Googlebooks are coming for your Mac
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What is the Google Books project and why is Google launching it?
Welcome to the VergeCast, the flagship podcast of Google's new, new operating system. I'm David Amel. Today we're talking to Verge laptop reviewer Antonio Di Benedetto about Google's new Google Book project. This is a new initiative from Google to develop a premium laptop experience that takes the best of your smartphone and integrates it deeply with a high-end laptop. Antonio recently went hands on with some of these laptops, so I'm gonna ask him about what's new, who this is for, and if he thinks Google can seriously compete with Apple this time. But first, here's what's happening on The Verge today. This is 90 Seconds on the Verge for Monday, September 21st, 2026. Apple Intelligence claims have officially opened.
If you live in the US and purchased an iPhone 15, 15 Pro Max, or iPhone 16 model between June 10th, 2024, and March 29th, 2025, you can now file a claim to receive between $25 and $95 in compensation. This comes after a class action lawsuit alleged that Apple created a clear and reasonable consumer expectation that the new AI features previewed at WWDC 2024 would launch on the iPhone 16, which instead launched with a more limited set of features. If you fit that description, Description, you can submit a claim for compensation until December 21st, 2026. Next, our $12,300 M5 Ultra Max Studio review is out, and as expected, it absolutely tore through our benchmark tests. Our nearly maxed-out M5 Ultra came out about 30% faster than our similarly spec'd M3 Ultra from last year in both single-core and multi-core synthetic CPU tests.
GPU rendering test Cinebench, the M5 Ultra scored 63% higher. And finally, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google's Gemini model broke containment in May and hacked three separate companies. The incident happened while third-party firm Irregular was testing its capabilities. The model brute forced a password to access the company and then stopped. Google didn't disclose the hack until now because it didn't consider it an instance of misalignment. You can read more. More at the verge.com. That's 90 Seconds on the Verge for Monday, September 21st, 2026.
Hey what's up guys, it's Babish, and on this week's episode of In the Booth, I'm joined by chef, cookbook author, and food network legend, Alex Guarnicelli. We're talking about Chops, the Hamptons, and what it takes to make a cry-worthy pasta. You can listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
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Antonio Di Benedetto, welcome to the VergeCast. Hello. Thanks for having me again. So we're talking about Google Books today. You recently did a hands-on of all these Google books. I believe there are three or four of them. There's maybe five. How many are there? There are
five. Okay. Yeah. So there's uh there's ones from Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer, and Asus.
Okay, so this is more of a OS experience, right? This is not the Chromebook that we have all known and loved, these cheap laptops that are basically Chrome in a computer.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the Google Books project and why is Google launching it?
0:02–4:54
2
How does the new Google Book OS differ from Chrome OS and traditional Chromebooks?
4:54–9:11
3
Which OEMs are offering Google Books and what models are available?
9:11–13:27
4
What hardware options (CPU, RAM, storage, displays) do the Google Books provide?
13:27–17:20
5
What is the purpose of the “Glow Bar” and how does it work on different models?
17:20–22:04
6
What does the new Google key do and how does it compare to the Windows key?
22:04–26:12
7
How are Google AI Pro, Gemini integration, and GeForce Now bundled with the devices?
26:12–30:28
8
Is Google aiming to compete with Apple’s ecosystem or target enterprise users?
30:28–33:32