Tag: chrome

The common mouse pointer hasn’t changed in half a century, Google says — so it has infused it with context-aware AI to let you simply speak to it.

The general idea is to have an AI system be aware of where or what you are pointing at, and then use the microphone on your computer to give simple commands without careful prompting.

This should allow for easier AI interactions like «show me directions» when looking at a building, or «book a table» while hovering over a restaurant.

This sort of pointer needs the OS or app to be context-aware, and there is no system like this yet. It is, however, rolling out in Gemini in Chrome «starting today,» and will roll out «soon» as Magic Pointer, a major feature of the freshly announced Googlebook.

It is also available to test in AI Studio, where you can use it to edit an image or find places on a map. Do note that the system uses your microphone.

Read more: Google’s blog, 9to5Google.

With som features previously only available for Pro and Ultra subscribers in the USA, the AI features for Chrome are now launching on desktop and mobile in India (the second largest market for American AI), New Zealand and Canada, with promises of more to come.

Gemini in Chrome adds a new side panel, letting you chat with Gemini without opening up a new tab, and can do things like summarize or interact with web pages. It can connect to Gmail, Calendar, YouTube, Shopping and flights information.

It also comes with Nano Banana features, so you can try an apartment listing picture with your own furniture, for example.

In addition to the three new countries, which are mostly English-speaking, Google is announcing support for another 50 languages.

This of course includes Hindi, but there is also support for French, Spanish, Chinese and lots of other European languages.

Read more: Google’s announcement. Writeups on TechCrunch and Engadget.

Pro and Ultra users on Chrome in the USA are getting a huge update today, on everything from shopping to Personal Intelligence.

The new side panel (no longer a pop-up) is powered by Gemini 3 and goes big on agentic browsing. It can connect to your Gmail, Calendar, Youtube, Shopping and Flights information and can multitask to do things like booking flights from an email invitation.

It can even use your browsers stored passwords to log into shopping sites and complete your order, after finding your purchase in an embedded image.

It’s also getting Nano Banana to manipulate images right from the websites you are reading.

Everything should be ready to go in the new update for U.S. subscribers, and Google says Personal Intelligence will likely come in a few months.

Read more: Google’s announcement and thread, The Verge, Gizmodo.