Weekly Issue: 2026-13

Arc did a lot right, but Gemini changed the equation.

Arc did a lot right, but Gemini changed the equation.

I’ve always said Walmart’s Onn 4K Pro is the absolute best-value Google TV streaming device on the market. In fact, I’d argue it’s a much better buy than the Google TV Streamer 4K.

I’ve always said Walmart’s Onn 4K Pro is the absolute best-value Google TV streaming device on the market. In fact, I’d argue it’s a much better buy than the Google TV Streamer 4K.

No single AI model leads every benchmark in 2026. GPT-5.2 Pro scores 93.2% on graduate-level reasoning, Claude Opus 4.5 tops real-world software engineering at 80.9%, and Gemini 3 Pro outpaces both on abstract generalization.

I didn’t expect much from Gemini in Chrome until it became part of everything I do online.

I didn’t expect much from Gemini in Chrome until it became part of everything I do online.

It’s not without faults, though.

It’s not without faults, though.

We’ve all been there: spending more time looking for a movie than actually watching one, or constantly pausing a game to look up stats on our phones. Google’s new update for Google TV aims to fix that by making Gemini more proactive and visual and moving beyond simple text-based answers.

Global corporate AI investment reached $252.3 billion in 2024 — a 44.5% jump from the year before — with the United States accounting for more than $109 billion of that through private funding alone.

If you have updated your Chromebook recently, you have probably noticed a trend. As Robby recently pointed out regarding the recent rollout of ChromeOS 146, our system updates have been incredibly quiet lately.

For skiers and snowboarders, every moment on the mountain is about maximizing the fun — chasing fresh lines, perfecting a new trick, or exploring new terrain.

As ​​developers build AI agents with more sophisticated reasoning systems, they require higher-quality fuel–in the form of enterprise data and specialized tools–to drive real business value.

Security teams already know that file sharing is not the hard part. The hard part is controlling who sees what, for how long, under which rules, and with enough evidence to explain every decision later. Consumer cloud storage can be secure and well managed.

Every dollar that you spend on model inference buys you a position on a graph of latency and throughput. On this plot is a curve of optimal configurations, where you’ve squeezed the maximum possible performance from your hardware. That curve, borrowed from portfolio theory in finance, is the efficient frontier.

Every dollar that you spend on model inference buys you a position on a graph of latency and throughput. On this plot is a curve of optimal configurations, where you’ve squeezed the maximum possible performance from your hardware. That curve, borrowed from portfolio theory in finance, is the efficient frontier.

When it comes to staying safe online, the teensiest shred of common sense goes an impressively long way.

When it comes to staying safe online, the teensiest shred of common sense goes an impressively long way.

Design used to be about making things look good. That part’s over. Nobody opens an app and thinks “wow, great visual hierarchy.” They just use it – or they don’t. And increasingly, the ones they stick with aren’t necessarily the prettiest. They’re the ones that feel weirdly intuitive.

A new LTC  version 144.0.7559.247 (Platform Version: 16503.79.0), is being rolled out for most ChromeOS devices. If you have devices in the LTC channel, they will be updated to this version. The LTS channel remains on LTS-138 until April 21st, 2026.

Apple’s MacBook Neo (reviewed here) challenges what we expect from budget laptops. Accompanied by shrewd enterprise-focused moves, the new model gives Apple a chance to convert hitherto resistant IT purchasers to adopt its platforms. I spoke with Hexnode CEO Apu Pavithran to get some sense of this potential.

Apple’s MacBook Neo (reviewed here) challenges what we expect from budget laptops. Accompanied by shrewd enterprise-focused moves, the new model gives Apple a chance to convert hitherto resistant IT purchasers to adopt its platforms. I spoke with Hexnode CEO Apu Pavithran to get some sense of this potential.

Just last month, we were saw the arrival of Lyria 3, Google DeepMind’s impressive music generation model that allowed users to create 30-second tracks right inside the Gemini app.

As of September 2025, only 53% of origins in Chrome’s real-user dataset pass all three Core Web Vitals — LCP, INP, and CLS — simultaneously.

For the past year, the conversation around Rich Communication Services (RCS) has been dominated by one thing: interoperability between Android and iOS. Now that end-to-end encryption is actively being tested between the two ecosystems, the GSMA is turning its attention to making the actual messaging experience more expressive and functional.

If you’ve checked your settings menu this week and seen the prompt to restart for ChromeOS 146, you might be wondering where the “What’s New” splash screen went.

Hi everyone! We’ve just released Chrome Dev 148 (148.0.7752.0) for Android. It’s now available on Google Play.You can see a partial list of the changes in the Git log. For details on new features, check out the Chromium blog, and for details on web platform updates, check here.

Google is officially upgrading its real-time voice AI today with the launch of Gemini 3.1 Flash Live. This new model is built specifically to handle the speed and natural rhythm of human speech, and it is rolling out right now to Gemini Live and Search Live for everyone.

The Dev channel has been updated to 148.0.7753.0 for Windows, Mac and Linux.A partial list of changes is available in the Git log. Interested in switching release channels? Find out how. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug.

The traveling salesman problem asks a deceptively simple question: What’s the shortest route that visits every point exactly once? It’s one of the hardest problems in computer science, and mathematicians have been working on it for nearly a century.

Editor’s note:  Manhattan Associates, a global leader in supply chain and omnichannel commerce solutions, modernized its Manhattan Active SaaS platform by moving from legacy Oracle and DB2 systems to Google Cloud databases.

If you use Linux because you worry about privacy and control, then you are on the right path as far as the security of your cryptocurrency is concerned. Your Linux security should be important, but that would not be enough.

Samsung’s PC browser comes with agentic AI features powered by Perplexity.

Samsung’s PC browser comes with agentic AI features powered by Perplexity.