Surprise, Google Workspace is adding more AI tools to Docs, Sheets, Chat and other apps

The company is billing Google Workspace Flows as a new way to automate tasks.

Google

In an incredibly shocking turn of events, more generative AI features are coming to the Google Workspace suite of productivity apps by way of Gemini. Docs, Sheets, Chat, Meet andnewcomer Vidsare among the tools that aregetting new AI capabilitiesthat perhaps some folks will find useful.

Google is taking a cue fromaudio overviews in NotebookLMto bring new Gemini-powered audio features to Docs. You’ll soon have the option of listening to full audio versions of your documents or just the highlights in what Google calls a podcast-style overview. Those enrolled in the Workspace alpha testing program can start trying out these audio features in the coming weeks.

By the end of June, alpha testers will have access to an AI writing coach of sorts. The “help me refine” feature is said to offer suggestions on bolstering an argument, ensuring consistent formatting, enhancing the structure of the text and clarifying key points.

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Google Sheets AI feature.

A similar feature is coming to Sheets later this year. The “help me analyze” tool will seemingly point out trends you might have overlooked, offer pointers on where to dig deeper for more insights and whip up charts to visualize the data.

In Meet, you’ll soon be able to ask Gemini to recap parts of a meeting you missed because you were running late, clarify certain decisions or topics, generate a recap in the format of your choice and help refine a point before you raise a virtual arm to join the conversation. This so-called “personal in-meeting advisor” will be generally available in Meet before the end of June.

As for Chat, Google will soon offer the option to mention @gemini in a conversation to receive a summary that includes open questions, important decisions that were made and lays out next steps. It could be a useful way to distill everything that happened in a bustling group chat. This capability will be available through the Labs early-access program in the coming weeks.

In Vids, you’ll soon be able to generate what Google says are “high-quality, original” clips using the Veo 2 model (perhaps ignoring the fact that generative video AI models mash together footage that they were trained on and arguably don’t create anything truly original at all). Workspace alpha can get their hands on this in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere, there’s another new feature called Google Workspace Flows. Google bills this as “a brand-new way to automate and orchestrate work across your apps, powered by AI.” It employs Gems, customizable AI agents that can be created with Gemini, to take care of specialized tasks, such as researching, analyzing and generating content.

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Google Docs audio overview feature.

The company says that Workspace Flows can, for instance, address a customer support ticket by analyzing the issue, researching a solution and drafting a reply that the support team can review before sending. Gems can mine your Google Drive files for context. Google’s also working with third-party partners to integrate Workspace Flows into their apps and tools. Google is now rolling out Workspace Flows in the alpha program.

Lastly, as of today, Google will allow Workspace users to choose where Gemini processes their data. So if you’re in the European Union and don’t want your data to travel to the US (or vice versa), that’s now an option. Google makes it clear that this is to help comply with regulations such as the EU’s GDPR.

The U.S. just called a 90-day truce on the global trade war, but it’s escalating the situation with China.

The U.S. just called a 90-day truce on the global trade war, but it’s escalating the situation with China.

Donald Trump speech to joint Congress

(Image credit: FOX 5 New York / YouTube)

Just as the second round of his announced tariffs began to take effect, President Trump said he would delay their full implementation for many countries for 90 days. However, because China retaliated against the 104% tariff on its goods by applying 84% import duties on American goods, the White House is firing back by pushing the China levy back to 125%. This pause will apply to the 75 countries that have reciprocal tariffs applied against them but have not announced any retaliation against the planned higher tariff rates. However, a 10% tariff applied to all imports remains for those countries during the pause.

This news has allowed the market to recover a bit, with a few tech companies rebounding fromhitting their record lows. The 90-day period will also hopefully be enough time for many countries to negotiate a deal with the White House so that global trade can return to normal. However, the U.S.’s actions against Chinese trade are the latest in a series of moves escalating the trade war between the two countries.

Trump first applied a 20% tariff on Chinese goods in February, alongside the 25% taxes on Canada and Mexico. This jumped to 54% when he announced additional import duties in early April. Because of this,Beijing put a 34% levy on American productsandrestricted the export of several rare earth metals.

Trump responded with an additional 50% tax on the already existing 54%, pushing tariffs to 104%. Because of this, China retaliated with its own 50% increase, pushingimport taxes on American goods to 84%. This did not end there, though, as the latest Truth Social post by Trump says that he will push taxes on Chinese imports to 125%.

He made this announcement in the early afternoon in the U.S., which is just beyond midnight in Beijing. So, we’ll have to wait a few hours to see how China will react to this news.

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from X

It seems that the tariffs that Trump announced are meant to bring the rest of the world to the negotiating table, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick posting onX (formerly Twitter), “The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction.”

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Incidentally, the E.U. just applied its own retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. a few hours before the announcement. However, this will not take effect until next week, so we don’t know if it will retract these levies or if Trump will also punish Europe with more taxes if it does not change its direction.

Kindle Scribe Adds Writing Support to Amazon’s Wildly Popular e-Readers

Amazon’s Kindle Scribe, announced Wednesday, is the brand’s latest e-reader. What makes it stand out from the rest of its Kindle eReaders is writing support.

Similar to a writing tablet, prospective owners can take notes while reading or journal on the Kindle Scribe. The new Kindle Scribe is priced at $339 with a release date slated for November 30.

Right now, you can preorder the Kindle Scribe Essentials Bundle for $449(opens in new tab). That’s $40 cheaper than the price of buying the items separately. This bundle includes a 16GB Kindle Scribe e-reader, Kindle Scribe Premium Leather Cover, Premium Pen, and Power Adapter.

The Kindle Scribe features a 10.2-inch 300ppi Paperwhite display, adjustable front light, 16GB of storage and magnetic stylus pen for easy storage.

Kindle Scribe Essentials Bundle preorders ship to arrive by November 30.

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MediaTek hopes to crack the US with the Dimensity 1050

After years of success in China, and slow but steady progress in Europe and the rest of Asia, chipset manufacturer MediaTek has clearly set its sights on the US smartphone market with its first ever mmWave 5G chipset: the Dimensity 1050.

While MediaTek already offers several 5G chipsets to smartphone manufacturers, all so far have been limited to sub-6GHz frequencies. The Dimensity 1050 breaks that trend by supporting sub6 along with mmWave, a different frequency band that’s currently only widely used in the US. Support is often set as a requirement by key US carriers to stock manufacturers’ 5G phones.

Despite arguably boasting MediaTek’s most advanced networking yet, the Dimensity 1050 isn’t actually the company’s top-tier chip – that remains the Dimensity 9000. Instead, this is a cheaper offering built on a 6nm process, intended to even sit below the recently announced Dimensity 8000 and 8100 in the MediaTek lineup.

For those who care about CPU construction, the 1050 uses two A78 performance cores clocked at 2.5GHz, and a further six A55 efficiency cores.

MediaTek hasn’t yet confirmed any specific manufacturers that intend to use the Dimensity 1050, but says the first phones should arrive some time in Q3, meaning July to September this year.

That means phones will begin to arrive after the first handsets using the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, the similarly positioned rival chip from Qualcomm, announced just last week. Honor, Oppo, and Xiaomi have already committed to using the Qualcomm chip, and it will be interesting to see if MediaTek can attract a similar calibre of OEM – or, as it’s no doubt hoping, companies like Motorola and OnePlus that have a foothold in the US market.

▷▷▷Lenovo

▷▷▷ Fujitsu

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1630: Everything you need to know

While most gamers are interested in Nvidia’s high-end RTX 30 Series (if not the RTX 40 Series due in the coming months), there’s still a huge market for entry-level graphics cards that don’t cost the earth.

With that in mind, Nvidia is said to be prepping a new entry-level graphics card that could hopefully retail at around $150 – and what’s more, a Videcardz report gives us a good idea of specs and when the GPU will be released.

Here’s everything there is to know about the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1630 right now, from release date and pricing speculation to leaked specs.

When will the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1630 be released?
According to the Videocardz report outlining the upcoming graphics card, the budget-focused Nvidia GTX 1630 is currently scheduled for release on 31 May 2022.

Of course, that’s yet to be confirmed, but with Nvidia set to take to the stage at Computex 2022 in little under 24 hours, it’s likely that we’ll hear more about the graphics card then.

We explain how to watch the Nvidia keynote at Computex 2022 separately if you’re interested in watching the event live, though be warned; it’s either a very late, or very early, start depending on where you are in the world.

How much will the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1630 cost?
As an entry-level graphics card, it should come as no surprise that Nvidia will want to price the GeForce GTX 1630 competitively – especially in a market in desperate need of entry-level options.

With top-end graphics cards still hard to come by, let alone at RRP, the budget specs of the GTX 1630 should mean less (or no) interest from crypto-miners. That’s the hope, anyway!

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