-In order to provide “more relevant responses,” Google has added precise location support to its AI chatbot Bard
-Google will be shutting down the third-party Google Assistant Notes & Lists integration on June 20
-The researcher also discovered that the code was set to activate 24 hours after installing the extension, which is typical of malicious intent, the report mentioned
San Francisco, NFAPost: In order to provide “more relevant responses,” Google has added precise location support to its AI chatbot Bard.
“Bard can start providing more relevant responses if you choose to let it use your device’s precise location. You can manage your preferences in location settings Opens in a new window,” Google said.
According to the company, precise location helps Bard provide more relevant responses about restaurants near you and many other things about your area.
For instance, if you ask Bard “What are the best restaurants near me?”, it will now be able to show you a list of restaurants that are actually located near your current location.
Precise location support is a new feature that is currently in beta testing.
Last month, Google released new update Bard, improving the ability to provide summaries of information and tell users where that information has come from.
With the new update, users will be able to ask Bard to summarise a specific article or story, or to provide a quick explanation of a topic without going into too much detail.
Meanwhile, Google has removed the waiting list and opened the AI chatbot to over 180 countries and territories, including India, after initially rolling out Bard in the UK and the US.
Apart from English, Bard is now available in Japanese and Korean, and the company said it’s on track to support 40 languages soon.
Google to shut 3rd-party Notes, Lists integration on Assistant app
Google will be shutting down the third-party Google Assistant Notes & Lists integration on June 20.
Users have long had the option in Google Assistant settings to select a Notes & Lists provider for voice commands that allow you to create or edit a list/note on speakers and Smart Displays.
Google Keep, Any.do, AnyList, and Bring Shopping Lists are among the options, according to 9to5Google.
The developers of AnyList has announced in a blogpost that “Google is shutting down the Google Assistant Notes & Lists integration for non-Google apps on June 20, 2023”.
“Unfortunately, this means that beginning June 20, it will no longer be possible to use Google Assistant to add items to AnyList,” it added.
Moreover, the report said that the Notes & Lists integration is built on the same Conversational Actions/”Actions on Google” platform that will be phased out next month.
Conversational Actions were the first method for third-party developers to integrate with Google Assistant.
However, third-party voice experiences, such as apps and games with visual interactions on Smart Displays or speakers, are no longer a top priority for the company.
Meanwhile, Google has announced it will migrate one per cent of Chrome users to Privacy Sandbox and deprecate third-party cookies for them in Q1 2024.
The move will support developers in conducting real-world experiments that assess the readiness and effectiveness of their products without third-party cookies, said Anthony Chavez, VP, Privacy Sandbox.
Google removes malicious Chrome extensions with 75 m installs from store
Google has removed 32 malicious extensions from the Chrome Web Store, totalling 75 million downloads, that could alter search results and push spam or unwanted ads.
According to BleepingComputer, the extensions included legitimate functionality to keep users unaware of the malicious behaviour, which was delivered in obfuscated code.
In an analysis of the PDF Toolbox extension (2 million downloads) available from the Chrome Web Store, cybersecurity researcher Wladimir Palant found code that was disguised as a legitimate API wrapper.
The researcher explained that the code allowed the “serasearchtop[.]com” domain to inject arbitrary JavaScript code into any website the user visited.
Moreover, the report said that abuse possibilities range from inserting advertisements into webpages to stealing sensitive information.
However, the researcher did not observe any malicious activity, so the code’s purpose remained unknown.
The researcher also discovered that the code was set to activate 24 hours after installing the extension, which is typical of malicious intent, the report mentioned.
Meanwhile, Google has blocked the notorious CryptBot malware, which the company claims have stolen data from hundreds of thousands of Chrome browser users in the past year.
According to the company, CryptBot is a type of malware often referred to as an ‘infostealer’ because it is designed to identify and steal sensitive information from victims’ computers such as authentication credentials, social media account logins, cryptocurrency wallets, and more.