Month: August 2026

Google Expert Intelligence Adds AI Tools to Ebooks, but Only Through Google Play

Google Expert Intelligence Adds AI Tools to Ebooks, but Only Through Google Play

On August 27, Google launched Expert Intelligence, which the company describes as “a new way for you to engage with trusted content.”

The new tool lets readers add eligible books they bought through Google Play Books to Gemini Notebook, where they can use them as sources along with other material they’ve already added to the notebook.

However, you can’t just upload any old ebook you have lying around to your Gemini Notebook. If you purchased an eligible title from another platform, you won’t be able to use it with Google’s Expert Intelligence tools.

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Google’s AI Mode Is Turning Search Into a Travel Agent

Google’s AI Mode Is Turning Search Into a Travel Agent

You can now track flight prices, see what flights and hotels cost in points or miles, and book your hotel, all through Google’s AI Mode in Search. With the new update, Google is positioning its conversational AI tool to play a much bigger role in how we plan our travel.

The new features, which the search giant announced on August 27, bring Google Flights’ popular price-tracking tech directly into AI Mode. That means users in supported markets can tell AI Mode when and where they want to fly, compare current prices from more than 300 airlines and travel sites, and have Google email them if prices change.

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Apple’s New Mac Mini Shows How Always-On AI Could Change Personal Computing

Apple’s New Mac Mini Shows How Always-On AI Could Change Personal Computing

Apple unveiled its new Mac mini on August 25, updating it with the M6 and M5 Pro chips for a significant performance boost. But the company is selling much more than just faster speeds.

The tech giant is also positioning its tiniest desktop as a machine that can stay on and keep AI agents working even when there’s nobody sitting in front of it.

The M6 model delivers up to 4x faster AI performance than the M4 Mac mini that came before it, according to Apple. And the company says the new Mac mini can run local models and create AI agents to automate everyday tasks.

Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji went a step further, calling the Mac mini an “always-on agentic device.”

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Victor Strategies EVP Gene Johnson: Prediction Markets ‘Biggest Scam I’ve Ever Seen’

Victor Strategies EVP Gene Johnson: Prediction Markets ‘Biggest Scam I’ve Ever Seen’

Player props, multi-leg combos, point spreads, and over/unders. Open up an app offering all of that, and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d landed in a sportsbook.

The thing is, these days, you may actually be looking at a federally regulated prediction market.

It’s a future Gene Johnson anticipated.

Back in March 2025, Johnson wrote a column warning that sports prediction markets wouldn’t stop at simple game-outcome contracts. He predicted that they’d move into player props and parlays until it became increasingly difficult to tell prediction markets and sportsbooks apart.

More than a year later, CasinoBeats spoke with Johnson in a wide-ranging interview and asked him to revisit that prediction in light of everything that had changed since.

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‘That’s Between You, Me, and ChatGPT’ — Every Apple iMessage Conversation Is Now a Privacy Risk

‘That’s Between You, Me, and ChatGPT’ — Every Apple iMessage Conversation Is Now a Privacy Risk

OpenAI has released a plugin for Apple Messages that lets users connect ChatGPT to the messaging service. The trouble is, it only needs one party in the conversation to opt in, and the AI has access to what everyone said.

The plugin went live on August 20, giving the chatbot the ability to read and search conversations, summarize recent chats, draft replies, and send messages via the Messages app on a Mac.

Users on all ChatGPT plans can access the plugin through the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS. OpenAI says it can be used in ChatGPT Work and Codex. The plugin works with iMessage, SMS, and RCS conversations on Apple silicon Macs.

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