Illustration: The Verge If you can't capture what you want to search for with just a picture, Google Lens will now let you take a video - and even use your voice to ask about what you're seeing. The feature will surface an AI Overview and search results based on the video's contents and your question. It's rolling out in Search Labs on Android and iOS today.Google first previewed using video to search at I/O in May. As an example, Google says someone curious about the fish they're seeing at an aquarium can hold up their phone to the exhibit, open the Google Lens app, and then hold down the shutter button. Once Lens starts recording, they can say their question: Why are they swimming together?" Google Lens then uses the Gemini AI model to provide a response,... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google is testing yet another feature aimed at keeping users on search results pages - this time targeting the popular recipe blog industry.The company is testing a new feature called Quick View that appears for some cooking recipes. A search for chocolate chip cookie recipe," for example, shows a quick view" button on a recipe from the blog Preppy Kitchen. Clicking it pulls up a full recipe with ingredients, photos, and step-by-step instructions - all without leaving Google Search. The new feature was previously reported on by industry blog Search Engine Roundtable.We're always experimenting with different ways to connect our users with high-quality and helpful information. We have partnered with a limited number of creators to... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge The Alphabet Workers Union filed a charge against Google with the National Labor Relations Board after Google management asked workers to refrain" from talking about its ongoing Search antitrust case.The union charges that Google issued an overly broad directive" on discussing the case to employees, according to a copy of the charge filed in August and viewed by The Verge. On August 5th, just after US District Court Judge Amit Mehta issued his decision finding Google to have an illegal monopoly, president of global affairs Kent Walker sent an email (also reviewed by The Verge) directing employees to please refrain from commenting on this case, both internally and externally." Walker sent a similar message at the start of the trial... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge There's no evidence Google is hiding a map of polling places from Trump voters, despite the suggestions of a video reposted by Elon Musk.In the video, originally shared by X user DogeDesigner, a user searches Google for where can I vote for Harris" and where can I vote for Trump." The Harris search shows Google's 2024 US elections panel, which includes a map you can use to find where to vote. The Trump search does not. Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge A screenshot of Elon Musk's post. But there's a complicating factor here: Harris is also the name of a county in Texas. And the polling map pops up when people search terms like where can I vote" and a location - try searches like where can I vote for... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge As Google continues to navigate its relationship with publishers, regulators, and news readers, the company is starting a pretty drastic test: it will remove news articles from European Union-based publishers from Search.While the test" is supposed to determine how it will impact traffic and the overall search experience, it won't show up for everyone. Google will only remove EU news articles from search results, Google News, and Discover for one percent of users in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain.Google says it's running the time-limited" test because EU regulators and publishers have asked for additional data about the effect of news content in Search." The company says it will... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge The Google App for iOS can automatically convert some website text into links to Google Search results, as announced in a community post that SERoundtable spotted.Google calls the feature Page Annotations" and says it extracts interesting entities from the webpage and highlights them in line," which can then take you out to Search results when you tap them - inserting links without explicitly asking the user or the site owner first. It seems like a curious move for a company embroiled in antitrust fights over both its search and advertising businesses. Image: Google A screenshot shows what the links, er, Page Annotations" look like. Google has a form for web publishers to opt out of the links. According to... Continue reading...