Android Auto is about to get a lot more adaptable
Google has been slowly testing Material 3 Expressive on Android Auto for some time now, and the latest beta build has added a new design feature that changes Android Auto's color scheme depending on your wallpaper.
Continuity is key
There's no replacement for style
Android Auto is likely not a huge priority for Google where cosmetic updates are concerned, but it's clearly important to the tech giant that its apps match across the whole ecosystem. That's why we're glad to see Google moving on with the Material 3 Expressive update for Android Auto, and this new addition is just the latest new feature. Spotted in beta build 14.9 by 9to5Google, the newest version fixes a previous limitation with colors (via Android Authority). This adds the ability for Android Auto to intelligently adapt its color scheme to match your wallpaper. Mainline Android has had this ability for some time, so it's good to see continuity across the different versions of Android.
It's a subtle change, and you likely won't notice it unless you're looking for it. It's these sorts of touches that make a difference when you're looking at interfaces like this though, and while you'll only be glancing at Android Auto most of the time, those glances are important. Elements like this adaptation or night mode make a difference, and it's good Google understands that.
There are also reports that some users have noticed this change on their stable versions, so it's entirely possible this is on a partial rollout across Android Auto, so keep an eye out the next time you hook your phone up to your car.
This is only the first in a number of planned updates for Android Auto, too. Not only is Google looking to replace the Google Assistant with Gemini, but it also has a new light mode coming, as well as the potential to control your car's air conditioning through Android Auto.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
An AI data trap catches Perplexity impersonating Google
If you want to succeed in AI, a good hack would be to impersonate Google. You just can't get caught. This is what just happened to Perplexity, a startup that competes with ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and other generative AI services. Quality data is crucial for success in AI, but tech companies don't want to pay for this, so they crawl the web and scrape information for free, often without permission. This has sparked a backlash by some content creators and others interested in preserving the incentives that built the web. Cloudflare and its CEO, Matthew Prince, have stormed into this battle with new features that help websites block unwanted AI bot crawlers. Cloudflare is an infrastructure, security, and software company that helps run about 20% of the internet. It thrives when the web does well, hence its interest in helping sites get paid for content. Some Cloudflare customers recently complained to the company that Perplexity was evading these blocks and continued to scrape and collect data without permission. So, CloudFlare set a digital trap and caught this startup red-handed, according to a Monday blog describing the escapade. "Some supposedly 'reputable' AI companies act more like North Korean hackers," Prince wrote on X on Monday. "Time to name, shame, and hard block them." Perplexity didn't respond to a request for comment. The bait: Honeytrap domains and locked doors Cloudflare created entirely new, unpublished websites and configured them with files that explicitly blocked all crawlers — including Perplexity's declared bots, PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User. These test sites had no public links, search engine entries, or metadata that would normally make them discoverable. Yet, when Cloudflare queried Perplexity's AI with questions about these specific sites, the startup's service responded with detailed information that could only have come from those restricted pages. The conclusion? Perplexity had accessed the content despite being clearly told not to. The cloak: How Perplexity masked its crawl Perplexity initially crawled these sites using its official user-agent string, complying with standard protocols. However, Cloudflare said it discovered that once blocked, Perplexity resorted to stealth tactics. Cloudflare found that Perplexity began deploying undeclared crawlers disguised as normal web browsers and sending requests from unknown or rotated IP addresses and unofficial ASNs, [what is ASN? write out on first ref?] which are crucial identifiers that help route internet traffic efficiently. When its official crawlers were blocked, Perplexity also used a generic web browser designed to impersonate Google's Chrome browser on Apple Mac computers. (Business Insider asked Google whether it has told Perplexity to stop impersonating Chrome. Google did not respond). According to Cloudflare, Perplexity has been making millions of such "stealth" requests daily across tens of thousands of web domains. This behavior not only violated web standards, but also betrays the fundamental trust that underpins the functioning of the open web, Cloudflare explained. The comparison: How OpenAI gets it right To emphasize what good bot behavior looks like, Cloudflare compared Perplexity's conduct to that of OpenAI's crawlers, which scrape data for developing ChatGPT and giant AI models such as the upcoming GPT-5. When OpenAI's bots encountered a file or a similar block, they simply backed off. No circumvention. No masking. No backdoor crawling, according to Cloudflare tests. The Fallout: De-verification and blocking As a result of these findings, Cloudflare has de-listed Perplexity as a verified bot and rolled out new detection and blocking techniques across its network. Cloudflare's takedown serves as a cautionary tale in the AI arms race. While the web shifts toward stronger control over data access and usage, actors who flout these evolving norms may find themselves not just blocked, but publicly called out. In an era where AI systems are hungry for training data, Cloudflare's sting operation is a signal to startups and established players alike: Respect the rules of the web, or risk being exposed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
OpenAI ends ChatGPT users' option to index chats on search engines
Aug. 2 (UPI) -- OpenAI is ending the option to have Google and other search engines index user chats with ChatGPT and make the content of those chats discoverable on searches. Google accounts for more than 89% of all online searches, which made private chats on ChatGPT potentially widely accessible when indexed on that search engine and others. "This feature introduced too many opportunities for folks to accidentally share things they didn't intend to, so we're removing the option," Dan Stuckey, OpenAI chief information security officer, told PC Mag. Bing, DuckDuckGo and other search engines will continue to index discoverable chats, but only for a while longer. "We're also working to remove indexed content from the relevant search engines," Stuckey said. OpenAI recently enabled the index option for private ChatGPT discussions as an experiment, Stuckey added, but that experiment is ending. A message informed users their indexed chats were searchable on Google and other search engines, but many users did not read the message or don't understand the extent to which their conversations might be available to others. Such conversations are accessible when affixing "site:chatgpt/share" to search queries when those conversations are indexed. News of the indexed private conversations with ChatGPT first was reported by FastCompany on Wednesday in a story detailing Google's indexing of ChatGPT conversations. The indexing does not provide information on respective users, but the conversations might include personal information when mentioned by the users while conversing with ChatGPT. Many users also were unaware that sharing a conversation with someone via social apps, such as WhatsApp, when saving the URL for future use would cause Google to make it potentially widely available to millions of people. OpenAI officials recently announced they were appealing a court order requiring the preservation of all chats that users delete after conversing with ChatGPT, Ars Technica reported. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Is Now the Time to Buy Alphabet?
Key Points Alphabet shares have struggled this year, but they got a boost after strong second-quarter earnings. The company's Q2 revenue, net income, and EPS have all risen year over year, but so have capital expenditures. Management is investing heavily in artificial intelligence, which has been a key factor in its business performance. 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet › Shares of Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) have delivered lackluster performance this year. The stock is up less than 2% through July 31. Contrast this to digital advertising and AI rival Meta Platforms, which saw shares jump over 30% in that time. However, after its second-quarter earnings report beat Wall Street expectations, Alphabet stock began to climb and is hovering not far from the 52-week high of $207.05 set in February. The recent resurgence could signal a turning point. As a result, now is a good time to evaluate whether an investment in Alphabet makes sense. Doing so requires digging into where the tech giant stands today. Alphabet's recent performance Excellent second-quarter results understandably boosted its stock. Revenue was up a strong 14% year over year to $96.4 billion. Net income rose to $28.2 billion, a 19% increase compared to 2024. Consequently, diluted earnings per share (EPS) soared 22% year over year to $2.31, exceeding Wall Street's consensus estimate of $2.18. While this growth is impressive, a key reason to consider investing in Alphabet is its success in artificial intelligence (AI). According to CEO Sundar Pichai, Google's search traffic is growing year over year, "and our new AI experiences significantly contributed to this increase in usage." AI's boost to Google is noteworthy, since the search engine accounted for $54.2 billion of Alphabet's $96.4 billion in second-quarter sales. AI is also benefiting Alphabet's other businesses, such as Google Cloud. That division saw second-quarter revenue rise an impressive 32% year over year to $13.6 billion as customers were drawn to Google Cloud's AI. Artificial intelligence also plays a crucial role in (literally) driving Alphabet's autonomous car service, Waymo. With that technology behind the wheel, it delivers over a quarter-million passenger trips every week. The company is slowly expanding Waymo to more cities. Atlanta is the latest location, initiated in June, adding to places such as Los Angeles and Austin, Texas. Waymo also signed a multiyear deal with Avis in July, as the rental car company expands into ride-hailing services, providing Waymo with operational support, including vehicle maintenance. Factors to consider with an Alphabet investment The company is determined to be a leader in AI. That's why it has made prodigious capital expenditures (capex) to boost its AI infrastructure. The second quarter's $22.4 billion in capex represented the highest sum yet in any given quarter over the past four, and far above the $13.2 billion spent in the prior year's second quarter. Its huge spending left the company with $5.3 billion in second-quarter free cash flow (FCF). While that amount is down from the previous year's $13.2 billion, a single quarter's dip is not a concern. Alphabet has exceptional ability to generate FCF, producing a princely sum of $66.7 billion over the trailing 12 months. The larger issue is that Alphabet was found guilty of antitrust violations in its digital advertising and Google Search businesses. This has been a factor in the tepid performance of its stock. The courts have yet to announce the company's punishment, but once it's made public, the shares are likely to be affected to some degree, depending on the consequences to its business. Management is appealing the rulings, and this could cause the antitrust cases to drag on for years, according to Pichai. As a result, the threat to Alphabet's business isn't immediate. And ultimately, the legal challenges could be resolved with minimal impact, as was the result in a similar antitrust case against Microsoft in 1998, which concluded in a settlement. To buy or not to buy Alphabet shares In weighing whether to invest in Alphabet, one factor to consider is share price valuation. This can be assessed using its stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, especially in comparison to competitors Microsoft and Meta. Both compete with Alphabet in digital advertising, while Microsoft is also a rival in cloud computing. The chart above shows that Alphabet's P/E multiple is the lowest compared to Meta and Microsoft, suggesting its stock is the best value versus the competition. This is underscored by the fact the company's earnings multiple is lower than it's been over the past year, up until President Donald Trump's announcement of tariff policy changes in April sank the entire stock market. Although the antitrust cases present short-term uncertainty, the company's deep pockets and commitment to battling the court rulings can help it navigate these challenges. With strong financials, successful AI initiatives, and an attractive valuation, now is a good time to consider buying shares in Alphabet. Should you invest $1,000 in Alphabet right now? Before you buy stock in Alphabet, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Alphabet wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $624,823!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,820!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,019% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Robert Izquierdo has positions in Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is Now the Time to Buy Alphabet? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
