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Google DeepMind Has a Weapon in the AI Talent Wars: Aggressive Noncompete Rules

The battle for AI talent is so hot that Google would rather give some employees a paid one-year vacation than let them work for a competitor. From a report: Some Google DeepMind staff in the UK are subject to noncompete agreements that prevent them from working for a competitor for up to 12 months after they finish work at Google, according to four former employees with direct knowledge of the matter who asked to remain anonymous because they were not permitted to share these details with the press. Aggressive noncompetes are one tool tech companies wield to retain a competitive edge in the AI wars, which show no sign of slowing down as companies launch new bleeding-edge models and products at a rapid clip. When an employee signs one, they agree not to work for a competing company for a certain period of time. Google DeepMind has put some employees with a noncompete on extended garden leave. These employees are still paid by DeepMind but no longer work for it for the duration of the noncompete agreement. Several factors, including a DeepMind employee's seniority and how critical their work is to the company, determine the length of noncompete clauses, those people said. Two of the former staffers said six-month noncompetes are common among DeepMind employees, including for individual contributors working on Google's Gemini AI models. There have been cases where more senior researchers have received yearlong stipulations, they said.

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Google Maps is Launching Tools To Help Cities Analyze Infrastructure and Traffic

Google is opening up its Google Maps Platform data so that cities, developers, and other business decision makers can more easily access information about things like infrastructure and traffic. The Verge: Google is integrating new datasets for Google Maps Platform directly into BigQuery, the tech giant's fully managed data analytics service, for the first time. This should make it easier for people to access data from Google Maps platform products, including Imagery Insights, Roads Management Insights, and Places Insights.

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Quelles sont les meilleures montres connectées en 2025 ? Notre comparatif

Bien que le smartphone reste le leader du marché des appareils high-tech, les montres connectées ont largement gagné en popularité. Aujourd'hui, ces objets ne sont plus de simples gadgets, mais offrent une multitude de fonctionnalités, que vous soyez sportif, passionné de technologie ou soucieux de votre santé. Apple, Samsung, Garmin et d'autres marques se partagent ce marché. Numerama a sélectionné les meilleures références disponibles dans cet article

Samsung and Google Partner To Launch Ballie Home Robot with Built-in Projector

Samsung Electronics and Google Cloud are jointly entering the consumer robotics market with Ballie, a yellow, soccer-ball-shaped robot equipped with a video projector and powered by Google's Gemini AI models. First previewed in 2020, the long-delayed device will finally launch this summer in the US and South Korea. The mobile companion uses small wheels to navigate homes autonomously and integrates with Samsung's SmartThings platform to control smart home devices. Running on Samsung's Tizen operating system, Ballie can manage calendars, answer questions, handle phone calls, and project video content from services including YouTube and Netflix. Samsung EVP Jay Kim described it as a "completely new Ballie" compared to the 2020 version, with Google Cloud integration being the most significant change. The robot leverages Gemini for understanding commands, searching the web, and processing visual data for navigation, while using Samsung's AI models for accessing personal information.

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Google Sunsets Two Devices From Its Nest Smart Home Product Line

"After a long run, Google is sunsetting two of its signature Nest products," reports PC World: Google has just announced that it's discontinuing the 10-year-old Nest Protect and the 7-year-old Nest x Yale lock. Both of those products will continue to work, and — for now — they remain on sale at the Google Store, complete with discounts until supplies run out. But while Google itself is exiting the smoke alarm and smart lock business, it isn't leaving Google Home users in the lurch. Instead, it's teeing up third-party replacements for the Nest Protect and Nest X Yale lock, with both new products coming from familiar brands... Capable of being unlocked via app, entry code, or a traditional key, the Yale Smart Lock with Matter is set to arrive this summer, according to Yale. While both the existing Nest Protect and Nest x Yale lock will continue to operate and receive security patches, those who purchased the second-generation Nest Protect near its 2015 launch date should probably replace the product anyway. That's because the CO sensors in carbon monoxide detectors like the Nest Protect have a roughly 10-year life expectancy. Nest Protect and the Nest X Yale lock were two of the oldest products in Google's smart home lineup, and both were showing their age.

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Google Maps Can Soon Scan Your Screenshots To Plan Your Vacation

Google is rolling out new AI-powered features across Maps, Search, and Hotels to simplify travel planning, including a screenshot-detection tool in Maps that identifies and saves locations mentioned in image text. The Verge reports: Once the new screenshot list is enabled in Maps, the Gemini-powered feature will detect places that are mentioned in text within screenshots on the device, show users the locations on the map, and allow them to review and save locations to a sharable list. The screenshot list feature will start rolling out in English this week to iOS users in the US, with Android support "coming soon." AI Overviews for Google Search are also being updated to expand travel planning tools, with itinerary-building features rolling out in English to mobile and desktop devices in the US this week that can create trip ideas for "distinct regions or entire countries." Users can use terms like "create a vacation itinerary for Greece that focuses on history" to explore reviews and photos from other users alongside a map of location recommendations, which can be saved to Google Maps or exported to Docs or Gmail.

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Apple Barred From Google Antitrust Trial, $20 Billion Search Deal at Risk

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that Apple cannot participate in Google's upcoming antitrust trial, potentially jeopardizing a $20 billion annual deal between the tech giants. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that Apple waited too long to join the proceedings, filing its request 33 days after the government proposed remedies in the case Google lost last August. "The delay seems difficult to justify," the judges ruled. While Apple can still submit written testimony and file friend-of-court briefs, it cannot present evidence or cross-examine witnesses as it had sought. At stake is Google's practice of paying Apple approximately $20 billion annually to remain the default search engine in Safari browsers across Apple devices. The government's proposed remedies would make such arrangements impermissible.

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Google Unveils Gemini 2.5 Pro, Its Latest AI Reasoning Model With Significant Benchmark Gains

Google DeepMind has launched Gemini 2.5, a new family of AI models designed to "think" before responding to queries. The initial release, Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental, tops the LMArena leaderboard by what Google claims is a "significant margin" and demonstrates enhanced reasoning capabilities across technical tasks. The model achieved 18.8% on Humanity's Last Exam without tools, outperforming most competing flagship models. In mathematics, it scored 86.7% on AIME 2025 and 92.0% on AIME 2024 in single attempts, while reaching 84.0% on GPQA's diamond benchmark for scientific reasoning. For developers, Gemini 2.5 Pro demonstrates improved coding abilities with 63.8% on SWE-Bench Verified using a custom agent setup, though this falls short of Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet score of 70.3%. On Aider Polyglot for code editing, it scores 68.6%, which Google claims surpasses competing models. The reasoning approach builds on Google's previous experiments with reinforcement learning and chain-of-thought prompting. These techniques allow the model to analyze information, incorporate context, and draw conclusions before delivering responses. Gemini 2.5 Pro ships with a 1 million token context window (approximately 750,000 words). The model is available immediately in Google AI Studio and for Gemini Advanced subscribers, with Vertex AI integration planned in the coming weeks.

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Google Says It Might Have Deleted Your Maps Timeline Data

Google has confirmed that a technical issue has permanently deleted location history data for numerous users of its Maps application, with no recovery possible for most affected customers. The problem emerged after Google transitioned its Timeline feature from cloud to on-device storage in 2024 to enhance privacy protections. Users began reporting missing historical location data on support forums and social media platforms in recent weeks. "This is the result of a technical issue and not user error or an intentional change," said a Google spokesperson. Only users who manually enabled encrypted cloud backups before the incident can recover their data, according to Google. The company began shifting location storage policies in 2023, initially stopping collection of sensitive location data including visits to abortion clinics and domestic violence shelters.

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NotebookLM, c’est quoi ? Voici l’outil secret de Google en intelligence artificielle

Avec NotebookLM, Google a conçu un outil d'intelligence artificielle conçu pour ne fonctionner qu'avec des sources pré-sélectionnées par l'utilisateur. Moins connu que Gemini, NotebookLM permet de poser des questions sur ses propres notes et de trier ses documents avec l'aide d'un LLM. Numerama a rencontré Steven Johnson, son créateur.

Google Sues Scammers Over Fake Maps Listings

Google has filed a lawsuit against alleged scammers who created and sold fake business profiles on Google Maps, the company said. The legal action follows an investigation that uncovered and eliminated more than 10,000 illegitimate listings. The investigation began after a Texas business reported an unlicensed locksmith impersonating them on the platform. Google discovered the scams primarily targeted "duress verticals" -- services needed in urgent situations like locksmiths and towing companies. "Once we're alerted to the actual fraud, we take extreme efforts to identify similar fraudulent listings," said Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google's general counsel. The scammers used tactics including bait-and-switch schemes and intercepting calls to legitimate businesses through "lead generation services." They also sold fraudulent positive reviews to suppress negative feedback.

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