The Google Sans Flex typeface is now available to download

Typography nerds and Android fans, rejoice: You can now download an official version of “the next generation of Google’s brand typeface.” The company has released the Google Sans Flex font to the public for free.

The variable sans-serif font is part of Google's Material 3 design language, which arrived in 2023. 9to5Google notes that it's since been integrated into many of the company's products, including in some corners of Pixel software.

A 2024 Google Design blog post about variable typography highlights the font's flexibility, as seen in the image above. Casey Henry, a designer with the company, wrote that Google Sans Flex "allows the font's letterforms to shape-shift at different scales." OpenType Font Variations is the standard Google uses for variable fonts.

Meanwhile, a Reddit thread about the download dove deeper into typography nerdery. “Interesting behaviour when you condense the width,” u/hbpencil102 wrote. “Instead of circles becoming ovals, they become more rectangular with rounded tops and bottoms, reminding me of DIN 1451.” Amen to that.

You can download Google Sans Flex from Google Fonts.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-google-sans-flex-typeface-is-now-available-to-download-214535934.html?src=rss

Google’s new Gemini 3 model arrives in AI Mode and the Gemini app

A few weeks short of Gemini 2's first birthday, Google has announced Gemini 3 Pro. Naturally, the company claims the new system is its most intelligent AI model yet, offering state-of-the-art reasoning, class-leading vibe coding performance and more. The good news is you can put those claims to the test today, with Google making Gemini 3 Pro available across many of its products and services.

Google is highlighting a couple of benchmarks to tout Gemini 3 Pro's performance. In Humanity's Last Exam, widely considered one of the toughest tests AI labs can put their systems through, the model delivered a new top accuracy score of 37.5 percent, beating the previous leader, Grok 4, by an impressive 12.1 percentage points. Notably, it achieved its score without turning to tools like web search. On LMArena, meanwhile, Gemini 3 Pro is now on top of the site's leaderboards with a score of 1,501 points.

Okay, but what about the practical benefits of Gemini 3 Pro? In the Gemini app, the new model will translate to answers that are more concise and better formatted. It also enables a new feature Google calls Gemini Agent. The tool builds on Project Mariner, the web-surfing Chrome AI the company debuted at the end of last year. It allows users to ask Gemini to complete tasks for them. For example, say you want help managing your email inbox. In the past, Gemini would have offered some general tips. Now, it can do that work for you.

To try Gemini 3 Pro inside of the Gemini app, select "Thinking" from the model picker. The new model is available to everyone, though AI Plus, Pro and Ultra subscribers can use it more often before hitting their rate limit. To make the most of Gemini Agent, you'll need to grant the tool access to your Google apps.

In Search, meanwhile, Gemini 3 Pro will debut inside of AI Mode, with availability of the new model first rolling out to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. Google will also bring the model to AI Overviews, where it will be used to answer the most difficult questions people ask of its search engine. In the coming weeks, Google plans to roll out a new routing algorithm for both AI Mode and AI Overviews that will know when to put questions through Gemini 3 Pro. In the meantime, subscribers can try the new model inside of AI Mode by selecting "Thinking" from the dropdown menu.

A GIF demonstrating Gemini 3 Pro generating a mortgage calculator inside of AI Mode.
Google

In practice, Google says Gemini 3 Pro will result in AI Mode finding more credible and relevant content related to your questions. This is thanks to how the new model augments the fan-out technique that powers AI Mode. The tool will perform even more searches than before and with its new intelligence, Google suggests it may even uncover content previous models may have missed. At the same time, Gemini 3's better multi-modal understanding will translate to AI Mode generating more dynamic and interactive interfaces to answer your questions. For example, if you're researching mortgage loans, the tool can create a loan calculator directly inside of its response.

For developers and its enterprise customers, Google is bringing Gemini 3 to all the usual places one can find its models, including inside of the Gemini API, AI Studio and Vertex AI. The company is also releasing a new agentic coding app called Antigravity. It can autonomously program while creating tasks for itself and providing progress reports. Alongside Gemini 3 Pro, Google is introducing Gemini 3 Deep Think. The enhanced reasoning mode will be available to safety testers before it rolls out to AI Ultra subscribers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-new-gemini-3-model-arrives-in-ai-mode-and-the-gemini-app-160054273.html?src=rss

Intuit is integrating its tax and accounting products with ChatGPT

The financial software company Intuit has signed a nine-figure deal with OpenAI which will allow customers to use its various services within ChatGPT. Intuit’s apps include Intuit Turbo Tax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks and MailChimp, all of which will now be accessible when using OpenAI’s chatbot for personalized financial advice and management.

The partnership is driven by what Intuit calls the "hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses" that ask ChatGPT finance-related questions every week. Consumers will be able to use Intuit’s apps within ChatGPT to research credit cards and mortgages, with advice tailored to their spending. They can also permit the chatbot to access their financial data to estimate their tax refund amounts and schedule appointments with a "live, AI-powered tax expert."

On the business side, companies can use ChatGPT to get advice on how to increase their revenue based on their current performance. They can also create targeted campaigns to send out to prospective customers and use AI to generate invoice reminders.

Intuit has been investing heavily in AI for the last 10 years, introducing its own AI assistant back in 2023 and building it into its products. Its $100 million contract with OpenAI will also see it widen its use of the latter’s models and their agentic capabilities across its platform. Generative AI allows Intuit customers to complete their financial tasks and ask questions about complex subjects using natural language prompts.

OpenAI is seemingly committed to growing its reputation as a credible source of finance-related guidance and information. Last month it acquired a personal investing app called ROI, which uses a built-in chatbot to advise users on potential investments.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/intuit-is-integrating-its-tax-and-accounting-products-with-chatgpt-153809280.html?src=rss

Google expands AI Mode’s flight and event booking features

Google has introduced some new tools in AI Mode alongside the expansion of others. The beta for Flight Deals, the AI-powered search tool that operates within Google Flights, is expanding globally. The tool works to find the best deals on flights in response to natural-language prompts from the user. The company is also expanding AI Mode's agentic capabilities to more users across the US, helping to book restaurants, event tickets and beauty or wellness appointments.

The search giant is also adding a new feature to AI Mode called Canvas. This tool offers an organized space for users to build plans or projects. It can also help plan trips. Within the Canvas environment, users can describe the kind of trip they want to book, and the various tools will suggest destinations, hotels and bookings.

Last week, Google also added a host of new AI-powered shopping features, including an agentic checkout that helps find and buy an item at a specific price. Shoppers can have Google track the price of an item and give the AI permission to purchase it once it hits the desired discount.

Google has been rolling out a slew of AI features across its product suite, including Google Photos, Google Messages and Android.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-expands-ai-modes-flight-and-event-booking-features-170017656.html?src=rss

MIT researchers and beauty brand Amorepacific made a wearable patch that analyzes skin aging

Researchers at MIT have been working with the South Korean beauty company Amorepacific for the past few years to develop a wearable "electronic skin" platform that can provide real-time insights about skin aging and make personalized skincare recommendations, and it's due to debut at CES 2026 as "Skinsight." Skinsight, which was announced as one of the CES 2026 Innovation Award Honorees this week, is a Bluetooth-equipped sensor patch that sticks to the skin and works with a mobile app, tracking skin tightness, UV exposure, temperature and moisture.

An artist's rendering of the Skinsight patch showing various sensors and a bluetooth module
An artist's rendering of the Skinsight patch showing various sensors and a bluetooth module
Amorepacific

Based on the readings, the AI-powered app will approximate how the different factors might contribute to or speed up skin aging, and suggest the products best suited for the job so the user can incorporate them into their skincare routine. The patch is designed to be breathable and withstand sweat so it can stay on for long periods of time. The team hasn't yet shared on Skinsight's availability and cost. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/mit-researchers-and-beauty-brand-amorepacific-made-a-wearable-patch-that-analyzes-skin-aging-225125621.html?src=rss

‘Divine’ is a Jack Dorsey-backed Vine reboot for 2025

Nearly a decade after going offline, Vine is (sort of) back and, in a truly bizarre twist, Jack Dorsey is at least partially responsible. An early Twitter employee has released a beta version of a rebooted Vine — now called "Divine" — that revives the app's six-second videos and includes a portion of the original app's archive. 

The project comes from Evan Henshaw-Plath, a former Twitter employee who goes by "Rabble," and has backing from Dorsey's nonprofit "and Other Stuff," which funds experimental social media apps built on the open source nostr protocol. Rabble has so far managed to resurrect about 170,000 videos from the original Vine thanks to an old archive created before Twitter shut down the app in 2017. In an FAQ on Divine's website, he says that he also hopes to restore "millions" of user comments and profile photos associated with those original posts as well. 

But Divine is more than just a home for decade-old clips. New users can create six-second looping videos of their own for the platform. The app also has many elements that will be familiar to people who have used Bluesky or other decentralized platforms, including customizable controls for content moderation and multiple feed algorithms to choose from. The site's FAQ says Divine plans to support custom, user-created algorithms too.

Divine is also taking a pretty strong stance against AI-generated content. The app will have built-in AI detection tools that will add badges to content that's been verified as not created or edited with AI tools. And, according to TechCrunch, the app will block uploads of suspected AI content.

"We're in the middle of an AI takeover of social media," Divine explains on its website. New apps like Sora are entirely AI-generated. TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are increasingly flooded with AI slop—videos that look real but were never captured by a camera, people who don't exist, scenarios that never happened. Divine is fighting back. We're creating a space where human creativity is celebrated and protected, where you can trust that what you're watching was made by a real person with a real camera, not generated by an algorithm."

While all that may sound intriguing, Divine has a long way to go before it can accomplish all that. The app hasn't made it onto either app store yet, though it's already added 10,000 people to an iOS beta, according to its founder. In the meantime, you can also browse some of the app's videos, including some old Vine posts, on its website, though not all of the videos are working properly at the moment.

Still, any kind of reboot is good news for fans of the original, who have long hoped the app might make a comeback. Elon Musk has suggested more than once that he would revive Vine in some way, but has yet to follow through.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/divine-is-a-jack-dorsey-backed-vine-reboot-for-2025-192307190.html?src=rss

Mozilla will add an ‘AI window’ to Firefox

Mozilla is working on a new tool for Firefox called AI Window. This will be an opt-in space for chatting with an AI assistant and getting help from it while browsing. The goal with this project appears to be giving users more control over when and how they choose to interact with AI. AI Window will be another option for users alongside the standard Firefox window and the Private Window, which will continue to offer more privacy protections. The feature is still in development, so interested users can sign up in Mozilla's blog post to be among the first users and provide feedback. 

AI built into browsers is one of the current hot issues among tech companies. Every browser provider and AI operation appears to be engaged in an arms race to offer the best integrated solution. Mozilla isn't immune to that push; it also introduced an iOS tool for Firefox earlier this year where you can shake your phone to get an AI-generated summary of a web page.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/mozilla-will-add-an-ai-window-to-firefox-225032453.html?src=rss

Apple suffers setback in UK App Store fee lawsuit

Apple will not be granted a preliminary option for appealing a landmark antitrust ruling in the UK. In October, the country's Competition Appeal Tribunal determined that Apple benefited from "near absolute market power" over app distribution and in-app payments and was "abusing its dominant position by charging excessive and unfair prices" as developer commission. At the time, Apple was reportedly planning to appeal, but today, the Tribunal refused to give the company permission to challenge its decision. 

That means Apple's next recourse, if it wants to not pony up more than £1 billion in damages, is to take its case directly to the UK Court of Appeal. The company has requested 21 days to file any application with that judicial body. 

It has been a busy year for Apple as it faces more regulatory pressure over its rules for the App Store and fees charged to mobile developers. Earlier today, Apple announced a new partner program that would halve the commissions it charges for mini-app transactions.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-suffers-setback-in-uk-app-store-fee-lawsuit-204627286.html?src=rss

Apple halves App Store fees for mini apps

Apple has introduced a new plan for developers who offer mini-apps that could see the commission rate cut in half. Under the App Store Mini Apps Partner Program, devs would pay a reduced rate of 15 percent, compared to the current 30 percent, on qualifying in-app purchases. Apple has a bunch of more detailed explanations and an FAQ about how the partner program will work and what mini apps are eligible. 

Mini apps are "self-contained experiences" — often web-based games — that live within a larger "host" app. Apple has allowed developers to offer these experiences for years, but only allowed mini app developers to support in-app purchases of their own last year.

In order to participate in the Mini Apps Partner Program, developers will need to meet a few additional requirements. To start, developers will need to support both iOS and iPadsOS functionality. They're also required to implement Apple's Advanced Commerce API, as well as the Declared Age Range API. The latter requirement would prevent underage users from circumventing parental controls by accessing a mini app with a higher age rating than the host app.

Apple's fee structure has been an ongoing subject of debate, and the company has faced global pressure from regulators to change its commission policies to prove it isn't engaged in monopolistic, anti-competitive practices. We've already seen some changes at Apple this year, as its legal saga with Epic Games wound towards a conclusion and some of the App Store guidelines were changed to allow for external payment options.

Update, November 13, 2025, 2PM PT: Added additional details about the Mini Apps Partner Program.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-halves-app-store-fees-for-mini-apps-190251153.html?src=rss

Uber’s ‘Send a Ride’ feature makes it easier to pay someone else’s fare

In anticipation of what's expected to be a more hectic than usual season of holiday travel, Uber is adding a collection of new gifting and ridesharing features to its app. The most convenient of the new features is "Send a Ride," a way to purchase Uber rides for someone else.

Send a Ride lets you cover the cost of a ride directly from the Uber app, making it possible to pay for something like an airport pickup in advance. Uber says you'll be able to set a number of rides and a spending limit in the app (like two rides for up to $50 each) and then the app will generate a link that you can share with whomever you want to receive the rides. When they click the link, credit will automatically be added to their account and applied to their next trip.

For anyone whose winter travel includes skiing and snowboarding, Uber Ski is a new seasonal ride option Uber is adding that lets you book a ride to and from "nearly 40 of the top mountains across North America and Europe." When you select Uber Ski in the app, you can reserve an UberXL for up to two guests with gear or an UberXXL for up to four guests with gear. Uber also says it will sell the Epic Pass, a ticket that gets you access to Vail Resorts, directly through the Uber app. 

If you're figuring out your own ride home from the airport, Uber is also expanding its Uber Share for Airports option that lets you split a ride home with people heading in the same general direction. Uber Share is now available at over 50 airports worldwide, including new additions John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia AirPort and Orlando International Airport.

Finally, starting in December, Uber will let you add a free video message from stars like Megan Thee Stallion, the Jonas Brothers or Tracee Ellis Ross to any Uber Eats order you send as a gift. The videos don't sound like they'll be personalized like a video from Cameo, but whoever you send the gift to will be able to choose their own delivery time so they're available when their gift arrives.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/ubers-send-a-ride-feature-makes-it-easier-to-pay-someone-elses-fare-130000110.html?src=rss