Tech News Weekly (Audio) TNW 412: Epic Win: Google Slashes Play Store Fees - Changes Coming to the Google Play Store
Nov 6, 2025
Ryan Whitwam, a technology journalist at Ars Technica, dives into the significant changes coming to Google Play Store following the Epic Games settlement. He explains the implications of lower fees for developers and the introduction of third-party app stores. Additionally, there's talk about Apple's innovative plans to integrate Google's Gemini AI with Siri and the development of a new AI-powered smart ring. The episode also covers the irony of ransomware negotiators turning to extortion themselves, raising questions about cybersecurity ethics.
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Apple To Use Gemini As Siri Stopgap
- Apple plans to license Google's Gemini to power Siri's deeper planner and summarizer functions starting in spring.
- Apple will run Gemini on its private cloud while continuing development of in-house models.
Gemini Often Delivers More Useful Results
- Mikah finds Gemini consistently faster and more useful than many competing AI offerings for real-world tasks.
- He says Apple's current assistant features don't match Gemini's capabilities and hopes integration improves Siri's usefulness.
Prefer Deliberate Activation And On‑Device Processing
- Use deliberate activation devices to avoid always-on audio capture and privacy issues.
- Favor on-device processing for basic tasks and cloud only for complex queries to limit data exposure.