Coming to a Snapdragon phone near you...maybe...

GrapheneOS will drop Google Pixel exclusivity with 'major' Snapdragon-powered devices coming

https://9to5google.com/2025/10/14/grapheneos-will-drop-google-pixel-exclusivity-with-major-snapdragon-powered-devices-coming/

#GrapheneOS #Google #Pixel #Android #Snapdragon #Qualcomm #Security #Privacy #Mobile #Tech

The world has outgoogled Google.

#google #googleads

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Search for "ads console" showing results for Tiktok ads, Spotify ads and Amazon ads before Google ads.

Has Google Books killed its free API?

You used to be able to call https://www.googleapis.com/books/v1/volumes?q=isbn:9781408864401

and get structured information about a book. Now it returns a 429 and asks for credentials.

#Google #Books #API

#Google’s #YouTube Capitulates to dictator #Trump 🤮

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md5l8esK8iY

@thomasfuchs that's not AI, but a featured snippet. And as you can see from the source it's a fandom wiki. Yeah, one would expect better reason around here (including the people commenting who don't check shit. How is that better than the disinfo crowd?). #FakeNews #seo #Google #SteamPunk

I tried #ChromeOS Flex. I installed it on a spare laptop, and while everything worked, I couldn't help but notice that this OS doesn't seem to have a purpose. The desktop has major UX flaws, it lacks the advantages of ChromeOS, and so there is no use case where a #Linux distro wouldn't be a better choice. Let's take a look!

#opensource #chrome #google

https://youtu.be/XYBMdKlYygg

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Thumbnail of a youtube video, titles Chrome OS Flex makes no sense, with a photo of the settings of Chrome OS.

***** An Open Letter to the CEOs of #Apple and #Google: Would you have supported the Nazis during WWII? *****

Dear Tim and Sundar,

Hi. I'd normally start a letter like this asking how you were doing, but since you're both billionaires who have been palling around with Donald Trump, I think we can dispense with that formality this time.

I've got a question for you guys. I don't really expect an answer, but I feel that it needs to be asked anyway. Here we go ...

"If Apple, Google, and apps had been around during WWII, would you have supported the Nazis, either explicitly or implicitly?"

As you probably know, IBM has been raked over the coals for decades for the technological assistance they provided the Third Reich, helping them tabulate "undesirables" for a "final solution."

Which brings us to you two! Yeah, you knew this was coming. I have to assume that your dramatic decisions to remove apps that helped the public legally determine the location of ICE operations was approved at your level. If not, you're still ultimately responsible, of course.

Word is that DOJ requested Apple to pull the apps, and that Google pulled them proactively without waiting around for a request. These of course were completely legal apps, breaking no laws that I'm aware of. Banning them from your apps stores effectively bans them virtually completely in a practical sense. Sideloading in iOS has always been difficult, and Google has announced upcoming restrictions that would make sideloading much more difficult for Android as well.

The parallels between your decisions regarding those apps and what went on during WWII in Nazi Germany are very troubling indeed. The Nazis legally (under then current laws) rounded up their target populations: Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and a range of other "undesirables", then "disappeared" them with minimal or no due process, whisking them off to concentration camps. This included cripples, mothers, children -- an enormous range. Many were never heard from again. Millions were exterminated.

I don't need to spell out the parallels with what Trump's ICE is now doing -- they're obvious on the daily news. And before you protest that you're not killing anyone by banning those apps, I'd argue that you indeed are very likely contributing to deaths.

The large majority of people being deported via these ICE raids have no criminal record and their only "crime" is being in this country illegally -- sometimes for decades raising families of U.S. citizens. Many are being deported to countries where they face the high likelihood of horrific treatment including torture and death.

I don't really need to go on any further, do I boys? You're both intelligent and informed. You both know exactly what you're doing. So I come back to the original question. If your firms had been around during WWII, would you have supported the Nazis? If not, your apparently enthusiastic embrace of the current administration's fascist behaviors seems inexplicable.

But hey, perhaps you have logical explanations that aren't obvious to those of us in the non-billionaire class. If so, we'd love to hear them!

Sincerely,

L

How to stop Google from invading your privacy and others' when you share links

"share.google" links are evil. Here's how to get Google to stop spitting them at you.
#privacy #infosec #Google #Android

https://blog.kamens.us/2025/09/30/how-to-stop-google-from-invading-your-privacy-and-others-when-you-share-links/

RE: https://mastodon.social/@bastianallgeier/115315153621497900

Iʼm surprised anyone trusts #Google in 2025.
We all know they kowtowed to China in 2006. In 2012, it was public knowledge they were bypassing Iphone privacy settings in Safari. In 2013, Edward Snowden told us about PRISM. There was the news of alleged tax avoidance. There was Project Nimbus for the Israeli military. They were very quick at calling it the Gulf of America. What will it take for people to stop thinking Google is on the side of good?

With the #ICEBlock news this week today is a good day to check out @altstore!

https://altstore.io/

My instance doesn't support quooting yet so thoughts on last boost on Google stopping you from loading 'unapproved' (by them) apps.

I have critical apps via F-Droid:

DavX - calendar sync
Gadgetbridge - fitness tracking
Openreads - books

But alternatives generally won't support:

Banking apps - to authorise payments at a minimum
WhatsApp - please don't say 'use Signal' (I do, non-techies don't)
NHS app - terms say they may report you to law enforcement (yes really)

#Android #Google #Fdroid

So I saw a post saying that #google is blocking searches for “does #trump have dementia”. The claim is that you can just stick that on the end of an otherwise ordinary search and you won’t get the AI results but you will get normal results. I’m not getting what they claim. Lots of people are getting different results.

One German user pointed out that, for them, no AI summary was ever provided if any persons name was in the search. (I haven’t verified that)

In my case I searched for “most nfl coaching wins does trump have dementia”. While I did get “No AI summary is available” I didn’t get anything related to the NFL. It’s all peculiar.

I used safari (which I rarely use), not signed in to google. I never search on any kinds of sports, and I have a pi-hole doing its level best to block ads. So my setup is pretty anti-google and my search was really atypical of other things I do. I dunno whether any of that matters. It’s all a black box to most people.

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Screenshot of a phone using safari searching on “most nfl coaching wins”. 2 results are visible followed by an AI overview. List of NFL head coach wins leaders from Wikipedia And an article from ESPN titled Who are the winningest NFL coaches of all time?

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Same browser screen searching most nfl coaching wins does trump have dementia. It shows “An Al Overview is not available for this search at the top” Then there’s a single Yahoo article titled “This Is What Proves Trump's Dementia: Psychologist Sep 21, 2025” Then there is a section of “People also ask” (this wasn’t visible in the first screenshot) and the first question is “What was Trump's diagnosis in 2025?”

So last night I was watching a clip on YouTube using Firefox-esr + uBlock Origin and got a popup saying “Ad Blockers are not allowed on Youtube”.

Seems like my time on YT is coming to an end soon haha. Fuckin Google #YouTube #Google

I've had admin powers at 5+ companies' Google Workspace/G Suite over the past decade or so. Every single one had groups which were misconfigured, often so anyone in the whole company could join without approval or see the message history at https://groups.google.com without being a member at all.

This is because for any sensible configuration of Google Groups when using it for email groups you have to use the "Custom" permissions mode. The default Public mode doesn't allow external people to email the group, but does allow the whole company to see all the messages. The default Team mode, has the same problem of everyone being able to see all the messages.

Also let's not forget that dangerous little "Anyone in the organisation can join" toggle at the bottom which is on by default. So any random new starter can join your confidential company directors group and get all the emails sent to it.

Giving Google the benefit of the doubt here, I think the reasoning might be that Google Groups is intended as a kind of company forum, not for private email groups. However that isn't how anyone uses it in my experience...

#security #infosec #google #googleworkspace

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Screenshot of the default Google Group settings for team mode

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Screenshot of the default Google Group settings for public mode