Gemini needs to speak. On a regular basis.
Google I/O 2026 kicked off this week, and to nobody’s shock, it was nearly fully about AI.
To start out with, Google is rolling out its “clever, AI-powered Search field” globally. As a substitute of simply autocompleting your textual content, it makes use of AI to anticipate your intent and make it easier to formulate questions. It is possible for you to to make use of pictures, video recordsdata and full Chrome tabs as direct search inputs. Its AI Mode, now powered by the brand new Gemini 3.5 Flash, will nonetheless reside alongside it, on your follow-up questions/corrections.
Google additionally launched Gemini Spark. Working within the cloud, Spark is a digital assistant that may autonomously monitor bank card statements for hidden subscriptions, observe updates out of your child’s college emails, or pull notes collectively right into a Google Doc. It might probably even work together with third-party apps like OpenTable and Instacart to finish duties—although it guarantees to ask on your affirmation earlier than making any ultimate purchases or sending emails. Google could have discovered a method to take the enjoyable out of buying.
There have been glimpses of future {hardware}: Google and Samsung teased a collaboration with Light Monster and Warby Parker and supplied the primary take a look at two fashions of Android XR sensible glasses. The glasses will help you chat with Gemini, get real-time audio translation within the speaker’s voice, translate real-world textual content in your line of sight and snap pictures on the go.
Naturally, with all these new options, Google adjusted its AI subscription tiers, including a brand new $ 100-per-month mid-range (hah!) tier. The AI Extremely Plan will supply 5 instances larger utilization limits than the usual $20 Professional plan, in addition to precedence entry to Google’s Antigravity coding device and 20TB of cloud storage.
In the meantime, down from its authentic $250 price ticket, Google’s top-tier Extremely plan options 20 instances larger utilization limits and unique entry to Mission Genie — Google’s experimental analysis preview that allows you to construct interactive 3D worlds utilizing real-world Google Avenue View imagery.
We dig additional into a number of extra of the most important bulletins beneath.
— Mat Smith
Xreal’s Mission Aura smartglasses are a maximalist tackle Android XR
As a substitute of refined, normal-looking glasses with some sensible options, Xreal’s smartglasses purpose for an immersive AR expertise, with a concentrate on leisure. That strategy could be very a lot the identical as the corporate’s Android XR-powered Mission Aura, however based mostly on Karissa Bell’s time with these new smartglasses, they could supply extra than simply one other wearable display screen.
In contrast with the low-key (arguably lower-spec) audio-only smartglasses from Warby Parker and Light Monsters, Xreal’s Mission Aura packs in three cameras, a 70-degree subject of view and hand-gesture navigation. The principle gesture is a pinching movement that may really feel fairly acquainted to anybody who has used different AR setups, similar to Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional.
Talking of which, Mission Aura comes with a tethered puck, similar to Apple’s wearable show. It comes with a trackpad and a fingerprint sensor, though neither labored on the demo mannequin we examined. The corporate hasn’t revealed pricing particulars but (count on these alongside the formal launch later this yr), however they’re more likely to exceed Xreal’s One Professional glasses, which value $650.
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Google’s Gemini Omni can generate ‘something from any enter,’ beginning with video
Gemini Omni is Google’s new gen-AI mannequin that may “create something from any enter”. Gemini Omni Flash is rolling out now to the Gemini app, Google Stream and YouTube Shorts. It is apparently the subsequent evolution of Nano Banana and, presumably, its present video generator, Veo 3.1. It enables you to “mix pictures, audio, video and textual content as enter and generate high-quality movies grounded in Gemini’s real-world information.”
Apparently, Omni additionally higher understands bodily forces similar to gravity, kinetic vitality and fluid dynamics, making scenes extra reasonable.
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Spotify is including extra AI gunk for podcasts and audiobooks
Introduced on its investor day, Spotify is increasing a characteristic that allows customers to generate “private podcasts.” It introduced this device final month, with the choice to make use of AI brokers similar to OpenClaw and Claude Code to whip up artificial audio. The corporate says it is including a characteristic that lets customers generate private podcasts straight inside Spotify. It notes that after you enter a immediate, it’ll generate audio that attracts on elements similar to your Spotify style profile and world information. You can even feed in textual content, PDFs and hyperlinks to offer the device extra context for what you want to listen to about. Spotify says eligible Premium customers within the US will get entry to private podcasts subsequent month. The Roman Empire, Last Fantasy VII Remake and Liverpool FC, please. In below 30 seconds. Go.
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Meta’s newest try to repeat its rivals is a Reddit clone
Meta has launched a brand new app known as Discussion board. Social media marketing consultant and analyst Matt Navarra noticed Discussion board within the App Retailer, the place it’s described as “a devoted house for the conversations that matter most to you,” created particularly for Fb Teams. As Navarra notes, Meta appears to be pushing the concept the app will help customers get “actual solutions” from “actual folks,” making it sound similar to Reddit, providing an escape from the atrocious genAI search outcomes we have all been affected by not too long ago. (Did we point out Google I/O was this week?)
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