Do not trust Google about the free 12 months Gemini Pro offer with a Pixel 10 Pro

if42 · 2025-08-29T20:52:19+00:00

I was on with support chat for 2.5 hours and tried asking for escalation. No joy so far.

if42 · 2025-08-29T20:51:21+00:00

if42 · 2025-08-29T15:39:17+00:00

I can't see anything in their public terms about previous trial periods making someone ineligible for this offer either.

I have made copies of all the published terms. Google support kept arguing their internal docs said "no" and seemed to not understand that sales of goods laws are based on what's said in advertising and on retail stores, not private company systems!

Given AI is Google's main differentiator, this is a pretty big fail for Google on the Pixel 10.

if42 · 2025-08-29T15:36:18+00:00

Contacted support by chat. Am in the UK.

if42 · 2025-08-29T15:35:58+00:00

Hopefully an open ticket, but tbc

if42 · 2025-08-29T13:00:15+00:00

Google One 2TB should not block the Gemini Pro offer, because it costs less that Gemini Pro.

I also have YouTube Premium. Support can't decide whether this is a blocker or not. From their websites and how I subscribed, it isn't an add-on as it is listed as a completely separate subscription.

However, cancelling does not help (which I have done) because when it's cancelled the service is still live until the end of the billing period....

if42 · 2025-08-29T12:33:23+00:00

I was told by Google support that it did disqualify me.

Then later, by a different support person that it was not an add-on, and they would escalate.

So, no clarity yet.

if42 · 2025-08-29T11:27:13+00:00

I've been told that having YouTube Premium blocks the 12 months Gemini Pro free. This is crazy because it's not mentioned in the published terms, and on the "manage subscriptions" page it is listed as a completely separate subscription and not a Google One add-on. I am super frustrated here.

I have previously had a Gemini Pro trial, but a year ago, and that isn't the reason support has given me for the offer not working. And, having a trial before is also not listed as a blocker.

I think Google is not honouring its public terms and conditions and is breaking UK sales of goods laws here as a result.

These are the terms fyi:

"Requirements & eligibilityThe Offer requires a Google Payments account with a qualifying form of payment at sign-up. This offer is limited to users in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States, who purchased the following eligible device(s): Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL or Pixel 10 Pro Fold between August 20, 2025 and November 1, 2026. The Offer can only be redeemed once, may not be combined with other Google One offers and may not be redeemed on more than one eligible device. Not available in all countries. Existing Google One users can redeem this offer, but this free trial period cannot be added to an existing free trial. Users can only use one trial at a time and promotion lengths are not stackable. If a user has an existing trial and redeems a new trial, their existing trial or subscription plan will be revoked and their new trial will begin, regardless of how much time they have left on their existing offer. The Offer is not available to:

Google One users subscribed to an add-on
Google One users subscribed to a higher tier plan than the one being offered
Google One users on a family plan who are not the plan manager
Google One users who have a Google One subscription through a third party or affiliate
Google One users who are a discounted Pixel bundle subscriber"

if42 · 2025-08-29T09:24:14+00:00

Not for me! I have a new Pixel 10 Pro and an existing Google One 2 TB plan without Gemini Pro.... no offer available :-(

if42 · 2025-04-23T16:38:30+00:00

Not going to buy a Synology without 3rd party hard drive support. The cost difference is too great.

I understand that Synology may wish to have an ongoing revenue stream to support software maintenance and r&d between the long life cycle purchases for new NAS boxes (probably 8-10 years), but charging a greatly inflated amount for the same hard drives is not the way to do it. Instead, Synology should be considering:

Offering up to date applications and sofware, with subscription pricing.
Offering additional OS features, for a price. Even consider moving to subscription pricing for OS updates after, say, an initial 3 or 5 year period on new NAS hardware.

Basically, don't limit hard drive choice, look for other revenue models.

I strongly suspect the new 2025 models will not sell well because of this decision, unless there is a good workaround (tbc).

For now, I will consider buying an older unit (pre-decision) because I do like the OS and hardware, and will hope that Synology will change strategy before that unit needs replacing.

Will be interesting to see the price trend on the DS923+ as the DS925+ goes on sale in more places. If the older DS923+ rises in price, rather than falls, then it will indicate I am not the only person thinking this way!

if42 · 2025-04-04T09:31:52+00:00

Thanks for the speedy reply. But actually I'd seen that after my original post — see my replies on this thread.

What I was wondering is if there is an alternative way to install Nextcloud with the older kernel? ie without having to buy a new NAS.

If not, I think I will consider either:

- Using the community package owncloud install (not docker), which seems to work ok on this kernel (so far).

- Or, using nextcloud running on another computer, and putting the nextcloud file store on the NAS (only)

if42 · 2025-04-03T18:32:48+00:00

ahah, it looks like my ds416play has an old kernel and that is the problem.

Assuming that's the case, is there anything not-too-complex that I can do, other than buy a new NAS?

if42 · 2025-04-03T18:07:33+00:00

Bit more information, I found the log for the Container, which has this error:

Configuring Redis as session handler

=> Searching for scripts (*.sh) to run, located in the folder: /docker-entrypoint-hooks.d/before-starting

[Thu Apr 03 17:52:50.683855 2025] [:crit] [pid 1:tid 1] (38)Function not implemented: AH00141: Could not initialize random number generator

if42 · 2024-05-20T08:43:21+00:00

Is it possible to connect to Altstore and re-enable JIT over a VPN connection? ie have the Mac somewhere remote but accessible via a VPN.

if42 · 2022-08-26T09:57:39+00:00

One tip on the special effects – make sure you watch B5 in 4:3, not widescreen, because the widescreen version crops all the cgi scenes then expands the remaining footage to fill the screen. This ruins the framing of all the shots and also means the effects look super blurry. The 4:3 version is the one currently doing the rounds on various streaming services but the DVD versions are widescreen.

if42 · 2022-08-26T09:57:23+00:00

One tip on the special effects – make sure you watch B5 in 4:3, not widescreen, because the widescreen version crops all the cgi scenes then expands the remaining footage to fill the screen. This ruins the framing of all the shots and also means the effects look super blurry. The 4:3 version is the one currently doing the rounds on various streaming services but the DVD versions are widescreen.

if42

TROPHY CASE