Google Hangouts is officially shutting down in November. The search giant is prompting people still using Hangouts to migrate over to Chat as part of its plan to retire the aging messaging platform, the company said in a blog post Monday. Google already transitioned enterprise users earlier this year.  On the Hangouts mobile app, people are …

Google is boosting the presence of local news in a redesign of its News aggregator, part of a new quality information effort the search giant unveiled Wednesday. The new design will feature a column that showcases local news by city, the company said in a blog post marking the 20th anniversary of its News service. People can choose from which the …

Google Maps will introduce a new widget that can predict nearby traffic on a person’s home screen in the coming weeks, without having to open the app, Google said in a blog post on Thursday.  Real-time traffic predictions are already present in Waze, another Google-owned mapping app, and Google Maps itself. This widget brings the traffic prediction functionality to a person’s …

As regulators in Europe continue to crack down on Big Tech, Google will allow third-party ad platforms on YouTube in a possible attempt to settle an antitrust probe without paying a fine, according to a report from Reuters on Monday.  The company’s actions are reportedly linked to an ongoing antitrust investigation by the European Union into whether Google parent Alphabet, …

Google Chrome is doing something about websites that constantly ask users if they want to receive notifications by automatically disabling prompts based on a person’s history.  On the next release of its Chrome browser, Google will launch a machine learning model that will predict a user’s browsing preferences, the company said in a blog post Thursday. Google said the ML model’s predictions …

Google’s latest mapping tool takes the power of Google Maps and brings in near real-time data of the world’s water, vegetation, snow and human-made development.  Called Dynamic World, the tool can help with understanding the impacts of environmental disturbances, from floods, wildfires, deforestation and urban development, the company said in a blog post Thursday.  “The global land squeeze pressures us …

This story is part of WWDC 2022, CNET’s complete coverage from and about Apple’s annual developers conference. Apple’s Messages app will offer a new Delete and Edit feature in its upcoming iOS 16, the company said at its WWDC 2022 conference on Monday.  The feature allows you to edit and unsend already-sent iMessages, potentially preventing embarrassing situations. The update also lets you …

This story is part of WWDC 2022, CNET’s complete coverage from and about Apple’s annual developers conference. Apple won’t be bringing WatchOS 9 to the Apple Watch Series 3, indicating the aging wearable, which was introduced in 2017, might be getting ready for retirement.  In a blog post published Monday during WWDC 2022, the company said WatchOS 9 will come as …

Google is folding Duo, a mobile video-calling app, into Meet, its videoconferencing app, creating a single service that will work across all devices, the company said on Wednesday. Duo, released in 2016, is an Android and iOS app that offers end-to-end encrypted video calling on low-bandwidth networks. On the Google Play Store, the app has more than 5 billion downloads and …

What’s happening Tinder parent Match Group has come to an agreement with Google that allows Match’s apps to remain on the Play Store without using Play Store Billing for in-app transactions. Why it matters The agreement comes amid tension between app developers and Google over the use of alternative payment systems. Match Group struck an agreement Friday with Google that allows Match’s …