GIGAZINE

1 week ago | gigazine.net | Gage Skidmore

Apr 13, 2025 11:51:00 US President Donald Trump has announced that electronic devices such as smartphones, PCs and semiconductors will be excluded from reciprocal tariffs .

2 weeks ago | gigazine.net

It was announced at the Google Cloud event 'Google Cloud Next 2025' that Google Workspace, a cloud-based productivity groupware suite provided by Google, will add ' Workspace Flows ,' a tool that automates workflows without the need for code. Google Cloud Next 2025: News and updates https://blog.google/products/google-cloud/next-2025/ Turn access to Gemini for Google Workspace Alpha on or off - Business / Enterprise - Google Workspace Admin Help https://support.google.com/a/answer/14170809 Google Workspace gets automation flows, podcast-style summaries | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/09/google-workspace-gets-automation-flows-podcast-style-summaries/ Google Workspace Flows is a new code-free workflow automation tool added to Google Workspace. This feature allows you to combine apps such as Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar, Spreadsheets, and Chat to efficiently automate your daily work without any programming knowledge. For example, you can set up a series of steps on the screen to automatically save a file to Drive when you receive an email under certain conditions and notify your team about it via Chat. It also works with Gemini, Google's multimodal AI, so that by simply saying in natural language, 'I want to automate this kind of task,' the AI ​​will read the content and suggest the optimal flow, allowing users to intuitively work on improving their business operations even without specialized knowledge. Google Workspace Flows is designed to streamline routine tasks that occur daily, such as internal approval processes and notification tasks, and is expected to be used not only by managers but also by general employees. At the time of writing, a preview is being provided to some users, and it is scheduled to be officially released in the future. In addition, Google announced that Gemini 2.5, announced in March 2025, will be fully integrated into the Google Cloud product lineup, creating an environment in which it can be used by businesses. The company also announced that it will begin offering a public preview of Gemini 2.5 Pro on Vertex AI, will announce integration with new Vertex AI features such as Model Optimizer, Live API, and multi-region support, and will support use in on-premise environments (Google Distributed Cloud). Gemini 2.5 on Vertex AI: Pro, Flash & Model Optimizer Live | Google Cloud Blog https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/gemini-2-5-pro-flash-on-vertex-ai/ In addition to Gemini 2.5 Pro , which was released at the time of writing, a lighter model, Gemini 2.5 Flash , was also announced. Gemini 2.5 Flash is a model that emphasizes low latency and cost efficiency, and is suitable for high-frequency processing such as customer support and real-time summarization. In addition, Gemini 2.5 Flash is equipped with a function that automatically adjusts the AI ​​'thinking budget' according to the complexity of the query, allowing users to explicitly tune the balance between speed, accuracy, and cost. Google said that this flexibility can be expected to provide optimal performance even in applications that require large-scale processing. At Google Cloud Next 2025, it was also announced that an 'agent function' will be added as a preview version to Gemini Code Assist , Google's AI coding assistant. This function will enable developers to connect with external services within their IDE (integrated development environment) to retrieve tasks and summarize design documents. An application-centric, AI-powered cloud | Google Cloud Blog https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/application-development/an-application-centric-ai-powered-cloud/ In particular, the newly introduced 'Application Development Environment (ADE)' integrates various Google Cloud services with the power of AI, providing a space where applications can be developed and deployed flexibly and quickly without worrying about infrastructure. In addition, Duet AI's development support functions have been unified with 'Gemini,' making it a more powerful multimodal AI that can handle not only code but also infrastructure configuration and document generation. Google Cloud has also announced that it will work with online message board site Reddit to provide generative AI technology for some of Reddit's new features, 'Reddit Answers.' Google Cloud Powers Part of Reddit Answers, On-Platform Search Experiences with Generative AI https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/google-cloud-powers-part-of-reddit-answers-on-platform-search-experiences-with-generative-ai-302423847.html By using Google Gemini, Reddit will be able to provide summaries of related threads and comments in response to questions posted by users, allowing users to quickly find the information they are looking for among the vast number of posts. The collaboration is based on a contract between Reddit and Google signed in February 2024 worth approximately $60 million per year, and Reddit will use Google's Vertex AI to improve search results.

2 weeks ago | gigazine.net | Gage Skidmore

Apr 09, 2025 12:28:00 By Gage SkidmoreReuters reported that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is using AI to monitor the communications of federal employees, with the aim of uncovering anti-Trump and anti-Musk employees.

2 weeks ago | gigazine.net | Gage Skidmore

Apr 07, 2025 12:26:00 By Gage SkidmoreIt has been reported that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is planning to hold a hackathon to develop a 'Mega API' to access data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Mega API aims to make it easier to access IRS data, but concerns have been raised within the IRS.

3 weeks ago | gigazine.net | Gage Skidmore

Apr 03, 2025 13:00:00 By Gage SkidmoreUS President Donald Trump announced in a speech at the White House on April 2, 2025 that he would introduce ' reciprocal tariffs ' to raise the tariffs of his own country based on the tariffs and non-tariff barriers of the other country. Large-scale tariffs have been imposed on imports from Japan, China, India, Vietnam, and other countries, dealing a major blow to the high-tech industry.