Google Pixel 9a is still months away from launch, but that hasn’t stopped rumors about the alleged device surface online. The smartphone is said to come as the successor to this year’s Pixel 8a model, which is the company’s latest midrange smartphone.

A new report has leaked several key features of the Pixel 9a, which could be launched by the company in early 2025. The smartphone will reportedly have a bigger battery and Google’s current-gen Tensor G4 chipset.

According to Android Headlines, citing multiple sources, Pixel 9a will boast a 6.3-inch Actual display, with a refresh rate ranging between 60Hz and 120Hz. This is slightly bigger than the 6.1-inch display on the current-generation A-series model and will bring the midrange phone to the same level as the standard Pixel 9 model.

Also Read: Google Developing AI Agent To Control Your Web Browser

Google Pixel 9a Rumored Specifications

If the Pixel 9a comes with a bigger display, the phone's size is also said to grow. Google will use the additional space to include a larger 5,000mAh battery, as per the publication -- a considerable improvement over the Pixel 8a, which arrived earlier this year with a 4,500mAh battery.

Google usually fits its Pixel A-series phones with its current generation chips and the upcoming handset is said to follow the same trend. The report states that the Pixel 0a will be powered by a Tensot G4 chip, 8GB RAM, and up to 256GB of storage.

Meanwhile, Google will reportedly pack the Pixel 9a with a 48MP primary camera. It is also expected to feature a 13MP ultrawide camera, in a horizontal layout on the rear panel. On the front, the alleged Pixel 9a is said to come with a 13MP front-facing camera.

The Pixel 9a is said to arrive with Android 15 and is likely to receive 7 years of OS upgrades and monthly security updates, similar to the Pixel 8a and other recent smartphones. As per the recent report, the company could launch the smartphone in early 2025 instead of unveiling it at Google I/O in May.

Also Read: Gmail Will Now Help Users Write Email On The Web Using AI

Google Could Split Chrome And Android Over Antitrust Issues

Google could soon face regulatory action as the DOJ considers antitrust measures to lose the company’s grip on online search. This could involve splitting Android, Chrome, and other assets.

The U.S. Justice Department has revealed an ambitious plan to tackle Google’s monopoly as part of its antitrust lawsuit against the company, as reported by CNBC. This comes on the heels of the DOJ’s legal victory in August when the US District Court labeled Google a “monopolist” for breaking antitrust laws in its efforts to stay the default search engine on devices and browsers.

The US government has found a potential anti-competitive network connecting Android devices, the Google Play Store, Chrome, and Search.

Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, has taken the digital world by storm. With the help of ChatGPT, users can generate responses to their questions, requests, and commands. Earlier in 2023, OpenAI also announced a new feature called ‘memory’ for ChatGPT that can recall information discussed in previous conversations.

Now, the company has brought a new way to efficiently view or manage all the previous chat conversations with the introduction of a search feature for the web app. The company announced the feature through a new post on X, “We’re starting to roll out the ability to search through your chat history on ChatGPT web. Now you can quickly & easily bring up a chat to reference, or pick up a chat where you left off.”

Also Read: OpenAI Introduces New Canvas Interface For ChatGPT

Searching Through Your ChatGPT Conversations

The history search is a unique feature for the ‘memory’ for ChatGPT, as it can let users bring up an old chat to remember something or pick back up a chat right where it was left off, especially if their query was unresolved. This feature is also said to reduce the need for users to repeat information and to find clear links to relevant sources.

Besides, OpenAI has confirmed that this new magnifying glass icon is currently rolling out to all users. ChatGPT Plus and Teams subscribers will have access to it by the end of October 2024. In contrast, Enterprise and Edu subscribers will get it at the start of next month. Fortunately, free users will also get access to the chat history feature by the end of November 2024.

Also Read: OpenAI Improves File Search Controls To Improve ChatGPT Responses

OpenAI Testing ChatGPT App For Windows Users

OpenAI seems to be testing a ChatGpt app for Windows -- but it’s only available to paid users for now. Users can download an early version of the app from the Microsoft Store. Similar to the Mac version of the app, ChatGPT on Windows lets users ask the AI-powered chatbot questions in a dedicated window that users can keep open alongside their apps. Users can quickly access the app by using the Alt + Space shortcut.

The app will also let users upload files and photos to ChatGPT and comes with access to a preview of OpenAI’s o1 model capable of “reasoning.” The app still has a lot of work to be done and is missing some capabilities, like advanced voice mode.

Just days after OpenAI launched its ChatGPT app on Mac in June, a developer spotted a security vulnerability that stored conversations in plain text. openAI has since fixed this issue and now encrypts locally stored data.

British consumer technology brand Nothing has unveiled its Phone 2a Plus Community Edition smartphone. The company calls it the first co-created smartphone developed in collaboration with some of Nothing’s community members. The Phone 2a Plus Community Edition is a limited-edition phone with a glow-in-the-dark finish.

Nothing has been noted that only 1,000 units of the device will be produced globally, with community members given priority access to buy the Nothing Phone 2a Plus Community Edition. The smartphone will be available in a 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant, priced at Rs 29,999.

Also Read: Nothing Phone 2a Plus Full Specs Out Ahead Of July 31 Launch

Nothing Phone 2a Plus Community Edition Features

Nothing was noted that its Community Edition Project invited the global community to contribute to every aspect of the product. The first stage involved hardware design, where winners collaborated with Nothing’s design team to bring the concept of “Phosphorescence” to life.

Subsequent stages involved designing wallpapers, packaging, and marketing campaigns. The expanded collection of available wallpapers on the Community Edition model includes designs from the winning concept “Connected Collection.”

As for the specs, the smartphone packs a 6.7-inch AMOLED Full HD display with a 120Hz refresh rate and is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The phone packs a 50MP rear camera with optical image stabilization and a 50MP ultra-wide-angle sensor. It also features a 50MP front camera.

The smartphone is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro SoC, powered with 8GB/12GB RAM and 256GB storage. It is backed by a 5000mAh battery with 50W wired charging. It runs Android 14 wrapped under Nothing OS 2.6. The smartphone also promises three years of Android updates and four years of security patches.

Also Read: Nothing Phone (2a) Plus To Be Launched On July 31

Asus ROG Phone 9 Series Confirmed To Launch On November 19

Asus has officially confirmed the launch date for its much-anticipated ROG Phone 9 series, slated to launch on November 19. This new line of gaming smartphones will come with a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, promising enhanced performance crafted for gamers.

Ahead of the launch, leaks have surfaced revealing alleged renders and a hands-on video of the Asus ROG Phone 9 and ROG Phone 9 Pro. Both smartphones seem to have retained the distinctive boxy design of their precursor, complete with a flat frame and a triple-camera setup on the rear.

As per a new report from 91Mobiles, the ROG Phone 9 Pro has been revealed in a black finish, featuring a textured back panel reminiscent of previous models in the series. The device sports a flat display with a centrally positioned hole-punch cutout for the front-facing camera. On the rear, a camera bump can be seen, packing three camera sensors along with an LED flash.

At the Xiaomi 15 series launch in China, the company has now unveiled new tablets and wearables. The lineup includes the Xiaomi Pad 7, Pad 7 Pro, and Smart Band 9 Pro. These are Xiaomi’s latest premium tablets, smartband, and smartwatch. For now, these products are available only in China by the company is expected to bring them globally soon.

The Xiaomi Pad 7 comes at a starting point of CNY 1,999 for the base model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. It comes in a total of three variants. The Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro is available in four variants with a starting price of CNY 2,499. Both tablets come in Black, Green, and Sky Blue colors. The Xiaomi Watch S4 is also available in two variants with the eSIM model starting at CNY 1199, and the Bluetooth model starting at CNY 999.

Also Read: Xiaomi 15 Series Launched As First To Pack Snapdragon 8 Elite

Xiaomi Pad 7, Pad 7 Pro Under The Hood

The Xiaomi Pad 7 series comes with an 11.2-inch LCD display with a 144Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10, and Dolby Vision. The tablet is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 processor, while the Pro model gets the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC.

The standard Xiaomi Pad 7 has a 13MP camera with an 8MP front camera. The Pro model has a 50MP rear camera and a 32MP front camera. Both tablets run the newly launched HyperOS 2 out of the box.

Both are powered by the 8850mAh battery on both tablets but the Xiaomi Pad 7 has 45W fast charging, while the Pro variant offers 67W fast charging support. Besides, users get a USB Type-C port, Dolby Atmos, quad speakers, four microphones, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4.

Also Read: Xiaomi “Tapes Out” China’s First 3nm Smartphone Chip

Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro Under The Hood

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro comes with a 1.74-inch 2.5D curved AMOLED display with up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness and more than 100 Watch faces. Besides, it packs an aluminum alloy middle frame.

The fitness brand’s health features include continuous heart rate tracking, bloody oxygen saturation monitoring, 24/7 sleep tracking, and female health tracking. It has more than 150 sports modes along with professional running and swimming analysis.

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro has a 350mAh battery with up to 21 days of battery life on regular use and up to 10 days with AOD. The fitness band has 5ATM water resistance, smart NFC, and Bluetooth 5.4. Users can also get reminders, alerts, Xiaomi assistant, and call alerts with the Band Smart 9 Pro.

Soon after launching its iPhone 16 series, Apple has now announced the long-awaited next-gen MacBook Pro. The company first announced the new iMac and Mac Mini, and now it has announced its new MacBook Pro models that are backed by Apple’s in-house M4 chips.

Speaking of the design, Apple has not made any major changes to the laptops. The newly launched MacBook Pro comes in two sizes, 14-inch and 16-inch. This time the laptops are more powerful and feature-packed and also support Apple Intelligence.

Also Read: Apple Launches Smaller, Redesigned Mac Mini: Price, Features

MacBook Pro With M4 Specifications

The standard MacBook Pro which comes with an M4 chipset packs an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, and 16GB RAM. On the other hand, the M4 Pro chip packs a 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. It comes with a 20-core GPU that provides twice the performance compared to M4 and has support for up to 64GB of unified memory.

For people who seek more power, they can opt for the MacBook Pro with the newly launched M4 Max chipset which packs a 16-core CPU, a 40-core GPU, and up to 128GB of unified memory.

As for the display, Apple shared that it is shipping the new MacBook Pro with an “all-new nano-texture display option.” This is similar to the technology that Samsung uses on its S24 series to reduce glare and distractions caused by reflections.

Moreover, it supports HDR content and has a peak brightness of 1600 nits. It packs a 12MP Center Stage camera that helps in low light conditions and automatically keeps users centered in the frame even if they move around.

Also Read: iOS 18.1 With Apple Intelligence Available For These iPhones

MacBook Pro With M4 Additional Features

Connectivity options include an HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, one MagSafe 3 port for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Moreover, there are three Thunderbolt 4 ports on the M4 version, while the M4 Pro MacBook and M4 Max versions have three Thunderbolt 5 ports.

Coming to the prices, the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro comes at Rs 1,69,000, the M4 Pro starts at Rs 1,89,000, and the M4 Max will set you back by Rs 2,09,000. The 16-inch variants are priced at Rs 2,49,900 for the M4 variant, Rs Rs 2,89,900 for the M4 Pro variant, and Rs 3,49,900 for the M4 Max variant.

Google is reportedly looking to sidestep the complexity of AI-driven automation by allowing its multimodal large language models (LLMs) to take control of users’ browsers. As per a report published by The Information, citing several unnamed sources, “Project Jarvis” could be available in inpreview as early as December and enable the model to harness a web browser to "gather research, purchase a product, or book a flight."

The service apparently will be restricted to Chrome and from what users gather will take advantage of Gemini’s ability to parse visual data along with written language to enter text and navigate web pages on the user’s behalf.

This would limit the scope of Project Jarvis’ abilities compared to what Anthropic is doing. Recently, the AI startup detailed how its Claude 3.5 Sonnet model could now use computers to run apps, gather and process information, and perform tasks based on a text prompt.

Also Read: OpenAI Introduces New Canvas Interface For ChatGPT

Google’s AI Agent Is Far From Perfect

Anthropic in a recent blog post said that "a vast amount of modern work happens via computers,” and letting LLMs use existing software the same way people might "will unlock a huge range of applications that simply aren't possible for the current generation of AI assistants."

This kind of automation has been possible using existing tools like Playwright and Puppeteer for some time now. Recently, an AI influencer threw light on his experience using Google’s AI Studio to scrape his display and extract numeric values from emails.

Of course, model vision capabilities are far from perfect and often struggle when it comes to reasoning. When Meta’s Llama 3.2 11B vision model has been put through several tasks and uncovered a number of odd behaviors and the possibility of hallucinations.

Also Read: Intel’s New AI Chips Sending Ripples Across PC Industry

Google Maps Makes Parking Easy With In-App Parking

Google Maps is great at providing directions to users that will lead them to their destination. But what if the service allows you to book a parking spot when users arrive at the location? This has now become a reality with Google Maps adding SpotHero integration.

Currently, SpotHero, a service that enables users to find and reserve parking spaces online, announced that it has entered into a partnership with Google. The company’s service will now be integrated directly into Google Maps and Search.

This development isn’t new, as SpotHero was soft-launched on Maps and Search back in April of this year. However, what’s new is that this functionality is now available to everyone starting today. To use the feature, all users need to do is open one of the two apps and search for parking near their destination. If parking is available, a “Book Online” button will appear. Tapping on the button will send users to the SpotHero website, enabling users to reserve the spot.