Exclusive Pixel Interviews for Superfans - Google Store
Insider interviews.
Get behind the scenes with the Google.
Insider interviews.
Get behind the scenes with the Google.
Interview with Tony Clark, Director, EMEA Games Partnerships
Get in the game with Google Play. We caught up with Google’s Director of Games Partnerships to talk leveling up cross-platform experiences, the evolution of Play Points, and a new Gemini-powered sidekick.
Get in the game with Google Play. We caught up with Google’s Director of Games Partnerships to talk leveling up cross-platform experiences, the evolution of Play Points, and a new Gemini-powered sidekick.
My team's mission is to connect gamers on Google Play & Pixel with the best games from the world's best developers. My focus is on ensuring every player has access to the highest-quality gaming experiences. I also spend a lot of time helping developers bring their unique creative visions to our global community. Google Play is no longer just a mobile platform. The explosive growth of Google Play Games on PC means we’re becoming a universal destination for the best games, no matter where you play.
For us, greatness is defined by uninterrupted, continuous gameplay. It means you can start a quest on your Pixel during your commute and with the use of Cloud Share, finish the boss fight on your PC without losing progress. We work with developers to create experiences that feel native to every screen. The controls are intuitive, cloud saves are instant, and the performance is so seamless that the magic of the game remains consistent.
- Tony Clark, Director, EMEA Games Partnerships
From a simple loyalty program into a true competitive ecosystem. We’re moving beyond just "earning and spending" to creating shared moments through features like Play Games Leagues & Quests, where players can compete for bragging rights. I see it becoming the connective tissue of your gaming identity on Google, rewarding you not just for what you buy, but for your skill and consistency across the entire Play library.
Our focus is on empowering the next generation of talent by helping young people take their first steps into a professional gaming career. Beyond the industry work, we’ve got some healthy competition going on internally! Many of us are taking on the Future Steps challenge this month, and I’m personally gearing up for the Palace to Palace bike ride It’s a great way for Googlers to get active while raising funds to help the next generation find their footing in tech.
At the end of the day, we’re not just shipping code. We’re delivering memories that last a lifetime. The power games have to unite people is unparalleled, they’re a universal language that builds connection across nationality, ethnicity, and belief systems. And the most successful projects I’ve seen are ones where the developers truly lead with player empathy. If you keep the player’s joy at the center of your strategy, you’ll rarely go wrong.
I can’t wait for the community to get their hands on Play Games Sidekick later this year. It’s our new Gemini-powered in-game overlay that acts like a personal coach. It sees where you’re stuck and offers real-time tips, strategies, and walkthroughs without ever having to leave the game. It even integrates with your account, giving you one-tap access to redeem Play Points or grab that in-game item you need. Between Sidekick and the new Leagues, your Pixel is evolving from a device into a fully supported, social gaming hub.
Interview with Google Cloud Marketing Group Head Oliver Grundy
Step inside Google’s AI Playground. See how Google Cloud Marketing’s Group Head of Strategic Initiatives & Experiences, Oliver Grundy, curates the experiences that spark innovation.
Step inside Google’s AI Playground. See how Google Cloud Marketing’s Group Head of Strategic Initiatives & Experiences, Oliver Grundy, curates the experiences that spark innovation.
The AI Playground is an experiential AI demo program managed by Google Cloud, with its core hub in Shoreditch, London. It features demos built with generally available, enterprise-ready solutions on Google Cloud Platform, showcasing a wide range of capabilities including multimodal AI, conversational analytics, AI at the edge, and on premise.
We look for a medium that provides a fun, yet relatable way to address the current gap a new feature is trying to solve for. For instance, the Formula E AI Driver Agent was built with the aim of democratizing data access and understanding for Formula E Drivers. And what better way to show that than a thrilling simulator drive on the Berlin racetrack?
- Oliver Grundy, Group Head, Cloud Marketing
AI Quick Build has been one of the most enjoyable projects to work on building, exhibiting, and scaling. AI Quick Build is a simple, yet accessible way to showcase the low latency and adaptive reasoning capabilities of the Gemini Flash models, plus the scalable infrastructure of Cloud Run and Firebase.
From C-Suite players to software developers and the general public, the AI-powered toy brick building competition has been easy to enjoy and scale to other markets. Recently, Sundar’s team even interacted with the demo.
We are always looking to innovate and build new demos that leverage the latest capabilities with AI/ML on Google Cloud. While we can’t share our exact plans, we are looking into creating demos that feature agents built with the Agent Development Kit - Google’s open source Python-first framework for building AI Agents.
Interview with McLaren Forumla 1 Team Driver, Lando Norris
How Lando Norris cracked the formula for focus. We caught up with the McLaren Formula 1 driver to talk race-day rituals, life off the track, and why his Pixel phone goes everywhere he does.
How Lando Norris cracked the formula for focus. We caught up with the McLaren Formula 1 driver to talk race-day rituals, life off the track, and why his Pixel phone goes everywhere he does.
“I wouldn’t say I have any specific superstitions or rituals, but I definitely stick to a routine. I like to keep things consistent whether that’s eating the same food, doing the same warm-up, or following the same prep before getting in the car. It’s about creating a sense of familiarity and rhythm. So, while there’s nothing I have to do, that consistency really helps me feel focused and ready.”
“For me, the biggest thing is making sure I take time to rest and recover properly. Golf and padel are great for that — they're fun, but aren’t too intense or serious. Stepping away from Formula 1 for a bit might sound counterintuitive, but it actually helps me come back sharper and more focused. That break gives me a chance to reset, so when I return to the track, I’m fully recharged and ready to go.”
- Lando Norris (F1 Driver, McLaren)
“I’m constantly traveling for work, and I’m not the best at remembering to pack my chargers, so having a phone that lasts all day has genuinely saved me more than once.
Another feature I really love is the camera. I’m really into photography, and while I usually carry my own cameras, there are plenty of times when I don’t have them with me. The Pixel steps in perfectly — I can still capture amazing memories from all the different places I travel to, whether I’m at a race or just on holiday.”
“We fly all over the world and are constantly switching time zones, which can interrupt our sleep and performance. AI assistance that could remind me exactly when to sleep, eat, train, or even avoid screens to adapt better to each location would be a huge help.
And on a more personal level, I love smart organisation tools - so anything that keeps me on track with daily plans, like training sessions, recovery time, or even just a reminder to take a break on a day off.”
Interview with Billy & Rachid from MBG
Meet the team behind the Made By Google Podcast. Check out what Rachid Finge and Billy Burnett had to say in this exclusive interview.
Meet the team behind the Made By Google Podcast. Check out what Rachid Finge and Billy Burnett had to say in this exclusive interview.
Billy B: “The haptics that let you feel the rain in the Weather app is a detail many miss. This is what makes Pixel special: finding magic in everyday moments.”
Rachid F: “For me, it has to be Loss of Pulse Detection on Pixel Watch. I think we all know people who live alone and no longer have the benefit of excellent health. Pixel Watch could be a life saver, and I’m proud of the team for making such a profound feature available to millions of people.”
Billy B: “How much a conversation can be a ‘puzzle’ we solve in the edit. Our job is to build the most compelling narrative, and sometimes that means assembling the pieces in a new, more powerful order.”
Rachid F: “You might think that I’m usually in the room with the guests we have on the pod, but so far, that’s literally never happened. I’m based in Amsterdam and our guests are very often US based.”
Billy Burnett - Exec Producer, Made By Google Podcast
Billy B: “Gemini has become a somewhat unofficial third member of our team! I’m constantly collaborating with it to brainstorm topic ideas, draft descriptions, and even develop insightful questions. I’m really looking forward to connecting with the team behind it.”
Rachid F: “I have a soft spot for the unsung heroes. The Essentials team and the Pixel Sounds team are so integral to the Pixel experience, and they often have the best stories. I love putting them in the spotlight.”
Billy B: “Our mission isn’t just to cover what's new, but to humanize the technology by exploring the ‘who’ and ‘why’ behind those details. Ultimately, I hope listeners walk away with an appreciation for that thoughtfulness, feeling more connected to the human story behind the tech they use every day.”
Rachid F: “If you’re a Pixel Superfan, chances are you’re using Pixel devices quite a lot throughout the day. It only seems fair to me that you get to know the people who made them, feel their passion and understand their thinking.”
Superfans Team Q&A
Meet the team behind Superfans. Check out what the marketing folks at Google had to say about interacting with and growing the community.
Meet the team behind Superfans. Check out what the marketing folks at Google had to say about interacting with and growing the community.
Steph F.: “The vision is to create a community specifically for Pixel lovers to celebrate their passion for the brand. We try to provide exclusive experiences designed just for you - our most enthusiastic fans. Additionally, this year, we aim to gather more in-depth feedback and share your recommendations with our product teams. As our Superfans, you possess a wealth of product insights, and we want to ensure that we can take your feedback wherever possible.”
Alison C.: “It’s a privilege to interact with the most passionate Pixel enthusiasts. Superfans have taught me new tricks for my own Pixel 9 Pro XL, like turning on Now Playing instead of racing to open another app to find out what song is playing at the coffee shop. Also, the ability to get immediate feedback directly from the community in Discord helps our team continuously make even smarter and stronger products.”
Liam S, Superfans Marketing Team
Amy N: “Recently I've been loving Magic Eraser. It's such a valuable tool for anyone who wants to take their photo editing to the next level. Whether it's removing photobombers from your group selfies, getting rid of objects ruining the perfect picture, or cleaning up messy backgrounds, Magic Eraser is a really great way to make your photos the best they can be.”
Amy L: “Working with a global team, driven by the same passion as our Superfans, is incredible. It’s really fun to get hands on with the latest tech, including Gemini, and seeing how AI transforms our work every day. Crafting smart, impactful campaigns is our mission and bringing Pixel’s innovation and magic directly to you is what inspires us!”
Pixel Buds Pro 2 Q&A
Director of Audio Technology at Google, Michael Pate, shares how his team creates cutting edge experiences for your ears.
Director of Audio Technology at Google, Michael Pate, shares how his team creates cutting edge experiences for your ears.
Earbuds demand a lot. High performance audio, Active Noise Cancellation, and increasing amounts of Machine Learning, all in a tiny package. Our biggest challenge was maximizing all of these without compromise. To do this, we first defined the ideal user experience, then created the algorithms and systems around that, which we then translated into the final product. It was a long journey, but customizing every part of the system was the best path to optimizing the product.
One of the more challenging components of Audio Magic Eraser is the sound separation engine, which allows sounds to be pulled into individual tracks, processed individually, and remixed together to make the final audio. There were many early iterations of the system that were either too slow, or where we processed too quickly and crashed different processing cores. We had to pivot numerous times to find the right balance that we have today.
Michael Pate, Director of Audio Technology at Google
I listen to people who are excited about our devices, and I read reviews from people who are critical of our products or our competitors. I look at development opportunities and think, what problem might we solve for our customers? What could we give them that would be exciting in their daily lives? All this helps me create a mental model about how technology is perceived today, and opportunities that might exist in the future.
Working on the integration of Gemini Live for Pixel Buds Pro 2 offered a glimpse of what we might accomplish by combining this sort of technology with custom hardware. Google is in a very unique position as we create advanced AI like Gemini, and can deploy it to internally developed hardware that contains custom silicon. I believe we might be the only company in the world that can do all of those things simultaneously.
Gemini Q&A
We asked Gemini Design Lead Fredrico Villa what excites him about Gemini, and how it helps him on the daily.
We asked Gemini Design Lead Fredrico Villa what excites him about Gemini, and how it helps him on the daily.
“I use Gemini a lot. I often wonder ‘Would this work?’ Then I test it. One of the most frequent use cases for me is to revise my writing. I don’t always take its suggestions, but using Gemini as a critic-in-a-box can help me see another perspective. I'll give it some text, then ask it to make suggestions or read it through the eyes of a specific audience. This can help see what I might have missed, or taken for granted.”
“One of my favorites is to use Gemini as an empathy machine – to help me put myself in the shoes of someone else. It can be interesting to get inside the head of a character and try to see things from their perspective. For example, I wrote ‘You're an English pirate in 1712, sailing in the Caribbean; what are your key concerns and worries? Write in second person, in a style appropriate to a pirate.’”
Federico Villa, Design Lead, Gemini
“As part of a hacakthon, I built a choose-your-own-adventure game that generated and illustrated a story you could play through. That was super fun, and I was surprised how well it worked. This used the Gemini and Imagen3 APIs so it was a bunch of prompts chaining into prompts, but it was great validation of how Gemini can help create custom experiences.”
“I'm personally super excited about the launch of Imagen3, our highest quality text-to-image model for generating incredibly detailed images. It does a great job of adhering to your prompt, so you get pretty much what you ask for. I can't wait to see what people create when we get it into the hands of users.”
Live Translate Q&A
Get an in-depth look at Pixel’s Live Translate feature from the team responsible for bringing it to life.
Get an in-depth look at Pixel’s Live Translate feature from the team responsible for bringing it to life.
Xinxing: That varies based on how many TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) cores we use and how large the model is. The Google Translate team constantly improves the models’ quality by finding more and higher-quality training data, tuning the model parameters, and experimenting with new technologies.
Xinxing: There are a lot of translations on the open web. The Google Translate team can mine the web data to find those translations, and use them to train the machine translation model. More and more data are created everyday, and we keep improving how effectively we can find useful data online to help make improvements.
Vince: Everyone on the team, from engineer to designer, speaks more than one language. Our conversation designer even speaks over a dozen, and tests everything himself.
Vince: Recently, I’ve been touched by hearing how Live Translate helps those fleeing crises and bringing people together, like what’s happened in Ukraine.
Alan: We live in an exciting age of technology, where each decade brings more big changes from the previous one. We look forward to what the next few years will bring for Live Translate and the translation landscape!
Google Pixel Watch Q&A
Dive into the development of the first-ever Google Pixel Watch with product managers DeCarlos Love and Caity Mold‑Zern.
Dive into the development of the first-ever Google Pixel Watch with product managers DeCarlos Love and Caity Mold‑Zern.
Caity: I’m especially excited about bringing together Fitbit and Google’s machine learning expertise. As you know, having an accurate heart rate throughout your day – not just when you’re exercising – gives you a really good insight into your health and fitness.1
The watch brings the best of Google to your wrist, in an LTE2 connected smartwatch, which means that you can track your runs,3 buy your groceries with Google Pay,4 do turn-by-turn directions,2 and we’ve added interactive maps modes. You can actually see where you are in the map on your wrist, and you can pan through to see what turns you need to take.
Caity: Well, we designed this watch during a pandemic. Engineers and designers really like to be in the room together when designing beautiful hardware products, but we didn’t have that opportunity. So we had a lot of meetings over video conferences where we got very good at drawing pictures and then holding them up to the camera. We even had to pass parts around to each other’s homes.
Also, as something that you wear on your wrist, you want to make sure it’s comfortable. So we sent lots of watches and prototypes out to our testers at their homes to wear. We’re all very glad that we get to be back in person again.
DeCarlos: Readiness and HRV tracking. There’s a lot of work around providing data and motivating people to do more work. But we know that if we want to see improvements, rest is just as important. Knowing how to optimise your routine, when to turn up the dial or when to rest or when to make changes in your daily life, are possible with features like Readiness and HRV.
DeCarlos: Technology has always been a way to solve problems and to help people achieve goals. In the space of wearables we’re excited about creating products that help people live healthier and more productive lives. As technology continues to improve, we’re able to do things that were once only possible in clinical settings and sports science labs. We’re bringing those right to your wrist.
Pixel Buds Pro Q&A
Hear from Nidhi Rathi and Laura Fulton, two innovative minds behind Pixel Buds Pro.
Hear from Nidhi Rathi and Laura Fulton, two innovative minds behind Pixel Buds Pro.
Nidhi: They’re the first Pixel Buds with Active Noise Cancellation. To make ANC effective, you need to process outside sound faster than it reaches your eardrum, and cancel it with extremely low latency. To achieve this we’re using a custom 6-core audio chip. Additionally, how well the ear tip seals in your ear canal can make a big difference in how much noise gets canceled. Our new Silent Seal technology compensates for audio leakage, helping to maximize the amount of noise that’s being cancelled for a blank canvas with no distractions, so you can zone into your music and silence everything else.
Nidhi: I’m excited about being able to leave my window open for a breeze this summer while cancelling out the traffic outside.
Laura: I’m looking forward to time to concentrate in loud surroundings. There are so many distractions in a day, so I’m looking forward to finding balance. While I’m tuning out, I’ll let Google help let me know when to tune in and switch to Transparency mode to have quick conversations.
Laura: Testing and refining details, including optimizing the snout and cap angles, was a major focus to ensure sound quality and comfort. The team was determined to get it right, so there must have been over 1,000 prototypes throughout development.
Laura: People don’t realise that your ear is as unique as a fingerprint, and the inner architecture of your left ear can differ from your right ear. Every ear is different, so we recommend trying different sized eartips in each ear until you get the right fit. Pixel Buds Pro offer an eartip seal test – we’ll play music for a few seconds and then recommend which eartip size might work best for you.
Nidhi: I’m looking forward to a future where mundane tasks are sped up and automated, so that I can have more time to do the things I love with the people I love.
Laura: Technology is going to get even more helpful, accessible, and inclusive as time goes by, and I can’t wait to see the ease and joy that brings currently underserved communities.
