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Announced almost four years ago, Lens is one of Google's silent workers that power many of the features mobile users might be taking for granted these days. It powers both Google Photos' and Google Assistant's image recognition functionality, but Lens also has its own separate app on mobile. It doesn't have much of an existence outside smartphones, however, but that might soon change as Google works to integrate Lens functionality right inside Search results, at least in Chrome for the desktop.

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If you've used the Google Search bar in an Android device in the recent past, you probably weren't impressed. Depending on the device, you were more than likely simply sent to the Google App, and the search system - until now - was a bit of a mess. With the latest update to Android, with Android 12 and its 4th Beta release this week, we see the future of Search in Android.

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Google Search now allows users granular controls for deleting search history. Depending on the app or interface you use, you should be able to relatively easily drop in and delete all history from your searches in tiny increments. The latest simple update to the iOS Google app - the Google Search app, that is - allows a user to "Delete last 15 min" with 2 taps.

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Most people tend to use Google to search for anything they need information on, ranging from the mundane to the personal. Few people give a thought to how Google, by default, tracks those searches, one way or another, something that could induce fear and uncertainty in some users when they realize that fact. Fortunately, Google has become more responsible in handling that kind of data and giving users more control over their online lives. Now it is introducing new features in Google Search that will keep search histories safe from prying eyes, including Google's.

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Google has used its mass of data to look at terms used over past decades during heatwaves. The topic has arrived due to the massive heatwaves hitting parts of the US and Canada, including some regions like the Pacific Northwest where temperatures are typically mild and conditions are usually rainy. To no one's surprise, people really want air conditioners.

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Although they probably shouldn't, many people today regard Google as the repository of truth and fact. People simply search for news or use terms related to things and events and take the top results as the authoritative word on the matter (and sometimes misattribute it to Google rather than the source). Although it works great for the utilization of its services and, in the long run, ads, Google also knows too well that this presumption could also work against it. Now it is putting up a clear warning when it isn't so sure about the correctness of search results that it presents because there isn't much information about it on the Internet yet.

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Google might be the most popular search engine in the world but it is hardly the only one. There are several of those around, some trying to survive in their local markets against the might of Google's resources. In Europe, the tech giant was legally forced to present Android users with a Choice Screen, letting them select the browser and search app of their choice. That choice didn't come without cost for those search engines, however, but now Google is removing the hurdle that forced those search engines to pay to be even on that Choice Screen list.

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Today we're taking a peek at what Google revealed on day 1 of Google I/O 2021. This is generally the day when Google reveals the bulk of their public-facing news for devices and software, and this year was no different in that respect. Google reminded the world that their heart is in organizing the world's information and making said data valuable to all users, starting with a conversation with a paper airplane.

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Search, next to or in conjunction with ads, is the bread and butter of Google's business. The more people use it and stay within Search for any and all their needs, the better it is for Google. Of course, that implies that Google makes Search an indispensable tool for any and all Internet needs and that is exactly what it is saying in its I/O 2021 update, powered by AI and AR, of course.

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This week Google announced their Google Translate app was being used 4x as much as last year. They suggested that their latest advances in automatic understanding of images in Google Photos allowed over 2-billion "Memories" to be viewed and enjoyed. Google Lens is being used 3-billion times a month. Basically, Google is pumped up about how their tech is being used to translate and interpret information all the time.

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Google is axing its Google Shopping app, with the iOS and Android app expected to disappear within the next few weeks. Intended as a way for Google to serve up retail-specific results - and squeeze some extra advertising revenue from retailers, of course - the Google Shopping app had increasingly been looking pointless given there's a Shopping tab in search results these days.

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Google has always been about search. And ads, of course. There was even a point in time when it almost seemed like Google wants everything on Android to be search-based too. Not only would Android, or the Google Search app to be exact, be able to take a peek into apps, it would even display the information and, if necessary, controls right within the search results. That, however, has been an exclusive feature of the Pixel launcher and the Google Search home screen widget but Android 12 might finally share that capability with third-party launchers.

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