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Google Initiates Cookie Slaughter: Chrome’s Tracking Overhaul Begins January 4th

In a groundbreaking move, Google has announced its commencement of the long-awaited dismantling of internet cookies, scheduled to kick off on January 4th. The initial phase will witness the blocking of cookies for 1% of Chrome users, totaling approximately 30 million individuals. This marks the inaugural step in Google’s Privacy Sandbox project, designed to replace traditional cookies with an alternative tracking system, purportedly offering enhanced privacy features.

For the past three decades, websites and tech companies have heavily relied on “third-party cookies” to track consumers online. The prevalence of these cookies has allowed businesses, including Google, to collaboratively monitor users’ online activities, raising concerns about privacy infringement.

In lieu of cookies, Google has introduced a new suite of tools that empowers the Chrome browser to internally track users’ online behavior. This data remains on the user’s device, with the browser categorizing individuals into distinct groups, or “Ad Topics,” such as “Yoga Fan” or “Young Conservative.” While websites can inquire about these categories, they are unable to pinpoint the user’s identity, a departure from the conventional use of cookies.

Although Chrome continues to track user activity, a departure from browsers like Firefox and Safari, Google’s revamped version represents a notable stride in privacy preservation. Despite ongoing tracking, this new iteration discloses less information about users and their internet activities.

Victor Wong, Google’s senior director of product management for Privacy Sandbox, emphasized the significant shift, stating, “We are making one of the largest changes to how the Internet works at a time when people, more than ever, are relying on the free services and content that the web offers.”

While these Privacy Sandbox cookie replacements are currently available on the Chrome browser as an optional tool, their adoption signifies a substantial shift given Chrome’s dominance in the browser market. Users have the flexibility to disable these features in their settings if they find them undesirable.

The impending changes may cause disruptions, given the integral role cookies play in various online functions. Google acknowledges potential issues and is actively working to identify and retain essential cookies while phasing out intrusive ones. Users can disable the new “Tracking Protection” tool on demand, and Chrome will prompt users to disable it for specific websites if complications arise.

Come January 4th, a select 1% of users will experience “Tracking Protection” by default, denoted by a distinctive eyeball logo in the URL bar. As Google progresses with its cookie elimination initiative, this transformation stands as a significant milestone in shaping the future landscape of internet privacy.

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Google Launches Duet AI for Developers with Powerful Gemini Model Integration

Google has officially released Duet AI for Developers, a suite of AI-powered assistance tools designed for code completion and generation. The company has announced the general availability of the tool, revealing plans to incorporate Google’s robust Gemini model in the upcoming weeks.

While code completion and generation tools have become commonplace, Google stands out by collaborating with 25 companies. These partners, including Confluent, HashiCorp, and MongoDB, are contributing datasets to assist developers in building and troubleshooting applications specific to their platforms.

The collaborative effort extends beyond code completion, with partners such as Datadog, JetBrains, and Langchain providing documentation and knowledge sources. This data aims to enhance the Duet AI for Developers chat experience, offering information on creating test automation, resolving production issues, and addressing vulnerabilities.

Richard Seroter, Chief Evangelist for Google Cloud, highlighted the ambition to eliminate developer toil and enhance the coding experience using AI. The goal is to create an AI assistant that integrates seamlessly into developers’ tools while incorporating Google’s expertise.

The integration involves training the model on the latest cloud-native practices and incorporating it into the Google Cloud Console, along with popular IDEs that developers commonly use. Seroter emphasized that Google views the Duet AI product family, including Duet AI in Security Operations, as enterprise-grade, with features such as enterprise access controls and Google’s indemnification guarantee.

Google’s approach aligns with the broader industry narrative, emphasizing that AI coding tools, including Duet AI, are complementary to developers’ skills rather than replacements. Productivity gains have been reported, with Turing, an AI-powered tech services company, experiencing a 33% increase after adopting Duet AI for Developers.

Duet AI for Developers currently supports over 20 languages, including C, C++, Java, JavaScript, and Python. Beyond coding capabilities, it features AI log summarization and error explanation integrated with Google’s Cloud Logging. Additionally, Smart Actions provide one-click shortcuts for tasks like unit test generation.

Until the end of January 2024, Duet AI for Developers will be available for free. Post that period, the subscription cost will be $19 per user per month with an annual commitment.

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Revolutionizing Conversations: Kobie AI Unlocks Interactive Dialogue with Historical Figures

In a groundbreaking approach to artificial intelligence (AI), Kobie Fuller’s innovative use of generative AI, known as Kobie AI, is shedding light on the positive aspects of technology. One notable application is the ability to interact with historical figures such as James Lowry, an influential yet lesser-known figure in the Black experience in America.

Image: James Lowry

James Lowry AI for DEI: Transforming Insights into Interactive Conversations

James Lowry, whose history is deeply intertwined with the Black experience in America, is brought to life through Kobie Fuller’s AI experiment. The tool, Kobie AI, allows users to engage with Lowry’s experiences, particularly focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). By feeding Lowry’s book, “Change Agent,” into a large language model, users can now pose questions and receive sophisticated and in-depth answers based on Lowry’s actual words and deeds.

Unlocking Wisdom: Kobie AI’s Role in Preserving and Sharing Life Experiences

Lowry, who dedicated his life to promoting investment in historically underrepresented communities, authored the book as a means of sharing his experiences with the world. Recognizing that not everyone will read the entire book, Lowry sees AI as a powerful tool to allow people to grasp the essence of his journey by simply asking questions.

Interactive Learning: Kobie AI as a Teaching Tool for Future Generations

The AI platform begins with a prompt inviting users to explore DEI topics and seek wisdom from Lowry’s life journey. Students, historians, DEI professionals, or anyone interested can inquire about DEI issues or delve into specific moments in Lowry’s life, creating an interactive dialogue that can serve as a teaching tool for understanding the experiences of a Black man in American business.

Generative AI’s Potential: Transforming Historical Narratives

As Kobie Fuller continues to explore the capabilities of this technology, the interactive dialogue with James Lowry is just one example of how generative AI can be a powerful vehicle for understanding diverse experiences. From facilitating conversations about DEI to immortalizing the wisdom of historical figures, Kobie AI showcases the transformative potential of AI in shaping our understanding of the past.

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Epic Games Scores Legal Victory Against Google in Monopoly Case

Three years after initiating legal action against tech giants Apple and Google, Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, has secured a significant win. The jury in the case of Epic v. Google has rendered its verdict, concluding that Google transformed its Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service into an illegal monopoly.

Following just a few hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously affirmed Google’s monopoly power in the Android app distribution and in-app billing services markets. They found that Google engaged in anticompetitive practices within these markets, causing harm to Epic. Additionally, the jury determined that Google established an illegal tie between its Google Play app store and Google Play Billing payment services. The distribution agreement, Project Hug deals with game developers, and dealings with OEMs were all deemed anticompetitive.

In response, Google’s Vice President of Affairs and Public Policy, Wilson White, stated that the company plans to appeal the verdict. White emphasized that the trial underscored Google’s fierce competition with Apple and other app stores on Android devices and gaming consoles.

Epic Games celebrated the verdict in a blog post, asserting, “Today’s verdict is a win for all app developers and consumers around the world. It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal, and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition, and reduce innovation.”

This legal triumph is noteworthy, particularly in contrast to Epic’s previous legal battle against Apple two years ago, which resulted in a loss. In the case of Epic v. Google, the focus was on undisclosed revenue-sharing agreements between Google, smartphone manufacturers, and major game developers. These deals, believed internally by Google executives to suppress rival app stores, exposed Google’s apprehension about Epic. Unlike the Apple ruling, the outcome was determined by a jury.

The specific remedies and implications of this victory are yet to be determined by Judge James Donato. Epic did not seek monetary damages but aims for a court declaration granting app developers the freedom to introduce their own app stores and billing systems on Android. The judge will meet with both parties in January to discuss potential remedies.

While Epic CEO Tim Sweeney suggested potential financial gains in the hundreds of millions or even billions if relieved from paying Google’s fees, Judge Donato has already indicated that he won’t grant an anti-circumvention provision as an additional measure.

Google’s Wilson White reiterated their commitment to challenging the verdict, emphasizing the openness and choice provided by Android and Google Play compared to other major mobile platforms.

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Google’s AI-Powered Note-Taking App, NotebookLM, Launches Widely in the US with New Features

Google’s experimental AI-driven note-taking application, NotebookLM, is now widely accessible in the United States, accompanied by several new features. The company announces that NotebookLM is “beginning” to utilize Google’s Gemini Pro AI model to enhance document understanding and reasoning.

Already capable of tasks such as summarizing imported documents, extracting key points, and answering questions about note sources, NotebookLM now offers the ability to transform notes into various document formats. Users can select the desired notes, and the app will automatically suggest formats like outlines or study guides. Additionally, users have the option to specify a custom format, such as an email, script outline, newsletter, and more.

The updated NotebookLM introduces suggested actions based on user activities within the app. For instance, if a user is writing a note, NotebookLM may automatically provide tools to refine prose or suggest related ideas from sources. Other new features include the ability to save useful responses as notes, share notes with others, and direct the app’s AI focus on specific sources during interactions.

Google is also expanding some of NotebookLM’s limitations. Users can now include up to 20 sources in their notebooks, each with a capacity of up to 200,000 words. Originally introduced as “Project Tailwind” at Google’s I/O conference in May, NotebookLM was initially available to a limited group of testers before this wider release. The expansion grants access to all users aged 18 and older in the US and comes shortly after Google unveiled Gemini, its GPT-4 competitor.

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Google’s Gemini Demo Raises Questions About Transparency and Accuracy

In a recent demonstration video titled “Hands-on with Gemini: Interacting with multimodal AI,” Google showcased its GPT-4 competitor, Gemini, with high expectations. However, a Bloomberg opinion piece highlights concerns about the video’s accuracy and transparency.

According to Bloomberg, Google admitted that parts of the video were staged, with edits made to accelerate the outputs, as disclosed in the video description. The implied voice interaction between a human user and the AI, touted in the demonstration, was revealed to be non-existent. Instead, the actual demo involved the creation of interactions by “using still image frames from the footage and prompting via text,” rather than responding to real-time drawing or object changes on the table.

The lack of a disclaimer about the actual input method raises questions about the readiness of Gemini, portraying a less impressive capability than the video implies. While Google denies any wrongdoing, referencing a post by Gemini’s co-lead, Oriol Vinyals, stating that “all the user prompts and outputs in the video are real,” critics argue that the tech giant should exercise more sensitivity in its presentations, especially given the increased scrutiny from both the industry and regulatory authorities on AI practices.

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Google Unveils Major Upgrade for Bard, its AI Chatbot, Empowered by Gemini

Google has announced a substantial update for Bard, its generative AI chatbot and competitor to ChatGPT. The company claims that this update will significantly boost Bard’s capabilities by integrating Gemini, Google’s latest and most advanced AI model. The incorporation of Gemini is expected to enhance Bard’s reasoning, planning, understanding, and other functionalities.

Gemini is available in three sizes – Ultra, Pro, and Nano – making it adaptable for deployment on a range of devices, from mobile phones to data centers.

The rollout of Gemini to Bard will occur in two phases. Initially, Bard will receive an upgrade with a specially tuned version of Gemini Pro. In the following year, Google plans to introduce Bard Advanced, offering users access to the top AI model, starting with Gemini Ultra.

The version of Bard featuring Gemini Pro will initially be available in English across more than 170 countries and territories globally, with additional languages and countries, including the EU and U.K., to follow soon.

Before its public launch, Gemini Pro underwent industry-standard benchmark testing. Google reports that Gemini outperformed GPT-3.5 in six out of eight benchmarks, including significant multitask language understanding tasks and grade school math reasoning. However, it’s worth noting that GPT-3.5 is over a year old, leading some to view this as more of a catch-up move rather than an outright improvement, as highlighted by TechCrunch’s Kyle Wiggers.

The enhancements brought by Gemini are expected to make Bard more proficient in tasks such as content understanding and summarization, reasoning, brainstorming, writing, and planning.

Sissie Hsiao, VP and GM of Assistant and Bard at Google, described this upgrade as the “biggest single quality improvement of Bard since we’ve launched.”

Gemini Pro will initially power text-based prompts in Bard, with plans to expand to multimodal support (texts, images, or other modalities) in the coming months.

In 2024, Bard Advanced will debut, offering a new experience powered by Gemini’s most capable model, known as Gemini Ultra. This model can comprehend and act on various types of information, including text, images, audio, video, and code, with multimodal reasoning capabilities. Gemini Ultra can also understand, explain, and generate high-quality code in popular programming languages, according to Google.

Google will launch a trusted tester program for Bard Advanced before a broader release early next year. Additionally, the company will subject Bard Advanced to additional safety checks before its official launch.

This update follows several improvements to Bard over the past eight months, including features like answering questions about YouTube videos and integrating with various Google apps and services. With Gemini, Google aims to bring users “the best AI collaborator in the world,” acknowledging that Bard is not quite there yet.

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Google Powers Data Centers with Innovative Geothermal Project in Nevada

In a groundbreaking initiative, Google has successfully launched a pioneering geothermal project in Nevada, in collaboration with startup Fervo. This venture employs cutting-edge technology to harness geothermal power, different from conventional methods, with a capacity to generate 3.5 MW. The electricity generated will support two of Google’s data centers outside Las Vegas and Reno, contributing to Google’s commitment to achieving carbon pollution-free electricity 24/7 by 2030.

This unique geothermal endeavor, conceived in 2021, deviates from typical geothermal plants by utilizing an existing geothermal field on the outskirts. Fervo’s innovative approach involves drilling two horizontal wells to pump water through hot rocks, creating steam on the surface. The closed-loop system not only reuses water but also incorporates fiber optic cables for real-time data monitoring, drawing inspiration from practices in the oil and gas industry.

Google’s investment in geothermal energy aligns with its strategy to diversify clean energy sources, viewing geothermal power as a crucial element in maintaining a consistent energy supply alongside intermittent sources like wind and solar. Besides the Nevada project, Google has partnered with Project InnerSpace to address geothermal development challenges globally, signaling a broader commitment to sustainable energy solutions.

While the specifics of future geothermal deployments for data centers remain undisclosed, Google’s move reflects a strategic shift to reduce the environmental impact of its energy-intensive data operations. This innovative geothermal project represents a significant leap forward, supported not only by Google but also by climate-focused entities such as Breakthrough Energy Ventures and the US Department of Energy.

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Google Implements Two-Year Inactivity Cleanup to Bolster Security

In a bid to enhance cybersecurity and minimize potential risks, Google is set to purge inactive accounts that have not been accessed for at least two years starting this week.

Google introduced this policy in May, emphasizing its goal to mitigate security threats. Internal assessments revealed that dormant accounts are more susceptible to security issues, often employing outdated security measures like recycled passwords and lacking two-step verification. This makes them vulnerable to threats such as hacking, phishing, and spam.

Warnings have been issued to affected users since August, with repeated alerts sent to both impacted accounts and user-provided backup emails. The initial phase of the cleanup targets accounts that were created but never revisited by users.

The move is part of Google’s commitment to safeguard users’ private information and prevent unauthorized access, even for those no longer actively using their services, as outlined in an August policy update.

Google accounts encompass a range of services, including Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Photos. Consequently, all content within the Google suite of an inactive user is at risk of deletion.

Exceptions to the cleanup include accounts with active YouTube channels, those with remaining gift card balances, accounts used for purchasing digital items, and those with published apps on platforms like the Google Play store.

This decision represents a departure from Google’s previous policy in 2020, where user content was wiped from services they had ceased using, but the accounts remained active.

Oren Koren, CPO and Co-founder of cybersecurity firm Veriti, asserts that deleting old accounts is a crucial step in bolstering security. Old accounts are often perceived as low risk, creating opportunities for malicious actors. Deleting such accounts compels hackers to create new ones, now requiring phone number verification. Additionally, it eliminates older data that may have been compromised in a data breach.

Koren stated, “By proactively removing these accounts, Google effectively shrinks the attack surface available to cybercriminals,” highlighting a broader trend in cybersecurity: taking preemptive steps to fortify overall digital security landscapes.

To retain your account, a simple login to any Google service once every two years, along with activities such as reading an email, watching a video, or performing a single search, is sufficient.

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