Tech Roundup: Google I/O 2025, Mozilla Pocket Shutdown & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• Microsoft integrates AI shortcuts, or what it calls AI actions, into the File Explorer in Windows 11, allowing users to right-click on a file and access relevant AI features, such as blurring the background of a photo, erasing objects, or even summarising content from Office files.
• Google debuts new versions of its models Gemini 2.5, Imagen and Veo at its Google I/O 2025, as it brings Gemini Live with camera and screen sharing to all users on Android and iOS; updates Deep Research to add the ability to add private PDFs and images along with public data and Canvas with features to create interactive infographics, quizzes, podcast-style Audio Overviews in 45 languages, and turn ideas into working code.
• Google rolls out AI Mode in Search to all users in the U.S. with integrated deep research capabilities that can "issue hundreds of searches, reason across disparate pieces of information, and create an expert-level fully-cited report"; adds agentic capabilities to complete tasks like booking event tickets, restaurant reservations and appointments for local services.
• Google unveils a new AI filmmaking tool called Flow to craft "cinematic clips, scenes and cohesive narratives with intuitive prompting"; brings Gemini to Chrome to help users understand complex information and complete tasks on the web by using the context of the current page, adds live AI-powered translation to Meet, and introduces a new Google AI Ultra subscription plan for US$ 250/month.
• Google adds Gemini to AndroidXR, and partners with Gentle Monster, Xreal and Warby Parker to build smart glasses that make it possible to message friends, make appointments, ask for turn-by-turn directions, take photos, and enable live language translation between two people.
• Google improves its virtual try-on technology to help shoppers try apparel listings on themselves by uploading a photo; says it's powered by a new custom image generation model for fashion, which understands the human body and nuances of clothing — like how different materials fold, stretch and drape on different bodies.
• Google rebrands Project Starline into a new 3D video communication platform codenamed Google Beam that uses "AI to enable a new generation of devices that help people make meaningful connections"; launches SynthID Detector, a verification portal that lets users upload files and tries to identify if they contain content made with Google AI.
• Google announces Video Overviews for NotebookLM, to turn dense multimedia, like raw notes, PDFs, and images, into digestible visual presentations; unveils Stitch, which lets users turn prompt and image inputs into complex UI designs and frontend code.
• Google launches new topic browse pages in Google Play Store to improve app discovery; expands Where to Watch to more markets, including the UK, Korea, Indonesia and Mexico, and adds an audio sample feature for apps "best experienced through sound."
• Google announces Gemma 3n, the latest addition to its family of open AI models, that's designed to run on phones, laptops and tablets, and handle audio, text, images and videos with improved multimodal and multilingual capabilities and optimised on-device performance.
• Alphabet-owned ride-hailing company Waymo says it has reached 10 million trips, doubling in the past five months.
• Volvo expands its Google partnership to integrate Gemini across its model lineup; says having natural conversations with Gemini "can help reduce your cognitive load so that you can stay focused on driving, reducing distractions for everyone onboard."
• Epic Games announces that Fortnite is back on the App Store in the U.S. for iPhone and iPad users, and on the Epic Games Store and AltStore in the E.U.; comes as Microsoft files an amicus brief in support of Epic Games' ongoing fight with Apple's control over the App Store, accusing the iPhone maker of attempting to overturn a ruling that allows third-party developers to freely advertise alternative payment methods in their apps and its plans for a Xbox mobile store have been stymied by the company.
• Sweden passes a law criminalising the purchase of live online sexual performances, including cam shows and sex chats; buying pre-recorded content remains legal.
• Apple is reportedly planning to release an SDK and related frameworks to let third-party devs build AI features based on LLMs it uses for Apple Intelligence.
• Civitai blames a "configuration issue" for allowing users to generate non-consensual porn; says it will "pause" credit card payments starting May 23, as its current payment processor won't "support platforms that allow AI-generated explicit content."
• Apple gets fined US$ 131,000 by a Russian court that found it guilty of breaking the country's laws on what it describes as LGBT propaganda.
• Privacy-focused company Proton threatens to leave Switzerland if a controversial amendment to the current surveillance law requiring VPNs and messaging apps to identify and retain user data passes.
• Messaging app Signal updates its Windows app to protect users' privacy by blocking Microsoft's AI-powered Recall feature from taking screenshots of their conversations.
• OpenAI announces that former Apple design chief Jony Ive and his design firm LoveFrom will take over creative and design control at OpenAI; says it's acquiring Jony Ive's artificial intelligence devices startup io for about US$ 6.4 billion, as it aims to ship 100 million AI "companion" devices, with the goal of releasing a device by late 2026. (The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI and LoveFrom have been working for two years on a new device to move consumers beyond screens, including headphones and devices with cameras.)
• Apple temporarily increases its iPhone trade-in values in select countries, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and China, through June 18; comes as the company's China shipments fell 8% year-over-year.
• U.S. President Donald Trump says the government will apply 25% tariffs on mobile devices from Apple, Samsung and other manufacturers that sold but are not made in the country; to come into effect by the end of June 2025 in an attempt to force companies to move production to the U.S.
• Discord reveals the platform is exploring forums and LLM-powered summaries to make discussions easy to follow and shareable outside the service.
• Vietnam orders ISPs to block Telegram for allegedly failing to stop illegal content and "anti-government" activities being carried out by its users on its app.
• X rival Bluesky lets "notable and authentic" accounts apply for blue check verification and enables select organisations to become Trusted Verifiers to verify others.
• Valve releases SteamOS 3.7.8 with support for the Lenovo Legion Go S and a recovery image to install SteamOS on other AMD handhelds like the ROG Ally.
• Meta pilots turning images on some Instagram feeds into 3D photos on the Instagram app for Quest; begins rolling out a new Horizon OS interface called Navigator.
• Google increases the maximum app price on the Play Store to US$ 5,000; adds a new payment option that allows users in the U.S. to request someone else to pay for app/in-app purchases within 24 hours.
• Mozilla unveils a "smarter, simpler Firefox address bar" that "puts your preferred engines front and centre, making it easier to switch between providers and search modes based on what you need"; plans to shut down Pocket, the read-it-later service it acquired in 2017, on July 8, and Fakespot, which helps identify unreliable reviews, on July 1.