Weekly Tech Wrap: Nano Banana Craze, iPhone 17 On Sale, 'Social' Google Discover, Meta Ray-Ban Display, More

This week witnessed the continuation of the Nano Banana craze on social media, even as Perplexity AI integrated the popular photo editing tool via its WhatsApp bot. The next-gen Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses were launched, Google Discover went “social” by integrating Instagram, X, and YouTube Shorts, Samsung began its One UI 8 update, while WhatsApp introduced notification reminders for some Apple users.

After the viral saree trend created via Google Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, the Nano Banana rage continued in India with new looks. These included “Hug My Younger Self,” couple pictures, Navratri and Durga Puja looks, gym body, hairstyles, and more. So much so that India ranked among the leading countries using the feature, even as the Nano Banana trend surpassed 500 million images worldwide.

The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses were introduced at the Meta Connect event. These smart glasses feature an augmented reality display, the Meta Neural Band, a wide-angle camera, microphones, and open-ear speakers. Through the glasses, users can view messages and images, get translations, seek help from Meta AI, and more.

Google Discover will now incorporate posts and content from X, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts, with plans to include additional platforms in the future. Discover will showcase posts and videos from social media sites, as well as articles from publishers that were previously available as well.

Samsung started to roll out One UI 8 update, which introduces improved security functionalities and more intelligent, personalised AI. Following its debut on the Galaxy S25 series, it will extend to S24 series, Z Fold6, Z Flip6, S24 FE, and other compatible devices over time.

Google will now allow users to share their personalised AI assistants referred to as “gems” with others. Gems are tailored AI assistants that users create to achieve particular goals and aid in reducing the time spent on repetitive prompts. Users need to access the “gem manager” on their Gemini AI website and select “Share” next to the gem they created.

As per the most recent patch notes from Riot Games regarding Valorant, the replay feature can be used in Competitive, Unrated, Swiftplay, and Premier modes. The update enables players to access their replays from the active patch only. 

WhatsApp released an update for Apple devices, bringing a new feature that enables users to create notification reminders for their messages. Users can set up reminders for messages within chats and groups, enabling them to revisit crucial information at a chosen time. 

AI company Perplexity said that Google’s widely used Gemini 2.5 Flash Image (Nano Banana) photo editing tool is now accessible through its WhatsApp bot. Users can initiate WhatsApp conversations with Perplexity AI and ask it to modify images through the tool.

Apple’s iPhone 17 series went on sale starting Sept. 19. The launch took place last week, during which Apple presented four models: iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.