GOOGL

Google has been fined €403 million by Ireland's Data Protection Commission for breaches of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. The Irish Times reports the decision by the regulator, which oversees many major US tech firms because of their European headquarters in Ireland. The penalty is one of the largest GDPR fines issued to date, underlining continued EU scrutiny of how large technology companies handle users' personal data.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission has fined Google €403 million following an inquiry into how the company processes users' location data. The decision, announced by the Irish regulator, adds to a series of major European privacy penalties against large technology firms. The case highlights ongoing regulatory scrutiny of how tech companies collect and use location information without fully transparent user consent.

A new antitrust lawsuit targets Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI and Google, alleging the AI companies agreed among themselves to slow the pace of AI development. Plaintiffs claim the arrangement was planned for months before the firms publicly framed the agreement as responsible self-regulation, arguing it was instead self-serving collusion that restricted competition in the fast-moving AI market.

Daniel Gultsch, developer of the Android XMPP chat app Conversations, has announced the app is now free and is breaking up with Google Play. In a blog post he explains the decision to leave Google's store and stop charging for the app, a move drawing attention among open-source and messaging communities who see it as a notable stance against app store fees and platform dependence.

Google has unveiled Project Suncatcher, a research initiative to place machine learning infrastructure in space, using solar-powered satellites to scale AI compute beyond Earth. Google published details and early findings on its research blog. The proposal is drawing attention for its ambition and for questions about cost, thermal challenges, and whether orbital data centers are realistic.

Meta has launched Muse, a new AI agent, adding to the company's expanding artificial intelligence portfolio. Details about the agent's capabilities, availability and intended uses remain limited, but the announcement is drawing attention as major tech firms race to deploy AI assistants and agents. Observers are watching to see how Muse compares with competing AI products from OpenAI, Google and others.

A Norwegian ScienceTech News report cites a study finding that children and teenagers aged 9 to 18 are moving away from Google search and turning to AI chatbots for information instead. Researchers reportedly say the consequences of this shift are not yet known, raising questions about how young people evaluate answers from generative AI compared with traditional search results.

Google researchers report that the hacking group ShinyHunters has broadened its cyberattacks targeting Oracle's PeopleSoft software. The finding points to an expanding campaign against enterprise systems widely used by large organisations for human resources and financial management. The report adds to growing concern over ShinyHunters, already linked to a string of high-profile data theft incidents affecting major technology companies.

Alibaba has launched Qwen Intelligence as a full-stack agentic AI platform designed for smartphones. The move positions Alibaba's Qwen models to power on-device AI agents capable of handling tasks across apps, intensifying competition in the mobile AI space with rivals like Apple, Google and Samsung.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority has revised its plan for Google, proposing a 12-slot search choice screen for Android and Chrome users that would include AI assistants alongside traditional search engines. The proposal also requires clear attribution of publisher sources. It signals UK regulators moving to extend choice-screen remedies beyond search into the AI era.

Google is preparing to launch an experimental satellite into orbit, marking the first move by a major technology company toward building AI data centers in space. The project signals growing interest among Big Tech firms in orbiting infrastructure as a way to handle the enormous power and cooling demands of artificial intelligence computing, and it is drawing wide attention to the future of data infrastructure.

Google has begun testing a feature that lets users in India buy products from Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce platform owned by Walmart, directly through its Gemini assistant and AI Mode in Search. The trial points to a broader push to turn AI chat and search experiences into shopping channels, as tech companies race to blend conversational AI with online commerce.

Google has announced Project Suncatcher, an initiative to test its AI chips in space for the first time. The plan points to putting data-processing hardware aboard satellites, a step that could eventually move parts of AI computing off Earth. The announcement is drawing attention across the tech and semiconductor world, with observers weighing the engineering challenges of running chips in orbit and what it could mean for the future of data centers.

TensorFlow, Google's open-source machine learning framework, is trending on GitHub this week. The repository provides tools for building and training machine learning models, and is written largely in C++ with interfaces for Python and other languages. The posts visible are simply links to the repository with its standard description, so there is no specific release, announcement, or discussion evident from the snippets. Trending likely reflects renewed attention from developers, but the exact trigger is not clear from the posts.

Google is testing AI-powered shopping in India, letting users buy products from Walmart-owned Flipkart directly through its Gemini chatbot and AI Mode. The move allows purchases via conversational AI and is seen as a significant step toward agentic commerce, where AI assistants complete transactions on behalf of users rather than just recommending products.

Google is moving forward with its plan to test data centers in space, taking its unusual experiment beyond Earth. The idea is to run computing infrastructure on satellites, where solar power is more abundant and cooling is less constrained than on the ground. Commenters are treating it as one of the company's boldest infrastructure bets, with debate over whether orbital data centers can ever be practical or affordable.

Google is preparing to test its AI chips in space, according to a report carried by The Brussels Times. The move suggests the company is exploring how its custom AI hardware performs outside Earth, though details on the mission, timeline and partners have not been disclosed. Observers of the semiconductor and space industries are watching for what this could mean for satellite computing and data processing in orbit.

Google researchers say the hacking group ShinyHunters has broadened its attacks targeting Oracle's PeopleSoft software. The group, previously known for large-scale data theft campaigns, is reportedly exploiting vulnerabilities to compromise enterprise systems. The finding raises concerns for organizations running PeopleSoft, with security teams urged to patch systems and review exposure to the campaign.

Google is piloting the ability to purchase products from Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce platform owned by Walmart, directly through its Gemini AI assistant and AI Mode in Search. The test, reported in India, would let users complete purchases without leaving Google's AI interfaces, deepening the company's push into AI-powered commerce and tightening its ties with Flipkart.

Microsoft announced expanded Azure transparency reporting, new Surface devices and its own custom AI chips, strengthening its cloud and hardware lineup. The company is positioning the chips to reduce reliance on outside suppliers and to lower costs for AI workloads running across its data centres. Coverage focuses on how the moves fit Microsoft's broader push into artificial intelligence infrastructure alongside rivals such as Amazon, Google and Nvidia.

Google has rolled out a Health update that expands the fitness tracking capabilities of its Pixel Watch. The update adds broader health and activity monitoring features, strengthening the watch's position in the wearable fitness market as Google continues building out its hardware and health services ecosystem alongside Fitbit integration.

Alphabet stock rose slightly in premarket trading as retail investors stepped in to buy shares following a selloff triggered by the company's announced capital expenditure plans. The heavy spending outlook spooked investors previously, sending the stock lower, but individual traders are treating the drop as a buying opportunity and pushing shares back up.

Daniel Gultsch, developer of the Android XMPP messaging app Conversations, has announced the app is no longer being distributed through Google Play, explaining the decision in a post titled 'Breaking Up with Google Play'. The move has drawn attention on Hacker News and across the fediverse, where users are debating the practicality of leaving major app stores and what it means for open-source, privacy-focused messaging apps.

Birgitta Ohlsson is a Swedish politician from the Liberal Party who served as Minister for Gender Equality and later as Minister for EU Affairs and Trade. She has also worked internationally with the National Democratic Institute on democracy and human rights issues. The term is trending in Sweden on X and also appears high in Google searches, but the posts collected do not reveal what specifically sparked the current attention, so the reason for the trend is not clear from the evidence.