Enterprise

Touring the first Google Store in New York City

An exquisite experience of technology, commerce, and design

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After pop-up shops and showrooms, Google finally opened its first physical retail store in the city that never sleeps.

Located on 15th and 9th by Chelsea Market in Manhattan, the Google Store in NYC offers a hip and smart experience echoing the vibe of its trendy community location.

Earlier this week GadgetMatch was invited to a special preview. Here is what we saw.

A spectacle of architecture and technology

The new Google Store features floor to ceiling glass that allows a glimpse of its sophisticated exteriors.

A Google campus bike is parked outside the store.

Come on, let’s have a look.

My senses are… overwhelmed

The Google Store is intended to be both a space where one can experience the entire range of Google hardware, and a shop for those wanting to take it all home.

The Nest Gallery Wall. Images/GadgetMatch

From Pixel phones and Nest products to Fitbit wearables and even Pixelbooks — there’s a lot to explore and experience.

An interactive exhibit

There’s a 17-foot-tall circular glass structure near the main entrance called the Google Imagination Space. It’s a set of custom interactive screens featuring rotating exhibits of the best of Google’s products and technologies.

It was designed and engineered with local New York partners so you can probe the possibilities of Google Translate and the capabilities of machine learning. You can try a real-time translation of your speech into 24 languages simultaneously when you speak to the exhibit. If you want to know the technology behind it, the exhibit will also showcase the hows.

The Nest Living Room

The Google Store lets you play on their sandboxes. One is the Nest Sandbox, decorated as a simulated living room filled with Nest products.

You can explore how Nest provides useful solutions that you can apply — should you decide to build your own Nest smart home.

It’s definitely social-media-worthy, in case you ever want to drop by.

Stadia Sandbox

Of course, there’s a dedicated space for those who love playing games. You can freely experience and game on Stadia through the Stadia Sandbox.

The whole vibe speaks futuristic and contemporary!

Workshop space

While Apple has a video wall called The Forum as a center stage for creativity, Google has a Workshop Space that caters to various events such as family storytime, Nest cooking demos, Pixel photography lessons, YouTube concerts, and the likes.

Commitment to sustainability

Sustainability is always at Google’s core — whether it’s their technology, hardware, or even a physical store. Every element of the Google Store was meticulously considered and selected. From the materials, building processes, mechanical systems, and more.

For instance, each lighting fixture is energy-efficient — working with the U.S. Green Building Council to achieve a LEED Platinum rating, the highest certification within the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system.

All the help that you need

There’s also a Here to Help support desk, complete with associates that will help assist your needs, answer all your questions regarding technology, and aids you on an on-site repair of your Pixel smartphone.

The Google Store opens its doors for business starting June 17, 2021 at 10 a.m. Eastern. You may visit it at 76 Ninth Avenue in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City.

All photos by GadgetMatch.

Enterprise

AGIBOT just topped the medal table at the World Humanoid Robot Games

The robots that did it are already clocking in at real factories.

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AGIBOT entered its first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on August 26 and walked away with a dominant victory.

The company claimed 18 gold, 16 silver, and 12 bronze medals, securing 46 total podium finishes and topping both the gold and overall medal standings.

Designed to stress-test humanoid machines in sports, fine manipulation, and real-world duties, the Games evaluated robots across events ranging from martial arts to hotel service and emergency response.

AGIBOT swept through these categories, earning top spots in motion control, obstacle racing, and daily practical tasks.

The true triumph lies in what remained unchanged on competition day. AGIBOT fielded its standard production lineup, including the OmniHand, G2, A3, and X2.

None of these units were custom-built to win medals, as every machine came straight from active commercial deployments.

Precision and agility straight off the assembly line

The OmniHand reached the finals in all eight dexterous manipulation events and brought home seven gold medals.

It aced delicate challenges like Block Building, Powder Weighing, and Bean Picking with Tweezers, proving that fine motor control matters just as much as raw power.

In motion control, the AGIBOT X2 captured gold in the 100m obstacle race while adding silver and bronze in the 400m sprint.

Meanwhile, the AGIBOT A3 secured gold in Tai Chi. The X2 competed in its standard commercial configuration without any hardware modifications.

Powering the X2 is AGIBOT’s proprietary AGILE framework, short for AgiBot Generative Intelligent Locomotion Engine.

This system blends real-time environmental perception with autonomous decision-making to navigate sudden obstacles and changing terrain.

By combining precise parameter identification with seamless simulation-to-reality transfer, the framework maintains rock-solid stability when transitioning from code to physical ground.

Proven intelligence on actual factory floors

AGIBOT earned five golds in real-world scenarios, dominating tasks across library operations, hotel services, and emergency response.

The G2 robot behind these wins is the exact same model currently operating on factory floors for manufacturers like Longcheer and SAIC.

Its operational intelligence stems from AGIBOT’s ViLLA embodied foundation model GO, the world model GE, and its RW-RL system. These combined technologies sharpen perception and planning inside unpredictable work environments.

While the 46-medal tally commands headlines, the deeper story is that mass-produced robots won without special modifications.

AGIBOT proves that general-purpose intelligence paired with commercial hardware can adapt across varied scenarios. Embodied AI is finally stepping out of isolated lab demos and into consistent, repeatable work where it matters most.

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Enterprise

Cebu Pacific becomes 1st SEA low-cost carrier with Starlink Wi-Fi

Rollout expected to begin in 2027

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Cebu Pacific has introduced Starlink, making it the first low-cost airline in Southeast Asia to bring Wi-Fi in the sky for passengers.

The rollout is expected to begin in 2027. Starlink delivers an unparalleled broadband experience inflight, with high-speed, low-latency Wi-Fi capable of HD streaming, online gaming, productivity and more.

Beyond enhancing the passenger experience, Starlink will also support improved operational connectivity for Cebu Pacific’s flight crews and operational teams. This enables better operational efficiency.

The collaboration is a significant milestone for Philippine aviation. The rollout forms part of Cebu Pacific’s continued investment in customer experience and digital innovation.

As part of the partnership, Cebu Pacific and Indigo Partners portfolio airlines, Wizz Air, and JetSMART expect to install Starlink on over 1,000 aircraft.

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Enterprise

Google ordered to pay EUR 4.1 billion in fines

The EU alleges that Google uses its apps to establish an unfair dominance.

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European fines have unintentionally become a normal part of doing business in the American technology space. For too long have American companies paid paltry fines to prevent harsher regulation in the European Union. Now, for the first time, Google is about to pay a record-breaking fine that goes beyond “paltry.”

Today, via CNBC, Google has been ordered to pay an astonishing EUR 4.1 billion (or approximately US$ 4.67 billion) in fines. The fine is in response to an anti-competition case.

This has been a long time coming for Google. The original case started in 2018. At the time, the European Union accused the brand of using anti-competitive practices to ensure its dominance in the smartphone market. According to the courts, the company’s bundling of first-party apps for every Android smartphone gives them an unfair advantage in the market and lessens the user’s choice in selecting apps.

For years, Google has fought the fine to seemingly no avail. Now, the company has lost its final attempt, which means that the fine still stands. On the bright side, they did get it reduced from the original EUR 4.34 billion fine.

The European Union is the scourge of every American tech company (and a godsend to consumers). Most notably, the continent’s government forced Apple to adopt USB-C, leading to a more universal experience across brands.

Google’s hefty fine aims to do the same. And it is quite hefty. Whereas previous fines were in the millions (and hence, negligible for most companies), a fine in the billions is more tangible.

SEE ALSO: Google might limit free storage to only 5GB

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