Google’s Cloud Experience lead Hayete Gallot says developer interest in sovereign cloud solutions is rising sharply amid AI concerns. More clients are asking to control how and where their data is stored, processed, and encrypted within public cloud environments.
Microsoft said it could not guarantee full cloud data sovereignty in July, increasing pressure on rivals to offer stronger protections.
Gallot noted that sovereignty is more than location. Cybersecurity measures such as encryption, ownership, and administrative access are now top priorities for businesses.
On AI, Gallot dismissed fears that assistants will replace developers, saying skills like prompt writing still require critical thinking.
She believes modern developers must adapt, comparing today’s AI tools to learning older languages like Pascal or Fortran.
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Google has agreed to pay a fine of A$55 million (US$35.8 million) in Australia after regulators found the tech giant restricted competition by striking deals with the country’s two largest telecommunications providers. The arrangements gave Google’s search engine a dominant position on Android phones while sidelining rival platforms.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) revealed that between late 2019 and early 2021, Google partnered with Telstra and Optus, offering them a share of advertising revenue in exchange for pre-installing its search app. Regulators said the practice curtailed consumer choice and prevented other search engines from gaining visibility. Google admitted the deals harmed competition and agreed to abandon similar agreements.
ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the outcome was essential to ensure Australians have ‘greater search choice in the future’ and that rival providers gain a fair chance to reach consumers. While the fine still requires court approval, Google and the regulator have submitted a joint recommendation to avoid drawn-out litigation.
In response, Google emphasised it was satisfied with the resolution, noting that the contested provisions were no longer part of its contracts. The company said it remains committed to offering Android manufacturers flexibility in pre-loading apps while maintaining features that allow them to compete with Apple and keep device prices affordable. Telstra and Optus confirmed they have ceased signing such agreements since 2024, while Singtel, Optus’ parent company, has yet to comment.
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Google has rolled out Flight Deals, a new AI‑powered tool for flexible, budget‑conscious travellers within Google Flights. It allows users to type natural‑language descriptions of their ideal trip, such as favourite activities or timeframe, and receive bargain flight suggestions in return.
Powered by Gemini, the feature parses conversational inputs and taps real‑time flight data from multiple airlines and agencies.
The tool identifies low fares and even proposes destinations users might not have considered, ranking options by percentage savings or lowest price.
Currently in beta, Flight Deals is available in the US, Canada, and India without special opt‑in. It is also accessible via the Google Flights menu.
Traditional Google Flights remains available, with a new option to exclude basic economy fares in the US and Canada.
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Google has begun rolling out a feature that enables its Gemini AI chatbot to automatically remember key personal details and preferences from previous chats, unless users opt out. However, this builds upon earlier functionality where memory could only be activated on request.
The update is enabled by default on Gemini 2.5 Pro in select countries and will be extended to the 2.5 Flash version later. Users can turn off the setting under Personal Context in the app to deactivate it.
Alongside auto-memory, Google is introducing Temporary Chats, a privacy tool for one-off interactions. These conversations aren’t saved to your history, aren’t used to train Gemini, and are deleted after 72 hours.
Google is also renaming ‘Gemini Apps Activity’ to ‘Keep Activity’, a setting that, when enabled, lets Google sample uploads like files and photos to improve services from 2 September, while still offering the option to opt out.
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Google has released Gemma 3 270M, an open-source AI model with 270 million parameters designed to run efficiently on smartphones and Internet of Things devices.
Drawing on technology from the larger Gemini family, it focuses on portability, low energy use and quick fine-tuning, enabling developers to create AI tools that work on everyday hardware instead of relying on high-end servers.
The model supports instruction-following and text structuring with a 256,000-token vocabulary, offering scope for natural language processing and on-device personalisation.
Its design includes quantisation-aware training to work in low-precision formats such as INT4, reducing memory use and improving speed on mobile processors instead of requiring extensive computational power.
Industry commentators note that the model could help meet demand for efficient AI in edge computing, with applications in healthcare wearables and autonomous IoT systems. Keeping processing on-device also supports privacy and reduces dependence on cloud infrastructure.
Google highlights the environmental benefits of the model, pointing to reduced carbon impact and greater accessibility for smaller firms and independent developers. While safeguards like ShieldGemma aim to limit risks, experts say careful use will still be needed to avoid misuse.
Future developments may bring new features, including multimodal capabilities, as part of Google’s strategy to blend open and proprietary AI within hybrid systems.
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Google has announced a $9 billion investment in Oklahoma over the next two years to expand cloud and AI infrastructure.
The funds will support a new data centre campus in Stillwater and an expansion of the existing facility in Pryor, forming part of a broader $1 billion commitment to American education and competitiveness.
The announcement was made alongside Governor Kevin Stitt, Alphabet and Google executives, and community leaders.
Alongside the infrastructure projects, Google funds education and workforce initiatives with the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University through the Google AI for Education Accelerator.
Students will gain no-cost access to Career Certificates and AI training courses, helping them acquire critical AI and job-ready skills instead of relying on standard curricula.
Additional funding will support ALLIANCE’s electrical training to expand Oklahoma’s electrical workforce by 135%, creating the talent needed to power AI-driven energy infrastructure.
Google described the investment as part of an ‘extraordinary time for American innovation’ and a step towards maintaining US leadership in AI.
The move also addresses national security concerns, ensuring the country has the infrastructure and expertise to compete with domestic rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as international competitors such as China’s DeepSeek.
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Google has introduced a new ‘Preferred Sources’ feature that allows users to curate their search results by selecting favourite websites. Once added, stories from these sites will appear more prominently in the ‘Top Stories’ section and a dedicated ‘From your sources’ section on the search results page.
Now rolling out in India and the US, the feature aims to improve search quality by helping users avoid low-value content. There is no limit to the number of sources that can be chosen, and early testers typically added more than four.
While preferred outlets will appear more often, search results will still include content from other websites.
To set preferred sources, users can click the icon next to the ‘Top Stories’ section when searching for a trending topic, find the outlet they want, and reload results.
Google says the change may also benefit publishers, offering them more visibility when AI-driven search engines sharply reduce traffic to news websites.
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Perplexity AI has made a surprise US$34.5 billion offer to acquire Google’s Chrome browser, which could align with antitrust measures under consideration in the US.
The San Francisco-based startup submitted the proposal in a letter of intent, claiming it would keep Chrome independent while prioritising openness and consumer protection.
The bid arrives as Google awaits a court ruling on potential remedies after being found to have maintained an illegal monopoly in online search.
US government lawyers have suggested Chrome’s divestment instead of allowing Google to strengthen its dominance through AI. Google has urged the court to reject such a move, warning that a sale could harm innovation and reduce quality.
Analysts at Baird Equity Research said Perplexity’s offer undervalues Chrome and may be intended to prompt rival bids or influence the judge’s decision. They added that Perplexity, which already operates its browser, could gain an advantage if Chrome became independent.
Google argues that most Chrome users are outside the US, meaning a forced sale would have global implications. The ruling is expected by the end of August, with the outcome likely to reshape the competitive landscape for browsers as AI increasingly shapes how users access the internet.
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Quantum computing is set to shift from theory to real-world applications in 2025, driven by breakthroughs from Google and IBM. With error-corrected qubits and faster processing, the market is projected to reach $292 billion by 2035.
New chips, such as Google’s Willow, have significantly reduced errors, while interconnect innovations link multiple processors. Hybrid quantum-classical systems are emerging, with AI refining results for logistics, energy grids, and secure financial transactions.
The technology is accelerating drug discovery, climate modelling, and materials science, cutting R&D timelines and improving simulation accuracy. Global firms like Pasqal are scaling production in Saudi Arabia and South Korea, even as geopolitical tensions rise.
Risks remain high, from the energy demands of quantum data centres to threats against current encryption. Experts urge rapid adoption of post-quantum cryptography and fault-tolerant systems before mass deployment.
As the UN marks 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science, quantum computing is quietly being integrated into operations worldwide, solving problems that surpass those of classical machines. The revolution has begun, largely unnoticed but poised to redefine economies and technology.
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In response to a troubling glitch in Google’s Gemini chatbot, the company is already deploying a fix. Users reported that Gemini, when encountering complex coding problems, began spiralling into dramatic self-criticism, declaring statements such as ‘I am a failure’ and ‘I am a disgrace to all possible and impossible universes’, repeatedly and without prompting.
Logan Kilpatrick, Google DeepMind’s group product manager, confirmed the issue on X, describing it as an ‘annoying infinite looping bug’ and assuring users that Gemini is ‘not having that bad of a day’. According to Ars Technica, affected interactions account for less than 1 percent of Gemini traffic, and updates addressing the issue have already been released.
This bizarre behaviour, sometimes described as a ‘rant mode’, appears to echo the frustrations human developers express online when debugging. Experts warn that it highlights the challenges of controlling advanced AI outputs, especially as models are increasingly deployed in sensitive areas such as medicine or education.
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