Substack - A new economic engine for culture

Aug 14

Google isn't losing. Google is the league.

NVIDIA is still a dead man walking.

Google can’t seem to ship its flagship model right now & Gemini 3.5 Pro was supposed to arrive in June… It’s August. Apparently it’s stuck in partner testing and Google’s been publicly shifting focus to Gemini 4. According to the internet, this means Google is cooked.

Limited Edition Jonathan ∙ 69 LIKES ∙ 7 RESTACKS

Jee

•

Aug 14

Never count out the companies with billions in cash reserves. They're not dummies and they have the resources to pivot if they make a bad call.

Ian Schmidt

•

Aug 14

It’s worth noting that few winning technologies did so on technical merit, but on simply being good enough and cheap enough. Windows and x86 are the go-to examples, of course, but there are many others. Google appears to be undergoing a serious brain drain on their model teams, but owning how and where models are run is much more powerful.

Similarly AMD seems to be finally getting their act together on AI GPUs but I think AI enabled Ryzen client chips will end up being more important.

Cut Off the Spigot

Aug 14

De-Google Part 5: Zoom & Google Meet Alternatives

With free and privacy-forward options

Video conferencing shouldn’t feel like a data collection exercise for Google Gemini, so let’s get into the alternatives 😁

Cut Off the Spigot ∙ 32 LIKES ∙ 8 RESTACKS

MisterFuzzyGuy

•

Aug 14

What about Brave browser's "privacy first calls"? Also called talk. I think it is new, but since I use brave browser, & it does not require an acount to join, I was going to try it.

Nathan Ruggles

•

Aug 14

Thanks again for another informative post with helpful reviews! Will definitely be checking out kMeet and Whereby. (And then hopefully converting others!)

Channel3

12:52 AM

Channel3 vs Google

Why there's no public API for Google's product catalog — and what to use instead

TL;DR: Google has one of the largest product catalogs on the internet, and it doesn’t let you use it. There’s no public API for the full Google Shopping graph. Access runs through Merchant Center feeds designed to feed Google’s own surfaces (Shopping tab, AI Overviews, Gemini) — not your app. If you’re building any type of AI shopping tool (AI stylist, …

Channel3

The Clinical Trials Abundance blog

Aug 25

Google Maps for Medicines

A new tool to help you navigate drug approval routes in lower and middle income countries

Google Maps was launched in 2005. It is hard to imagine life before that little blue dot. You either memorised your daily routes (which were not necessarily optimal) or traced a new route on a map, which sometimes resulted in driving your caravan down a cobbled French street narrower than a baguette.

Enlli McAleese ∙ 11 LIKES ∙ 2 RESTACKS

Richardson Dackam

•

Really interesting resource. “Google Maps for medicine” caught my attention right away because I’ve been building something similar for rare diseases, which sent me down the rabbit hole that became RareGap: https://raregap.ai/

What I find especially interesting is that we ended up with two very different products using the same map metaphor.

RareGap tries to map a path from a rare disease to biological interventions worth testing.

This maps the path from a medicine to approval in a specific country.

We are tackling two completely different parts of the medicine lifecycle, but surprisingly we have similar ways of thinking about the problem.

Buyology

Aug 28

Google recropped your creator

✂️Performance Max now generates aspect ratios from uploaded video, and your usage grants may not cover derivatives, Social platforms are making ads more shoppable, and more!

Howdy Readers 🥰

15 LIKES

Growth Memo

Aug 24

Has Google demoted listicles?

What 5.32 million search results reveal about Google's actual stance on "best of" content.

Kevin Indig ∙ 33 LIKES ∙ 2 RESTACKS

Seth M. Goldstein

•

Listicles if done right can be useful. But so often it's just slop.

State of Play

•

The gap you can't close is the interesting result here. If self-promotion isn't the variable, one candidate worth checking is editing depth: a separate analysis of roughly 150,000 pages found purely machine-written content ranking about 23% lower than human-written pages, while substantively edited AI drafts landed within about four points of human writing. Authorship and editing depth aren't the same axis. A brand-authored listicle that got heavily reworked by a human would behave like human content regardless of who published it; a lightly-touched publisher listicle would underperform despite not being self-serving at all.

That would also fit the timing. Google's August 19 spam update was the third enforcement action in five months explicitly targeting mass-produced, low-value pages, not brand pages as such. Worth a look in part two: does the vendor/publisher split correlate with editing depth, independent of self-promotion, and does that explain more of the January-to-August decline than authorship does?

Harpreet's Newsletter

Aug 10

14 LeetCode Patterns To Crack Google

Google Interview Roadmap

Harpreet Singh ∙ 69 LIKES ∙ 4 RESTACKS

Apurva

•

Aug 10

First Thank you Harpreet for sharing this list with us .I have been following you since many months. I like how you made it easy to learn according to pattern instead of grind different problems....But just wanted to know is 3DP question enough to cover pattern of DP

rahul

•

First, thank you Harpreet for sharing this list with us. I just wanted to know, is this roadmap specifically for Google interviews, or can we follow these patterns and problems for coding interviews at other tech companies as well?

Sifu Yik's Substack

Aug 27

99 Google Flow Video Prompts

🎬 99 GOOGLE FLOW COMMANDS THAT MAKE YOUR AI VIDEOS LOOK LIKE A REAL FILM

Sifu Yik Chan ∙ 31 LIKES

Nextfuture AI

Aug 22

Google Launches Gemini 3.7 Flash

Google has introduced Gemini 3.7 Flash, a faster and more efficient AI model designed to deliver strong performance with quicker responses and lower costs.

Welcome, AI Creators!

1 LIKES

Daily Dose of Data Science

Aug 31

WebMCP By Google, Clearly Explained!

Everything you need to understand WebMCP and expose your site's actions to an agent.

Researchers built a new AI inference engine

Avi Chawla ∙ 9 LIKES

Flylab

Aug 25

From Google Earth to TroutRoutes

The next generation’s thoughts on fly-fishing mapping platforms.

As a kid, I spent hours on Google Earth looking for fishing spots. I’d find a lake or river I wanted to fish, and would then scour for roads I could use for access. I’d even scan the satellite images on lakes for drop-offs, weed beds, or bottom structure. Occasionally, I’d find a backyard or g…

Flylab and Cliff Watson ∙ 11 LIKES ∙ 1 RESTACKS

Trav

•

Good read - thank you - with valid points and concerns, both. From professional experience, I can tell you that you I'm 99.9% sure all of our activity on these platforms is being tracked and documented. What we search, where we navigate, current and past locations, etc., etc. Not to villainize them at all (I'm a user myself, actually), but TroutRoutes has already been bought out (by OnX in 2024: . https://www.onxmaps.com/blog/onx-acquires-troutroutes ) Hypothetically, let's say OnX gets purchased by a bigger company. What happens to all of that data that you've worked so hard to acquire - both on the water and online - and these companies can no longer guarantee the safekeeping of that homework? It's a commercial enterprise, after all, and data is worth money. Food for thought.

Margaret Dunn-Watson

•

Nice piece Cliff! Very interesting even to your non-fishing mom!!!

The Future of SEO & AEO by Eli Schwartz

Aug 27

Reddit should stop feeding Google

I don’t know whether to believe the recent news about Reddit’s decline in visibility in ChatGPT, nor does it likely matter.

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Stacker and Ahrefs

Eli Schwartz ∙ 8 LIKES ∙ 1 RESTACKS

Letters by Burk

Aug 28

Is Google (AI) in Trouble?

Short answer, no… well… not sure. The longer answer has a few ifs.

My Medium friends can read this over on Medium.

Burk ∙ 1 LIKES ∙ 1 RESTACKS

Under Occupation

Aug 30

Google lies

What ever happened to “don’t be evil”?

Shortly after the most recent (and illegitimate) inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America I changed the name of my Substack to Under Occupation. I suspect most people think that is silly, that nothing changed, that we are still the good old USA of old.

mike parwana ∙ 12 LIKES ∙ 1 RESTACKS

Steve Lang

•

yes, mike, yes. i attended part of the trial in the colorado case to keep trump off the ballot because he was an insurrectionist. of course, his bought-and-paid-for supreme court reversed the colorado supreme court. that was the moment when america went through the looking glass.

Bob

•

"Meanwhile, over at Apple Maps, you can still read the truth."

I do like Apple, and avoid Google and its services as much as possible. But sadly, Apple has bent the knee in the past and I wouldn’t be surprised if they too change Lake Ontario’s name on its map. We’ll see.

If only corporations would band together and resist Trump’s insanities. It’s been shown that standing up to him is effective, and he will often back down as a result. (Think of the law firms that initially bowed their heads and touched their forelocks to Trump, and compare them to those that successfully stood their ground.)

Key Context by Tae Kim

Jul 21

Google Is a Secular Short

The smartest investors in the world are piling into Google parent Alphabet's stock. They may be wrong.

The smartest investors in the world are piling into Google parent Alphabet’s stock.

Tae Kim ∙ 78 LIKES ∙ 5 RESTACKS

Letters by Burk

Aug 26

Does Google Index Subdomains?

Short answer, yes. Mine got 1.7 million impressions in 90 days.

My Medium friends can read this over on Medium.

Burk ∙ 1 LIKES ∙ 1 RESTACKS

Jefferson Graham's PhotowalksTV newsletter - Tech & Travel

Aug 22

Have you considered the Google Pixel?

Many people feel it’s the best phone out there

Every August, Google introduces a new lineup of Pixel phones that sound awfully familiar to last year’s models and critics swoon.

Jefferson Graham ∙ 9 LIKES

Michael Jensen

•

Aug 22

Big Pixel fan here!

Brian P.

•

2026 — Pixel 11 Series

Pixel 11 / 11 Pro / 11 Pro XL / 11 Pro Fold

Announced: August 12, 2026

Released: August 20, 2026

2025 — Pixel 10 Series

Pixel 10 / 10 Pro / 10 Pro XL

Announced: August 20, 2025

Released: August 28, 2025

Pixel 10 Pro Fold

Announced: August 20, 2025

Released: October 9, 2025

Artificial Intelligence Made Simple

Aug 17

Google is at War with Itself

Inside Google’s Dramatic Exits, Gemini Delays and More

It takes time to create work that’s clear, independent, and genuinely useful. If you’ve found value in this newsletter, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It helps me dive deeper into research, reach more people, stay free from ads/hidden agendas, and supports my crippling chocolate milk addiction.

Devansh ∙ 87 LIKES ∙ 9 RESTACKS

Mike Snow

•

New to your Substack, thanks for the article, very educational. The challenge of developing software inside large companies has been true since day one. The inertia of the bureaucracy (needed to drive the commercial operation) vs the dynamism of creating new products (needed to have something new and valuable for customers to use) creates such a paradox that I'm not sure anyone has solved it.

IMHO, the best approach is to spin off the product development heroes, get them funding, and let them try to capture lightning in a bottle again. Let the main business focus on efficiently commercializing the products customers want, once the product people figure that out.

I think Google is making the right business choices, focusing on the commercialization of the capabilities, and being agnostic about what tech a customer wants to deploy. Even though the AI models are the most important & unique part of the stack, you need the whole stack to efficiently get a reliable answer/solution from the model.

The value to a user is in getting the right answer, not in using a cutting-edge model.

Nomames

•

Aug 18

While I can agree that this article touches on very valid points for why senior leadership is leaving it leaves out the ethical dilemma some might have faced with Google essentially giving the Pentagon full access to use Gemini AI for "any lawful government purpose". Which is just vague enough to mean anything you want it to mean.

https://turntrout.com/why-i-left-google-deepmind#what-if-the-people-you-critique-were-saving-their-political-capital

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/28/google-classified-ai-deal-pentagon

Carl Paoli

Aug 31

You Cannot Google Self-Worth

I already know the answer. I just keep looking for it in the wrong place.

A few years after my book became a New York Times bestseller, I was walking my dog along Park Presidio Boulevard in San Francisco, talking to my sister on the phone.

Carl Paoli ∙ 7 LIKES ∙ 1 RESTACKS

The Ampersand Mindset

•

13h

Q: Did I make another person’s day a little easier because I was there? A: Yes (more than you know)

Halloran Parry

•

17h

"I just started getting suspicious of the idea that I had to keep improving myself before I could finally arrive at somebody I respected."

I had that feeling recently. How much self-improving is it going to take? What does 'enough' look like? If I keep working on being thinner/smarter/nicer/more successful, will I ever get to a point when I feel like I've become enough of a person? No, no I will not. It's the wrong dream to chase.

E-Commerce Operator

Aug 28

Google Ads changed target-based bidding

Google changed how target-based bidding works for budget-limited campaigns. Here’s what e-commerce advertisers need to check now.

If you’re running Target CPA or Target ROAS on any budget-limited campaign, and you haven’t touched your targets since before August 17, your best-performing campaign may already be quietly getting worse right now, and nothing in your dashboard is flagging it as a problem. Google’s own documentation states it in the plainest terms possible: a campaign w…

E-Commerce Operator

Hayk Simonyan

Aug 29

Design Google Docs Like a Senior Engineer

Learn how to design a realtime collaborative document editor like Google Docs

2 users edit the same Google Doc at the same time.

Hayk ∙ 11 LIKES ∙ 1 RESTACKS

Cut Off the Spigot

Aug 21

De-Google Part 6: The Switching Process

For Email, Calendar, Drive & Photos

I officially switched over from Gmail this week for my personal email and I am SO EXCITED! 🤩 I have used Gmail as my only email address since 2010 - aka the last 16 years 😳

Cut Off the Spigot ∙ 86 LIKES ∙ 12 RESTACKS

Eve Kavog

•

Aug 22

Try openstreetmaps (OSM). It's an open source maps alternative and it has worked fantasticallu for me! The only thing it struggles with is avoiding tolls so if you live in an area where you actively have to avoid them, you need to sit down and cross reference with paper maps to lay out a route that works for you.

Another perk of OSM is when I'm on a walk I can find benches along said route to sit on. Which is huge when you're walking with a toddler that eats like she has a black hole for a stomach.

andrew

•

Aug 21

I just. Absolutely entirely love and admire and value your work. I’m so damn grateful for it. For you!!!

The one thing I’ve really been struggling with, as I try to de-google, has been Google Maps. I’m really not sure what to do.

Genuinely, if I understand correctly, even Apple Maps uses data from google, and sends data to Apple as well. And Apple sure isn’t a perfect company either!

I’ve tried lots of open source maps, and the best I’ve found is Organic Maps, but most of these apps that I’ve tried don’t even let you type in a restaurant name or even an actual address! I’m willing to move to something that’s less convenient and more ethical, but my inability to even type in addresses in the apps I’ve tried has made it reeeeaallly really hard to leave Google Maps

Maybe I’m just trying to commiserate with how difficult the switch has been. But. Still. De-googling is hard - especially and specifically for maps. Thanks to you, I’m off google in just about every way!!!

Edtech Insiders

Aug 27

Google Classroom's Approach to Educator-Led AI

Why educators need to be in the lead from design to implementation when building AI tools for learning

Get 10% of your EdTech Week Ticket now with code EDTECHINSIDER10

Sarah Morin, Alex Sarlin, and 2 others ∙ 6 LIKES ∙ 4 RESTACKS

Ben Sze

•

Nice to get an inside look into how the Google Classroom team are approaching teaching & learning and AI.

Kunle Aremu

•

This is a nice notes. Bringing Technology into the classroom requires a lot of works by making more teachers and educators to be conversant with technology. This might not really be a big problem in a developed countries like US, Canada and the rest.

Coming to Africa, this requires more awareness for educators on how technology can make teaching-learning to be more effective and seamless.

Marcus on AI

Aug 6

Seven reasons I wouldn’t count Google out

Down but still in the mix

In huge news, in case you missed it, Sir Demis Hassabis has given up the reins at GoogleDeepMind (moving aside to be Chairman and Alphabet’s Chief Science Officer), and the rightly legendary Jeff Dean and some other top talent just left altogether, following earlier departures of star researchers like John Jumper, David Silver, Tim Rocktäschel, and Noam…

Gary Marcus ∙ 204 LIKES ∙ 11 RESTACKS

Dani Ingells-West-Loveman

•

Aug 6

I don’t read this shakeup like the rest of the world. I read it like they don’t need to innovate further in the space but will continue to roll it aggressively into all of their services and optimize it for everyday use by regular people. It may also signal they found the ceiling like some of us have suggested was near.

Metta

•

Aug 6

Google is already losing search by converting it to AI.

Why isn't this already another serious red flag?

Mr.Grow - AI 4 Agencies

Aug 31

Ahora puedes gestionar Google Ads con IA

Google Ads quiere que gastes más. La IA te hace ganar más.

Google Ads se ha vuelto demasiado complejo.

Mr.Grow ∙ 4 LIKES

Top 25 Google Articles on Substack

Latest Google Articles

Google isn't losing. Google is the league.

De-Google Part 5: Zoom & Google Meet Alternatives

Channel3 vs Google

Google Maps for Medicines

Google recropped your creator

Has Google demoted listicles?

14 LeetCode Patterns To Crack Google

99 Google Flow Video Prompts

Google Launches Gemini 3.7 Flash

WebMCP By Google, Clearly Explained!

From Google Earth to TroutRoutes

Reddit should stop feeding Google

Is Google (AI) in Trouble?

Google lies

Google Is a Secular Short

Does Google Index Subdomains?

Have you considered the Google Pixel?

Google is at War with Itself

You Cannot Google Self-Worth

Google Ads changed target-based bidding

Design Google Docs Like a Senior Engineer

De-Google Part 6: The Switching Process

Google Classroom's Approach to Educator-Led AI

Seven reasons I wouldn’t count Google out

Ahora puedes gestionar Google Ads con IA

Related Google Substacks

Discover

Creators

Company

Resources