Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.
High quality uploads were free for all Google Photos users and tben they changed it to medium quality and now we get nothing.
I used high quality uploads for a long time deleted the original files. Turns out those *high quality" uploads were not very high quality and realised that I have ruined years of my photos believing in this gimmick. Fxck Google.
It still does, for models that were sold that way. My Pixel 4 still gets free uploads to Google Photos. Which I should really move to immich one of these days.
I don’t remember Gmail ever offering unlimited storage, and I can’t find any record of that offer ever being made, either. When they first launched, they gave 1GB, which was the highest of any free email service at the time by an order of magnitude, but never unlimited.
I have had Gmail since it was in beta and needed an invite to use.
Yes, it was originally touted as unlimited email. “Never have to delete another email!!” This was in 2003 (or was early 2004? It all runs together these days. I got married in 03, and got the invite not too long after) when my cousin sent me the invite.
The big webmail provider back then was yahoo.com, and I still have that email address as well. AOL even started offering a free webmail for people who had broadband Internet, but wanted to use or keep their old dial up AOL account.
Hotmail was also a thing, and this was before MS bought them and merged it with msn.com
They kept incrementally adding more storage capacity to your account every day. It slowly ticked up and their marketing claim was that it would just keep growing forever. As we can see, that… did not happen.
What is a Google One plan?
Edit. Oh i see. Is that 15gb the original storage for gmail and stuff? Are we that old that we’re filing that up? Oh man
I remember when Gmail was advertised as unlimited email storage. Then they limited it. Then they sold more storage for it.
I remember when the Google Pixel offered free unlimited high quality photo backup to excuse the fact it had no SD card.
Then it offered free medium quality photo backup to excuse the fact it had no SD card.
Then it offered nothing because it had squeezed serious competitors with SD cards out of the market.
High quality uploads were free for all Google Photos users and tben they changed it to medium quality and now we get nothing.
I used high quality uploads for a long time deleted the original files. Turns out those *high quality" uploads were not very high quality and realised that I have ruined years of my photos believing in this gimmick. Fxck Google.
It still does, for models that were sold that way. My Pixel 4 still gets free uploads to Google Photos. Which I should really move to immich one of these days.
I’m told it’s finally time to make the move
I don’t remember Gmail ever offering unlimited storage, and I can’t find any record of that offer ever being made, either. When they first launched, they gave 1GB, which was the highest of any free email service at the time by an order of magnitude, but never unlimited.
I have had Gmail since it was in beta and needed an invite to use.
Yes, it was originally touted as unlimited email. “Never have to delete another email!!” This was in 2003 (or was early 2004? It all runs together these days. I got married in 03, and got the invite not too long after) when my cousin sent me the invite.
The big webmail provider back then was yahoo.com, and I still have that email address as well. AOL even started offering a free webmail for people who had broadband Internet, but wanted to use or keep their old dial up AOL account.
Hotmail was also a thing, and this was before MS bought them and merged it with msn.com
They kept incrementally adding more storage capacity to your account every day. It slowly ticked up and their marketing claim was that it would just keep growing forever. As we can see, that… did not happen.
No my Gmail isn’t even full, my wife got same email. Fucking scam to make us sign up for their extra storage.
Google One is the combined storage of every service you use, even accidentally. Google Photos Gmail, Drive, it’s all in there.
Emails take up some space, especially if they have embedded images or attachments.
My Gmail had 17 or 19GB last time I checked… Gotta love when they would give you extra storage just for doing a ‘security check’.
I think they lowered the threshold