Gemini can now create personalized AI images by digging around in Google Photos
Google is making it easier to feed your photos into Nano Banana for more personal image generation.
Ryan Whitwam
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Ryan Whitwam
Senior Technology Reporter
ryan.whitwam@meincmagazine.com
Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards.
Recent stories by
Ryan Whitwam
Google releases new apps for Windows and MacOS
Google mostly creates products for the web, but it has some new desktop apps today.
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Google introduces “Skills” in Chrome to make Gemini prompts instantly reusable
You can save custom prompts you find useful or grab a premade Skill from Google’s library.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google will begin punishing sites for back button hijacking in June
Google says it could penalize back button hijacking by demoting websites in search ranking.
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Google shoehorned Rust into Pixel 10 modem to make legacy code safer
Cellular modems are complex black boxes of legacy code, but Google is making them safer with Rust.
Ryan Whitwam
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YouTube increases Premium price again, says 90-second unskippable ads are a bug
An individual plan now cost $15.99 per month, and the free tier comes with buggy ads.
Ryan Whitwam
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190
Motorola suddenly raises budget phone prices up to 50%—you can probably thank AI
Motorola’s budget phones are much less budget-friendly today.
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Testing suggests Google’s AI Overviews tell millions of lies per hour
Is 90 percent accuracy good enough for a search robot?
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Most Read
Teardown of unreleased LG Rollable shows why rollable phones aren’t a thing
LG almost released a rollable smartphone in 2021, and this is what it looked like inside.
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Google Vids gets AI upgrade with Veo and Lyria models, directable AI avatars
Google Vids brings together Google’s most capable AI creation tools.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google announces Gemma 4 open AI models, switches to Apache 2.0 license
Gemma 4 brings the first major update to Google’s open models in a year.
Ryan Whitwam
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You can finally change the goofy Gmail address you chose years ago
All your data remains intact, and you can go back to your original address at any time.
Ryan Whitwam
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The debut of Gemini 3.1 Flash Live could make it harder to know if you’re talking to a robot
Google’s new conversational audio AI is rolling out in search, Gemini, and developer tools today.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google’s TurboQuant AI-compression algorithm can reduce LLM memory usage by 6x
TurboQuant makes AI models more efficient but doesn’t reduce output quality like other methods.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google’s new version of Android Automotive will move beyond infotainment
Google wants Android in cars to break out of the infotainment box.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps
The “advanced flow” will be available before verification enforcement begins later this year.
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After three months, Samsung is ending sales of the $2,899 Galaxy Z TriFold
Samsung didn’t offer an explanation for its decision, but it’s not exactly a surprise.
Ryan Whitwam
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Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review: Private and performant
If you want to spend $1,300 on a phone, it might as well be this one.
Ryan Whitwam
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101
Adobe settles DOJ cancellation fee lawsuit, will pay $75 million penalty
Adobe says it will also give customers who “qualify” free services but is vague on details.
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Google Maps gets its biggest navigation redesign in a decade, plus more AI
Google Maps is about to get more chatty and immersive.
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160
Google Play Games for PC is getting more premium titles and cross-buy with Android
Google is more focused on desktop gaming than ever before.
Ryan Whitwam
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After complaints, Google will make it easier to disable gen AI search in Photos
One toggle for “fast classic search.”
Ryan Whitwam
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Gemini burrows deeper into Google Workspace with revamped document creation and editing
Gemini can now pull context from your files, emails, and more to create and edit documents.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google’s new command-line tool can plug OpenClaw into your Workspace data
This could make it easier to use multiple Workspace APIs, but it’s not yet an official Google product.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google and Epic announce settlement to end app store antitrust case
The era of the 30 percent app store cut has ended.
Ryan Whitwam
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With developer verification, Google’s Apple envy threatens to dismantle Android’s open legacy
Questions remain as Google prepares to lock down Android app distribution in the name of security.
Ryan Whitwam
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181
Google reveals Nano Banana 2 AI image model, coming to Gemini today
Google’s new image model replaces the previous versions immediately.
Ryan Whitwam
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103
The Galaxy S26 is faster, more expensive, and even more chock-full of AI
Samsung’s Galaxy S26 series is available for preorder today and ships on March 11.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google announces Gemini 3.1 Pro, says it’s better at complex problem-solving
Google says 3.1 Pro is ready for “your hardest challenges.”
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Record scratch—Google’s Lyria 3 AI music model is coming to Gemini today
With a simple prompt, you can generate 30 seconds of something like music.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google’s Pixel 10a arrives on March 5 for $499 with specs and design of yesteryear
Google’s new budget phone is here, but don’t expect a big upgrade.
Ryan Whitwam
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113
Get ready for new Macs and iPads: Apple announces “Special Experience” on March 4
Apple has not confirmed whether you’ll be able to watch live, but Ars will bring you the news.
Ryan Whitwam
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179
The first Android 17 beta is now available on Pixel devices
Don’t expect big changes yet.
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29
We let Chrome’s Auto Browse agent surf the web for us—here’s what happened
Auto Browse is capable of some impressive things, but it can also crash and burn spectacularly.
Ryan Whitwam
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Google recovers “deleted” Nest video in high-profile abduction case
Users only get three hours of free Nest video storage, but Google can retrieve videos much later.
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