Google Home and Nest users report declining reliability, with devices frequently misunderstanding commands or failing to respond.

This week, I take a look at the surprisingly strong state of Google, Meta gets a new chief AI researcher, and more. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out this week’s Decoder episode about deepfakes and where they are headed.

The latest sign that the AI talent wars are heating up? An early Windsurf engineer said Google's job offer came with a lit fuse attached.

Mahjong is having a moment, with the popularity of the tile game surging this year. Generally, people play at each other’s homes or in libraries, but this summer, there has been a growing demand for floating mahjong tables. The Mahjong Line sells one for $245 that currently has a waiting list.

Earlier today, reports started circulating over on Reddit’s Google Maps sub about a problem with transit instructions, summarized in a post by user XenonOxide. About a dozen Pixel users chime in to respond with reports of their own, and everyone who’s getting this seems to be having the same problem.

The search giant predicted a further capital spending boost next year and cited massive demand for its cloud computing services.

With an $85 billion war chest, Google is waging an infrastructure arms race to own the physical foundation of the AI revolution.

Alphabet reported second-quarter results on Wednesday that beat on revenue and earnings, but the company said it would raise its capital investments by $10 billion in 2025. Shares of the company were up as much as 3% in after-hours trading. The company’s overall revenue grew 14% year over year, higher than the 10.9% Wall Street expected.

Italian energy storage firm Energy Dome said on Friday it had entered a commercial partnership with Google to supply carbon-free energy to the grids that power the operations of the U.S. tech giant.

A few months ago at its I/O 2025 event, Google unveiled an AI-powered tool that could prevent those fashion disasters, letting you upload a full-body picture of yourself to virtually try on clothing found online. Now, that tool is finally available to users in the U.S.