ChatGPT can now compare your open Chrome tabs

OpenAI has upgraded its ChatGPT browser extension, and the useful part for most of us is this: ChatGPT can now use your open tabs to answer one question. Open a handful of supplier or pricing pages, point it at them, and ask for a straight comparison.

Browser actions (filling in forms, sending messages, downloading files) are a separate, bigger step. Those run from ChatGPT Work or Codex chats, where you @-mention the browser after setting it up under Settings, then Computer Use, in the desktop app. The extension itself is a free install; OpenAI says feature availability can depend on rollout and your account settings.

Try this: install and connect the extension, open two or three quotes or pricing pages, then select Chrome or mention the relevant tabs in ChatGPT. Ask:

Two habits worth keeping: approve sites one at a time (OpenAI itself labels "allow for all sites" as elevated risk), and read anything consequential, like a form, before it goes anywhere.

Google has launched Universal Cart in the US: one cart across Google Search and the Gemini app that can hold products from different retailers at once.

Shoppers get price-drop and back-in-stock alerts, promo codes surfaced automatically, and a choice at checkout: pay with Google Pay at participating stores, or finish the order on the retailer's own site. Nike, Target, Walmart and Sephora are among the launch merchants, along with participating Shopify stores, and the retailer stays the seller of record either way.

My take: if this catches on, customers could do more of their shopping without leaving Google. Your product listings become another storefront, so they need the same attention as your website.

If you sell products online, spend ten minutes in Google Merchant Center this week. Check that your prices, stock availability and product links match your website.

Google AI Studio can now build you a personal Android app from a plain description, and Google Play gives it a simple route onto your own phone: a standard Google account, no developer account required. It's rolling out to select markets, including the US, for users 18 and over.

These first apps are private to their creator and stay out of Play's public catalogue. Google says sharing with a close circle of friends and family is coming in the months ahead; anything public still means graduating to a professional developer account and passing the same reviews as every other app.

Personal tools are the place to start:

Try this: write the description like a brief for a new hire: who uses it, the three things it must do, the one thing it must never do. Test it with a few examples where you already know the correct result, especially calculations.

OpenAI is rolling out GPT-Live-1.1, the model behind ChatGPT's voice mode, with new voices in French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and Mexican Spanish, plus a new English voice called Bubbie. OpenAI's release notes point to more natural accents across languages, and note the voices you see can vary by region and account.

The new model is the default on paid plans, with a lighter version for everyone else, and it listens and responds continuously instead of waiting for you to finish talking.

Try this: open voice mode, go to Settings, then Voice, and pick a new one. Dictating a reply while you walk is still the easiest way to find out whether voice fits how you work.

On Thursday's Lab call we walked through the eight free skills I'd install first if I were starting from scratch. A skill is a reusable set of instructions for one task or workflow, and it can carry scripts and supporting files along with it.

A rule of thumb for what deserves to be one: a standing preference ("Australian English, short sentences") belongs in your Custom Instructions. A repeatable workflow with steps and rules is worth packaging as a skill.

Before installing a skill, check its source and what it asks your assistant to do. In February, Snyk found critical security issues in 13.4% of 3,984 skills scanned across two public libraries. An AI review can help flag concerns, but it doesn’t replace a dedicated security scan or guarantee safety.

This week's job for members: choose one skill from the list and try it on one real task. The full recording and the list of eight are in the Lab.