Google

UK probes Apple and Google over ‘mobile ecosystem’ market power

Government & Policy /

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching so-called “strategic market status” (SMS) investigations into the mobile ecosystems of Apple and Google. The investigations constitute part of the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) which passed last year and came into effect in January. The Act includes provisions for digital markets regulation […]

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Google buys part of HTC’s XR business for $250 million

Gadgets /

Google has agreed to acquire a part of HTC’s extended reality (XR) business for $250 million, expanding its push into virtual and augmented reality hardware following the recent launch of its Android XR platform. The deal involves transferring some of the HTC VIVE engineering staff to Google and granting non-exclusive intellectual property rights, according to

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This Week in AI: OpenAI gains an invaluable infrastructure advantage

AI /

Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. If you want this in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. OpenAI is making gains at the expense of its chief rivals. On Tuesday, the company announced the Stargate Project, a new joint venture involving Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, Oracle, and others to build AI infrastructure for OpenAI in

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Samsung Unpacked: Google makes Circle to Search more helpful

Apps /

At Samsung Unpacked 2025 on Wednesday, Google announced that it’s updating Circle to Search to make it easier for users to find information and get things done. The feature, which launched last year, allows people to search from anywhere on their phone by using gestures like circling, highlighting, scribbling, or tapping. Now Google is expanding

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Samsung Unpacked: The Samsung Galaxy S25’s side button fires up Google Gemini

Hardware /

A new day has dawned for the Samsung side button. At Samsung Unpacked 2025 on Wednesday, the company announced a small — but meaningful — tweak arriving on the Galaxy S25 line. As it continues to focus more efforts on mobile AI, Samsung is offering up easier access to Google Gemini, by way of the

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YouTube launches speed controls and high-quality audio tests for Premium users

Apps /

YouTube said Wednesday that it is adding new experimental features for Premium users, including high-quality audio, a faster playback speed option on mobile, and the ability to “jump ahead” on the web to skip to the more intriguing part of the video. The company routinely tests new features that users can activate from youtube.com/new. The company

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Anthropic reportedly secures an additional $1B from Google

AI /

Anthropic has reportedly raised around $1 billion from Google as the AI company looks to deliver a number of major product updates this year. First reported by the Financial Times, Google’s fresh investment brings the tech giant’s total stake in Anthropic to around $3 billion. Google poured $2 billion into Anthropic late last year. Anthropic,

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Google hit with $12.6M fine in Indonesia for monopolistic practices in payment system

Enterprise /

Indonesia’s antitrust agency KPPU fined Google 202.5 billion Rupiahs, equivalent to $12.6 million, on Wednesday for antitrust violation related to its payment system services for the Google Play Store. The KPPU ordered the search giant to cease the mandatory use of Google Play Billing in the Google Play Store. It also asked Google to let

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Employees of failed startups are at special risk of stolen personal data through old Google logins

Startups /

As if losing your job when the startup you work for collapses isn’t bad enough, now a security researcher has found that employees at failed startups are at particular risk of having their data stolen. This ranges from their private Slack messages to Social Security numbers and, potentially, bank accounts. The researcher who discovered the

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