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As a platform and ecosystem, Wear OS is in a good place right now. That wasn’t the case three years ago before the Samsung partnership. Wear OS 3 reinvigorated the operating system with the Galaxy Watch 4 serving as the flagship device until the Pixel Watch over a year later. The next hardware milestone was the Snapdragon W5 in mid-2022 giving manufacturers a more capable chip to work with. Also, keep in mind how Google and Qualcomm are working on a RISC-V chip for Wear OS.

Microsoft and Google have been waged in a years-long battle around Google Search, Bing, Chrome, and Edge. And it just continues, with Microsoft now pushing Bing heavily on Google Chrome users through pop-ups in Windows.

Now that we’re in March, Galaxy devices are getting Samsung’s third security patch of 2024. The update brings some vital security fixes that keep Samsung’s devices ready to deal with malicious attacks.

Back in November, Google Photos introduced better document sorting and another update to the capability adds labels to screenshots, notes, etc., as well as a manual categorization option.

Smartphone cases are a place where personal preference reigns, and for many, a lot of cases tend to overdo it on the design or thickness and lack key features. But, in collaboration with Google, I think Mous has struck a near-perfect balance with its super-thin Pixel 8 case, which adds MagSafe and virtually no bulk.

Friday’s best deals are heading into the weekend with a spring discount on the Google Nest Thermostat with Matter at $100. It comes joined by a chance to score the all-new OnePlus Watch 2 down at $250, as well as Motorola’s popular MA1 wireless Android Auto adapter for $60. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.

The battery-adjacent tweaks in Android 14 QPR2 continues with Pixel devices redesigning App battery usage in Settings. 

Google’s Pixel Watch is a wonderful smartwatch, but arguably one of its biggest flaws is a proprietary watch band connection that’s heavily limited options. What band are you using on Pixel Watch?

For the past few months, notification history on Google Pixel phones has been broken, but the March 2024 update finally fixes the feature.

Google Gemini is a useful AI tool, but it’s really only accessible through a website. As a fun trick, though, you can actually get to Google Gemini by simply visiting the website “ai.com,” which now redirects to the tool.

Trawling the sheer deluge of film streaming platforms has become tedious, but Google TV could help you find the right movie with added theme tags for specific platform content.

When Google announced Android 14 QPR2 with the March Feature Drop last week, the US rollout was set to begin on March 11. This started happening for some users today.

In mid-2020, Google introduced an Area 120 project called Keen that was a take on Pinterest but with ML recommendations. It’s now shutting down this month.

Dead Zebra, the long-time creator of the beloved Android Mini figures, is preparing a massive warehouse fundraising sale that will include quite a few rare and previously unreleased collectibles.

Following the “Break the loop” puzzle this morning, Google has announced that I/O 2024 is taking place Tuesday, May 14 at 10 a.m. PT.

For the past few years, Google has been using the same cheeky joke on March 14 to promote its Pixel lineup, but this year, it feels like Google really missed the perfect chance to drop a Pixel 9 teaser.