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July 28, 2025

Google has reportedly admitted to the BBC that its Android Earthquake Alerts (AEA) system failed to deliver timely and accurate warnings during the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey in 2023.
According to the BBC’s report, approximately 10 million people within 158 kilometers (98 miles) of the earthquake’s epicenter could have received Google’s highest-tier “Take Action” alert, but the system only sent out 469 such warnings. Had the alerts functioned correctly, those at risk might have had up to 35 seconds of advance notice to seek safety.
Instead, Google said the system issued about 500,000 lower-level “Be Aware” notifications, which are meant for less intense shaking and do not override a phone’s Do Not Disturb settings. In contrast, the stronger “Take Action” alert is designed to wake users and prompt them about the severity of the situation, which can be critical during nighttime or early morning events like this one.
Notably, Google had previously told the BBC that the system “performed well” after a 2023 investigation into the matter. In a statement to Android Authority at the time, the company had noted the following:
However, in recent findings published in Science magazine, Google admits “limitations to the detection algorithms” caused the system to function poorly.
Android Earthquake Alerts were launched in 2020 and use data from smartphone accelerometers to crowdsource seismic activity detection. Available in nearly 100 countries, the system has reportedly detected over 18,000 earthquakes and sent millions of alerts. The goal is to give people a few crucial seconds to move away from dangerous situations before tremors strike.
The 2023 Turkey earthquake was one of the deadliest in recent history, claiming over 55,000 lives and injuring more than 100,000. Though Google’s alert system was technically operational, it underestimated the severity of the event.
According to the report, Google’s earthquake warning system misjudged the intensity of the 7.8 magnitude quake as between 4.5 and 4.9. The system also underestimated a second major earthquake that struck later the same day. However, the second shock resulted in a slightly better alert response, with the system sending out around 8,158 “Take Action” notifications as well as nearly four million “Be Aware” alerts.
Following the disaster, Google’s engineers revisited their detection model. When they ran a simulation using updated algorithms, the system successfully generated 10 million “Take Action” notifications for those near the epicenter and 67 million “Be Aware” warnings for those further away.
“Every earthquake early warning system grapples with the same challenge — tuning algorithms for large magnitude events,” a Google spokesperson told the BBC.
So the lesson here is that while tools like Google’s Android Earthquake Alerts (AEA) system can provide life-saving warnings and are a valuable part of modern Android smartphones, they might not always function as expected.
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July 28, 2025

We’ve reported on several Google Pixel 6a battery fires earlier this year. This prompted Google to release a mandatory update for some units earlier this month to combat the issue. This update is supposed to dramatically cut battery life and reduce charging speeds in a bid to reduce battery heating issues. Unfortunately, someone has reported a Pixel 6a battery fire after installing the update.
Redditor footymanageraddict reports that their Pixel 6a caught fire while they were sleeping on Saturday (July 26):
The Redditor said they had been charging the phone with the Steam Deck’s 45W charger. They also posted several photos showing the aftermath of the fire, seen below. The images show an extensively burned Pixel 6a, including a melted screen, a partially melted case, and charred internals.
What’s particularly concerning is that the user said they had installed Google’s “Battery Performance Program” update, which was supposed to reduce the risk of battery overheating in the first place. Google also recommends a free battery replacement for affected devices (via mail or walk-in), but the user said walk-in replacements weren’t available in their country.
This might be the fifth Pixel 6a to catch fire in the last 12 months. However, the previous four incidents occurred before Google’s “Battery Performance Program” update.
This latest incident suggests that the update doesn’t go far enough and that Google needs to perform a mandatory battery replacement or device recall. It’s also theoretically possible that the device battery was already past the point of no return. However, the user didn’t notice any battery swelling or other telltale signs.
This also comes after Australia’s consumer watchdog issued a warning about the Pixel 6a on July 25. The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission warned that the phone’s battery may overheat, but added that users didn’t have to return their devices. The warning nevertheless came a day before the latest battery fire incident.
We’ve asked Google for comment regarding this latest issue and whether it will take additional actions (e.g., a mandatory recall/replacement). We’ll update the article when the Pixel maker gives us an answer. Either way, it’s getting harder to recommend mid-range Pixel phones due to this issue.
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I know I just reported on the super-heated Google Search ranking volatility week we had, and how the post-core update seems more unstable than during the June 2025 core update. However, we are now seeing even more volatility over the weekend, with some reporting reversals from the events of last week.
As a reminder, the June 2025 core update started on June 30th, completed early on Thursday, July 17, 2025 but the volatility remained heated throughout even today. When Google’s June 2025 core update was announced, we didn’t see much of any volatility. But then we saw volaitlity touch down on July 2nd. Then on July 10th we reported on folks noticing partial recoveries from previous core updates and helpful content updates (again, not everyone). And then, even four days after the core update completed, the volatility was heated throughout and it still as not calmed down – even almost two weeks later.
I am not sure if I’ve seen Google this volatile post-core update, for this long, ever?

SEO Chatter

Let’s start this time with the chatter since the last time I reported on this unconfirmed Google algorithm update volatility. The chatter is both on this site and on WebmasterWorld – here are some samplings of that:

Today was the first day with normal traffic, the Discover traffic from the news site is back, and the shop even had quite good sales from Google buyers today.
I hope it doesn’t drop again tomorrow.

Our core update gains are reversing in the last 24hrs. Down around 50%.

Our Google pageviews were down 31% on Saturday, while other sources of traffic were mostly up. On the whole, we gained nicely from the update–or would have if the Google Trampoline Effect hadn’t returned.

Whatever was happening earlier this week is definitely over and traffic has reverted. My home page traffic was -25 to -50% until Friday, and since yesterday back to normal. Today traffic is unusually high…

Today something changed. My website traffic is up a bit.

Maybe you are right. Traffic increase is not stable, one day you got more traffic, next day you got low traffic. I remember some times before 2-3 years ago… Ah..

This update has changed something significantly. Traffic is extremely choppy. Huge spikes and drops all over.

Saturday less traffic than Friday. Well, that is new. Seems it just keeps dropping.
Looks like they turned up the power of links again. Guy that has had people email me about buying links is ranking #1 all over the place. Sad to see.

Super HOT today. No traffic, no nothing. Very bad and sad… :(

Here too. It’s getting worse every day.

After huge drops, my two main sites improved during the week in the SERPs, but yesterday they dropped even more. There’s still a lot of volatility. I notice stable smaller sites too.
The update isn’t over yet.

We lost 50% overnight. Complete rubbish robot traffic with 80% bounce rate.

Continuing to drop week by week.

Google Tracking Third Party Tools

Just look at some of these tools, how heated they are since the core update completed:
Semrush:

SimilarWeb:

Wincher:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Mozcast:

Cognitive SEO:

Accuranker:

Mangools:

Data For SEO:

SERPstat:

Sistrix:

Algoroo:

Wiredboard’s Aggregator of Tools – this report shows the aggregate of the tools above and plots them on one chart:

I don’t remember seeing Google this volatile, for so long, in a long time…
What are you all seeing?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Google has issued an urgent security update for its Chrome browser, patching several vulnerabilities, including a high-severity vulnerability that could allow attackers to manipulate memory and execute arbitrary code on a user’s system.
The latest version, Chrome 138.0.7204.183 for Linux and 138.0.7204.183/.184 for Windows and Mac, addresses these critical security issues, and users are strongly advised to update their browsers immediately.
The most significant vulnerability fixed in this update is identified as CVE-2025-8292, a “use-after-free” vulnerability discovered in Chrome’s Media Stream component.
This type of memory corruption vulnerability is particularly dangerous as a remote attacker can exploit it through a specially crafted HTML page.
If successful, an attacker could potentially crash the browser or execute malicious code, gaining unauthorized access to the affected system. This could lead to the installation of programs, theft or alteration of data, or the creation of new user accounts with full privileges.
An anonymous security researcher reported the CVE-2025-8292 vulnerability to Google on June 19, 2025, and was awarded $8,000 for their discovery through the Chrome Vulnerability Reward Program.
Google has restricted access to the full details of the bug to allow a majority of users time to apply the patch, a standard practice to prevent active exploitation.
This update is part of a series of security patches for Chrome version 138. Earlier in July, Google addressed other high-severity vulnerabilities, including a zero-day exploit known as CVE-2025-6558, which was actively being used in attacks.
That vulnerability, an issue of incorrect input validation in the ANGLE and GPU components, also posed a significant risk of sandbox escape.
Throughout June and July, Chrome 138 has received multiple updates to fix various security holes, including type confusion in the V8 JavaScript engine and other memory-related bugs.
Google’s security teams continuously work to uncover and resolve vulnerabilities through internal audits, fuzzing, and other security initiatives. The company relies on various tools like AddressSanitizer and MemorySanitizer to detect memory-related errors before they can be exploited.
The rollout of the latest Chrome version will continue over the coming days and weeks. Users can ensure their browser is updated by navigating to “Help” and then “About Google Chrome” in their browser menu.
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