Google Senior Vice President (VP) Prabhakar Raghavan has revealed that TikTok and Instagram are becoming competitors to its core services, Search and Maps. During a discussion about the evolution of search, Prabhakar revealed that younger users are now turning to TikTok and Instagram instead of Google services for discovery purposes.

Google employees have been told by its chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai to work with ‘greater urgency’ and ‘hunger’ as well as be ‘more entrepreneurial’ amidst a potential global economic recession. Asserted by Pichai in an email to staff yesterday (12 July 2022), the tech giant also announced that it plans to slow down hiring for the remainder of the year.

It seems that all the major tech companies have been updating their app or platforms’ icons recently and Google is no exception. Fresh from updating its Chrome web browser icon, the Android de facto app store, the Google Play Store has also discreetly received a refresh recently.

Gmail users worldwide have been reporting a bug at the top of their emails in the form of a grey banner with an exclamation in a hexagon for the past two days. The bug, which asks users whether they want to ‘continue receiving messages from this sender’ are reportedly appearing too frequently (even with contacts and frequent senders) to the annoyance of users.

After being ignored for a couple of years, Google has finally replaced the Play Movies & TV app on both iOS and iPadOS to the Google TV app. With the update, comes a few upgrades that Apple users that use the app have been missing out on such as the remote control feature to control Android TVs using the app.

The Google Pixel Watch, the tech giant’s first foray into the smartwatch market is set for release later this year and according to a new leak, it may not be the flagship wearable that Pixel fans have been craving for. Get this, the upcoming Pixel Watch may be powered by an almost 4-year old chip, the Exynos 9110 found in the first Samsung Galaxy Watch released back in 2018.

Google has teamed up with Samsung to create a new platform and application programming interface (API) which syncs health-related data between Android apps and devices. Called Health Connect, it supports over 50 data types, including vitals, sleep, nutrition, activity, body measurement, cycle tracking and more.

The Google I/O 2022 event held earlier today showcased new products that have been in the works by the tech giant, including the Pixel 6a launched during the event and the Pixel Tablet, due for release in 2023. Google also give several updates regarding its software, including a new feature in Android 13 which allows for copy and paste across devices.

After the disaster that was the Pixel Slate and saying that it wouldn't be making tablet devices anymore, Google is giving Android tablets another go and will be releasing a 'premium' Pixel Tablet next year. Teased during the Google I/O event earlier today, the tablet will follow the Pixel smartphone lineup and will have Google's custom Tensor chip under the hood.

The popular YouTube Go app will be discontinued in August 2022 as the Google-owned company no longer sees its necessity anymore. Launched in 2016, YouTube Go is a lightweight version of the YouTube app designed for places with poor data infrastructure or expensive connectivity.