Send tips/talk to abner@9to5mac.com or @technacity (open DMs).
Abner Li has worked at 9to5Google since 2015 and in late 2020 took on the role of editor-in-chief. He is keenly focused on tracking what happens at Google, and is often the first to spot new features in Google’s ever-growing family of applications that are updated on a daily basis, including Search, Assistant, Maps, Workspace, Android, Chrome/OS, Wear OS, and YouTube Music.
To him, what Google does greatly impacts the technology space and modern life. Inside the company, he is particularly interested in the key products mentioned above, as well as services like Google Podcasts and Google Lens. Each are massive platforms that can be unwieldy to grasp, with Abner keenly bent on understanding their philosophy and future direction. He is most excited about Google’s plans for augmented reality glasses.
Abner spearheads the APK Insight program at 9to5Google to chronicle all changes in the company’s Android apps, often finding new features before they are officially announced. This includes redesigns and revamps, launches, and new products.
A big area of interest is Google’s hardware division, including Pixel, Fitbit, and Nest. He detailed all of the Pixel 3’s camera features before launch and scooped the 2nd-generation Nest Hub’s Soli-powered Sleep Sensing capability, including how it would integrate with Google Fit.
Recently, Abner detailed the Pixel Watch’s specs in full before launch, including bands and pricing. He also got wind of the Pixel Tablet’s ultimate form factor.
On Friday, we learned that Gemini is replacing Google Assistant on Android phones. At the same time, Google quietly announced that Assistant is losing 7 more features.
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The US Google Store is once again discounting the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel Watch 3, Pixel Buds Pro 2, and Pixel Tablet.
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Following the Thursday announcement, Google is widely rolling out the latest Gemini models, including 2.0 Flash Thinking (experimental), to the web, Android, and iOS apps.
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Welcome to episode 45 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, we talk about the Chromecast bug, Google Play Games on PC, and the latest Gemini models.
With Android 16 Beta 3, Google is now more specific about how “Limit to 80%” will fully charge your Pixel to “every one to two weeks.”
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Just over a year after its launch and various feature parity updates, Gemini is set to replace Google Assistant on Android phones later in 2025. This follows yesterday’s model updates and bringing Deep Research to all users.
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Following the announcement at the start of this month, Google today has more widely rolled out the big Find My Device update that adds location sharing with “People.”
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With work dating back to October 2022, Google Pixel devices now have a “Battery health” stats page with Android 16 Beta 3.
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Beta 3 of Android 16 is now available as Google’s next major OS update proceeds through the development process.
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Android 16 Beta 3 is rolling out to Pixel devices today with the Platform Stability milestone that finalizes app-facing behaviors and internal/external APIs to let developers update their applications.
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Google is now rolling out a fix to the Chromecast (2nd gen) and Chromecast Audio that resolves the “Untrusted” Casting outage/issue.
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After a series of developer announcements yesterday, Google is rolling out a handful of Gemini app updates for end users centered around an upgraded version of 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental, which remains in preview.
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Besides the GDC 2025 announcements, Google announced today that Gemini in Android Studio “now supports multimodal inputs, which lets you attach images directly to your prompts” for visual help during the app development process.
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Google has a number of announcements at the 2025 Games Developer Conference (GDC) next week across Android and Play Games on PC.
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Following the Chromecast with Google TV going out of stock last month, Google is finally rolling out the Android 14 update.
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Google has once again teased the next Android 16 preview update with Beta 3 officially coming Thursday, March 13.
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Following Gemma 3 and Gemini Robotics earlier today, Google’s AI news continues with wider access to native image output in Gemini 2.0 Flash that allows for conversational image editing alongside other capabilities.
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Google DeepMind today announced Gemini Robotics to bring Gemini and “AI into the physical world,” with new models able to “perform a wider range of real-world tasks than ever before.”
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Following version 1 in February 2024 and 2 in May, Google today announced Gemma 3 as its latest open model for developers.
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As previously announced in December, Google Photos now lets you “Undo device backup” on Android.
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Google Messages has addressed slowdowns, failures, and other issues with receiving media in Android’s RCS app.
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Following Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin (via Uber), Waymo One is next coming to Silicon Valley.
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As YouTube’s role in podcasting increases, Pocket Casts announced today that its web, Mac, and Windows apps are now free with a subscription no longer required.
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With Gemini now available in Workspace Business and Enterprise, Google Chat and Meet are picking up a slew of new features.
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