AI is now part of every paid Slack subscription, and the platform continues building out its agentic OS with new features including enterprise search connectors, writing assistance, and contextual definitions embedded in the app. The Enterprise+ plan, which scales AI company-wide, now includes AI for drafting documents and answering questions using information stored in Slack chats and connected apps. Business+ is adding recaps, translations, workflow generation and AI-powered search, while the entry-level Pro tier offers AI summarization for conversations in channels, threads and huddles, making it easier to stay current on communications. Continue reading Slack to Roll Out New AI Features for Enterprise Collaboration

Google is making it easier to access its Gems customizable Gemini chatbots by bringing them to the side panel in Google Workspace apps, including Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Drive, and Gmail. The task-specific Gems AI assistants are meant to help with common tasks and eliminate what Google calls “repetitive prompting.” Now they’ll be usable without even prompting Gemini to open. While Google offers pre-made Gems, they can also be customized or individually created to meet specific needs. Both custom and templated Gems can be installed in side panels, leveraging capabilities like @-mentioning or accessing files and folders. Continue reading Google Makes Gems Chatbots Available via Workspace Apps

YouTube is integrating Google Lens, allowing viewers to search elements of what they see while watching YouTube Shorts. The visual search enhancement aims to provide more ways to unearth information and discover content in an interactive, intuitive way. YouTube provides an example involving a Short filmed on location that features landmarks a viewer may be interested in visiting. In this example, users could ask Google Lens for related information to learn the name of the destination and helpful details regarding its culture and history, results that would appear over the video content as a visual overlay. YouTube began rolling out the Lens feature in beta to all viewers last week. Continue reading YouTube Shorts Powers New Visual Search with Google Lens

Anthropic’s new mobile conversation voice mode for its large language model Claude lets it search Google Docs, Drive, Calendar and more on smartphones. Just a week after debuting two new LLMs — Claude Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 — Anthropic announced the mobile updates for its Claude AI chatbot for iOS and Android and said it is extending web search for all users on free Claude plans. While Claude’s conversational voice interface is currently available only in English and only via mobile, an API for desktop use and browser-based support are part of future plans. Amazon and Google both have investment stakes in San Francisco-based Anthropic. Continue reading Anthropic Touts Mobile Voice Mode, Free Search for Claude

Anthropic has upgraded its AI assistant Claude, adding Research, an autonomous capability that integrates with Google Workspace. Claude can now search and reference content in Google Docs as well as communications in Gmail and events in Calendar. “With Research, Claude can search across both your internal work context and the web to help you make decisions and take action faster than before,” Anthropic explains, turning the model into a “true virtual collaborator” for enterprise clients. The expansion puts Anthropic into more direct competition with OpenAI and Microsoft as well as Google with Gemini in the AI productivity space. Continue reading Anthropic Adds Deep Research, Google Integration to Claude

Facebook is downsizing data storage expenditures by deleting old live video feeds. Meta Platforms announced that beginning this week “new live broadcasts can be replayed, downloaded or shared from Facebook Pages or profiles for 30 days, after which they will be automatically removed from Facebook.” Prior to removing the content, users will be notified they have 90 days to download or transfer the material to other storage or convert it to a new reel. Previously, such content was stored indefinitely. Facebook stores more than 100 petabytes of material with an estimated 500 terabytes added each day. Continue reading Facebook’s New Storage Policy Limits Live Video to 30 Days

Zoom is starting to launch its AI-powered tools first announced in October. Available to Zoom Workplace subscribers, the new Zoom Docs has been engineered from the ground up for AI optimization, leveraging Zoom’s AI Companion for what the company says will result in increased productivity and collaboration. Zoom Docs users will be able to open documents from within the videoconferencing app and can use generative AI to help write and edit them. The results will be easily shareable, Zoom says of its bid to compete with biggies like Google and Microsoft in the business productivity space. Continue reading Zoom Introduces AI-Powered Productivity Tools for Workplace

Google is introducing the Chromebook Plus, a new category of its popular laptops and tablets that the company says offers AI capabilities and “double the performance” of existing Chromebooks. The new category also provides access to Google Photos Magic Eraser and Adobe Photoshop on the web, starting at $399. Google says it drew on user feedback and worked with partners at Acer, Asus, HP and Lenovo to optimize performance and add productivity. The initial eight models all feature processors that are 12th Generation Intel Core i3 or above or AMD Ryzen 3 7000 series or above. Continue reading Google Claims New Chromebook Plus Doubles Performance

Google is implementing a plan to help its Bard AI become more competitive with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Bard Extensions will allow English-language users to expand the chatbot’s knowledge repository to data from various Google apps, including Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Flights and hotels, or even information stored “across multiple apps and services,” Google says. The update boosts search engine capabilities with the travel features, while providing some functionalities of a personal assistant by letting it identify missed emails or summarize the relevant points in a document. Continue reading Google Links Bard AI to Apps Including YouTube, Docs, Drive

Google has unveiled a spate of security enhancements to products in its Google Workspace collection including Gmail and Drive. Artificial intelligence is helping to steer some of the changes, automating specific tasks. The upgrades take a new approach, combining the idea of zero trust with the concept of data loss prevention (DLP). Under zero trust, all users, devices and components are considered untrustworthy at all times — even those within an organization’s network. These Workspace tools are in development or at various stages of testing, but Google says they will begin going live in general release later this year and into Q1 2024. Continue reading Google Is Using AI to Bring Zero Trust Security to Workspace

Google is providing full access to Workspace (formerly G Suite) for its 3+ billion existing users in consumer, enterprise and education markets. Users turn on Google Chat in Gmail to enable the full experience. Although Google Drive and Docs have already been free, Workspace brings features such as smart suggestions in emails and documents. Google is also debuting Google Workspace Individual, a paid version aimed at small business owners, offering “booking services, professional video meetings, personalized email marketing” and more. Continue reading Google Expands Workspace Features and Opens to All Users

During its Cloud Next 2019 developer conference, Google revealed its Advanced Protection Program would be widely released and Titan Security Keys will be more readily available in retail. The former, which is intended to prevent cyberattacks against high profile targets such as politicians and business leaders, will debut in beta for G Suite, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Cloud Identity customers. The Advanced Protection Program “enforces the use” of the Titan Security Key or compatible third-party hardware, blocking access to third-party accounts not approved by admin. Continue reading Google’s Cloud Platform Updates Focus on Security Issues

Google has doubled-down on a change made in January to Manifest V3, Chrome’s extensions system, that would prevent the effective functioning of current ad blockers. Despite backlash to the change by extension developers and power users, the company said that only enterprise users will be able to continue to use such ad blocking software. Manifest V3 includes other changes, such as a tweaking of the permissions system. Now, all extensions must use the “minimum set of permissions necessary” when requesting access to data. Continue reading In Google Tweak, Only Enterprise Customers Can Block Ads

When a Nintendo Switch game is uploaded before its official release date, the pirates hide the original leaker behind a wall of middlemen, and congratulate themselves online for their cleverness. Nintendo has endured piracy of the highly anticipated “Diablo III” and “Dark Souls: Remastered,” both released by pirates a few days before their official launch. The company has had better luck stopping websites that offer illegal access to retro-games and ROMs, games that are emulated from read-only memory chips. Continue reading Switch Pirates Evade Capture, Nintendo Takes on ROM Sites

Streaming games have taken a step forward. Microsoft is tapping its Research division and 54 global regional Azure data centers for Project xCloud, which aims to transform the Xbox from a box into a hub. The company hopes to test it publicly in 2019. Meanwhile, Google is beta-testing Project Stream, which streams games over the Internet via the Chrome browser. Although gaming boasts 2.3 billion players, console makers are now second place to mobile games, which are responsible for more than half of this year’s $138 billion revenue. Continue reading Microsoft and Google Making Progress in Streaming Games