Twitter is both reviving and improving its election misinformation strategy ahead of the 2022 US midterms. The social network has reactivated enforcement of its Civic Integrity Policy to prepare for the vote, and there are a handful of upgrades in store this year. To begin, it will avoid recommending misleading tweets through notifications — falsehoods might not spread as much as in the past. The company is considering this approach for "other surfaces," too.
You should also see redesigned fact-check labels that are better at prompting people to read. Twitter first tested these labels in late 2021.
Other efforts will be more familiar. You already see candidate labels for any Governor, House or Senate hopeful who qualified for the general election ballot. You can expect "prebunks" that counter bogus claims before they become hot topics. You'll find a dedicated US Elections tab in Explore, along with state-specific hubs. Twitter plans to ramp up protection for candidates as well, with "more sophisticated" detection of suspicious activity as well as more login safeguards and speedier account recovery should the worst happen.
These aren't dramatic changes to Twitter's methods from previous elections, including those outside the US. However, it's clear the firm is bracing for trouble in light of the fallout from 2020. The question is whether or not this will be enough. Critics warned of shortcomings in social media companies' anti-misinformation efforts during the previous elections, and tweaks to recommendations and labels aren't guaranteed to address those issues.
Meta has long been working on end-to-end encryption for its messaging products, but so far, only WhatsApp has switched on the privacy feature by default. In its latest update about its efforts, Meta said it will start testing default end-to-end encrypted chats for select users on Messenger. Those chosen to be part of the test will find that some of their most frequent chats have been automatically end-to-end encrypted. That means there's no reason to start "Secret Conversations" with those friends anymore.
The company is also testing secure storage for encrypted chats, which gives users access to their conversation history in case they lose their phone or want to restore it on a new device. To be able to access their backups through security storage, users will have to create a PIN or generate codes that they'll then have to save. Those two are end-to-end encrypted options and provide another layer of protection. That said, users can also opt to use cloud services to restore conversations — those with iOS devices, for instance, can use iCloud to store the secret key needed to access their backups. Meta will also begin testing secure storage this week, but only on Android and iOS. It's still not available for Messenger on the web or for unencrypted chats.
Meta
The other tests Meta is rolling out in the coming weeks include bringing regular Messenger features to end-to-end encrypted chats. It will test the ability to unsend messages and to send replies to Facebook Stories as encrypted chats, and it's also planning to bring end-to-end encrypted calls to the Calls Tab on Messenger. Ray-Ban Stories users will be able to send encrypted hands-free messages through Messenger, as well.
In addition, Meta is launching a new security feature called Code Verify, which is an open-source browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge. As its name implies, it can verify the authenticity of the Messenger website's web code and ensure that it hasn't been tampered with. As for Instagram, the company is retiring the app's vanish mode chats, which aren't encrypted, while also expanding ongoing tests for opt-in end-to-end encrypted messages and calls on the service.
All of these are part of Meta's preparations as it works its way towards the global rollout of default end-to-end encryption for messages and calls on its services. It plans to launch even more tests and updates before its target rollout sometime in 2023.
Apple is no stranger to basing TV shows on podcasts, but it now appears eager to snap up that content as quickly as possible. Bloombergsources claim Apple has signed a deal with Suave producer Futuro Studios that will fund podcasts in return for the first chance to turn any series into a TV+ movie or show. The tech company has also been negotiating comparable deals and spent as much as $10 million so far, according to the tipsters.
Past adaptations have focused on already popular shows like WeCrashed and The Shrink Next Door. The claimed Futuro agreement would go one step further by effectively granting Apple the rights to a series as soon as the company sees potential. It wouldn't have to risk losing a hit show or spending a fortune in bidding wars.
Apple's TV wing is reportedly leading the initiative, not the podcast team. That's not surprising, however. The firm has historically treated its podcast platform as a neutral ground where studios don't have to compete against Apple itself. First-party podcasts have typically been linked to TV+ productions like The Problem With Jon Stewart.
Both Apple and Futuro declined to comment. If the rumor is accurate, this is less about competing with podcast originals from Spotify and Wondery and more about beating streaming TV rivals like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Apple TV+ could land more hits without paying a premium for the rights.
We’re living in an age of micromobility, where city dwellers are given more options to get around than ever before. Bike-sharing schemes, which quickly swelled to include e-scooters, are big deals in major areas where the commuting distances are just that bit too long to walk. But scooters have yet to achieve the same legitimacy as the bicycle with mainstream users. In part, this is because it’s still a relatively emerging technology, but also because the scooter has the whiff of a toy about it. After all, the Segway was meant to revolutionize transportation, as it headed on its one-way journey toward the novelty store. Similarly, hoverboards never had any real shot at making its way across the rubicon that separates useless from utility. E-scooters are already on the other side of the water, but will they stay there long term?
It’s something that the team at Bo Mobility believes is entirely possible, so long as there’s some serious, grown-up effort put in today. The UK-based company was founded by Oscar Morgan, Harry Wills and Luke Robus, who met while working at Williams Advanced Engineering, part of the F1 team. They’ve spent the last three years working on Bo M, a serious e-scooter that’s been conceived from the ground up to be exactly that. It’s promised to be better designed, run better, and have a longer lifespan than any of the quasi-toy products that litter our streets today. I’ve ridden the prototype (two, in fact) and I already feel confident that it’s a quantum leap compared to what we currently have.
Daniel Cooper
The first thing you’ll notice about Bo is its shape, with a swan neck that arches gracefully from the steering column to the deck. There’s no hinge or fixing joint between the two, as it’s not built to fold or compress down in any way – you park it in its upright position. Ditching the fold means that you can massively increase strength, and gives its creators room to add in some extra features that you won’t find on your typical $399 scooter. “People say ‘you guys made a pretty scooter,’” says Oscar Morgan, co-founder, “but it’s really important to appreciate that it has a fundamentally different architecture … When you move from a tubular frame to a proper monocoque construction, you move all the stresses. It makes it stronger, but it also means that we can start to package stuff.”
And the most important thing in the package – nestled inside that beefy curved cowl, is a product called Safesteer. It is, for now, a series of prototypes, each being refined before the scooter’s launch next year. And it’s top secret, beyond the fact that it’s a hybrid analog / digital device that’s designed to improve balance and maneuverability. (What I have been able to get out of Morgan: It’s not a gyroscope, which was how something like the Segway managed to stay upright.) After all, most e-scooters require a little bit of a learning curve, especially the cheaply-made ones. It’s not for nothing that most e-scooters require you to keep both hands on the bars, unlike a bike which can be ridden one (or, if you’re brave, no) handed.
Daniel Cooper
“Going from a big bike wheel to a [small] scooter wheel,” said Morgan, “you lose all of your gyroscopic stability.” Safesteer will hopefully redress the balance, enabling you to ride around with the same level of indifference as you would with a bike. And, similarly, Morgan and Wills’ team has sweated the details in terms of weight distribution, wheel dynamics and suspension. Or, in this case, a lack of it. The pair found that replacing the 8-inch tyres seen on most scooters with bigger, 10-inch models offers far greater balance and grip. That enabled them to leave out the mechanical suspension, massively reducing weight, which improved maneuverability. You may think that the ride quality suffers, but the company is working on AirDeck, adding an elastomer to the footplate which will act as a shock absorber, similar to that you’d find on a pricey running shoe. Then again, you’re not going to be riding your e-scooter into too many potholes no matter how comfortable the ride is (and Bo’s is nicer and smoother than some I’ve tried).
And then there’s the load hook – which is such a small addition but one that the team, again, sweated over. Morgan explained that as part of the idea to pull people out of their cars and onto scooters, that they’d need some secure way to hold luggage. “You see lots of people riding with bags,” said Wills, “hanging them from the handlebars, and it's really dangerous when you’re riding around.” “[The load] unbalances and swings, and then you get a bit of tank slap when you hit a bend or corner,” he added. Instead, a centrally-mounted pair of hooks buried inside the monocoque will electrically roll out, letting you hook your bag onto the scooter’s center of weight.
Daniel Cooper
Naturally, users will be paying for the privilege of riding Bo when it makes it debut in the spring of 2023. The price for the M is £1,995 (roughly $2,400), or as a subscription product for £69 ($83) per month. Despite the fact that the product isn’t going to be available for more than half a year, there’s been a surprising amount of people pre-ordering a model. And we can expect to see plenty more models from the company if the M becomes a big seller. “Tesla didn’t launch with the Model Three,” said CTO Harry Wills, and like most companies, plans to start with a high-end offering before producing increasingly more affordable models. “Starting right, with a group of customers that adore the product, and then bringing it out to more accessible price points is what’s really important to us,” said Wills.
Of course, the economics of buying (or subscribing) to a scooter for upward of two grand is different compared to a £399 Xiaomi. It’s a serious, long term investment, and something that the pair are determined to ensure they can justify. “No-one trusts Bo yet,” said Morgan, “we’re a new company, and so we have to give [our customers] a great experience.” That means a generous warranty scheme, at least for the earliest adopters, and plenty of contact with the team to help iron out any kinks.
Daniel Cooper
And plenty of effort has been dedicated to making sure that M will run for years and years. Wills explained that “someone with very basic tools – an Allen key and the ability to plug and unplug – should be able to swap the battery if they so choose.” He added that nobody should expect to need to make such a drastic repair for many years, but that when the time comes, it’ll be easy for anyone to achieve. Wills said that the team has sweated the fine details to ensure that “all of the cables are in the right place and the connectors are in the right place.” Not to mention that a product that’s easier to maintain is also often easier to build, which should reduce costs on the manufacturing side.
Neither Morgan nor Wills are new to the world of scooter manufacture, and both worked for British e-mobility retailer and manufacturer Pure Electric. This is not their first scooter product, and they’re taking lessons they’ve already learned. Wills said that early buyers have signed up to the “ride quality, the safety and the overall aesthetics of the product.” In fact, Wills said that people have walked over to them and offered cash just to own the prototypes.
Daniel Cooper
I spent longer than I’d planned riding the two Bo M units up and down a private track in London. (Scooters which aren’t part of a licensed scooter-sharing trial remain illegal to ride on public roads in the UK, although that’s expected to change in 2023.) The first thing to say is that the benefits of Safesteer are obvious from the second you step onto the deck and push off. Unlike most regular scooters, which always feel like they are seconds from disaster, this felt solidly planted on the road. The grip and ability to turn at very low speeds is useful for weaving through narrow spaces (and sliding through some tightly-packed anti-traffic bollards).
One of my bad habits when riding most standard e-scooters is that I’ll bend my knees to try and lower my center of gravity. I’m sufficiently paranoid about taking a tumble that I never want to just stand up and ride the thing as you’re meant to. But it took me about half a minute before I realized that I didn’t just have to stand up on Bo M, but I could actually relax, stop gripping the handles so tightly and enjoy the ride, and the scenery. It’s an experience that is sufficiently car- like that I have to agree with the claim that it’s the sort of scooter only a group of “serious car guys” could build.
Morgan said that the other thing that they liked doing was building-in surprises for its would-be user base. The seamless body and flat, unmarked top exudes class, even in this early, 3D-printed-component state. Wills asked me to identify the power on / off switch, something that I proceeded to work my way through the scooter’s body, and down towards its deck, without much success. After a minute or so of fruitless hunting, Wills reached over and powered the unit down in a way I wouldn’t have spotted if I’d been there an hour (I’m sworn to secrecy as to where the switch is). If the company can offer the same level of surprise and delight to all of its users next year, then it’ll be off to a very strong start.
Merely a day after Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 4 launch, Xiaomi was quick to follow with a surprising punch. The Mix Fold 2 is the Chinese brand's second foldable phone, featuring a surprising thickness of just 5.4mm when opened — barely enough to house a USB-C port — and 11.2mm thick when folded. While Huawei's Mate Xs 2 is also 5.4mm thick when opened, bear in mind that it folds outwards instead and therefore lacks a secondary display, not to mention its 11.1mm-thick camera "column."
One of the features that enables the Mix Fold 2's thickness is Xiaomi's third-gen "micro water drop hinge," which allows for a tighter fold on the flexible display panel within the 8.8mm-tall hinge structure. To put things into perspective, Xiaomi pointed out that the current "water drop hinge" structure on a competitor's foldable — with an obvious image reference to Huawei's Mate X2 — is 11.25mm tall, as illustrated in the second gallery image below. The company added that with this new hinge and panel, the crease is even less visible — narrower space over all, with an average depth of less than 0.15mm.
Interestingly, Xiaomi was willing to sacrifice a bit of battery juice to reach this thickness, going from the original Mix Fold's 5,020mAh to 4,500mAh. It's as if Xiaomi is betting big on the efficiency of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor here. There's still support for 67W rapid charging, which goes from zero to 100 percent in just 40 minutes. Together with the smaller hinge and slimmer body parts, these contribute to a lighter overall weight — 262 grams (about 9.24 ounces) instead of the old 317 grams (about 11.2 ounces). Other goodies include larger heat dissipation components, dual Harman Kardon speakers, NFC and IR remote.
Some adjustments have been made on the two displays. For one, both have adopted a slightly wider aspect ratio. The exterior Samsung panel now comes in a 6.56-inch size with a 2,520 x 1,080 resolution, shielded by Gorilla Glass Victus. The interior foldable screen is a supposedly more efficient 8.02-inch Samsung Eco² OLED panel with a 2,016 x 1,914 resolution, and it's covered by a flexible piece of ultra-thin glass (30um). Both screens support up to 120Hz refresh rate and 1,000-nit brightness, along with Dolby Vision and HDR10+. There are also three ambient sensors around the phone for a more accurate auto brightness for both screens.
Xiaomi
On the photography side, there's no more "liquid lens" gimmick this time. The Mix Fold 2 shares a near-identical 50-megapixel main camera (with optical stabilization) and 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera as the Xiaomi 12, but this time with a Leica Summicron certification — much like the Xiaomi 12S Ultra which kick-started this partnership. You also get an 8-megapixel 2x portrait camera (45mm equivalent), as well as a 20-megapixel selfie camera on the other side. But of course, you can also unfold the phone and switch to the rear cameras for selfies instead, in which case you'll be using the secondary screen as a viewfinder.
Given the phone's thickness, a camera bump was inevitable, so Xiaomi could only attempt to minimize the camera module height, and it did so by switching to the less common SMA (shape memory alloy) actuator to power the main camera's optical stabilization. It's unclear whether there are any performance disadvantage with this solution, though.
Xiaomi's Mix Fold 2 alongside Buds 4 Pro and Watch S1 Pro.
Xiaomi
With the Leica partnership, the Mix Fold 2's camera app gained a "Leica Authentic" mode for those prefer natural-looking shots, as well as a self-explanatory "Leica Vibrant" mode for everyone else. Regardless of the photography mode, this foldable phone produces the classic Leica M3's shutter sound when shooting, and you'll find various Leica-inspired filters, lens effects and interface elements throughout the camera app. If you often take photos of fast-moving kids or pets, you'll apparently appreciate Xiaomi's AI-assisted "CyberFocus" AI tech here, which was ported over from the company's CyberDog and already featured on the Xiaomi 12 series.
Much like the 12S Ultra and the original Mix Fold, the Mix Fold 2 is China-only for now, so good luck finding an importer in your area. That said, Xiaomi added that it worked with Google on optimizing Android 12L (but rebadged as "MIUI Fold") for the Mix Fold 2, so there may still be hope for an eventual international rollout.
The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 starts from 8,999 yuan (about $1,340) for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage version, then it jumps to 9,999 yuan (about $1,480) for double the storage, then to 11,999 yuan (about $1,780) for a whopping 1TB. All three flavors come with a vegan leather case with a built-in kickstand, and folks in China can already pre-order today.
Google Fiber's expansion activities have always been deliberately slow, but there was a time when it was announcing new coverage areas on a more regular basis. Now, Dinni Jain, the Alphabet subsidiary's CEO, has announced Fiber's first expansion plans in years. The company has been working on connecting West Des Moines to its network, making Iowa its first new state in five years, and will soon start building infrastructure in Des Moines. In July, it announced that it's building a network in Mesa, Arizona, and now it has revealed that the service is also making its way to Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Idaho.
According to Reuters, the company decided on its new locations based on its findings on where internet speeds lag the most. These new locations will be Fiber's main focus over the next several years, though it will continue expanding availability in cities where it already has a network, as well. Jain told the news organization in his first interview since he took on the role of Fiber's CEO: "There was an impression 10 years ago that Google Fiber was trying to build the entire country. What we are gesturing here is, 'No, we are not trying to build the entire country.'"
Since some Alphabet subsidiaries have had to raise funding outside of its parent company, Jain was asked where Fiber would get the money for its planned expansion. He declined to talk about the company's financial results or funding sources, though he said: Alphabet's "intent is to build businesses that will be successful in and of their own right and that is what we are trying to do at Google Fiber for sure." As Reuters notes, Fiber had to pare down activities to lower its usual hundreds of millions of dollars in annual losses due to construction, experimentation and subsidizing home service over the past few years. It even minimized its West Des Moines expansion and stuck to making its service more available in metropolitan areas where it already has a network.
Jain's blog post about Fiber's upcoming locations, however, sounds optimistic. He says the company is "thrilled to be expanding [its] geographic reach once again." Also, while Fiber's focus is on the states it has already announced, he said the company would still love to talk to and support communities that want to build their own fiber networks.
While leaks meant there weren’t many surprises, Samsung officially revealed the latest evolution of its foldable phones and smartwatches. With the company’s fourth-generation foldables, each increasingly offers something a little different. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 continues the spirit of the Galaxy Note series, with a new taskbar to better manage multi-window apps, Samsung’s best mobile cameras and a whole lot of screen. Oh, and it works with a stylus.
Meanwhile, the clamshell Z Flip 4 makes more of its unusual form factor and keeps costs around the $1,000 mark. Compared to last year, Samsung hasn’t particularly shaken up the design of either phone, but it says it’s made further durability enhancements. We love to see it. I have more news from Samsung below, but all of the new devices are available to pre-order now.
Next to the Galaxy Z Fold series, the clamshell Z Flip phones are not as thick, not as big and not as expensive. While Google’s Android team is still getting to grips with the bigger-screened foldables, when it comes to the Galaxy Z Flip 3, Samsung just took the smartphone interface as we know it, and, well, folded it. We get better cameras, a bigger battery, faster charging and a ‘90s camcorder grip style.
Compared to last year’s model, the Galaxy Watch 5 seems a little boring. The biggest change is a new skin temperature sensor, which won’t work at launch, while the other upgrades, like improved durability and curvature, aren’t immediately obvious either. There is a new Pro model, with a substantially larger battery and a layer of Sapphire Crystal glass. If you can’t wait till reviews are out, you can already pre-order the Galaxy Watch 5 starting at $280 (Bluetooth only; $330 for LTE) or the Pro for $450.
The biggest changes for Samsung’s new Z Fold are improved cameras and Android 12L — an interface designed for larger and foldable displays. The company says the Z Fold 4’s internal display is now 45 percent stronger than the last generation, but the most noticeable change may be the relocated taskbar, which Samsung has moved to the bottom of the page instead of the sides.
The DOJ may file its antitrust lawsuit in September.
According to Bloomberg, the DOJ is gearing up to sue the tech giant as soon as September, after a year of looking into whether it's been using its dominant position to illegally control the digital ad market. The Justice Department first filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company back in 2020, accusing it of having an unfair monopoly over search and search-related advertising.
Officials aren't convinced SpaceX's outfit can fulfill its promises.
The FCC has rejected the SpaceX unit's bid to receive $885.5 million in aid through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The broadband provider "failed to demonstrate" it could deliver the claimed service. FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said Starlink had "real promise," but suggested her agency couldn't justify 10 years of subsidies for "developing technology" that requires a $600 satellite dish. She added that the FCC needed to make the most of "scarce" funding for broadband expansion.
Motorola's last Razr was a nifty folding smartphone and $1,500 fashion statement, but the weak hardware kept it from flagship greatness. Now, the company has responded with the Razr 2022 that might live up to that promise and price, thanks to a true flagship-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, Engadget Chinese has reported.
The Razr 2022 carries a new design along with the new chip, with the curved chin and top camera notch eliminated in favor of an all-screen design and punch-hole camera. That removes the classic Razr look, but it also drastically increases the screen ratio.
It's equipped with a third-generation "Star Trail" hinge that offers a flatter crease and is more seamless when closed, but is also stiff enough to stop at any angle. It weighs 200 grams, and is just 7.62mm thick when open. There are now two rear cameras instead of just the one on the previous model.
Motorola
On top of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, you get up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, along with a much larger 3,500mAh battery (compared to 2,800mAh before). The 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED display runs at up to 144Hz, while the secondary, 800 x 573 OLED display can do nine functions including call notification, camera, weather, navigation, fitness tracking and more.
The cameras look solid too, with a 32-megapixel interior camera, a 50-megapixel OIS main camera and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The Razr 2022 is going on sale in China with prices ranging from 5,999 - 7,299 RMB ($890 - $1,380), but there's no word yet on US availability. As a reminder, the last model was sold in the US as a Verizon exclusive for $1,500.
Motorola
Along with the Razr 2022 Moto also unveiled the X30 Pro and S30 Pro, successors to the Edge X30 and S30, and probably destined mainly for the Chinese market. The X30 Pro is the most interesting, as it also packs a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. It also comes with Samsung's impressively pixel-dense 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP1 sensor, along with a 50-megapixel ultra-wide angle, 12-megapixel 2x telephoto and 60-megapixel selfie camera.
Other features include a 6.67-inch FHD+ 144Hz OLED display, a 4,600mAh battery (with up to 125-watt wired, 50-watt wireless charging and 10-watt reverse wireless charging). It offers up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for a starting price of 3,499 RMB ($519).
Given a choice between settling for pathetically slow internet speeds from AT&T or paying Comcast $50,000 to expand to his rural home, Michigan resident Jared Mauch chose option "C": starting up his own fiber internet service provider. Now, he's expanding his service from about 70 customers to nearly 600 thanks to funding aimed at expanding access to broadband internet, Ars Technica has reported.
Last year, the US government's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds allocated $71 million to Michigan's Washtenaw county for infrastructure projects, with a part of that dedicated to broadband expansion. Mauch subsequently won a bid to wire up households "known to be unserved or underserved based on [an] existing survey," according to the RFP.
"They had this gap-filling RFP, and in my own wild stupidity or brilliance, I'm not sure which yet, I bid on the whole project [in my area] and managed to win through that competitive bidding process," he told Ars.
He'll now need to expand from 14 to about 52 miles of fiber to complete the project, including at least a couple of homes that require a half mile of fiber for a single house. That'll cost $30,000 for each of those homes, but his installation fees are typically $199.
Customers can choose from 100Mbps up/down internet speeds for $55 per month, or 1Gbps with unlimited data for $79 a month. The contract requires completion by 2026, but he aims to be done by around the end of 2023. He's already hooked up some of the required addresses, issuing a press release after the first was connected in June, with a local commissioner calling it "a transformational moment for our community."
Running an ISP isn't even Mauch's day job, as he normally works as an Akamai network architect. Still, his service has become a must in the region and he even provides fiber backhaul for a major mobile carrier. "I'm definitely a lot more well-known by all my neighbors... I'm saved in people's cell phones as 'fiber cable guy,'" he said. Check out the full story at Ars Technica.
You know that highlighted piece of text at the very top of a Google search results page when you look up a piece of information? That's called a "featured snippet," and it's meant to provide you with a quick answer to your query. Now, Google is making sure that the information it highlights is reliable and accurate by using its latest AI model, the Multitask Unified Model, so that Search can now look for consensus when deciding on a snippet to feature.
Google's Search AI can now check snippet callouts — those are the information with larger fonts that serve as heading for featured snippets — against other high-quality sources online. It can figure out if there's a general consensus for that callout, even if sources use different words or concepts to describe the same fact or idea. Google says this "consensus-based technique has meaningfully improved the quality and helpfulness of featured snippet callouts."
Google featured snippet
But for some queries, such as those with false premises, displaying features snippets isn't the best way to deliver information. To address that issue, Google tweaked its Search AI so that this particular update reduces the triggering of snippets for those types of queries by 40 percent.
Google is now also making its "About this result" tool more accessible. That's the panel that pops up when you click on the three dots next to a result, showing you details about the source website before you even visit. Starting later this year, it will be available in eight more languages, including Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese and Indonesian. It's adding more information to the tool starting this week, as well, including how widely a publication is circulated, online reviews about a company, or whether a company is owned by another entity. They're all pieces of information that could help you decide whether a particular source is trustworthy.
Finally, in case Google's AI has determined that the overall results for a search query may have questionable quality, the results page will now display a content advisory. "It looks like there aren't many great results for this search," the advisory will say, telling you to check the source you're looking at or to try other search terms. It could help you stay alert and be on the lookout for potential fake information while checking the results the website had presented.
