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Google must give rival AI assistants and search engines greater access to key parts of Android and Google Search after the European Union ordered the company to comply with the bloc's digital antitrust rules.

The two decisions, handed down Thursday, could weaken Google's control over two of the tech industry's most important platforms and have far-reaching consequences for the company, shape the future of its AI tool Gemini, and open up new opportunities for rivals to gain ground. Google has until January 2027 to begin sharing search data and July 2027 to implement changes to Android.

The rulings stem from technical regulatory proceedings …

Read the full story at The Verge.

A Google e a Epic Games retiraram esta semana o acordo que tinham alcançado para alterar uma decisão judicial nos Estados Unidos. A gigante tecnológica terá agora de abrir a Play Store a lojas de aplicações de terceiros a partir de 22 de julho.

The post Google abre Play Store a lojas de apps de terceiros nos Estados Unidos a partir deste mês appeared first on Tek Notícias.

Big changes are coming to Android apps, but they're not the changes Google wanted. The settlement between Google and Epic that aimed to put to rest the companies' long-running antitrust battle is being withdrawn, and that means third-party app stores are coming to the Play Store. Google has confirmed that it will begin distributing rival app stores next week, setting the stage for competing platforms to take a bite out of Google's Android revenue stream.

This case has the potential to upend software distribution on Android, and it's all because of V-Bucks. In 2020, Epic Games was frustrated that it had to pay a 30 percent cut to Apple and Google every time someone bought a bundle of V-Bucks in a mobile version of Fortnite. The publisher added a direct purchase option to the game in violation of both Apple's and Google's rules. Naturally, Fortnite was pulled from the App Store and Google Play, kicking off the antitrust lawsuit that is only now reaching its conclusion.

While Apple suffered little penalty in its Epic case, Google was tripped up by its anti-competitive management of the supposedly open Android ecosystem. Google used its market position to discourage device makers from promoting or pre-loading non-Google app stores and attempted to hide that conduct. The remedies set by Judge James Donato included lower fees, mirroring Google Play apps in other stores, and most vitally, placement of alternative app stores in Google Play.

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Big changes are coming to Android apps, but they're not the changes Google wanted. The settlement between Google and Epic that aimed to put to rest the companies' long-running antitrust battle is being withdrawn, and that means third-party app stores are coming to the Play Store. Google has confirmed that it will begin distributing rival app stores next week, setting the stage for competing platforms to take a bite out of Google's Android revenue stream.

This case has the potential to upend software distribution on Android, and it's all because of V-Bucks. In 2020, Epic Games was frustrated that it had to pay a 30 percent cut to Apple and Google every time someone bought a bundle of V-Bucks in a mobile version of Fortnite. The publisher added a direct purchase option to the game in violation of both Apple's and Google's rules. Naturally, Fortnite was pulled from the App Store and Google Play, kicking off the antitrust lawsuit that is only now reaching its conclusion.

While Apple suffered little penalty in its Epic case, Google was tripped up by its anti-competitive management of the supposedly open Android ecosystem. Google used its market position to discourage device makers from promoting or pre-loading non-Google app stores and attempted to hide that conduct. The remedies set by Judge James Donato included lower fees, mirroring Google Play apps in other stores, and most vitally, placement of alternative app stores in Google Play.

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Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis called for the establishment of a new US-led regulatory framework to govern frontier AI, proposing a self-regulatory structure which could bypass political opposition.

In a post on X, Hassabis warned the breakneck pace of commercial and geopolitical competition is currently outstripping the industry’s understanding of the technology.

He noted the arrival of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is likely only a few short years away.

To address looming technical, biological, and cybersecurity risks without stifling innovation, Hassabis proposed creating a new US standards body.

He modelled it after a self-regulatory organisation like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), rather than a traditional government agency.

The structural choice comes amid heavy resistance to AI regulation from the tech industry and shifting policies from the Trump administration.

The FINRA-style blueprint would be staffed by leading technical experts and open-source representatives but primarily funded by the industry to secure the massive compute resources needed for testing.

TechCrunch reported the proposed system would replace the current, highly criticised ad hoc government reviews previously used for models like Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI’s Sol.

Those reviews drew fire from industry onlookers for a distinct lack of technical expertise and opaque decision-making, according to the news outlet.

Under Hassabis’s framework, the independent body would define thresholds to classify models as Frontier-Class. Organisations behind them, dubbed Frontier Labs, would eventually be required to pass the independent assessments to deploy in the US market.

Hassabis stated assessments would check for advanced threats, deception, and guardrail bypass attempts. The standards body could also outsource specific evaluations to a growing ecosystem of independent, third-party AI safety groups.

He argued the approach is designed to keep up with AI’s acceleration, allowing the industry to safely steer toward an era of scientific abundance while addressing the Trump administration’s concern over state-mandated red tape.

The post DeepMind CEO seeks US standards body for frontier AI appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Group of major publishers accuses the tech giant of ‘one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history’

A group of major publishers have filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of illegally using millions of copyrighted books to help build its Gemini artificial intelligence models, in “one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history”.

The case, filed in federal court in New York, has been brought by three publishers – Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier – and bestselling American author Scott Turow.

Switzerland’s competition authority launched a preliminary antitrust investigation into Google after it scrapped a search engine selection feature for Swiss users setting up Android devices.

In a statement, the country’s Secretariat of the Competition Commission (COMCO) accused Google of discontinuing the Android Choice Screen feature for users in Switzerland while continuing to offer it in the European Economic Area (EEA).

The screen allows users to select their preferred default search engine during the initial setup of a new Android device.

Swiss users are apparently now presented with Google Search as the default option without being shown the Choice Screen. The watchdog argued this could strengthen the search giant’s position by reducing the visibility of rival providers and “reinforcing barriers to entry” at a critical stage of device setup.

The Choice Screen is designed to reduce “the lock-in effects associated with preconfigured settings”, noting default settings “play a decisive role” in digital markets, the regulator stated.

The watchdog flagged broader competition concerns, stating the change “could affect the ability of search engine providers and, more broadly, other digital service providers to compete”.

A further point of concern for COMCO was the continued availability of the feature in the EEA, arguing the disparity “creates an unequal treatment…even though the competitive issues are comparable”.

Wider assessment
The preliminary investigation will determine whether Google’s conduct breaches Switzerland’s Cartel Act, under which COMCO can impose administrative fines of up to 10% of a company’s Swiss turnover over the previous three years.

“We look forward to cooperating fully with the authority to address ​their questions,” a Google spokesperson told Reuters.

While the probe is focused on Android, the watchdog added its findings “could also be relevant to the assessment of practices related to default settings on other mobile devices”.

Early this year, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a similar antitrust investigation into Google’s mobile ecosystem over concerns the company used its market power to set up barriers against rival services and favour their own products.

The post Google faces Swiss antitrust probe over search defaults appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Microsoft, Amazon and Google say they still aim to achieve net zero output despite construction boom

Microsoft, Amazon and Google’s collective carbon emissions have increased by nearly a fifth in the past year, driven largely by datacentre construction.

In the financial year ending March 2026, the three tech companies emitted 119m mTCO₂e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), or about a third of those of France.

Google has announced its next Made By Google event, taking place on August 12 in New York City. Google's invite doesn't name names, but the imagery clearly shows a new Pixel phone that looks a whole lot like last year's phone. Some new rumors, however, suggest the updated phones will come with inflated price tags courtesy of the AI-driven component shortage.

The sleek lines of the phone in the teaser image are a dead ringer for Google's last few Pixel phones, and that matches some early rumors. Google's new phones will have similar shapes, with the Pro and Pro Fold models perhaps shaving off a little thickness. The most notable design change will probably be the rumored "Pixel Glow" lights, a rear-facing notification and status light.

Recent reports claim that Google is finally doing away with the base 128GB storage option for the smaller phones. In 2025, both the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro started at 128GB of storage, a bit lacking for a modern flagship device at a time when people don't upgrade as often. Google will reportedly move to 256GB as the base storage for both phones.

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Back in 2018, Google was handed a record-setting 4.34 billion-euro ($4.9 billion) fine in Europe for abusing its monopoly on Android. The company has spent the intervening years challenging that decision, but the continent's highest court has put a stop to that. The Court of Justice of the European Union has affirmed the penalty, meaning Google is out of options.

Google's fight may not have turned out the way the company wanted, but it wasn't for nothing. The initial amount was trimmed slightly by a lower court in 2022, bringing the total to a still record-setting 4.1 billion euros ($4.7 billion). And that looks like the amount Google will have to pay since there are no further avenues for appeal.

The fine stems from the way Google bundles apps and services with Android phones. The EU took issue with Google search and Chrome being the default options on Android. Even devices made by other companies, such as Samsung and Xiaomi, include Google apps as the default per the Android licensing agreement, giving Google an unfair advantage, according to European antitrust regulators. This is not to be confused with a 2.95 billion euro ($3.45 billion) fine against Google's advertising monopoly issued by the European Union last year.

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