mobiles
| OpenAI: |
OpenAI introduces Guaranteed Capacity, a new offering that lets customers guarantee access to OpenAI's compute through one- to three-year commitments — Guarantee long-term access to OpenAI compute for the products, agents, and customer workflows that matter most. — Plan for capacity Contact sales
More: CNBC and The Deep View
X: @mweinbach, @gdb, @edzitron, @edzitron, @nickadobos, @_simonsmith, @sama, @sk7037, @openai, @sama, @scaling01, @quinnypig, @iatalkspace, and @borismpower. LinkedIn: Denise Holland Dresser
| John Voorhees / MacStories: |
Apple unveils Apple Intelligence-powered accessibility features, subtitles generated on device, a Vision Pro feature for controlling power wheelchairs, and more — In what I expect will be an overarching theme at WWDC 2026, Apple's Accessibility group took the wraps off an impressive collection of features coming later this year.
More: Apple, Macworld, Engadget, MacRumors, Six Colors, Thurrott, 9to5Mac, The Tech Portal, Tom's Guide, PCMag, and The Indian Express
X: @aaronp613, @chancehmiller, @dylanmcd8, @samhenrigold, @tim_cook, @aaronp613, and @dylanmcd8
LinkedIn: Tobias Nyhuus Jensen, Janette Barrios, and Graham Crowley
| Jackson Chen / Engadget: |
Google debuts Gemini for Science, a set of experimental tools that help researchers generate hypotheses, conduct testing, and understand scientific literature — Three new features will be available under the Gemini for Science collection. — As society helplessly watches tech giants infuse AI …
More: The Keyword, Google Research, CNET, Google DeepMind, labs.edisonscientific.com, Nature, Google Antigravity on YouTube, and Nature
X: @emollick, @pushmeet, @vivnat, @erictopol, @deryatr_, @ckbjimmy, and @keranrong. Forums: Hacker News
| Reuters: |
Trump signs an EO calling on regulators and the Fed to review policies that could support fintech growth, including expanding fintech access to payment accounts — U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday calling on regulators and the Federal Reserve to review rules …
More: The White House, PYMNTS, The White House, CoinDesk, ABA Banking Journal, Bitcoin News, CoinGape, Bloomberg, and Semafor. X: @senlummis
| Bobby Allyn / NPR: |
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has signed the nation's first law banning prediction market sites from operating in the state; the CFTC has sued Minnesota in response — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has signed the nation's first law banning prediction market sites from operating in the state …
More: CFTC, Decrypt, New York Times, Courthouse News Service, Engadget, Reuters, and The Verge
LinkedIn: Melinda Roth. Bluesky: @yeets.biz. Mastodon: @npr_bot@m.ai6yr.org and @markmetz@sfba.social
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