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Good morning. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Today I’m reading more about Anthropic’s strange new text watermarking process, watching this historic Joshua Baéz home run recap on repeat, listening to the incredible new Phoebe Bridgers album, and getting stuck into Daniel Mason’s new satire, Country People.

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The monthly “Google System Release Notes” primarily detail what’s new in Play services, Play Store, and Play system update across Android phones/tablets, Wear OS, Google/Android TV, Auto, and PC. Some features apply to end users, while others are aimed at developers.

The Android 17 QPR1 preview is surprisingly still active as Google today released Beta 9. This follows a big Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 on Friday.

Google has hired Jacob Bank as VP of Product for Chrome. The announcement was made today, with Bank previously working at Google for six years.

Starting next week, YouTube will change how view counts on a video are measured, with a view now being registered immediately as a viewer starts watching a video.

As the AI race continues to hunt for new data to use for AI training, Google has just purchased a huge dump of old data from the now-defunct Spirit Airlines to be “helpful” in training its AI models.

Google is rolling out an update to Find Hub on Wear OS that adds a “Find people” app to your watch. The experience was previously just for your devices.

New evidence suggests that Samsung is possibly, maybe, potentially looking to move away from the vertical camera design on Galaxy phones that it recently called its “core identity” for something closer to a Pixel camera bar, and I seriously hope it happens.

Following the Journal app last week, Google is rolling out an update to Pixel Recorder that brings the new app icon to older devices.

The Pixel 11 series brings Google’s updated Tensor G6 chipset that, while not quite as big of an upgrade as we expected, still brings a big new change in a MediaTek-made modem that Google has some claims about.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is an absolute smash hit and, with that in mind, Samsung is reportedly doubling down on the form factor with a second wide device now in the works for the Galaxy Z Fold 9 series, making for a total of five new foldables in 2027.

With about 6 months left in the “official” support window, it’s great to see that LineageOS support has finally come to the Samsung Galaxy S22.

Ahead of the Googlebook launch this fall, we now have a full look at the Desktop Camera application.

There are a few trends that have shown up on Pixel phones over the years, but one of the most frustrating is that Google keeps launching half-baked features on its devices that take way too long to reach their potential, just to be taken away afterwards. “HiLight” is the worst example of that to date.

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Since the Pixel 8, Google’s camera-based face recognition has supported Android’s highest biometric standard. The Pixel 11 series now offers Face Unlock that “recognizes you more easily in low light.”

Google might have another fitness tracker in the works, as a pair of new ads online show off a mysterious little pebble that’s neither a Fitbit Air nor a Pixel Watch 5 – but is it anything at all?

Besides visual changes, Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 also introduces a native App lock feature to Pixel devices.

The interface changes in Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 continue with more blur for the Pixel lockscreen.

The preview for the December release continues today with a surprising Friday launch of Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3.

The surprise Friday drop of Android 17 QPR2 lets you customize the layout of the Quick Settings shade on Pixel. This editor was introduced in the latest Android Canary build for a relatively short turnaround.

With Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3’s surprise Friday drop, Google is introducing expanded Dynamic Color theming options for Pixel devices.

Following the last release at the start of last week, Google is rolling out Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 for Pixel devices in a rare Friday drop. So far, it is the biggest update this cycle.