☕️ Google unveils Gemini 3.1 Pro

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In today's Techpresso:

🧠 Google launches Gemini 3.1 Pro

⌚ Meta plans to release a smartwatch this year

📱 Zuckerberg testifies in landmark teen social media addiction trial

💎 Microsoft stores data in glass for 10,000 years

🌐 Trump administration builds website to bypass EU content rules

💼 Accenture ties promotions to AI adoption

🎁 + 15 other news & articles you might like

🧰 + 6 trending tools

📚 + 4 trending papers & reports

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• Google released Gemini 3.1 Pro today, a new model designed for complex tasks where a simple answer falls short, marking the first time Google has used a .1 increment between generations.
• The model scores 77.1% on ARC-AGI-2, which Google says is more than double the reasoning performance of 3 Pro, thanks to upgraded core intelligence that debuted in Gemini 3 Deep Think.
• Gemini 3.1 Pro is rolling out in the Gemini app, NotebookLM, and developer tools like Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, though it launches in preview before becoming generally available soon.

• Meta has reportedly brought back its canceled smartwatch project and plans to release the Facebook Watch in 2026, years after the original effort was shelved around 2021.
• The original project stalled during a rough period for Meta, which faced the Cambridge Analytica fallout, a $725 million privacy settlement, and a $10 billion hit from Apple's App Tracking Transparency.
• Details remain scarce, but the watch is expected to track health data, compete on price by undercutting Apple Watch, and likely help Meta collect and monetize personal information from users.

• Mark Zuckerberg testified Wednesday in a Los Angeles court to defend Meta against claims that Instagram was designed to be addictive to kids, in the first of potentially 1,500 similar cases.
• The judge warned that anyone caught recording with AI glasses would be held in contempt of court, after at least two people entering with Zuckerberg were spotted wearing Meta Ray-Ban glasses.
• Plaintiff's lawyers presented internal slides from 2015 showing over 4 million U.S. Instagram users were under 13, though the platform didn't start asking for a user's age until 2019.

• Microsoft's Project Silica can store data inside a thin piece of borosilicate glass using laser technology, and the material could theoretically last 10,000 years without degrading.
• The system encodes information in phase voxels — three-dimensional equivalents of pixels — using femtosecond lasers, and a single glass chip can hold 4.8 terabytes of data.
• Project Silica was built for organizations like the National Archives and museums that need storage immune to malware, decay, and ongoing maintenance costs over long periods.

• The Trump administration is building a government website called Freedom.gov that would help internet users in Europe and other regions bypass local content restrictions and access banned material.
• Officials are planning to integrate VPN functionality into the portal so a user's traffic would appear to originate in the US, effectively turning the State Department into a VPN provider.
• The project has been delayed after State Department lawyers raised concerns that the site could be seen as the US government encouraging citizens of allied nations to break their local laws.

• Accenture is now tying employee promotions to regular use of its internal AI tools, tracking weekly logins and making that data a visible factor in summer promotion decisions.
• Senior staff appear more reluctant to adopt AI than junior employees, and some workers have called the tools ineffective "broken slop generators," with one threatening to quit.
• Not all employees face the new rule equally — staff in 12 European countries and the US federal government contracts division are exempt from having AI adoption tracked for promotions.

Other news & articles you might like

• OpenAI Funding on Track to Top $100 Billion in Latest Round LINK

• Leaked email proves Ring intended to use surveillance feature for people LINK

• Figma stock jumps 16% as company sees AI monetization accelerating growth LINK

• eBay takes aim at Gen Z, buys Depop from Etsy for $1.2bn LINK

• Fei-Fei Li's World Labs raises one billion dollars for "spatial intelligence" LINK

• New benchmark shows AI agents can exploit most smart contract vulnerabilities on their own LINK

• Google Maps Is Now Less Useful If You’re Not Signed In LINK

• Altman and Amodei share a moment of awkwardness at India’s big AI summit LINK

• Berkshire Hathaway reduces Apple stake as Warren Buffett officially retires LINK

• SpaceX will resume landing rockets in The Bahamas after raining debris on the country last year LINK

• AI-generated passwords are surprisingly easy to crack, researchers find LINK

• AI hyperscalers move to secure long-term uranium supply from mining companies — fuel required for nuclear plants to power future data centers LINK

• Dutch defense chief claims F-35 could be "jailbroken like an iPhone" to bypass US approval LINK

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