"After nearly four years of development, #Google is finally rolling out native #HTTPLiveStreaming (#HLS) playback to #Chrome on desktop with version 142 and newer, a major upgrade that’s also arriving on Microsoft #Edge and other #Chromium-based #browsers."

tech-ish.com/2025/12/08/google…

#streaming #web #webdev #WebDevelopment

Google finally adds native HLS playback to Chrome, Edge, & other Chromium desktop browsers

After nearly four years of development, Google is finally rolling out native HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) playback to Chrome on desktop with version 142 and newer, a major upgrade that’s also arriving on

^{Hillary Keverenge (Techish Kenya)}

I received an invite to the early access to the Android developer console in my inbox yesterday, the one related to Google's new push to make developers verify Android apps that are distributed outside Play.

Google had talked previously about providing a specific verification tier for students and hobbyists, but with limitation on how many app installs it could have. Well that sounds nice of them, right?

But the question I had on my mind back when I read that was: How many devices would that mean? Ten thousand, a thousand, a hundred?

Turns out it means just twenty. fucking. devices.

#android #google

🚨 World's first social media ban begins: Australian & under‑16? Your social media account is now locked. 🚨

What's next? From Dec 27 #AgeVerification checks for search engines like #Google.

BUT - Once your data is in the system, what's stopping it from being used for surveillance?

And what happened to #Privacy? 🧐

#DigitalID #Australia

YouTube already has it ➡️ tuta.com/blog/how-to-turn-off-…

I'm on #GrapheneOS without MicroG or anything Google at all, so I use UnifiedPush to get notifications from #Fedilab, #Element and #ElementX (and something else I've forgotten LOL).

I set up family members with Element using UnifiedPush as, although they have Play Services, I prefer not to give Google (or by extension Trump atm) metadata about who my family talks to and when.

I only wish @nextcloud , @PixelFed , @loops etc. would get on board!

#UnifiedPush #Privacy #Google

🚫 Watch out! #Google starts sharing all your messages with your employer.

👉🏼 More on Forbes: forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/20…

#Google Starts Sharing All Your Text Messages With Your Employer

“ #Microsoft triggered a viral furor when it revealed a Teams update to tell your company when you’re not at work.

Now Google has done the same.

Forget end-to-end encryption.

A new Android update means your RCS and SMS texts are no longer private.”

forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/20…

I'm a Google Workspace admin, and a team member sent me a screenshot showing that a message they wanted to send was being blocked because it violated an organizational policy-- which was news to me-- I hadn't put in place to block messages based on their content.

Turns out Google Workspace now warns by default when the message content mentions gender identity.

#google #privacy #politics

Lots of folks speculating about AirDrop working on the Pixel, if it was reverse engineering or asking if Apple might break the compatibility. The reality might be a bit more mundane. Seems Apple is just being forced to play by regulators' rules...
youtu.be/t2I9FyZdhbs

#tech #technology #technews #google #business #geek #gadgets #eu #dma #apple #android #ios

Android and AirDrop: Who Deserves the Credit for Getting This working?

TEAM SGG PATREON https://www.patreon.com/SomeGadgetGuy AirDrop now works on Pixel phones! Did Google reverse engineer Apple's popular file sharing protocol? ...

^YouTube

🚨 BREAKING #Google just activated #Gemini on #Gmail - without asking you.

Turn it off now; here's how!
tuta.com/blog/how-to-disable-g…

✊️ Fight AI & fight Google

You have to manually turn off Smart Features in the Setting menu in TWO locations.

Share so everyone is aware. ❤️

Gemini3.0 Preview is out. Test it on Google AI Studio.
So far it has performed wonderfully in programming here. It understood almost 2800 lines of code and created working, performant and readable code in one try, that achieved what it had to.
aistudio.google.com/prompts/ne…

#AI #Gemini #Google #Coding #Programming #Agent #Gemini3.0 #NewRelease

🚨 It's official: Google wants to scan your Gmail

Here are the plans: tuta.com/blog/how-to-turn-off-…

Disable Gemini now! We explain

👉️ How to disable Gemini
👉️ How to deinstall Gemini

And why @GrapheneOS @LineageOS and others are better in the first place.

Stop #Google now: 👉️ tuta.com/blog/how-to-disable-g…

Gute Erklärung von #FrederikeKaltheuner gestern in den Tagesthemen, warum es wenig Grund zur Freude über die #Google-Ankündigung gibt:

tagesschau.de/multimedia/sendu…

Frederike Kaltheuner, Politikwissenschaftlerin, über problematische Abhängigkeiten von monopolistischen US-Tech-Firmen

^{tagesschau.de}

New Google Maps logo is blurring the lines - a symbol how it infiltrates your #privacy?

But who would think evil of #Google?

#GoogleMaps

🎉 BIG WIN for small tech! 🎉

While #Apple continues to protect its #monopoly, #Google wants to settle the case with #EpicGames, allowing developers to:

✅ Link to outside payments
✅ Share direct downloads
✅ Skip Google’s 30% cut

Are we seeing a revival of "Don't be evil" after all?

More on Apple vs Epic Games: tuta.com/blog/apple-eu-dma-mal…

I used the LINE messenger for the very first time the other day. Downloaded from the official source, my goal was simple: a single, private chat with one person, which LINE claims is protected by End-to-End Encryption (E2EE).

Our "conversation" was minimal – mostly just test messages. One single contact.

A few days later, I log in to find my account has been temporarily (for how long? =)) blocked.

This raises a cognitive dissonance for me:

Promise vs. Reality: We're told E2EE means no one, not even the company, can read our chats. If that's true, on what basis was I blocked? I have to assume it's related to something in the chat, because I literally did nothing else in the app. But if it is E2EE, how could they know? Does this mean E2EE is just a marketing buzzword and monitoring is happening anyway? I'd genuinely like to know what the real factors are.

Absolute Opacity: This is the real issue. I received zero explanation. No email, no warning, not even a vague hint at which policy I "violated." And look, I'll be the first to admit I didn't read the 100-page Terms of Service – who does? But that's not the point. Even if I did technically violate some obscure rule, the core problem is the total lack of transparency. I was left with no idea, not even a guess, as to what happened. This opaque, black-box process is the real problem.

This situation is deeply concerning. What if I lived in a country like Japan, where LINE is the default, essential messenger? I'd just be cut off from my digital life without cause or appeal. And if this happens on LINE, what stops WhatsApp from doing the same? (And let's not even talk about Telegram, which is 100% cringe and a lost cause for privacy anyway).

My takeaway: To be honest, I went into this as an experiment, and this incident 100% confirmed my expectations.

This isn't just a LINE problem. We see it constantly from Big Tech like Meta and Google. They ban users, often with no explanation, because they have the full legal right to do so. We all agreed to this when we blindly clicked "accept" on their Terms of Service.

This is exactly why my advice is this: you must factor in this risk with all commercial messengers. When you use any private, centralized platform, you have to accept the fact that you can be denied service at any time, for any reason, and they don't even have to tell you why. That is the price of admission we all paid.

The promise of a "private chat" apparently doesn't include the guarantee of access to the platform itself.

#privacy #E2EE #LINE #messengers #transparency #BigTech #Meta #Google #ban #DigitalRights #PlatformRisk #ToS #experiment #FuckTelegram

#Google trips over its own words, when they sell you #Android it's the best computing device in the world that does everything. After you bought it Google doesn't let you do anything *you* want to.

#Sideload is a made-up term. Putting software on your computer is simply called “installing”, regardless of whether that computer is in your pocket or on your desk.

What Do You Talk About When You Talk About Sideloading?

What does Google?

Here's #FDroid: f-droid.org/2025/10/28/sideloa…

What We Talk About When We Talk About Sideloading | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

We recently published a blog post with our reaction to the new Google Developer Program and how it impacts your freedom to use the devices that you own in th...

^f-droid.org

For you activist folk that still use Google services, get your shit off google and do it now. Don't store your files there and move your email to @Tutanota

If you can't make that effort you're not to be trusted. Look at the last item on the list in the linked article. Given the current fascist admin, it's clear your files are not safe, secure or private if stored on Google. Likely other US services too.

#privacy #security #google #fascism #democracy #resist

inverse.com/input/tech/google-…

Heads up, Google is monitoring everything you do in Docs and Drive

It might be time to move any sensitive information to your hard drive.

^{Matt Wille (Input)}

***** 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

So I found the secret to getting Google to listen to us! See, you have to join their Discord servers lol.

So Gemini on Android is less accessible with TalkBack than Gemini on iOS or even Gemini on the web. And I'm tired as fuck of sucky ass technology shit for the day just trying to do BSI on this iPhone because obviously having both hands on either side of the screen is having more than 3 fingers on a single side of the screen or some bullshit. Crem of the storming crem, Apple. So St'm not going into detail about the issue here because anyone who's kept up with the complaining I do knows the issue. Anyway, so I join the Gemini Discord, and I thought I'd posted that issue months ago, but apparently not. I know I reported it from the feedback part of the Gemini settings, but this is just proof that they don't read that shit.

So I post the bug report in the bug channel, and within a good hour or 2 I get a reply. Because of course. Now Google, make a TalkBack Discord server lol. Fucking insane. But yeah y'all if you have issues with Gemini, go to their Discord lol.

#google #accessibility #ai #blind

Teil 6 der der Nextcloud-Serie!

Push-Benachrichtigungen auf Android via UnifiedPush & NextPush – datenschutzfreundlich über deine Nextcloud statt Google. 👇

kuketz-blog.de/push-benachrich…

#nextcloud #unifiedpush #push #google #android #datenschutz

Push-Benachrichtigungen für Android via UnifiedPush (NextPush) – Nextcloud Teil 6

Push-Benachrichtigungen auf Android via UnifiedPush & NextPush – datenschutzfreundlich über deine Nextcloud statt Google.

^{www.kuketz-blog.de}

📣 Hey, #Google "disable" Google apps is not "uninstalling" them. You can't dodge the EU’s #DMA rules by redefining language.

👏 Thanks to @fsfe and allies, a complaint has been filed to stop this abuse and protect user freedom.

💪 Support the FSFE's fight for digital rights: my.fsfe.org/donate

#DeviceNeutrality #BigTech

Google just erased 7 years of our political history

Link: thebriefing.ie/google-just-era…
Discussion: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4…

#google

Google just erased 7 years of our political history

Google appears to have deleted its political ad archive for the EU; so the last 7 years of ads, of political spending, of messaging, of targeting - on YouTube, on Search and for display ads - for countless elections across 27 countries - is all gone.

^{Liz Carolan (The Briefing)}

Kindersuchmaschinen sollen Schutz bieten – doch die bekannten Angebote wie fragFINN oder Helles Köpfchen leiten Suchanfragen teils direkt an Google weiter oder lassen Drittanbieter (kräftig) mittracken. Damit wird das Surfverhalten von Kindern ausgewertet. Trotzdem gelten sie vielerorts als Empfehlung. Wirklich kindgerechte, trackingfreie Alternativen fehlen aktuell leider. 🙄

#suchmaschine #tracking #google #fragfinn #FediLZ #schule #kind #kinder #datenschutz #dsgvo

/kuk

***** WARNING REGARDING GOOGLE/ALPHABET *****

#Google (#Alphabet) is reinstating the worst of #YouTube creators who were "permanently" banned for COVID-19 and election integrity misinformation. Alphabet is now saying "Biden made them do the bans."

Clearly, billionaire CEO Sundar -- who we've seen palling around with Trump of course -- has gone full MAGA. Google is purposely conflating -- that is, purposely confusing -- necessary moderation to protect people and elections from masses of misinformation designed to mislead them, often in devastating ways -- from censorship created to suppress specific valid points of view.

There is an enormous difference -- Sundar and his Alphabet minions know this full well. They also know that their Gemini AI is a source of often dangerous misinformation on a planetary scale, and it's likely this has also entered into their recently (in a letter to Congress) announced changes.

Given Google's enthusiastic embrace of MAGA, I do not consider my past statements applauding the security and privacy of user information at Google to be reliable guidance moving forward from now. I have no confidence that Sundar would not quickly (or ultimately) agree to virtually any demands made by the Trump administration, however invasive or illegal they might actually be.

I do not have specific recommendations for alternatives to Google or their services, so please don't ask me for them! But I do recommend keeping the obvious shift in Google's behavior in mind, and you would be wise to assume that they are fully and completely in bed with fascist Trump in many ways -- or soon will be -- absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.

If Google/Alphabet wishes to discuss any of this with me and point out any errors in my analysis, they know my email address.

Take care, all.

L

@gamingagainstv

Google #Play removed #nonprofit apps from their store, claiming that these topics are not #educational:

👉🏼#consent #healthyrelationships

These same apps are on #Appstore for #Apple users - but #Google removed them for #Android users.

⭐⭐⭐This is why we need sideloading!

Einblicke in das #Datenspuren-Programm

Heute: #UnifiedPush

talks.datenspuren.de/ds25/talk…

Push-Benachrichtigungen auf #Android-Handys ohne #Google. Dezentralisiert und #OpenSource. Wie das geht, berichtet @daniel in seinem Vortrag auf den #Datenspuren25.

Wann? 20. September, 16:00–16:45 Uhr
Wo? Henny Brenner Saal und im Stream auf @mediacccde

Ihr wollt euch das komplette Programm ansehen? Dann schaut hier vorbei: talks.datenspuren.de/ds25/sche…

#Datenspuren2025 #Dresden

UnifiedPush Datenspuren 2025

Push-Benachrichtigungen auf Android-Handys ohne Google. Dezentralisiert und Open Source.

^{talks.datenspuren.de}

New germinating idea: Accessibility Excellence. Now, I'm sure people like @JonathanMosen have made approximately 9001 podcast episodes about this, but in the wake of Google's own AI gallery app, which lets people use AI models offline on their phone including image description and audio transcription, released with no accessibility, I think we need to converge as a community on an idea of accessibility excellence. We need to dismiss ads of a company that seeks to prop us up to show how their stuff is accessible, even though there is clearly a systemic issue of inaccessibility in the company. Gemini on iOS is more accessible than Gemini on Android. TalkBack still doesn't have basic screen reader features like a pronunciation dictionary and support for all features on even older Braille displays like the Braille Edge. Google Play Books does not automatically scroll pages while reading a book, like Apple Books, Kindle, and many other book reading apps on iOS do. Even Kindle on Android does this, but Google's own app doesn't. Gmail on Android has no way to navigate between messages in a conversation or thread, while Apple's Mail app can, making reading threads of email on iOS fast and easy. There is no way on Android to have TalkBack suspend touch interaction in apps, so gamers still have to turn off the screen reader to play accessible games. Apple users haven't had to do that in years. Even though there are tags on the Play Store for apps accessible with TalkBack, the idea has fallen by the wayside like so many other accessibility ideas that Google forgot and Apple has just embarked upon with accessibility labels. These aren't vibes, or subjective feelings. Like I said in my most recent Accessible Android article, how can we expect small companies or indie developers to make their apps accessible, when we can't get Google to listen to us and take us seriously? We need to take each others' accessibility concerns seriously, especially for Braille. Many people who are blind use Android, yes. Many people like it. And that's okay. But it could, and should, be so much better. There should be competition between these company's accessibility departments, not a kind of sluggish, aimless ambling around in concentric circles by one while the other presses ahead. Yes, TalkBack's Gemini AI descriptions are great, and when I use my Android phone, it's a very attractive feature. Perhaps next year VoiceOver will get something like it.

We shouldn't give any of these huge corporations an inch of duct tape accessibility, because once it's done, they'll build upon that poor foundation, and the whole structure will be so much less effective than it needs to be. Accessibility should be solid, no matter what company does it. But if a screen reader comes with a device, and is made by the company that makes the OS, there's no excuse for rickety accessibility.

Ai Edge Gallery Accessibility Bug Report: github.com/google-ai-edge/gall…

Google's Pixel 10 Accessibility Article: store.google.com/intl/en/ideas…

#accessibility #blind #google #technology #tech #android

Accessibility Feedback for EdgeGallery Application

Hello, Thank you for this exciting work. However, I recently installed the EdgeGallery application, and my Talkback screen reader is unable to correctly recognize the application's functions. Even ...

^{inspector3535 (GitHub)}

So for Blind Android users, Google has released their AI Edge Galerry app. Can anyone confirm that it isn't accessible with TalkBack?

play.google.com/store/apps/det…

#accessibility #blind #google #android

Google AI Edge Gallery - Apps on Google Play

Explore, Experience, and Evaluate the Future of On-Device Generative AI

^{play.google.com}

I'm writing this post here today in hopes to bring some attention to something that is near and dear to my heart, and that's an update to the current situation with Nova Launcher, that I worked for and with for nine years up until August of 2024.

For those that haven't seen the news, Kevin Barry, the founder and developer of Nova has left Branch which in turn means he's now no longer involved with Nova Launcher in any way going forward.

teslacoilapps.com/nova/solong.…

For the past year or so Kevin has stated that he was working on the open source version of Nova Launcher so that if/when this time came, it would be out in the open and the community could take it over and contribute to it and have it continue being developed.

However, it seems that Harish Thimmappa and others at Branch had told him to stop working on that effort as they didn't want him to continue doing that for unknown reasons. This is sad news because this was something that former CEO, Alex Austin, had promised both via a contract and publicly that if Kevin were to ever leave Branch, Nova Launcher would become open source. You can find that quote here:

reddit.com/r/Android/comments/…

and another very similar quote with similar conversation here:

reddit.com/r/Android/comments/…

The reason for this post is to try and draw some attention to the folks at Branch, specifically folks like Harish Thimmappa to do the right thing and honor these promises and any writings in the contracts from 2022 and to fully focus on releasing Nova Launcher as an open source app.

The community deserves this more than anything, since that was something that Kevin was very adamant about when he allowed Branch to acquire Nova Launcher back in 2022. Plus, this is just something that Branch should do since it is something that has been promised.

There is currently a petition on Change.org to try and get Branch to do this as well. After only 3 days of it being posted to Change.org, it sits at almost 1,500 signatures, and that's with very little to no press coverage at this time, which is something that would be super useful to bring full attention to this situation. You can find the petition here:

change.org/p/make-nova-launche…

I ask that everyone who sees this post can share it with their followers as I would love to see Branch do the right thing and follow through with their promises that were made back in 2022 when they acquired Nova Launcher and release it fully as an open source app now that Kevin is no longer working for Branch and not involved in Nova Launcher.

I'm going to tag some folks below that I worked with at Branch in hopes of getting this post seen by as many folks there as possible.

#NovaLauncher #Nova #Branch #BranchMetrics #OpenSource #OpenSourceNova #Petition #Android #Apps #Google

🚨 BREAKING: Google just got fined €325M for breaking privacy laws.

Let's celebrate this BIG WIN for #privacy 🔒

👉 tuta.com/blog/gmail-ads-annoyi…

But know this: You don't need ad-blockers to get an ad-free email. 😉

#France #Google #Gmail #Tuta