Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai Grilled on Record-Keeping at Google Play Trial

In a surprising turn of events, Google has decided to postpone the highly-anticipated launch of its AI model, Google Gemini AI. Initially scheduled for release next week, the company has now rescheduled the launch to January. The initial announcement had come months ago during the annual I/O 2023 conference, where Google, alongside Alphabet co-founder Sergey Brin, introduced Gemini, the latest addition to its AI portfolio. The decision to delay the launch was attributed to concerns about the AI model's non-reliability in handling non-English queries. Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, personally opted for the delay to ensure the global language support is robust, aiming to surpass the capabilities of OpenAI's GPT-4.

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In a recent interview, Saikat Mitra, Vice President and Head of Trust and Safety for Asia-Pacific at Google, shed light on the challenges faced in addressing the issue of fraudulent loan apps on the Google Play Store. Mitra explained that the delay in addressing these concerns stemmed from the fact that the apps, while not containing malware or harmful content, exhibited problematic business practices in the real world. When developers submit apps for listing on the Play Store, Google scrutinises them extensively, considering factors like code integrity and content safety.

In some great news for fans, Krafton's most popular game, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) has won a prestigious title in the country during the Google Play's Best of 2023 Awards. While the game has suffered a lot due to a ban over security concerns, the game has finally climbed to the top position in the gaming industry and proved to be the best in the race in India. Krafton announced that BGMI and its Valor: Empires have made it to the list of Google Play's Best of 2023 Awards in India. Learn more about the award-winning game here.

In a resounding triumph for Pokemon GO, the augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic has clinched the prestigious title of ‘Best Ongoing Game' in the esteemed Google Play Awards for the year 2023 in India. This recognition underscores the remarkable journey of Pokemon GO, which has tirelessly engaged players for seven years since its inception. The game's unwavering success lies in its ability to deliver captivating augmented reality experiences, an innovative fusion of technology, and a robust sense of community interaction that resonates with millions of trainers both in India and around the globe.

Google Play best of 2023 awards: Google Play, the official app marketplace for Android smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets, has announced its annual awards for the best apps and games. The entire list has been divided into several categories as well as Users' Choice awards. These awards are listed for the US, but they are also curated locally for your country. For India, the best app of 2023 is Level SuperMind, the meditation app by YouTuber and influencer Ranveer Allahbadia, whereas the Users' Choice winner is THAP: Your Happiness Gym, a self-care app for mental health. Below, we have shared the best apps and games for both the US and India. Let us take a closer look.

Ever wanted to be the head of your own production company? Now might be your chance, as TV Studio Story just dropped on Android, and it promises exactly that.

Coral Island offers a buffet of 25 romanceable characters to date, but it seems not even the game’s programming can keep track of the romance options.

The Google antitrust lawsuit, based on filings by Fortnite publisher Epic Games has completed nine days, and in this time we have seen some big revelations being made. Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the company pays Apple up to 18 billion dollars a year for the default iPhone search position, and Google's partnerships boss Don Harrison said that Spotify pays zero percent when users decide to use Spotify's payment system, and between 6 to 10 percent when it is made through Google's channels. On day nine, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney was sworn in for testimony. These were the ten big revelations to come from it.

 A federal judge reprimanded Alphabet Inc.'s chief legal officer over allegations that Google intentionally destroyed sensitive internal communications relevant to two ongoing antitrust lawsuits despite court orders to preserve evidence.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai took a stand in front of the court for the second time in 2 weeks earlier today in the antitrust lawsuit by Fortnite publisher Epic Games, who have claimed that the unlawful and monopolistic policies implemented in Google Play store make it difficult for third-party app makers given that the marketplace controls the entire Android ecosystem. During the testimony, Pichai spent almost 90 minutes answering questions about the business practices of the Google Play store, as well as general policies in Google. Let us take a look at the 10 biggest things to come from the testimony.

 Google agreed to pay $8 billion over four years to Samsung Electronics Co. to make its search engine, voice assistant and Play Store the default on the company's mobile devices, according to testimony presented by Epic Games Inc.