&w=3840&q=100)
Google Voice update adds three-way calling, revamped interface: What's new
The new features in Google Voice are currently limited to select Google Workspace customers but will soon be available for all, said Google
Aashish Kumar Shrivastava New Delhi

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Mint
42 minutes ago
- Mint
Apple's growing list of problems clouds AI reboot
It says something about Apple's current status that its trailing position in artificial intelligence isn't the company's biggest problem. It might seem to be next week, though. Investors are glum ahead of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference that kicks off Monday. The stock has slid 20% since the first of the year, which is the worst run the shares have experienced ahead of the company's WWDC event since at least 2010. Apple's big tech peers now use their own annual developer events almost exclusively to tout their progress in AI. But Apple's conference this year is expected to mainly demonstrate how far behind the company is in what is considered a once-in-a-generation technological shift. The Apple Intelligence service introduced at last year's conference is still a work in progress, and the Siri digital assistant is still awaiting a promised AI makeover. That won't be coming next week, at least based on a rare admission Apple made three months ago that its planned Siri upgrade was taking longer than expected. 'Apple will be much more cautious about overpromising and will refrain from showing features that aren't yet ready for prime time," Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson predicted in a report Thursday. But AI is only one of the significant problems Apple is facing now. Tariffs threaten the profit margins of the company's hardware business. And the president of the U.S. is openly pressuring Apple to effectively undo its two-decade-old business model of exclusively producing its devices overseas. Then there is services, which drive an outsize portion of Apple's bottom line. Legal challenges hang over the fees the company earns from app developers, as well as the payments it receives from Google to make the search engine the default option on Apple's devices. Those fees and payments together comprise a substantial part of Apple's services arm that generates annual gross profit margins of 74%—twice the margins the company's device business commands. 'We caution that Apple has material risks to its revenue growth, margins, and valuation multiple," Needham analyst Laura Martin wrote in a report on Wednesday, where she downgraded the stock to a 'hold" rating. Against the risk of tariffs, App Store fee reductions and the loss of Google payments, Apple's slow start in AI seems almost a minor worry. The company hasn't been marketing Apple Intelligence as a premium service that would cost users extra—a notable contrast to the approach of Microsoft and Alphabet's Google, which are charging money for most of the generative AI tools sold to their customers. But Apple needs to give customers more reasons to buy its devices, and upgrade them more frequently. Its flagship iPhone business has been in a rut, with revenue growth relatively flat over the past two years and expected to be flat again for the current fiscal year ending in September. The lack of new AI offerings is expected to weigh on the next cycle as well, with Wall Street expecting iPhone revenue growth of only 3% in fiscal 2026, according to FactSet estimates. 'We believe that, for this stock to work, it must have the catalyst of an iPhone replacement cycle, which we do not foresee in the next 12 months," Needham's Martin wrote in her report. Apple has a lot of very loyal customers—more than 2.35 billion active devices make up its installed base—who won't necessarily bail over a single piece of missing software. But the company that disrupted the smartphone market could be disrupted itself if generative AI creates a new class of devices that obviate the need for a touch screen slab in everyone's pocket. OpenAI just nabbed Jony Ive, the famed Apple designer who crafted the original versions of most of Apple's current product line, as part of an ambition to eventually ship 100 million 'AI companions." The first devices are expected to come out next year. The famously secretive Apple could very well spring some of its own surprises by then. But it will have to do so while juggling its global supply chain and deftly navigating the legal challenges to its App Store fees and Google payments. Apple isn't even officially a party to the Google case, which might limit its options to shape the outcome. Apple's slow start in AI is a problem, but compared to its other challenges, at least it is more under its control.


Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Google Messages is getting major update to improve photos and videos browsing
Google Messages is getting a handy update to make looking through photos and videos easier. Instead of jumping back to the chat each time, you'll soon be able to swipe through media smoothly. You can swipe left or right to see newer or older files and even react with emojis or reply directly. This swipe feature works in a similar way to how it does on apps like WhatsApp, where moving through photos and videos feels quick and easy. Google hasn't rolled it out to everyone yet, but the feature has already been seen in a test version of the app. But there is more on the way. Google is also working on a new media section that shows all shared content in one place. If you're looking for an old video or photo in a long chat, you won't have to scroll endlessly. Instead, you can go to this new section from the chat details screen and find all your media listed together. This is much like what WhatsApp and Telegram already offer. These updates are part of Google's bigger plan to improve Messages. Over the past few years, it has introduced Rich Communication Services or RCS, which adds features like typing indicators and read receipts. However, even with RCS, many users still prefer other apps. That's why Google is slowly adding more tools to make Messages more useful and up to date. Features like swipe browsing and a dedicated media overview section are making the app much easier to use. While these updates may seem minor, they can significantly improve the experience for people who rely on the app daily. If you use Messages regularly to keep in touch with friends and family, these additions will help make your conversations more organised and simpler to navigate. Over time, these improvements could change how smoothly you interact with photos and videos in your chats, making the app feel more polished and user-friendly.


Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
YouTube down: Thousands globally facing issues with streaming videos
Thousands of users globally are currently experiencing issues with YouTube. Users have reported facing issues with loading videos from both the app and website. The problem is reportedly affecting streaming videos via both the YouTube app and website. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now According to outage tracking site DownDetector, thousands of users across regions, including the US, UK, and Indian, have complained of facing issues with the Google-owned video streaming platform. In the US, over 5,000 reports concerning the platform's accessibility were registered on Downdetector. Meanwhile, in the UK and India, over 1800 and 360 users have raised complaints with YouTube, respectively. The majority of these reports specifically cited issues with video streaming on the website. How the YouTube outage is affecting users In the US, 79% and 3% of users complained facing issues with the website and the app, respectively. 18% of users reported problems with streaming videos on the platform. In the UK, 78% and 2% of users faced problems with the YouTube website and app, respectively, while 20% raised issues about being unable to stream videos on the platform. Meanwhile, in India, 68% and 5% of YouTube users faced issues with the website and the app, respectively, while 27% faced problems with streaming videos. A map on Downdetector also showed that the latest YouTube outage is affecting users all across the US, UK and India. Several users also took to the social media platform X to report facing issues with the video streaming apps. Here are screenshots of some of those posts: