Google is finally fixing a small but annoying issue in Google Messages.For a long time, users could only copy the entire message even if they needed just a small part of it. This made things difficult when messages were long. Now, Google is working on a simple solution to make copying text easier.
In the latest Google Messages beta update, version v20260306, users can now copy only the part of a message they want. Users just need to long-press the message and drag their finger to select the text.This makes it easy to highlight and copy specific words, numbers, or links.
Earlier, if a message contained useful information like an OTP, link, or address, users had to copy the whole message first.Then they had to paste it into another app to select the needed part. With this new feature, users can select the exact text directly inside the chat.
Image via Android Authority
The feature has been spotted on some devices, including the OnePlus 13R. However, it is not available to everyone yet because Google is rolling it out gradually.Since it is currently in the beta version, it may soon arrive for more users in the stable update.
Users can still copy the entire message if they want by tapping the “Copy” button. Google Messages is the default messaging app on many Android phones today. It will soon be available for all eligible smartphones including Galaxy phones.
Cointelegraph Brasil has reappeared in Google’s index after a period of disappearance, highlighting the fragile control crypto publishers have over search-driven visibility amid global algorithm updates. After spotting Cointelegraph Brasil content in Top Stories and reviewing the site’s technical setup,…
Google is leaving the door open to advertising in its Gemini AI app, with a senior executive telling WIRED the company is “not ruling them out” — a notable shift from the flat denials made just months ago.
The current strategy. Rather than rushing into Gemini, Google is using AI Mode — its Gemini-powered Search product — as a testing ground for ad formats in AI experiences.
Ads are kept separate from organic results and clearly labeled
Google says it only shows ads when they’re relevant — if nothing fits, nothing runs
The company is drawing on 20-plus years of Search ad experience to inform the approach
Why we care. Google’s entire business is built on advertising. How and if they bring ads into AI products will shape the future of the industry — and set the tone for every AI company trying to figure out how to monetize free users. The brands that figure out how to show up relevantly in conversational AI environments now — before the auction gets competitive — will have a significant first-mover advantage.
The bigger picture. Google is in a stronger position than its rivals to take its time. The company crossed $400 billion in revenue in 2025, giving it the luxury of patience. OpenAI, by contrast, is under pressure to more than double its $30 billion in revenue this year — and has already started testing ads in ChatGPT’s free tier.
Between the lines: Fox’s framing is careful but revealing. By positioning Gemini ads as a “prioritization question” rather than a values question, Google is signaling it’s a matter of when — not if.
What to watch: Personal Intelligence — Gemini’s feature that pulls from a user’s Gmail, Photos, and Calendar — is the sleeper story here. Fox called personalization his “holy grail” for Search, and hinted it could eventually roll into the broader Search experience. If it does, advertisers would gain access to an entirely new layer of contextual targeting — though Fox was quick to add that user data will not be sold or shared.
What’s next. Advertisers should start preparing now. As Google refines its AI ad formats in AI Mode, those learnings will eventually migrate to Gemini. Brands that understand how to show up relevantly in conversational, context-rich AI environments will have a significant head start when the floodgates open.
Eight in ten Performance Max advertisers are receiving connected TV (CTV) impressions via YouTube, as reported by Smarter Ecoommerce’s Mike Ryan. Google has expanded the channel’s reach over the past year — and the trajectory is only accelerating.
The timeline of how we got here:
Q2 2025: Google began serving CTV ads using standard product feed images, meaning advertisers with no video assets were suddenly generating TV impressions from their existing catalog photos
January 2026:Google announced shoppable CTV ads — letting viewers browse products and scan QR codes to purchase directly from their TV screen, pulling directly from Google Merchant Center product feeds.
Why we care. CTV is no longer a specialist buy. If you’re running PMax, you’re almost certainly already on the big screen — and Google has been steadily upgrading what that means for commerce. Google is automatically turning your product feed images into TV ads and allocating budget to CTV impressions, with no action required on your part.
Without actively checking your channel performance breakdown, you have no visibility into where your spend is going or whether auto-generated creative is actually fit for a 65-inch screen.
What advertisers should do right now:
Pull your Channel Performance report — Google’s native channel breakdown will show you exactly how much of your PMax spend and impressions are going to CTV. If you haven’t looked, you may be surprised.
Audit your feed images — since Q2 2025, those product photos are being used to generate CTV ads automatically. Low-quality images that worked fine in Shopping are now appearing on 65-inch TV screens. Clean them up.
Check if shoppable CTV applies to you — if you’re running PMax with a Merchant Center feed, your campaigns may already be eligible for shoppable CTV formats. Google reports that Demand Gen campaigns including TV screens drive 7% incremental conversions at the same ROI. Understand whether that inventory is working for you — or being wasted.
Think about creative — feed images as CTV ads is a floor, not a ceiling. Advertisers who invest in purpose-built video assets optimized for the TV screen will outperform those relying on auto-generated formats.
The big picture: YouTube CEO Neal Mohan confirmed that TV has surpassed mobile as the primary device for YouTube viewing in the U.S. by watch time, and YouTube has been the #1 streaming platform in the U.S. for two consecutive years. PMax advertisers are already there — the question is whether they’re managing it intentionally or just along for the ride.
Google’s branded queries filter in Search Console is now available to all eligible sites. Google’s new branded queries filter, announced Nov. 20, lets you separate branded and non-branded search traffic in the Performance report.
Why we care. Separating branded and non-branded queries has long required manual regex filters or keyword lists. This update gives you native segmentation in Search Console, making it easier to measure brand demand versus discovery traffic.
Google’s announcement. Google confirmed the broader availability in a LinkedIn post today:
“The branded queries filter in Search Console is now available to all eligible sites! This feature helps you analyze the queries driving traffic to your site by automatically differentiating between branded and non-branded queries.”
The details. The branded queries filter appears in the Search results Performance report. It lets you segment queries into two groups:
Branded: Queries containing your brand name, variations, misspellings, or brand-related products and services.
Non-branded: All other queries.
When applied, Search Console limits metrics — impressions, clicks, CTR, and average position — to the selected group. The filter works across all search types (Web, Image, Video, News) in the report.
Insights report. Google also added a new card to the Search Console Insights report that shows a click breakdown between branded and non-branded traffic.
The card helps you measure brand recognition by comparing traffic from users already familiar with your brand versus those discovering your site for the first time, Google said.
Google’s brand classification. Google uses an internal AI-assisted system to determine whether queries are branded. The system can recognize:
Brand names in multiple languages
Misspellings and variations
Queries referring to unique brand products or services
Some queries may be misclassified due to the contextual nature of brand detection, Google said. The filter is strictly a reporting feature and doesn’t affect search rankings.
What to watch. Today’s announcement indicates it has reached all eligible sites, though some properties may still not qualify due to query and impression volume requirements.
Google is making Merchant Center for Agencies generally available in the U.S. and Canada today — giving agency teams a single login to manage, monitor, and optimize merchant clients at scale.
What’s included:
A unified dashboard for managing all client accounts from a single login
Proactive diagnostics that surface critical alerts across the portfolio
Merchandising-based opportunity tools to identify performance improvements feeding directly into Google Ads.
Why we care. Managing multiple merchant accounts across Google’s ecosystem has historically meant jumping between logins and dashboards. Having it all surfaced in one place means problems get caught faster, before they quietly drain client revenue. And with merchandising opportunity tools built in, it’s not just a monitoring dashboard — it’s designed to actively surface ways to improve performance across your entire client portfolio.
Early results. Digital marketing agency Socium Media piloted the product ahead of the holiday season, using it to monitor client promotions, inventory, and feed diagnostics from one place — and reported 50% faster resolution on monitoring tasks as a result.
The big picture for agencies. Time spent on account monitoring and diagnostics is time not spent on strategy. Tools that compress that operational overhead — especially during high-stakes periods like Q4 — directly translate into capacity for higher-value client work. Agencies managing large retail portfolios should prioritize getting set up before the next peak season.
What’s next. Full details are available in Google’s Help Center, with the rollout live in the U.S. and Canada starting today.
Google has officially acquired Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion in all-cash, a full year after the companies announced the deal. This marks Google's biggest acquisition in its history.
The rollout will let users access Gemini in Chrome through a sidebar on desktop, enabling them to ask Google's AI chatbot questions about the content on the screen; get information from their Gmail, Keep, Drive, and YouTube; and compare tab contents.
Hope is the engine of optimism and the indomitable force behind a will to change for the better. But, when it comes to Google's Pixel lineup, that hope is in short supply and getting progressively scarce with each passing year, especially judging from the latest CAD renders of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, which depict bezels the size of football fields, a bloated, chunky design, and nary a concerted effort to add additional camera sensors or tweak the device's aspect ratio. Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold: A masterclass in ugly aesthetics Steve H. McFly has now revealed the CAD renders […]
Virgin Voyages is rewriting the playbook on AI in travel. In less than four months. The kid-free cruise line has grown its fleet of active AI agents by nearly 2,900%, from 50 at the launch of […]
YouTube's AI deepfake detection tool is becoming available to politicians, journalists, and officials, letting them flag unauthorized likenesses for removal.
The idea behind the new features is to make the apps more personal and capable to help users get things done faster, right within the platforms themselves.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has introduced a new digital feature that allows travelers to share the live location of their luggage using Google’s Find Hub tracking technology. The system enables passengers to securely send bag location […]
The Kia PV5 is up to a record 4th place in South Korea in February.
13/03 update: Now with Top 50 best-selling foreign models.
The South Korean new vehicle market is down a harsh -7.3% year-on-year in February to 122,874 units. Indeed if foreign manufacturers are euphoric at +34.6% to 22.1% share, local carmakers sink -14.8% to 77.9% of the market. Year-to-date, thanks to a strong January sales are up 2% to 243,320 including 195,179 locals (-3.9%) and 48,141 foreigners (+35.9%).
For the 2nd month in a row, Kia (-8.6%) is above sister brand Hyundai (-14.7%) and cements its YTD dominance with 35% share vs. 33.5%. Tesla (+254.1%) is the performer of the month, breaking its records for ranking (#3) and share (6.4%). Genesis (-32.1%) is in complete freefall at #4 and falls to its lowest volume in almost 6 years: since March 2020. BMW (+0.6%) and Mercedes (+14.1%) follow, both defying the negative market while KG Mobility (+38.3%) surges ahead but drops one spot on last month to #7. Audi (+62.7%), Toyota (+27.3%) and Volkswagen (+20.2%) also shine while newcomer BYD is down two ranks on January to #12.
Looking at the domestic models ranking, the Kia Sorento (-15.2%) remains in 2nd place, followed this time by the Hyundai Porter (-10.4%) and Sonata (-3.2%). The surprise of the month is the 4th place of the new Kia PV5, up 23 ranks on last month and now #16 year-to-date vs. #45 over the Full Year 2025. The Hyundai Grandeur (-28.2%) rounds out the Top 5 in paltry fashion. The rare gainers this month are almost all BEVs and include the Hyundai Ioniq 9 (+867.4%), Ioniq 5 (+120.6%) and Kia EV3 (+53.7%).
As for the foreign models, the Tesla Model Y (+243.9%) is above 7,000 units and ranks #2 overall when including domestic nameplates. The Mercedes E Class (+19.2%) drops one spot to #2 as does the BMW 5 Series (+3.1%) a lot more discreet. The Tesla Model 3 (+658.7%) surges from outside the January Top 50 directly into 4th place. The Mercedes GLC (+13.4%) rounds out the Top 5 while the Mercedes GLE (+102.1%) more than doubles its year ago result and halves its January ranking to #6. The BYD Sealion 7 is once again the best-selling new launch and now ranks #6 year-to-date.
More than 30 OpenAI and Google DeepMind employees signed onto a statement supporting Anthropic's lawsuit against the Defense Department after the agency labeled the AI firm a supply-chain risk, according to court filings.
Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold surfaced today through CAD renders shared by OnLeaks, and it features a redesigned camera bump that looks a lot like the recent Samsung flagships, the Galaxy S26 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 7.
The LED flash and microphone moved inside the top pill-shaped cutout instead of sitting awkwardly next to it. The point where the bump meets the back glass now curves instead of just sticking as if someone slapped it.
The whole module looks cleaner now, as shown in renders leaked by our folks over at Android Headlines. Samsung has been doing this sort of integrated camera design for a while, and Google finally caught up.
The design is nearly identical to the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Same shape, same corner radius, same bezels and the hole punch camera sits in the same spot on the inner display. You get a Type-C port at the bottom with the usual grille suspects.
The upcoming Pixel 11 Pro Fold measures 10.1mm when folded, down from 10.8mm; unfolded, it’s 4.8mm instead of 5.2mm. The phone’s height stays at 155.2mm, whereas the unfolded width stays at 150.4mm.
Source – Android Headlines x Onleaks
Tensor G6 will power the Pixel 11 Pro Fold smartphone. TSMC is building it, supposedly on 3nm, and the latest rumors say it’s a 7-core chip, but take that for what rumors are worth.
Probably the same displays, same battery size, same IP68 rating. Pixelsnap and Qi2 charging may be supported as they became a key discussion point of the Pixel 10 series phones.
Google originally planned $1,500 according to their leaked 2028 roadmap. Meanwhile, the tariff hit and surging costs of components may have forced Google to revisit its pricing strategy.
August launch makes sense based on the last two years.
Google has confirmed that Google Marketing Live 2026 will take place on May 20, when the company is expected to unveil its latest updates across advertising, AI, measurement and campaign automation.
The date surfaced in an email received by PPC News Feed owner Hana Kobzová from the Accelerate with Google program, which invited participants to submit entries for the Google Ads Impact Awards.
According to the message, winners of the awards will be announced during Google Marketing Live 2026.
Why we care. The annual event has become one of the biggest announcement days for advertisers using Google Ads. Google Marketing Live is where Google typically announces its biggest changes to Google Ads — including new AI features, campaign types and measurement tools that can directly impact how campaigns are built and optimized.
Many of Google’s most significant advertising updates each year are first revealed at this event, meaning it often shows where the platform — and advertisers’ strategies — are heading next.
The bigger picture. The event will land during the same window as Google I/O 2026, scheduled for May 19–20. While I/O focuses on Google’s broader ecosystem — including AI, Search and developer technologies — announcements there often influence the direction of advertising products.
What to watch. Expect updates tied to AI-driven advertising, automation and new ways to measure performance across Google’s platforms. For marketers, the event often sets the tone for where Google’s ad strategy is heading for the rest of the year.
First spotted. Kobzová shared the update on PPC News Feed
SEO professionals don’t agree on much. But over the past decade, we’ve come together around the conviction that Google has abused its dominant position, that it systematically favors its own products over better alternatives, and that something must be done to create fairer competition in search.
In 2022, the European Union passed the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a sweeping regulation designed to curb the power of tech giants. It came into force in March 2024.
Industry groups celebrated. Trade publications ran optimistic headlines about a new era of digital fairness.
In 2024, I wrote that it was “a much-needed piece of legislation.” Two years in, the evidence is clear: The DMA will do more harm than good.
Well-documented abuses
The Digital Markets Act arose from understandable frustrations with well-documented abuses.
Google spent years ranking its own shopping service at the top of search results while systematically burying competitors like Foundem and Kelkoo on page four, where nobody would ever find them.
The company’s internal documents, uncovered by EU investigators, revealed that Google Shopping “simply doesn’t work” on its merits, so Google gave it an algorithmic boost unavailable to anyone else.
The travel industry watched as Google Flights consumed the market share of innovative startups like Hipmunk, which had offered genuinely better user experiences by showing total trip costs, including baggage fees and connections.
Hoteliers saw Google Hotels siphon away direct bookings. Local businesses watched as Google prioritized its local pack over organic results.
The pattern was unmistakable: Google identified lucrative verticals, launched competing products, then used its search monopoly to guarantee their success.
These weren’t competitive advantages but unfair tactics, and the EU was right to identify them as such. It took over 10 years to fine Google £2.1 billion for the shopping search abuse alone. The DMA was supposed to fix this by setting clear rules upfront, forcing gatekeepers to treat all services equally before abuses could take root.
For those of us who had watched clients lose traffic to Google’s vertical search engines despite having superior content, the promise was intoxicating: Finally, algorithmic neutrality. Finally, fair competition based on content quality rather than corporate ownership. Finally, a chance for the next generation of search-dependent businesses to compete.
Yet, two years into implementation, the reality looks nothing like the promise. The most comprehensive assessment comes from Nextrade Group, which surveyed 5,000 European consumers across twenty member states in mid-2025.
The findings?
Two-thirds of respondents reported needing more clicks or more complex search queries to find what they need online. Among frequent searchers, precisely the users most valuable to our clients, 61% said searches now take up to 50% longer than before the DMA.
Forty-two percent of frequent travelers reported that flight and hotel searches had worsened significantly. More than 40% said they would actually pay to restore the functionality they had before March 2024.
When users are willing to pay for something they previously received for free, regulation has failed catastrophically.
Eighty percent had never heard of the DMA, it solved problems they didn’t know existed, yet 39% reported that routine online tasks had become more cumbersome since early 2024.
Why does it matter?
As SEO professionals, we must confront this truth: Users preferred the integrated Google experience we spent years complaining about.
Before the DMA, searching for “hotels in Paris” displayed an interactive map with photos, ratings, real-time availability, and prices — all accessible without leaving the search results page.
That integration has been dismantled because Google Search and Google Maps are designated as separate core platform services, and their seamless cooperation constitutes prohibited self-preferencing.
Users must now click through to separate services, repeat their searches, and lose context. Regulators call this fair competition. Users call it a worse internet.
The business impact: Worse metrics across the board
The company still processes over 90% of European search queries. The difference is that now the search experience delivers measurably worse results for users and measurably worse outcomes for businesses paying for visibility.
The enforcement problem: Fines don’t work
The DMA requires Google to treat competing vertical search services (flight comparison sites, hotel booking engines, shopping aggregators) with the same prominence as its own offerings.
In response, Google tested a version of its hotel search that removed maps, removed structured listings with photos and availability, and displayed only 10 blue links. Users hated it.
Hotels saw a traffic crater. Google documented the catastrophic user satisfaction scores and presented them to the Commission as evidence that integration serves user needs, not just Google’s interests.
The Commission found itself in an impossible position: Force Google to maintain the worst experience in the name of fairness, or acknowledge that some integrations genuinely benefit users even when they advantage Google’s products.
Google responded to preliminary findings of non-compliance by making incremental adjustments that preserve the substance of its advantage, while creating just enough ambiguity about whether it’s following the rules.
When the Commission objects to one implementation, Google proposes another that differs in form but not effect. This process can continue indefinitely because the underlying problem, Google’s monopoly in search, remains untouched.
For a company with annual revenues exceeding $300 billion, regulatory fines are simply a cost of doing business. The Commission fined Google €2.4 billion for shopping search abuses and breaking antitrust rules. The company paid and continued operating largely as before. It will do the same with DMA fines.
The uncomfortable reality is that you can’t regulate a monopoly into behaving competitively. You can only break the monopoly itself.
The European Commission must monitor 23 core platform services across seven gatekeepers, while each company releases updates continuously:
Algorithms change daily
Features launch weekly
Product roadmaps evolve quarterly
By the time the Commission identifies a potential violation, conducts workshops with stakeholders, issues preliminary findings, allows the company to respond, and publishes a final decision (a process taking 12-18 months), the underlying technology and business models have moved on.
Google launched AI Overviews in Europe one week after receiving preliminary findings of non-compliance for self-preferencing in traditional search. The company essentially announced that, while regulators debate whether Google Flights should rank above Kayak, Google is moving to a fundamentally different search results page where AI-generated summaries replace links entirely.
The DMA contemplated regulating 2024’s search landscape. Google is already building 2027’s.
What should regulators do instead?
While I’m not a regulator, I have been doing SEO for 15 years. In my opinion, regulators should redouble efforts to address actual structural monopolies rather than impose rules on how platforms must operate.
The DMA tries to regulate platform behavior while leaving monopoly power intact. This is like trying to stop water from flowing downhill by prescribing which route it must take. The water will find another path, and everyone gets wet in the process.
If Google’s dominance in search truly stifles competition, perhaps the solution isn’t to regulate how it displays results but to break its monopoly altogether. The United States has considered requiring Google to divest Chrome; such structural remedies might succeed where behavioral rules have failed.
If the concern is that Google leverages search dominance to advantage its advertising business, separate the two.
If the worry is that controlling both the search algorithm and the content (YouTube, Google News, Google Shopping) creates irresolvable conflicts of interest, then require differentiation.
These actions would be slower, more legally complex, and more politically difficult than passing the DMA. They would also actually work.
In short, regulators should focus on creating conditions for competition rather than micromanaging every product decision. That means enabling genuine data portability so users can switch services easily, taking their search history and preferences with them.
This also means using traditional antitrust enforcement aggressively for the largest abuses, like Google systematically burying competitors on page four, exclusive deals that lock out rivals, and acquisitions designed to eliminate nascent threats.
The geopolitical reality
The DMA’s first two years have demonstrated that ex-ante rules are no faster — investigations still take 12-18 months — and far less effective than traditional enforcement.
The geopolitical consequences threaten to undermine European interests far beyond digital markets. In December 2025, the Trump administration threatened retaliation against the EU for what it characterized as discriminatory targeting of American technology companies. The Office of the United States Trade Representative explicitly named European companies, including Spotify, Siemens, SAP and DHL, as potential targets for new restrictions.
From Washington’s perspective, the DMA looks less like competition policy and more like industrial policy disguised as regulation.
Whether that characterization is fair matters less than the political reality: Brussels finds itself caught between domestic pressure to demonstrate tough enforcement and external pressure that threatens broader trade relationships.
The DMA promised to enable the next generation of search-dependent businesses. It promised to stop Google from using its search monopoly to advantage its vertical products. It promised fairer competition for hotels, airlines, ecommerce sites, and the entire ecosystem of businesses that depend on organic search traffic.
Two years in, Google’s monopoly remains intact, user experience has measurably degraded, business metrics have worsened, and no meaningful new competition has emerged.
For those of us who spent years documenting Google’s abuses and advocating for intervention, this failure is spectacular.
If regulators can’t find ways to break up long-standing monopolies (now over two decades old for some platforms), what hope is there to address emerging challenges in AI search, voice search, or whatever comes next?
Young companies have a right to compete in digital markets. Regulators must create conditions where genuine competition is possible, not regulate away the symptoms of monopoly while leaving its foundations untouched.
We were right about the problem. The DMA is simply the wrong solution.
The modern landscape of international transit is being reshaped by technological advancements designed to mitigate the historical frustrations of frequent flyers. Among these innovations, the Google Find My Device ecosystem has emerged as a cornerstone for those seeking to secure their personal belongings. It is often observed that the anxiety associated with lost airport baggage remains a primary concern for travelers navigating global hubs. To address this, a sophisticated real-time tracking system has been introduced by Google, allowing for the seamless integration of third-party Bluetooth tags with Android smartphones.
By utilizing this new travel feature, passengers are empowered with the ability to monitor the exact coordinates of their luggage from the moment of check-in until it arrives at the final destination carousel. The airline industry has frequently struggled with the logistics of misplaced suitcases, but through this digital innovation, the power of recovery is placed directly into the hands of the consumer. It is believed that this shift toward personal oversight will significantly reduce the number of unresolved claims filed with carriers annually.
The Mechanics of the Find My Device Network
The underlying technology behind this update is centered on a vast, decentralized network composed of millions of Android devices worldwide. When a compatible tracker is placed inside a suitcase, a secure signal is emitted that can be detected by nearby Android hardware. This information is then encrypted and relayed back to the owner’s device, ensuring that privacy is maintained while providing high-accuracy location data.
Because the system does not rely solely on GPS, which often fails inside dense terminal structures, the use of Bluetooth proximity is considered a superior method for indoor navigation. The integration of this network signifies a major leap forward in how hardware and software can collaborate to solve everyday logistical hurdles. It is through this massive crowdsourced infrastructure that even a bag left in a remote corner of a cargo hold can be pinpointed with remarkable precision.
Compatibility and Device Requirements
For this system to be utilized effectively, certain technical requirements must be met by the user. It is noted that the feature is primarily accessible to those operating on modern Android versions, specifically Android 9 and above. Furthermore, the hardware must support the latest Play Services updates to ensure the Find My Device interface is fully functional.
In terms of physical trackers, partnerships have been established with several prominent manufacturers. Brands such as Chipolo and Pebblebee have released tags specifically engineered to sync with the Google ecosystem. It is required that these tags be paired with a Google account prior to travel. Once the pairing process is completed, the tracker is recognized as a permanent fixture within the user’s digital inventory, ready to be deployed inside any piece of checked or carry-on luggage.
Step-by-Step Implementation for Travelers
To initiate the tracking process, the Find My Device application must first be downloaded and configured on a primary smartphone. Once the application is active, the Bluetooth tracker is added via the “Add a Device” prompt within the settings menu. It is recommended that the tracker be named clearly, such as “Main Suitcase” or “Travel Rucksack,” to avoid confusion during transit.
After the device is placed securely inside the baggage, no further manual intervention is required. The location of the item is automatically updated as it moves through the airport’s sorting facilities. If a bag fails to appear on the carousel upon arrival, the smartphone can be used to check the last known location. If the bag is within immediate range, a sound can be triggered from the tracker to help the owner locate it among hundreds of similar-looking items.
Bridging the Gap Between Airlines and Passengers
Historically, the process of recovering a lost bag involved lengthy paperwork and an unfortunate reliance on airline staff who may not have immediate access to real-time data. With the introduction of this Google feature, a transparent layer of information is added to the passenger experience. While the airline remains responsible for the physical transport of the goods, the passenger is no longer left in the dark regarding the status of their possessions.
This transparency is expected to foster a more collaborative relationship between travelers and airport authorities. If a discrepancy is found between the airline’s report and the location shown on the Find My Device map, the passenger can provide specific evidence to ground crews, thereby accelerating the recovery process. The narrative of the “lost” bag is being replaced by the “traceable” bag, shifting the dynamics of travel security.
Security and Privacy Considerations
Significant measures have been taken by Google to ensure that the tracking network cannot be exploited for nefarious purposes. The data transmitted between devices is end-to-end encrypted, meaning that neither Google nor any third-party participants in the network can view the location of the user’s items. Only the owner of the tracker possesses the digital key required to decrypt the location information.
Additionally, protections against “unwanted tracking” have been implemented. If an unknown tracker is detected moving with an individual who does not own it, an alert is sent to their smartphone. This ensures that while the system is highly effective for finding lost objects, it cannot be easily used to monitor the movements of people without their consent. These safety protocols are essential for maintaining public trust in such a widespread digital network.
The Global Impact on the Travel Experience
The implications of this technology extend beyond individual convenience; they represent a fundamental change in global travel standards. As more passengers adopt these tracking solutions, the pressure on airports to modernize their baggage handling systems is increased. A future is envisioned where real-time tracking is not just an optional luxury but a standard expectation for all travelers.
Furthermore, the environmental impact of lost baggage—often involving the secondary transport of recovered items via carbon-heavy shipping methods—could be mitigated by faster, more local recoveries. By streamlining the reunion of owners and their belongings, the overall efficiency of the travel industry is improved. It is concluded that the integration of Google’s tracking capabilities into the airport environment is a vital step toward a more reliable and less stressful era of international transit.
Google is reaching out directly to advertisers via email, requiring them to confirm whether their campaigns contain EU political ads — with a hard deadline of March 31st.
Why we care. This isn’t optional. EU regulation now requires Google to verify political ad status across all active campaigns, and advertisers who don’t act before the deadline could face compliance issues.
What’s happening. Google is asking every advertiser to declare whether their existing campaigns include EU political ads. The requirement applies to all current campaigns and must be completed by March 31, 2026.
How to comply: Google has outlined three ways to submit the confirmation:
Campaign level — Go to Campaign Settings and select “EU political ads” to confirm individual campaigns.
Multiple campaigns — Go to the Campaigns tab and use the “EU political ads” option to confirm several at once.
Account level — Confirm for all new and existing campaigns in one go. Selecting “No” at account level automatically applies that answer to every campaign, including future ones. You can still override this for individual campaigns at any time.
Between the lines. The account-level option is the most efficient route for most advertisers who are confident none of their campaigns fall under the EU political ads definition. Google has made it straightforward to reverse or adjust the selection at any point, so there’s no risk in acting early.
The bottom line. Check your inbox — Google is contacting advertisers directly. If you run campaigns targeting EU audiences, log in and complete the confirmation before March 31st to stay compliant.
First seen. This update was spotted by Paid Search expert, Arpan Banerjee, who shared the details of the comms on Linkedin.
Nano Banana 2, Google’s latest state-of-the-art image model, is now available in the Middle East and North Africa. The model is accessible on Google Gemini (desktop and mobile app) and Google Search via Google Lens and AI Mode.
Nano Banana 2 brings the high-speed intelligence of Gemini Flash to visual generation, making rapid edits and iteration possible. It brings once-exclusive Pro features accessible to a wider audience, including:
Advanced world knowledge: The model pulls from Gemini’s real-world knowledge base, and is powered by real-time information and images from web search to more accurately render specific subjects.
Precision text rendering and translation: Nano Banana 2 allows users to generate accurate, legible text for marketing mockups or greeting cards. People can even translate and localize text within an image to share their ideas globally.
Subject consistency: Maintain character resemblance of up to five characters and the fidelity of up to 14 objects in a single workflow.
Production-ready specs: Make attention grabbing assets with full control of various aspect ratios and resolutions from 512px to 4K, ensuring visuals stay sharp whether they are for a vertical social post or a wide-screen backdrop.
Visual fidelity upgrade: The model delivers vibrant lighting and sharper details, maintaining high-quality aesthetics at the speed expected from Flash.
Over the past few months, I’ve been shopping around for a first home, and one of the requisites was to have a dedicated office space. Fast forward to November 1st of this year, and my wife and I signed the final documents to get the keys to our new home. Autonomous actually reached out to us much earlier in the year and sent samples of both their Desk 5 Pro and ErgoChair Ultra (in black and white to match the Wccftech logo), but remained sealed in a box until I finally had the space to install a brand new desk. […]
Google AI Max drives revenue but at a higher cost, according to Smarter Ecommerce’s Mike Ryan, who analyzed 250+ campaigns. Outcomes vary, and much more testing is still needed.
Why we care. AI Max isn’t a minor update. It’s Google’s most significant reimagining of Search campaigns in years, shifting away from keyword syntax toward pure intent matching. For you, that’s both an opportunity (possible growth) and a risk (an efficiency tradeoff).
By the numbers. The result of the analysis:
Median revenue: +13%
Median CPA: +16%
ROAS range: +42% to -35%
Advertisers who activate AI Max typically see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS, rising to 27% for campaigns still relying on exact and phrase match keywords, Google says.
Turning on AI Max is essentially a coin toss: you may see a lift, but efficiency likely won’t follow, Ryan concluded
What AI Max actually is. Rather than forcing Search campaigns into Performance Max, Google went the other direction — bringing PMax-style automation into classic Search. The result is three core features:
Search Term Matching (broad match expansion plus keywordless targeting),
Text Customization (dynamic ad copy), and
Final URL Expansion (automated landing page selection).
Four pitfalls Smarter Ecommerce identified:
Broad match cannibalization: Up to 63% of the time, recycling existing coverage rather than finding new queries.
Competitor hijacking: In one account, AI Max scaled so aggressively into competitor brand terms that it consumed 69% of total Search impressions.
Reporting overload: Search term and ad combination reports can run to tens of thousands of rows, making manual auditing nearly impossible without automation.
Search Partner Network blowouts: One campaign saw half a million monthly impressions land on SPN at a 0.07% conversion rate, versus 3.04% on standard Google Search.
Between the lines. Google’s 14% uplift stat conspicuously excludes retail — an omission Ryan flags as significant for ecommerce advertisers. There’s also a deeper irony: you’re most likely to adopt AI Max if you’re already running Broad Match, DSA, and PMax — yet Google says those accounts will see the lowest incremental benefit.
What’s next. In a conversation with Ryan, Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed that Google plans to deprecate Dynamic Search Ads and migrate the technology into AI Max for Search. No firm timeline was given, though past Google deprecations often run about a year from announcement.
Ryan recommends activating AI Max’s keywordless features in your existing Search campaigns now and beginning to wind down DSA — not migrating it to PMax.
Ryan’s verdict is cautious optimism. About 16% of advertisers are testing AI Max, and few have gone all in. Start small, audit aggressively, and don’t let FOMO around AI Overviews drive your decision.
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