<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/rahul-gandhi-leaves-for-norway-to-skip-rjds-bjp-bhagao-desh-bachao-rally-19518">Rahul Gandhi, who has just returned from Norway</a> is now heading for&nbsp;another foreign visit.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This time the Congress vice-president will be visiting Silicon Valley in the United States to groom his Artificial Intelligence skills.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Party sources say&nbsp;Rahul Gandhi wants India to excel in Artificial Intelligence and added that he is going to the US to &quot;expand his thoughts about artificial intelligence&quot;.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Artificial Intelligence, the science of creating intelligent machines that think like human brains, is still in its nascent&nbsp;phase in India. However many other countries including China have already invested in the field.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Chinese government had long ago&nbsp;realised the importance of Artificial Intelligence for boosting its economy. The country has already devised plans to emerge as the world&#39;s premier AI innovation hub by 2030.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Despite the<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/second-academic-journal-pressed-to-censor-china-content-19309"> strict censorship in China</a>, <a href="http://www.wionews.com/photos/game-of-tech-apple-google-facebook-who-will-win-392">Google</a> is striving to utilise the intelligent technology resource and engineering talent&nbsp;from China. The US tech giant is looking for AI experts from the country.</p>

<p>The growth of artificial intelligence in China has moved Google to establish its own AI research team in the country, which it&nbsp;indicated during its&nbsp;May AI summit held near Shanghai.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Google&#39;s search engine has been <a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/apple-abstains-its-chinese-users-from-accessing-vpn-18430">blocked in China</a> since 2010, however, the company is making efforts to maintain a strong foot hold in the country.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Google recently entered into a partnership with the local government on the AI summit in the town of Wuzhen.</p>

<p>The US giant has also relaunched Google Translate mobile app in Chinese language. &nbsp;Recently Google initiated building artificial&nbsp;intelligence team in the country.</p>


Recently Google has initiated for building artificial team in the country. As part of its AI research It is looking for expert qualified human resources for its machine learning programme

Rahul Gandhi, who has just returned from Norway is now heading for another foreign visit. This time the Congress vice-president will be visiting Silicon Valley in the United States to groom his Artificial Intelligence skills. Party sources say Rahul Gandhi wants India to excel in Artificial Intelligence and added that he is going to the US to "expand his thoughts about artificial intelligence". Artificial Intelligence, the science of creating intelligent machines that think like human brains, is still in its nascent phase in India. However many other countries including China have already invested in the field. The Chinese government had long ago realised the importance of Artificial Intelligence for boosting its economy. The country has already devised plans to emerge as the world's premier AI innovation hub by 2030. Despite the strict censorship in China, Google is striving to utilise the intelligent technology resource and engineering talent from China. The US tech giant is looking for AI experts from the country. The growth of artificial intelligence in China has moved Google to establish its own AI research team in the country, which it indicated during its May AI summit held near Shanghai. Google's search engine has been blocked in China since 2010, however, the company is making efforts to maintain a strong foot hold in the country. Google recently entered into a partnership with the local government on the AI summit in the town of Wuzhen. The US giant has also relaunched Google Translate mobile app in Chinese language. Recently Google initiated building artificial intelligence team in the country.

Rahul Gandhi to visit Silicon Valley to study Artificial Intelligence

<p>South Asian countries- India, Nepal and Bangladesh which have recently been the victim of the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/infographic-the-19677">deadly&nbsp;flood</a>, will be getting aid from the American multinational technology company- Google.</p>

<p>Google has diverted $1 million relief fund to the flood affected areas of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/uttar-pradesh-flood-death-toll-rises-to-103-19695">India</a>,<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/16-million-people-in-south-asia-affected-by-floods-red-cross-19205"> Nepal</a> and <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/at-least-221-dead-in-india-bangladesh-nepal-floods-19016">Bangladesh</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The funds that are generated from Google.org and Google employees will be provided to organisations working in favour of the relief work.</p>

<p>&quot;We are committing $1 million from Google.org and Google employees to Goonj and Save the Children for their relief efforts,&quot; Rajan Anandan, Vice-President, South East Asia and India, wrote in a blog post.</p>

<p>Save the Children organisation is providing food, water, temporary shelter and hygiene items to the victims. Besides the basic amenities, the organisation will also provide educational materials to the flood affected children by setting child-friendly spaces.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The organisation is providing livelihood support to flood victims from three countries and aims to expand to around 1,60,000 people.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The other organisation working with Google, Goonj, is an NGO that plans to provide a helping hand to over 75,000 flood affected families from rural India. In addition to the basic amenities- food, mats, blankets and hygiene items they will also be rebuilding the destroyed roads, bridges and schools.</p>

<p>Google&#39;s Crises Response team has also activated an &quot;SOS Alert&quot; for the floods in India, Nepal, Bangladesh.</p>

<p>The <a href="http://www.wionews.com/photos/mumbai-revives-back-430">flood</a> in these countries has claimed over 1200 lives and uprooted million of people from their homes.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The funds that are generated from Google.org and Google employees will be provided to organisations working in favour of the relief work

South Asian countries- India, Nepal and Bangladesh which have recently been the victim of the deadly flood, will be getting aid from the American multinational technology company- Google. Google has diverted $1 million relief fund to the flood affected areas of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The funds that are generated from Google.org and Google employees will be provided to organisations working in favour of the relief work. "We are committing $1 million from Google.org and Google employees to Goonj and Save the Children for their relief efforts," Rajan Anandan, Vice-President, South East Asia and India, wrote in a blog post. Save the Children organisation is providing food, water, temporary shelter and hygiene items to the victims. Besides the basic amenities, the organisation will also provide educational materials to the flood affected children by setting child-friendly spaces. The organisation is providing livelihood support to flood victims from three countries and aims to expand to around 1,60,000 people. The other organisation working with Google, Goonj, is an NGO that plans to provide a helping hand to over 75,000 flood affected families from rural India. In addition to the basic amenities- food, mats, blankets and hygiene items they will also be rebuilding the destroyed roads, bridges and schools. Google's Crises Response team has also activated an "SOS Alert" for the floods in India, Nepal, Bangladesh. The flood in these countries has claimed over 1200 lives and uprooted million of people from their homes.

Google to give $1 million flood relief fund to India, Nepal, Bangladesh

<p>Alphabet&#39;s Google on Wednesday unveiled tools to make augmented reality apps for mobile devices using the Android operating system, setting up its latest showdown with Apple&nbsp;iPhone over next-generation smartphone features.</p>

<p>Phone-based augmented reality (AR), in which digital objects are superimposed onto the real world on screen, got a huge boost from the popularity of the Pok&eacute;mon Go game. The game, launched in the United States in July last year, sent players into city streets, offices, parks and restaurants to search for colourful animated characters.</p>

<p>Analysts expected the game to make $3 billion for Apple over two years as gamers buy &quot;Pok&eacute;Coins&quot; from its app store.</p>

<p>Google&#39;s take on the technology will first be available on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google&#39;s own Pixel phone. The company said in a blog post that it hoped to make the system, called ARCore, available to at least 100 million users, but did not set a date for a broad release.</p>

<p>Apple in June announced a similar system called ARKit that it plans to release this fall on &quot;hundreds of millions&quot; of devices.</p>

<p>Google and Apple will jockey for the attention of customers and software developers who will build the games, walking guides and other applications that would make AR a compelling feature.</p>

<p>Many tech industry leaders envision a future in which eyeglasses, car windshields, and other surfaces can overlay digital information on the real world. Google and Microsoft&nbsp;have already experimented with AR glasses.</p>

<p>&quot;AR is big and profound,&quot; Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told investors earlier in August. &quot;And this is one of those huge things that we&#39;ll look back at and marvel on the start of it.&quot;</p>

<p>Apple and Google have had to make compromises to bring the technology to market.</p>

<p>In Apple&#39;s case, the Cupertino, California-based company decided to make its AR system work with devices capable of running iOS 11, its next-generation operating system due out this fall.</p>

<p>This means it will work on phones going back to the iPhone 6s, which have a single camera at the back and standard motion sensors, rather than a dual camera system found on newer models such as the iPhone 7 Plus or special depth-sensing chips in competing phones. That limits the range of images that can be displayed.</p>

<p>Google initially aimed to solve this problem with an AR system called Tango that uses a special depth-sensor, but only two phone makers so far support it. With ARCore, Google changed course to work on phones without depth sensors.</p>

<p>But the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem presents challenges. To spread its AR system beyond the Galaxy S8 and Pixel phone, Google will have to figure out how to account for the wide variety of Android phone cameras or require phone makers to use specific parts.</p>

<p>Apple, however, is able to make its system work well because it knows exactly which hardware and software are on the iPhone and calibrates them tightly.</p>

<p>Michael Valdsgaard, a developer with the furniture chain IKEA, called the system &quot;rock solid,&quot; noting that it could estimate the size of virtual furniture placed in a room with 98 per cent accuracy, despite lacking special sensors.</p>

<p>&quot;This is a classic example of where Apple&#39;s ownership of the whole widget including both hardware and software is a huge advantage over device vendors dependent on Android and the broader value chain of component vendors,&quot; said Jan Dawson, founder and chief analyst of Jackdaw Research.</p>


Alphabet's Google on Wednesday unveiled tools to make augmented reality apps for mobile devices using the Android operating system, setting up its latest showdown with Apple?iPhone over next-generation smartphone features

Alphabet's Google on Wednesday unveiled tools to make augmented reality apps for mobile devices using the Android operating system, setting up its latest showdown with Apple iPhone over next-generation smartphone features. Phone-based augmented reality (AR), in which digital objects are superimposed onto the real world on screen, got a huge boost from the popularity of the Pokémon Go game. The game, launched in the United States in July last year, sent players into city streets, offices, parks and restaurants to search for colourful animated characters. Analysts expected the game to make $3 billion for Apple over two years as gamers buy "PokéCoins" from its app store. Google's take on the technology will first be available on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google's own Pixel phone. The company said in a blog post that it hoped to make the system, called ARCore, available to at least 100 million users, but did not set a date for a broad release. Apple in June announced a similar system called ARKit that it plans to release this fall on "hundreds of millions" of devices. Google and Apple will jockey for the attention of customers and software developers who will build the games, walking guides and other applications that would make AR a compelling feature. Many tech industry leaders envision a future in which eyeglasses, car windshields, and other surfaces can overlay digital information on the real world. Google and Microsoft have already experimented with AR glasses. "AR is big and profound," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told investors earlier in August. "And this is one of those huge things that we'll look back at and marvel on the start of it." Apple and Google have had to make compromises to bring the technology to market. In Apple's case, the Cupertino, California-based company decided to make its AR system work with devices capable of running iOS 11, its next-generation operating system due out this fall. This means it will work on phones going back to the iPhone 6s, which have a single camera at the back and standard motion sensors, rather than a dual camera system found on newer models such as the iPhone 7 Plus or special depth-sensing chips in competing phones. That limits the range of images that can be displayed. Google initially aimed to solve this problem with an AR system called Tango that uses a special depth-sensor, but only two phone makers so far support it. With ARCore, Google changed course to work on phones without depth sensors. But the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem presents challenges. To spread its AR system beyond the Galaxy S8 and Pixel phone, Google will have to figure out how to account for the wide variety of Android phone cameras or require phone makers to use specific parts. Apple, however, is able to make its system work well because it knows exactly which hardware and software are on the iPhone and calibrates them tightly. Michael Valdsgaard, a developer with the furniture chain IKEA, called the system "rock solid," noting that it could estimate the size of virtual furniture placed in a room with 98 per cent accuracy, despite lacking special sensors. "This is a classic example of where Apple's ownership of the whole widget including both hardware and software is a huge advantage over device vendors dependent on Android and the broader value chain of component vendors," said Jan Dawson, founder and chief analyst of Jackdaw Research.

Google, Apple face off over augmented reality technology

<p>The Indian&nbsp;government has directed internet majors - Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo - to immediately remove the links of the dangerous online game Blue Whale Challenge, which led children in India and other countries to commit suicide.</p>

<p>&quot;Instances of children committing suicide while Blue Whale Challenge have been reported in India...You are hereby requested to ensure that any such link of this deadly game in its own name or similar game is immediately removed from your platform,&quot; Ministry of Electronics and IT(Meity) said in a letter dated August 11 to the internet majors.</p>

<p>The letter was issued following instructions from Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, an official source said.</p>

<p>The Blue Whale challenge is reportedly a suicide game in which the player is given certain tasks to complete for a period of 50 days and the final task leads to suicide. The player is also asked to share photos after finishing the challenge.</p>

<p>Expressing concern over the availability of such a deadly game on the internet, Meity said, &quot;It is understood that an administrator of the game uses the social media platform to invite/incite children to play this game, which may eventually lead them to take extreme steps for self-inflicting injuries including suicide&quot;.</p>

<p>Mumbai and West Midnapore district have reported deaths linked to this game. Meity said the proponent of Blue Whale Challenge should be reported to law enforcement agencies.</p>


The government has directed social media giants - Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo - to immediately remove the links to the dangerous online game

The Indian government has directed internet majors - Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo - to immediately remove the links of the dangerous online game Blue Whale Challenge, which led children in India and other countries to commit suicide. "Instances of children committing suicide while Blue Whale Challenge have been reported in India...You are hereby requested to ensure that any such link of this deadly game in its own name or similar game is immediately removed from your platform," Ministry of Electronics and IT(Meity) said in a letter dated August 11 to the internet majors. The letter was issued following instructions from Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, an official source said. The Blue Whale challenge is reportedly a suicide game in which the player is given certain tasks to complete for a period of 50 days and the final task leads to suicide. The player is also asked to share photos after finishing the challenge. Expressing concern over the availability of such a deadly game on the internet, Meity said, "It is understood that an administrator of the game uses the social media platform to invite/incite children to play this game, which may eventually lead them to take extreme steps for self-inflicting injuries including suicide". Mumbai and West Midnapore district have reported deaths linked to this game. Meity said the proponent of Blue Whale Challenge should be reported to law enforcement agencies.

Govt asks Google, Facebook to remove links to Blue Whale Challenge

<p>Google&rsquo;s recent <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/8/7/16110696/firing-google-ceo-employee-penned-controversial-memo-on-women-has-violated-its-code-of-conduct">sacking</a> of James Damore for circulating a <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586/Googles-Ideological-Echo-Chamber.pdf">memo</a> will do the tech giant more harm than good. Not only has the memo been incorrectly dubbed &ldquo;anti-diversity&rdquo;, but a majority of Google employees surveyed in a recent poll <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/many-google-employees-dont-think-james-damore-should-have-been-fired-2017-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">disagreed</a> with the decision to fire Damore.</p>

<p>A more productive response to the memo would have been to setup an official channel for employees to air these kinds of issues. This way employees feel their views are heard and the company can take into account different points of view while formulating policy.</p>

<p>Google&rsquo;s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, <a href="https://www.blog.google/topics/diversity/note-employees-ceo-sundar-pichai/">wrote</a> to all Google employees saying that Damore&rsquo;s memo had crossed the line by &ldquo;advancing harmful gender stereotypes in the workplace&rdquo;. It might have been more advantageous to have a full and frank discussion of Google&rsquo;s diversity policies and what they are intended to achieve.</p>

<p><strong>Is it too dangerous to talk about diversity?</strong></p>

<p>Although painted as &ldquo;<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/06/technology/culture/google-diversity/index.html">anti-diversity</a>&rdquo;, the memo itself raises issues of the alienation of conservative views at Google and the need to be able to discuss diversity more openly. In other words, diversity shouldn&rsquo;t be a concept that people are scared to discuss openly for fear of being vilified or shamed.</p>

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<h5>Damore&rsquo;s memo suggests that those with differing views on diversity are dismissed and vilified.</h5>
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<p><a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586/Googles-Ideological-Echo-Chamber.pdf">Damore&rsquo;s memo</a> suggests that those with differing views on diversity are dismissed and vilified. The response to his memo seems to prove his point. This might in fact be the heart of the problem - fear of saying something politically incorrect might in fact be holding people back from understanding the need for diversity measures.</p>

<p>One <a href="http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/faculty_scholarship/2340/">study</a> found that American corporate directors thought board diversity (in racial, ethnic and gender terms) was an important goal worth pursuing. But they seemed unable to substantiate this opinion with examples of how board diversity might help the company. The authors of the study concluded that diversity seemed to be a &ldquo;dangerous&rdquo; subject to talk about.</p>

<p>Shutting down differing views on the matter is antithetical to the idea of diversity. &ldquo;Inner diversity&rdquo;, meaning diversity of viewpoints and opinions, is as important as &ldquo;outer diversity&rdquo;, in terms of gender and ethnicity etc.</p>

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<p>A Canadian report on women on company boards <a href="http://utsc.utoronto.ca/%7Ephanira/WebResearchMethods/women-bod&amp;fp-conference%20board.pdf">found</a> that boards with more women surpass all male boards in their attention to audit and risk oversight and control. It also highlights that outer diversity (such as having more women on the board) is a proxy for inner diversity - it is a sign of different &ldquo;gifts, skills, experiences, and perspectives&rdquo;. If a company focuses singularly on outer diversity while discouraging diverse viewpoints it won&rsquo;t realise the real benefits of diversity in the first place.</p>

<p><strong>Rationales for diversity</strong></p>

<p>The rationale for measures promoting diversity is twofold. Women and minority groups have to overcome many barriers including selection bias while being recruited. And diversity, particularly in problem-solving groups, is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-racism-and-a-lack-of-diversity-can-harm-productivity-in-our-workplaces-73119">ultimately good for business</a>.</p>

<p>Diversity measures seek to reduce (if not eliminate) <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/why-is-silicon-valley-so-awful-to-women/517788/">biases</a> by expanding or diversifying the pool of candidates being considered for each position. For example, programs where female candidates are given mentors opens up new opportunities.</p>

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<p><a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586/Googles-Ideological-Echo-Chamber.pdf">Damore&rsquo;s memo</a> argues the biological differences between men and women might be one of the reasons for the low number of women in the tech industry. However, <a href="http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&amp;context=learning_processes">recent neuroscience research</a> shows there is not enough evidence to conclude that there are significant differences in the male and female brain. So while Damore&rsquo;s view is not unequivocal, this perception could impede the effectiveness of diversity measures.</p>

<p>Other <a href="http://www.aei.org/publication/why-cant-a-woman-be-more-like-a-man-3/">research</a> shows that more men than women study computer science, engineering, physics and mathematics in the US. This could account for some of the gender disparity in tech companies. However, this is not true in all countries.</p>

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<h5>Women make up nearly half of computer science and computer engineering students in India.</h5>
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<p>For instance, women make up <a href="https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2015/5/186026-decoding-femininity-in-computer-science-in-india/abstract">nearly half</a> of computer science and computer engineering students in India. It might be interesting to study what factors deter women in the US from studying these subjects.</p>

<p>But in order to address these issues it is necessary to be able to discuss them, and then assess what a diversity policy is intended to fix. To that end, companies must create forums and events to discuss the rationales for diversity policies and also allow employees to voice their views in this regard.</p>

<p><img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/82318/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" />A starting point could be to have employees fill out anonymous surveys to gauge perception of diversity policies. Based on this, appropriate discussions can be encouraged. Companies could also consider making the rationale for the diversity policy available along with the policy itself. This process will result in more informed policy choices and perhaps a more inclusive work culture.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-memo-to-google-firing-employees-with-conservative-views-is-anti-diversity-82318">original article</a>.</p>


Damore?s memo argues the biological differences between men and women might be one of the reasons for the low number of women in the tech industry.

Google’s recent sacking of James Damore for circulating a memo will do the tech giant more harm than good. Not only has the memo been incorrectly dubbed “anti-diversity”, but a majority of Google employees surveyed in a recent poll disagreed with the decision to fire Damore. A more productive response to the memo would have been to setup an official channel for employees to air these kinds of issues. This way employees feel their views are heard and the company can take into account different points of view while formulating policy. Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, wrote to all Google employees saying that Damore’s memo had crossed the line by “advancing harmful gender stereotypes in the workplace”. It might have been more advantageous to have a full and frank discussion of Google’s diversity policies and what they are intended to achieve. Is it too dangerous to talk about diversity? Although painted as “anti-diversity”, the memo itself raises issues of the alienation of conservative views at Google and the need to be able to discuss diversity more openly. In other words, diversity shouldn’t be a concept that people are scared to discuss openly for fear of being vilified or shamed. Damore’s memo suggests that those with differing views on diversity are dismissed and vilified. × Damore’s memo suggests that those with differing views on diversity are dismissed and vilified. The response to his memo seems to prove his point. This might in fact be the heart of the problem - fear of saying something politically incorrect might in fact be holding people back from understanding the need for diversity measures. One study found that American corporate directors thought board diversity (in racial, ethnic and gender terms) was an important goal worth pursuing. But they seemed unable to substantiate this opinion with examples of how board diversity might help the company. The authors of the study concluded that diversity seemed to be a “dangerous” subject to talk about. Shutting down differing views on the matter is antithetical to the idea of diversity. “Inner diversity”, meaning diversity of viewpoints and opinions, is as important as “outer diversity”, in terms of gender and ethnicity etc. A Canadian report on women on company boards found that boards with more women surpass all male boards in their attention to audit and risk oversight and control. × A Canadian report on women on company boards found that boards with more women surpass all male boards in their attention to audit and risk oversight and control. It also highlights that outer diversity (such as having more women on the board) is a proxy for inner diversity - it is a sign of different “gifts, skills, experiences, and perspectives”. If a company focuses singularly on outer diversity while discouraging diverse viewpoints it won’t realise the real benefits of diversity in the first place. Rationales for diversity The rationale for measures promoting diversity is twofold. Women and minority groups have to overcome many barriers including selection bias while being recruited. And diversity, particularly in problem-solving groups, is ultimately good for business. Diversity measures seek to reduce (if not eliminate) biases by expanding or diversifying the pool of candidates being considered for each position. For example, programs where female candidates are given mentors opens up new opportunities. Recent neuroscience research shows there is not enough evidence to conclude that there are significant differences in the male and female brain. × Damore’s memo argues the biological differences between men and women might be one of the reasons for the low number of women in the tech industry. However, recent neuroscience research shows there is not enough evidence to conclude that there are significant differences in the male and female brain. So while Damore’s view is not unequivocal, this perception could impede the effectiveness of diversity measures. Other research shows that more men than women study computer science, engineering, physics and mathematics in the US. This could account for some of the gender disparity in tech companies. However, this is not true in all countries. Women make up nearly half of computer science and computer engineering students in India. × For instance, women make up nearly half of computer science and computer engineering students in India. It might be interesting to study what factors deter women in the US from studying these subjects. But in order to address these issues it is necessary to be able to discuss them, and then assess what a diversity policy is intended to fix. To that end, companies must create forums and events to discuss the rationales for diversity policies and also allow employees to voice their views in this regard. A starting point could be to have employees fill out anonymous surveys to gauge perception of diversity policies. Based on this, appropriate discussions can be encouraged. Companies could also consider making the rationale for the diversity policy available along with the policy itself. This process will result in more informed policy choices and perhaps a more inclusive work culture. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Firing workers with conservative views is anti-diversity, says majority of Google employees

<p>Five years ago, Silicon Valley was rocked by a wave of &ldquo;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/04/silicon-valley-brogrammer-culture-sexist-sxsw/">brogrammer</a>&rdquo; bad behavior, when overfunded, highly entitled, mostly white and male startup founders did things that were juvenile, out of line and just plain stupid. Most of these activities &ndash; such as putting pornography into PowerPoint slides &ndash; revolved around the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/07/tech/web/brogrammers/index.html">explicit or implied devaluation and harassment</a> of women and the assumption that heterosexual men&rsquo;s privilege could or should define the workplace. The recent &ldquo;<a href="https://gizmodo.com/exclusive-heres-the-full-10-page-anti-diversity-screed-1797564320">memo</a>&rdquo; scandal out of Google shows how far we have yet to go.</p>

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<p>It may be that more established and successful companies don&rsquo;t make job applicants deal with <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/04/silicon-valley-brogrammer-culture-sexist-sxsw/">&ldquo;bikini shots&rdquo; and &ldquo;gangbang interviews.&rdquo;</a> But even the tech giants foster an environment where heteronormativity and male privilege is so rampant that an engineer could feel comfortable <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586-Googles-Ideological-Echo-Chamber.html">writing and distributing a screed</a> that effectively harassed all of his women co-workers en masse.</p>

<p>This is a pity, because tech companies say they want to change this culture. This summer, I gave a talk at Google UK about my work as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/memo-to-the-google-memo-writer-women-were-foundational-to-the-field-of-computing/2017/08/09/76da1886-7d0e-11e7-a669-b400c5c7e1cc_story.html">historian of technology and gender</a>. I thought my talk might help change people&rsquo;s minds about women in computing, and might even help women and <a href="http://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-is-non-binary-gender">nonbinary</a> folks working at Google now. Still, the irony was strong: I was visiting a multibillion-dollar tech company to talk about how women are undervalued in tech, for free.</p>

<p><strong>Facing common fears</strong></p>

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<p>I went to Google UK with significant trepidation. I was going to talk about the subject of my upcoming book, &ldquo;<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/programmed-inequality" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Programmed Inequality</a>,&rdquo; about how <a href="http://listen.datasociety.net/care-failure-british-computing-industry/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">women got pushed out of computing</a> in the U.K. In the 1940s through the early 1960s, most British <a href="http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2011/researcher-reveals-how-%E2%80%9Ccomputer-geeks%E2%80%9D-replaced-%E2%80%9Ccomputergirls%E2%80%9D" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">computer workers were women</a>, but over the course of the &rsquo;60&rsquo;s and &rsquo;70&rsquo;s their numbers dropped as women were subjected to <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/blog/hidden-figures-british-computer-industry" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">intentional structural discrimination</a> designed to push them out of the field. That didn&rsquo;t just hurt the women, either &ndash; it <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/memo-to-the-google-memo-writer-women-were-foundational-to-the-field-of-computing/2017/08/09/76da1886-7d0e-11e7-a669-b400c5c7e1cc_story.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">torpedoed</a> the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2003/may/29/onlinesupplement.columnists" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">once-promising British computing industry</a>.</p>

<p>In the worst-case scenario, I imagined my talk would end with a question-and-answer period in which I would be asked to face exactly the points the Google manifesto made. It&rsquo;s happened before &ndash; <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/anita-sarkeesian-gamergate-interview-20141017">and not just to me</a> &ndash; so I have years of practice dealing with harsh critics and tough audiences, both <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/fionarutherford/people-are-fighting-against-stereotypes-in-academia-with-ilo">in the classroom and outside of it</a>.</p>

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<p>As a result of that experience, I know how to handle situations like that. But it&rsquo;s more than just disheartening to have my work misunderstood. I have felt firsthand the damage the phenomenon called &ldquo;<a href="http://www.apa.org/research/action/stereotype.aspx">stereotype threat</a>&rdquo; can wreak on women: Being assumed to be inferior can make a person not only feel inferior, but actually <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/opinion/sunday/intelligence-and-the-stereotype-threat.html">subconsciously do things</a> that confirm their own supposed lesser worth. For instance, women students <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1131100">do measurably worse on math exams</a> after reading articles that suggest women are ill-suited to study math. (A related phenomenon, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/your-money/learning-to-deal-with-the-impostor-syndrome.html?_r=0">impostor syndrome</a>, <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/why-do-some-academics-feel-like-frauds/2010238.article">runs rampant through academia</a>.)</p>

<p><strong>A surprising reaction</strong></p>

<p>As it happened, the audience was familiar with, and interested in, my work. I was impressed and delighted with the caliber and thoughtfulness of the questions I got. But one question stood out. It seemed like the perfect example of how the culture of the tech industry is so badly broken today that it destroys or significantly hinders much of its talent pool, inflicting stereotype threat on them in large numbers.</p>

<p>A Google engineer asked if I thought that women&rsquo;s biological differences made them innately less likely to be good engineers. I replied in the negative, firmly stating that this kind of pseudoscientific evolutional psychology has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(76)90019-6">proven incorrect</a> <a href="http://www.salon.com/2017/08/08/the-ugly-pseudoscientific-history-behind-that-sexist-google-manifesto/">at every turn</a> by history, and that biological determinism was a dangerous cudgel that had been used to deprive <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/books/review/a-history-of-race-and-racism-in-america-in-24-chapters.html?_r=0">black people</a>, <a href="http://www.nwhp.org/resources/womens-rights-movement/detailed-timeline/">women</a> and <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/roots/overview.html">many others</a> of their civil rights &ndash; and even their lives &ndash; for centuries.</p>

<p>The engineer posing this question was a woman. She said she felt she was unusual because she thought she had less <a href="http://www.danielgoleman.info/topics/emotional-intelligence/">emotional intelligence</a> and more intellectual intelligence than most other women, and those abilities let her do her job better. She wondered if most women were doomed to fail. She spoke with the uncertainty of someone who has been <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/04/429362127/sexist-reactions-to-an-ad-spark-ilooklikeanengineer-campaign">told repeatedly</a> that &ldquo;normal&rdquo; women aren&rsquo;t supposed to do what she does, or be who she is.</p>

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<p>I tried to empathize with her, and to make my answer firm but not dismissive. This is how <a href="http://s3.computerhistory.org/core/core-2016.pdf#page=30">structural discrimination</a> works: It seeps into all of us, and we are barely conscious of it. If we do not constantly guard ourselves against its insidious effects &ndash; if we do not have the tools to do so, the courage to speak out, and the ability to understand when it is explained to us &ndash; it can turn us into ever worse versions of ourselves. We can become the versions that the negative stereotypes expect. But the bigger problem is that it doesn&rsquo;t end at the level of the individual.</p>

<p><strong>A problem of structure</strong></p>

<p>These misapprehensions bleed into every aspect of our institutions, which then in turn nurture and (often unwittingly) propagate them further. That was what happened when <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586-Googles-Ideological-Echo-Chamber.html">the Google manifesto emerged</a>, and in the media frenzy that followed.</p>

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<p>That the manifesto was taken as a potentially interesting or illustrative opinion says something not just about Silicon Valley, but about the political moment in which we find ourselves. The media is complicit too: Some media treated it as noteworthy <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/09/dreadful_people_the_google_manifesto_pulled_out_of_woodwork/?page=3">only for its shock value</a>. And others, rather than identifying the screed as an example of the writer&rsquo;s misogyny, lack of historical understanding, and indeed &ndash; as <a href="https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/so-about-this-googlers-manifesto-1e3773ed1788">some computer professionals have pointed out</a> &ndash; lack of understanding of the field of engineering, handled the document as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/09/google-fired-engineer-gender-sexism-conservative-reaction">think piece deserving consideration and discussion</a>.</p>

<p>The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/heres-why-im-not-reading-the-google-employees-anti_us_598a05f5e4b08a4c247f262d">many people</a> who said openly and loudly that it was <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2143285-memo-to-all-tech-bros-sexism-not-biology-holds-women-back/">nothing of the sort</a> are to be commended. But the fact that they had to waste time even addressing it shows how much <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/programmed-inequality">damage casual, unreflective sexism and misogyny</a> do to every aspect of our society and our economy.</p>

<p><strong>The corporate response</strong></p>

<p>Google, for its part, has now <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2017/08/07/a-googlers-manifesto-is-the-hr-departments-worst-nightmare/">fired the writer</a>, an expected move after the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/08/08/techs-sexism-doesnt-stay-in-silicon-valley-its-in-the-products-you-use/">bad publicity</a> he has helped rain down on the company. But Google has also &ndash; and in the very same week that I gave my talk there &ndash; <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/07/google-pay-disparities-women-labor-department-lawsuit">refused to comply</a> with a U.S. Department of Justice order to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/dol-google-pay-discrimination/522411/">provide statistics on how it paid its women workers</a> in comparison to men. The company claims that it might cost an estimated US$100,000 to compile that data, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/26/google-gender-discrimination-case-salary-records">complains</a> that it&rsquo;s too high a cost for their multibillion dollar corporation to bear.</p>

<p>The company will not expend a pittance &ndash; especially in relation to <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alphabet-earnings-keep-google-investors-in-dark-2017-07-24">its earnings</a> &ndash; to work to correct allegedly egregious gender-biased salary disparities. Is it any surprise that some of its employees &ndash; both men and women &ndash; view women&rsquo;s contributions, and their very identities, as being <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/08/08/google-gender-struggle-tech/">somehow less inherently valuable</a> or well suited to tech? Or that <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/why-is-silicon-valley-so-awful-to-women/517788/">many more silently believe it</a>, almost in spite of themselves?</p>

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<p><img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/82236/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" />People take cues from our institutions. Our governments, corporations, universities and news media <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2013.3">shape our understandings and expectations of ourselves</a> in ways we can only partially understand without intense and sustained self-reflection. For the U.K. in the 20th century, that collective, institutional self-awareness <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/review-programmed-inequality-marie-hicks-mit-press">came far too late to save its tech sector</a>. Let&rsquo;s hope the U.S. in the 21st century learns something from that history. At a time when technology and governance are increasingly converging to define who we are as a nation, we are living through a perfect &ndash; if terrifying &ndash; teachable moment.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-google-gender-manifesto-really-says-about-silicon-valley-82236">original article</a>.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Today tech industry is significantly destroying its talent pool by sidelining women.

Five years ago, Silicon Valley was rocked by a wave of “brogrammer” bad behavior, when overfunded, highly entitled, mostly white and male startup founders did things that were juvenile, out of line and just plain stupid. Most of these activities – such as putting pornography into PowerPoint slides – revolved around the explicit or implied devaluation and harassment of women and the assumption that heterosexual men’s privilege could or should define the workplace. The recent “memo” scandal out of Google shows how far we have yet to go. The tech giants foster an environment where heteronormativity and male privilege is so rampant that an engineer could feel comfortable writing and distributing a screed that effectively harassed all of his women co-workers en masse. × It may be that more established and successful companies don’t make job applicants deal with “bikini shots” and “gangbang interviews.” But even the tech giants foster an environment where heteronormativity and male privilege is so rampant that an engineer could feel comfortable writing and distributing a screed that effectively harassed all of his women co-workers en masse. This is a pity, because tech companies say they want to change this culture. This summer, I gave a talk at Google UK about my work as a historian of technology and gender. I thought my talk might help change people’s minds about women in computing, and might even help women and nonbinary folks working at Google now. Still, the irony was strong: I was visiting a multibillion-dollar tech company to talk about how women are undervalued in tech, for free. Facing common fears In the 1940s through the early 1960s, most British computer workers were women, but over the course of the ’60’s and ’70’s their numbers dropped as women were subjected to intentional structural discrimination designed to push them out of the field. × I went to Google UK with significant trepidation. I was going to talk about the subject of my upcoming book, “Programmed Inequality,” about how women got pushed out of computing in the U.K. In the 1940s through the early 1960s, most British computer workers were women, but over the course of the ’60’s and ’70’s their numbers dropped as women were subjected to intentional structural discrimination designed to push them out of the field. That didn’t just hurt the women, either – it torpedoed the once-promising British computing industry. In the worst-case scenario, I imagined my talk would end with a question-and-answer period in which I would be asked to face exactly the points the Google manifesto made. It’s happened before – and not just to me – so I have years of practice dealing with harsh critics and tough audiences, both in the classroom and outside of it. Being assumed to be inferior can make a person not only feel inferior, but actually subconsciously do things that confirm their own supposed lesser worth. × As a result of that experience, I know how to handle situations like that. But it’s more than just disheartening to have my work misunderstood. I have felt firsthand the damage the phenomenon called “stereotype threat” can wreak on women: Being assumed to be inferior can make a person not only feel inferior, but actually subconsciously do things that confirm their own supposed lesser worth. For instance, women students do measurably worse on math exams after reading articles that suggest women are ill-suited to study math. (A related phenomenon, impostor syndrome, runs rampant through academia.) A surprising reaction As it happened, the audience was familiar with, and interested in, my work. I was impressed and delighted with the caliber and thoughtfulness of the questions I got. But one question stood out. It seemed like the perfect example of how the culture of the tech industry is so badly broken today that it destroys or significantly hinders much of its talent pool, inflicting stereotype threat on them in large numbers. A Google engineer asked if I thought that women’s biological differences made them innately less likely to be good engineers. I replied in the negative, firmly stating that this kind of pseudoscientific evolutional psychology has been proven incorrect at every turn by history, and that biological determinism was a dangerous cudgel that had been used to deprive black people, women and many others of their civil rights – and even their lives – for centuries. The engineer posing this question was a woman. She said she felt she was unusual because she thought she had less emotional intelligence and more intellectual intelligence than most other women, and those abilities let her do her job better. She wondered if most women were doomed to fail. She spoke with the uncertainty of someone who has been told repeatedly that “normal” women aren’t supposed to do what she does, or be who she is. This is how structural discrimination works: It seeps into all of us, and we are barely conscious of it. × I tried to empathize with her, and to make my answer firm but not dismissive. This is how structural discrimination works: It seeps into all of us, and we are barely conscious of it. If we do not constantly guard ourselves against its insidious effects – if we do not have the tools to do so, the courage to speak out, and the ability to understand when it is explained to us – it can turn us into ever worse versions of ourselves. We can become the versions that the negative stereotypes expect. But the bigger problem is that it doesn’t end at the level of the individual. A problem of structure These misapprehensions bleed into every aspect of our institutions, which then in turn nurture and (often unwittingly) propagate them further. That was what happened when the Google manifesto emerged, and in the media frenzy that followed. Illustrative opinion says something not just about Silicon Valley, but about the political moment in which we find ourselves. × That the manifesto was taken as a potentially interesting or illustrative opinion says something not just about Silicon Valley, but about the political moment in which we find ourselves. The media is complicit too: Some media treated it as noteworthy only for its shock value. And others, rather than identifying the screed as an example of the writer’s misogyny, lack of historical understanding, and indeed – as some computer professionals have pointed out – lack of understanding of the field of engineering, handled the document as a think piece deserving consideration and discussion. The many people who said openly and loudly that it was nothing of the sort are to be commended. But the fact that they had to waste time even addressing it shows how much damage casual, unreflective sexism and misogyny do to every aspect of our society and our economy. The corporate response Google, for its part, has now fired the writer, an expected move after the bad publicity he has helped rain down on the company. But Google has also – and in the very same week that I gave my talk there – refused to comply with a U.S. Department of Justice order to provide statistics on how it paid its women workers in comparison to men. The company claims that it might cost an estimated US$100,000 to compile that data, and complains that it’s too high a cost for their multibillion dollar corporation to bear. The company will not expend a pittance – especially in relation to its earnings – to work to correct allegedly egregious gender-biased salary disparities. Is it any surprise that some of its employees – both men and women – view women’s contributions, and their very identities, as being somehow less inherently valuable or well suited to tech? Or that many more silently believe it, almost in spite of themselves? At a time when technology and governance are increasingly converging to define who we are as a nation, we are living through a perfect – if terrifying – teachable moment. × People take cues from our institutions. Our governments, corporations, universities and news media shape our understandings and expectations of ourselves in ways we can only partially understand without intense and sustained self-reflection. For the U.K. in the 20th century, that collective, institutional self-awareness came far too late to save its tech sector. Let’s hope the U.S. in the 21st century learns something from that history. At a time when technology and governance are increasingly converging to define who we are as a nation, we are living through a perfect – if terrifying – teachable moment. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

What the Google gender 'manifesto' really says about Silicon Valley

<p>Google on Thursday canceled a Town Hall intended to air viewpoints on diversity, sexism and free speech, citing worker safety concerns.</p>

<p>&quot;We&#39;ll find a better way to help our employees connect and discuss these important issues further,&quot; said a Google spokesperson.</p>

<p>The employee gathering was scheduled to air viewpoints swirling in after the dismissal of a Google engineer over a memo defending the Silicon Valley gender gap.</p>

<p>The &quot;manifesto&quot; published as an internal memo by James Damore claimed, &quot;biological differences&quot; were a key factor in the low percentage of women in technology jobs and sparked an outcry from those claiming it perpetuated stereotypes and discrimination.</p>

<p>Then Damore was fired -- according to media reports and his own email to the far-right news website Breitbart -- which ignited backlash from those claiming Google was stifling free speech and politically conservative viewpoints.</p>

<p>News of the Town Hall cancelation was sent to employees in a memo from chief executive Sundar Pichai, who apologized to them for giving late notice.</p>

<p>Questions being posed internally by &quot;Googlers,&quot; along with some of their names, began appearing on outside websites, prompting safety concerns.</p>

<p>&quot;We had hoped to have a frank, open discussion today as we always do to bring us together and move forward,&quot; Pichai said in the memo.</p>

<p>&quot;Googlers are writing in, concerned about their safety and worried they may be &#39;outed&#39; publicly for asking a question in the Town Hall.&quot;</p>

<p>He said Google intends a series of internal forums in coming days to give people chances to speak freely without fear.</p>

<p>Pichai said that he has met with many people at Google about the controversy, with the vast majority supporting the decision to fire the author of the manifesto.</p>

<p>The company has not officially identified the engineer at issue, citing employee privacy.</p>

<p>The fresh controversy comes with Silicon Valley struggling in the face of accusations of rampant sexual harassment and discrimination affecting startups like Uber and venture capital firms investing in the sector.</p>

<p>Earlier this week, Pichai said employees have a right to express themselves but that the memo appeared to &quot;cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK,&quot; Pichai said in his email to employees.</p>

<p>Damore&#39;s firing made him a hero to the far right and those claiming political correctness has gone too far.</p>


The employee gathering was scheduled to air viewpoints swirling in after the dismissal of a Google engineer over a memo defending the Silicon Valley gender gap

Google on Thursday canceled a Town Hall intended to air viewpoints on diversity, sexism and free speech, citing worker safety concerns. "We'll find a better way to help our employees connect and discuss these important issues further," said a Google spokesperson. The employee gathering was scheduled to air viewpoints swirling in after the dismissal of a Google engineer over a memo defending the Silicon Valley gender gap. The "manifesto" published as an internal memo by James Damore claimed, "biological differences" were a key factor in the low percentage of women in technology jobs and sparked an outcry from those claiming it perpetuated stereotypes and discrimination. Then Damore was fired -- according to media reports and his own email to the far-right news website Breitbart -- which ignited backlash from those claiming Google was stifling free speech and politically conservative viewpoints. News of the Town Hall cancelation was sent to employees in a memo from chief executive Sundar Pichai, who apologized to them for giving late notice. Questions being posed internally by "Googlers," along with some of their names, began appearing on outside websites, prompting safety concerns. "We had hoped to have a frank, open discussion today as we always do to bring us together and move forward," Pichai said in the memo. "Googlers are writing in, concerned about their safety and worried they may be 'outed' publicly for asking a question in the Town Hall." He said Google intends a series of internal forums in coming days to give people chances to speak freely without fear. Pichai said that he has met with many people at Google about the controversy, with the vast majority supporting the decision to fire the author of the manifesto. The company has not officially identified the engineer at issue, citing employee privacy. The fresh controversy comes with Silicon Valley struggling in the face of accusations of rampant sexual harassment and discrimination affecting startups like Uber and venture capital firms investing in the sector. Earlier this week, Pichai said employees have a right to express themselves but that the memo appeared to "cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace." "To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK," Pichai said in his email to employees. Damore's firing made him a hero to the far right and those claiming political correctness has gone too far.

Google cancels diversity Town Hall

<p>A Silicon Valley culture war pitting liberal-leaning tech firms against a small conservative cohort took on new intensity on Tuesday after <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/google-fires-employee-who-wrote-anti-diversity-memo-18690">Google fired a male engineer</a> for a memo that decried the company&#39;s commitment to hiring women.</p>

<p>Memo author James Damore, 28, received jeers, cheers and a couple of job offers, while the debate raged on social media and some tech firms took steps to prevent similar episodes from embroiling their companies.</p>

<p>Damore confirmed his dismissal from Alphabet&#39;s Google on Monday, after he wrote a 10-page memo that said the company was hostile to conservative viewpoints and that women on average have more neuroticism.</p>

<p>Many in Silicon Valley found his views, which argued that men, in general, may be biologically more suited to coding jobs than women, offensive and destructive. The manifesto was embraced by some, particularly on the political right, who branded him a brave truth-teller.</p>

<p>The episode recalled past examples of the wide gulf between US conservative activists and the tech sector.</p>

<p>In 2014, Brendan Eich was forced out as Mozilla&#39;s chief executive after his opposition to gay marriage became public. Most technology executives held the opposite view, and tech companies often gave benefits to same-sex couples well before gay marriage was legalised.</p>

<p>&quot;Anyone who deviates from the talking points of the liberal left is shunned, shamed and forced out,&quot; Andrew Torba, chief executive of the social network Gab, said in an interview.</p>

<p>Torba, whose company is popular among conservatives, said Damore could work for him.</p>

<p>WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, whose group released hacked emails that helped the campaign of Republican US President Donald Trump, also offered Damore a job, writing on Twitter that &quot;censorship is for losers.&quot;</p>

<p>Firing Damore was too extreme and Google should have put him through training instead, said Aaron Ginn, co-founder of the Lincoln Network, a group of libertarian-leaning tech workers and investors.</p>

<p>&quot;You&#39;re going to make him a martyr. In this hyper-tribal political day, we are in, I think you&#39;d want to try to avoid making him a martyr,&quot; Ginn said.</p>

<p>Intense political feelings recently divided two board members of Facebook, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Last August, Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, warned investor Peter Thiel in an email that Thiel&#39;s support for Trump showed &quot;catastrophically bad judgment,&quot; the newspaper reported.</p>

<p>The outcome of that dispute is not known. Hastings and Thiel remain on Facebook&#39;s board. Facebook declined to comment.</p>

<p>More generally, Silicon Valley tech companies have been under mounting criticism for not doing enough to promote gender equality and stamp out sexual harassment.</p>

<p>Claims of persistent sexual harassment in the ranks of Uber Technologies&nbsp;and of several venture capital firms have led to management shake-ups.</p>

<p>The US Labor Department is investigating Google to see whether the firm has unlawfully paid women less than men. Google denies that it does.</p>

<p><strong>Code of Conduct</strong></p>

<p>Google, which has used the motto &quot;Don&#39;t be evil,&quot; received accolades from many quarters for treating Damore&#39;s memo as a threat to its corporate culture.</p>

<p>&quot;What he wrote is extremely toxic to the tech community we are trying to support. He&#39;s categorising us in a way that makes us seem weak or incompetent,&quot; said Adriana Gascoigne, founder of the San Francisco nonprofit Girls in Tech.</p>

<p>Josh Reeves, chief executive at Gusto, a software company, said he expected the topic would come up at its all-staff meeting on Wednesday.</p>

<p>Gusto&#39;s code of conduct &quot;specifically prohibits a memo like Damore&#39;s,&quot; Reeves said, if the memo would be offensive to individuals in a protected group.</p>

<p>Damore, who could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, said in an email to <em>Reuters</em> on Monday that he was exploring a possible legal challenge to his dismissal.</p>

<p>His case would likely be weak, employment lawyers said, and some lawyers said Google could have faced lawsuits if it had not acted against him.</p>

<p>Google said it could not talk about individual employee cases.</p>

<p>US&nbsp;companies have broad latitude to restrict the speech of employees in private workplaces, where First Amendment protections against government censorship do not apply.</p>

<p>Damore&#39;s title at Google was software engineer and he had worked at the company since December 2013, according to a profile on LinkedIn.</p>

<p>The LinkedIn page also says Damore received a PhD in systems biology from Harvard University in 2013. Harvard said on Tuesday he completed a master&#39;s degree in the subject, not a PhD.</p>

<p>Industry experts note that in the early days of tech it was mostly women who held the then-unglamorous jobs of coding. But as the value of top-notch programming became clear, men came to dominate the field.</p>

<p>Other tech companies on Tuesday were closely watching the controversy at Google unfold, and grateful they were not the ones caught in another debate over gender and diversity.</p>

<p>&quot;Every large organisation has a James Damore, but at tech companies, they&#39;re more liberated to share their personal views,&quot; an executive at one major Silicon Valley firm said, speaking on condition of anonymity.</p>

<p>Tech firms have an abundance of &quot;smart, confident people who think they have an obligation to share their wisdom with their coworkers,&quot; the executive said.</p>


Memo author James Damore, 28, received jeers, cheers and a couple of job offers, while the debate raged on social media and some tech firms took steps to prevent similar episodes from embroiling their companies

A Silicon Valley culture war pitting liberal-leaning tech firms against a small conservative cohort took on new intensity on Tuesday after Google fired a male engineer for a memo that decried the company's commitment to hiring women. Memo author James Damore, 28, received jeers, cheers and a couple of job offers, while the debate raged on social media and some tech firms took steps to prevent similar episodes from embroiling their companies. Damore confirmed his dismissal from Alphabet's Google on Monday, after he wrote a 10-page memo that said the company was hostile to conservative viewpoints and that women on average have more neuroticism. Many in Silicon Valley found his views, which argued that men, in general, may be biologically more suited to coding jobs than women, offensive and destructive. The manifesto was embraced by some, particularly on the political right, who branded him a brave truth-teller. The episode recalled past examples of the wide gulf between US conservative activists and the tech sector. In 2014, Brendan Eich was forced out as Mozilla's chief executive after his opposition to gay marriage became public. Most technology executives held the opposite view, and tech companies often gave benefits to same-sex couples well before gay marriage was legalised. "Anyone who deviates from the talking points of the liberal left is shunned, shamed and forced out," Andrew Torba, chief executive of the social network Gab, said in an interview. Torba, whose company is popular among conservatives, said Damore could work for him. WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, whose group released hacked emails that helped the campaign of Republican US President Donald Trump, also offered Damore a job, writing on Twitter that "censorship is for losers." Firing Damore was too extreme and Google should have put him through training instead, said Aaron Ginn, co-founder of the Lincoln Network, a group of libertarian-leaning tech workers and investors. "You're going to make him a martyr. In this hyper-tribal political day, we are in, I think you'd want to try to avoid making him a martyr," Ginn said. Intense political feelings recently divided two board members of Facebook, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Last August, Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, warned investor Peter Thiel in an email that Thiel's support for Trump showed "catastrophically bad judgment," the newspaper reported. The outcome of that dispute is not known. Hastings and Thiel remain on Facebook's board. Facebook declined to comment. More generally, Silicon Valley tech companies have been under mounting criticism for not doing enough to promote gender equality and stamp out sexual harassment. Claims of persistent sexual harassment in the ranks of Uber Technologies and of several venture capital firms have led to management shake-ups. The US Labor Department is investigating Google to see whether the firm has unlawfully paid women less than men. Google denies that it does. Code of Conduct Google, which has used the motto "Don't be evil," received accolades from many quarters for treating Damore's memo as a threat to its corporate culture. "What he wrote is extremely toxic to the tech community we are trying to support. He's categorising us in a way that makes us seem weak or incompetent," said Adriana Gascoigne, founder of the San Francisco nonprofit Girls in Tech. Josh Reeves, chief executive at Gusto, a software company, said he expected the topic would come up at its all-staff meeting on Wednesday. Gusto's code of conduct "specifically prohibits a memo like Damore's," Reeves said, if the memo would be offensive to individuals in a protected group. Damore, who could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, said in an email to Reuters on Monday that he was exploring a possible legal challenge to his dismissal. His case would likely be weak, employment lawyers said, and some lawyers said Google could have faced lawsuits if it had not acted against him. Google said it could not talk about individual employee cases. US companies have broad latitude to restrict the speech of employees in private workplaces, where First Amendment protections against government censorship do not apply. Damore's title at Google was software engineer and he had worked at the company since December 2013, according to a profile on LinkedIn. The LinkedIn page also says Damore received a PhD in systems biology from Harvard University in 2013. Harvard said on Tuesday he completed a master's degree in the subject, not a PhD. Industry experts note that in the early days of tech it was mostly women who held the then-unglamorous jobs of coding. But as the value of top-notch programming became clear, men came to dominate the field. Other tech companies on Tuesday were closely watching the controversy at Google unfold, and grateful they were not the ones caught in another debate over gender and diversity. "Every large organisation has a James Damore, but at tech companies, they're more liberated to share their personal views," an executive at one major Silicon Valley firm said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Tech firms have an abundance of "smart, confident people who think they have an obligation to share their wisdom with their coworkers," the executive said.

Liberal tech firms align with engineer fired by Google

<p>Alphabet Inc&#39;s Google has fired an employee who wrote an internal memo that ascribed gender inequality in the technology industry to biological differences.</p>

<p>James Damore, the engineer who wrote the memo, confirmed his dismissal saying that he had been fired for &quot;perpetuating gender stereotypes,&quot; in an email to Reuters on Monday.</p>

<p>Damore said he is exploring all possible legal remedies.</p>

<p>Google said it could not talk about individual employee cases.</p>

<p>&quot;Distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don&#39;t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership,&quot; James wrote in an internal company memo last week.</p>

<p>&quot;Portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace,&quot; Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in an internal email viewed by Reuters on Monday.</p>

<p>The memo stoked a heated debate over treatment of women in the male-dominated Silicon Valley that has boiled for months following sexual harassment scandals at Uber Technologies Inc and several venture capital firms.</p>

<p>Google&#39;s vice president of diversity, Danielle Brown, sent a memo in response to the furor, saying the engineer&#39;s essay &quot;advanced incorrect assumptions about gender.&quot;</p>


James Damore had written an internal memo that ascribed gender inequality in the technology industry to biological differences

Alphabet Inc's Google has fired an employee who wrote an internal memo that ascribed gender inequality in the technology industry to biological differences. James Damore, the engineer who wrote the memo, confirmed his dismissal saying that he had been fired for "perpetuating gender stereotypes," in an email to Reuters on Monday. Damore said he is exploring all possible legal remedies. Google said it could not talk about individual employee cases. "Distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don't see equal representation of women in tech and leadership," James wrote in an internal company memo last week. "Portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace," Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in an internal email viewed by Reuters on Monday. The memo stoked a heated debate over treatment of women in the male-dominated Silicon Valley that has boiled for months following sexual harassment scandals at Uber Technologies Inc and several venture capital firms. Google's vice president of diversity, Danielle Brown, sent a memo in response to the furor, saying the engineer's essay "advanced incorrect assumptions about gender."

Google fires employee who wrote anti-diversity memo

<p>Several reports reveal Google&#39;s planned to buy Snapchat for $30 billion in May, 2016 before Snap&#39;s last funding round, according to Business Insider Alex Health.&nbsp;</p>

<p>However, Snap&#39;s CEO Evan Spiegel declined the Google&#39;s offer even after Snap&#39;s market cap slipped to around $15 billion from $30 billion. According to a report in TechCrunch, Snapchat invalidated the information about the offer calling it &quot;false rumours &quot;. Several media reports had speculated&nbsp;talks of a buyout before Snap went public with their IPO in March this year.</p>

<p>The news of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/google-redesigns-mobile-search-app-with-personalised-feed-18114">Google&#39;</a>s offer to Snapchat has benefited the latter as it increased its share price to 2.3% but lately Snap had been experiencing a downfall in its share price due to the strong growth of Instagram&#39;s stories and Whatsapp clones of Snapchat.&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/snapchat-upgrades-its-messaging-app-with-multi-snap-recording-feature-18080">Snapchat, a multimedia mobile application</a>, was launched in 2011 by former Stanford University students - Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The multimedia app is the upgraded version of Picaboo, that was launched only for iOS App Store. The founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy later reintroduced the app as <a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/snachat-makes-copying-difficult-for-its-rivals-18227">Snapchat</a> with enhanced features. Since then the app has undergone several technological innovations.</p>

<p>Snapchat for Android was launched in October 2012.&nbsp;Snapchat has evolved from being a simple start-up with not many users to millions of daily active users worldwide.&nbsp;Inspired by&nbsp;the multimedia app, Facebook and Instagram have also added Snapchat&#39;s clones in their app.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Snap has often been criticised by tech experts for the disappearance of photos, videos and text messages after they are viewed once which is Snap&#39;s main feature.</p>

<p>&nbsp;Besides the messaging features, Snapchat offers the popular &#39;Snapchat stories&#39;, &#39;Memories&#39; and stickers. Snapchat stories can be replayed for 24 hours while Memories are saved pictures that can be shared later.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The offer was declined by Snap's CEO Evan Spiegel even after Snap's market cap slipped to around $15 billion from $30 billion

Several reports reveal Google's planned to buy Snapchat for $30 billion in May, 2016 before Snap's last funding round, according to Business Insider Alex Health. However, Snap's CEO Evan Spiegel declined the Google's offer even after Snap's market cap slipped to around $15 billion from $30 billion. According to a report in TechCrunch, Snapchat invalidated the information about the offer calling it "false rumours ". Several media reports had speculated talks of a buyout before Snap went public with their IPO in March this year. The news of Google's offer to Snapchat has benefited the latter as it increased its share price to 2.3% but lately Snap had been experiencing a downfall in its share price due to the strong growth of Instagram's stories and Whatsapp clones of Snapchat. Snapchat, a multimedia mobile application, was launched in 2011 by former Stanford University students - Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. The multimedia app is the upgraded version of Picaboo, that was launched only for iOS App Store. The founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy later reintroduced the app as Snapchat with enhanced features. Since then the app has undergone several technological innovations. Snapchat for Android was launched in October 2012. Snapchat has evolved from being a simple start-up with not many users to millions of daily active users worldwide. Inspired by the multimedia app, Facebook and Instagram have also added Snapchat's clones in their app. Snap has often been criticised by tech experts for the disappearance of photos, videos and text messages after they are viewed once which is Snap's main feature. Besides the messaging features, Snapchat offers the popular 'Snapchat stories', 'Memories' and stickers. Snapchat stories can be replayed for 24 hours while Memories are saved pictures that can be shared later.

Snapchat declined Google's $30 billion offer

<p>&nbsp;Alphabet said it appointed the chief executive of its Google unit, Sundar Pichai, to its board.</p>

<p>The company&#39;s board also includes founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.</p>

<p>Alphabet is set to report second quarter earnings on Monday after markets close.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The company's board also includes founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Alphabet said it appointed the chief executive of its Google unit, Sundar Pichai, to its board. The company's board also includes founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Alphabet is set to report second quarter earnings on Monday after markets close.

Alphabet appoints Google CEO Pichai to board

<p>Google can now help in quick detection of dengue fever in less developed countries. &nbsp;An analytical tool has been designed that uses Google search data to&nbsp;track&nbsp;the disease.&nbsp;</p>

<p><br />
The research is inspired by a method that the&nbsp;US has been using to track influenza.&nbsp;</p>

<p><br />
Dengue infects over 390 million people worldwide each year and is difficult to monitor with traditional methods. However, it may now be possible to tackle the problem with the new Google research methodology.</p>


An analytical tool has been designed that uses Google search data for tracking the disease

Google can now help in quick detection of dengue fever in less developed countries. An analytical tool has been designed that uses Google search data to track the disease. The research is inspired by a method that the US has been using to track influenza. Dengue infects over 390 million people worldwide each year and is difficult to monitor with traditional methods. However, it may now be possible to tackle the problem with the new Google research methodology.

Now, Google methodology will detect dengue

<p>Last year Google launched &#39;Motion Stills&#39; for iOS. The app allowed iPhone users to stabilise live photos and convert them into looping GIFs and videos.These Gifs and videos could be shared later on.</p>

<p>Google has claimed that the app was well received by iPhone users, and was in great demand by Android users as well. Google has now introduced a similar app with advanced features for Android users also. The new app called &#39;Motion Stills&#39; is designed for Android 5.1 and later series.</p>

<p>&quot;From its initial release, the community has been asking us to also make Motion Stills available for Android. We listened to your feedback and today, we&#39;re excited to announce that we&rsquo;re bringing this technology, and more, to devices running Android 5.1 and later!&quot; Google stated.</p>

<p>Motion Stills on Android will transfer everything you capture with a single tap into short clips.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Android app is designed with a new feature called &#39;Fast Forward&#39; which condenses a longer recording into a Fast Forward video of one minute. The users can adjust the speed of the video accordingly.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<p>The new &#39;Fast Forward&#39; feature condenses a longer recording into a Fast Forward video (Others)</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>It also has an improved trimming algorithm which will guard against any camera shake or pocket shots.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Google has upgraded the iOS version and redesigned the video processing pipeline. The upgraded feature will process each frame of the video as it is being recorded. This will give instant results immediately after recording without exhausting your battery.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The app does not offer to import and edit any of your existing videos. The videos from Motion Stills can be shared easily.</p>

<p>The motion Stills does not require an internet connection to run.</p>


Last year Google launched 'Motion Stills' for iOS. The app allowed iPhone users to stabilise live photos and convert them into looping GIFs and videos.

Last year Google launched 'Motion Stills' for iOS. The app allowed iPhone users to stabilise live photos and convert them into looping GIFs and videos.These Gifs and videos could be shared later on. Google has claimed that the app was well received by iPhone users, and was in great demand by Android users as well. Google has now introduced a similar app with advanced features for Android users also. The new app called 'Motion Stills' is designed for Android 5.1 and later series. "From its initial release, the community has been asking us to also make Motion Stills available for Android. We listened to your feedback and today, we're excited to announce that we’re bringing this technology, and more, to devices running Android 5.1 and later!" Google stated. Motion Stills on Android will transfer everything you capture with a single tap into short clips. The Android app is designed with a new feature called 'Fast Forward' which condenses a longer recording into a Fast Forward video of one minute. The users can adjust the speed of the video accordingly. The new 'Fast Forward' feature condenses a longer recording into a Fast Forward video (Others) × It also has an improved trimming algorithm which will guard against any camera shake or pocket shots. Google has upgraded the iOS version and redesigned the video processing pipeline. The upgraded feature will process each frame of the video as it is being recorded. This will give instant results immediately after recording without exhausting your battery. The app does not offer to import and edit any of your existing videos. The videos from Motion Stills can be shared easily. The motion Stills does not require an internet connection to run.

Google releases upgraded 'Motion Still' for Android

<p>Google announced an overhaul of its search app on mobile phones to include a personalised feed of links about hobbies, travel, sports, and other topics, a move that puts the search company into more direct competition with social networks such as Facebook.</p>

<p>Google, the world&#39;s largest search engine and a unit of Alphabet, said the changes would begin rolling out in the United States on Wednesday and other countries in the coming weeks.</p>

<p>The new offering is called &quot;Google&nbsp;Feed,&quot; a name that may conjure comparisons to Facebook&#39;s &quot;News Feed,&quot; a feature on Facebook used to browse updates from friends, family, and other sources.</p>

<p>Google&nbsp;said, however, that it was not trying to duplicate Facebook, the world&#39;s largest social network. Instead, the company said it wanted to create another place to see a stream of relevant search results.</p>

<p>&quot;This feed is really about your interests ... It&#39;s not really about what your friends are interested in,&quot; Ben Gomes, a&nbsp;Google&nbsp;vice president of engineering, said in a briefing with reporters.</p>

<p>Typical updates might include a link to a website with tips about an upcoming vacation spot, or a link to a page about cycling or another hobby, the company said.</p>

<p>Facebook and&nbsp;Google&nbsp;are jockeying for attention online and by extension, for advertising revenue based on those eyeballs. The two Silicon Valley companies are expected to take in some 50 per cent of overall online ad spending in 2018, according to research firm eMarketer.</p>

<p>There were no immediate plans to include advertising in&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Feed, Gomes said.</p>

<p>Google&nbsp;Feed will suggest links based on a user&#39;s&nbsp;Google&nbsp;search history as well as data from other&nbsp;Google&nbsp;services, such as YouTube, Gmail, and&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Calendar, the company said.</p>

<p>In addition to putting&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Feed on mobile apps, the company is looking at attaching it to web browsers in some form, Shashi Thakur, a second&nbsp;Google&nbsp;vice president for engineering, said during the briefing.</p>


Google announced an overhaul of its search app on mobile phones to include a personalised feed of links about hobbies, travel, sports, and other topics

Google announced an overhaul of its search app on mobile phones to include a personalised feed of links about hobbies, travel, sports, and other topics, a move that puts the search company into more direct competition with social networks such as Facebook. Google, the world's largest search engine and a unit of Alphabet, said the changes would begin rolling out in the United States on Wednesday and other countries in the coming weeks. The new offering is called "Google Feed," a name that may conjure comparisons to Facebook's "News Feed," a feature on Facebook used to browse updates from friends, family, and other sources. Google said, however, that it was not trying to duplicate Facebook, the world's largest social network. Instead, the company said it wanted to create another place to see a stream of relevant search results. "This feed is really about your interests ... It's not really about what your friends are interested in," Ben Gomes, a Google vice president of engineering, said in a briefing with reporters. Typical updates might include a link to a website with tips about an upcoming vacation spot, or a link to a page about cycling or another hobby, the company said. Facebook and Google are jockeying for attention online and by extension, for advertising revenue based on those eyeballs. The two Silicon Valley companies are expected to take in some 50 per cent of overall online ad spending in 2018, according to research firm eMarketer. There were no immediate plans to include advertising in Google Feed, Gomes said. Google Feed will suggest links based on a user's Google search history as well as data from other Google services, such as YouTube, Gmail, and Google Calendar, the company said. In addition to putting Google Feed on mobile apps, the company is looking at attaching it to web browsers in some form, Shashi Thakur, a second Google vice president for engineering, said during the briefing.

Google redesigns mobile search app with personalised 'feed'

<p>It seems that the dark clouds of controversies are hovering over Google relentlessly. After recently being slapped with a fine of record 2.7 billion US dollars by European antitrust regulators for favouring its own shopping service, Google has now been accused of funding academic research in the US and Europe - with the intention to influence decisions on matters of public policy.</p>

<p>US-based Campaign for Accountability (CfA) has come out with a <a href="http://googletransparencyproject.org/articles/google-academics-inc">report called &ldquo;Google Academics&rdquo;</a>, alleging the US tech giant of funding 329 research papers (with 179 directly-funded and 150 indirectly-funded) since 2005 on issues related to antitrust, net neutrality, copyright and anti-piracy, to protect its business interests.</p>

<p>CfA executive director Daniel Stevens has even gone on to state that the company has used its position and wealth to influence policy makers. &ldquo;Google uses its immense wealth and power to attempt to influence policy makers at every level.&rdquo; Because the fact of the matter is that policy makers and regulators often rely on research papers and academic work for a lot of policy decisions. And if the report was true - in entirety or in parts, this could mean that most of the decisions by policy makers must have inadvertently been taken in favour of Google.</p>

<p>Calling the report &ldquo;highly misleading&rdquo;, Google, however, has outrightly rejected all the allegations, but there are a few observations that can&rsquo;t go unnoticed. Take a look at the graph below to understand some interesting insights.</p>

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<p>Year-wise representation of Google-funded studies on antitrust issues. (Others)</p>
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<p>This is an year-wise representation of Google-funded studies on antitrust cases. As you see, the largest number of Google-funded studies were published in 2012, which coincided with the time when a plethora of antitrust investigations were made to scrutinise the company&rsquo;s practices by the Federal Trade Commission and European regulators. And as the CfA&rsquo;s report claims, 50 Google-funded studies on antitrust issues were published between 2011 and 2013.</p>

<p>But that spike came down by 2013 - which happened to be the same time during which the Federal Trade Commission shut its investigation. But interestingly, the studies on antitrust issues saw an upward shift in 2015. And it was the time when the European Commission pressed Google with formal antitrust charges. If the data is to be believed, more than a third (113) of the Google-funded studies centre around antitrust issues.</p>

<p>Another graph here highlights that it was just not antitrust, but research papers around copyright issues were also properly timed by Google.</p>

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<p>Google-funded copyright papers surged as the company battled anti-piracy bills. (Reuters)</p>
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<p>&quot;Google-funded studies on copyright issues also surged in 2012, as the company fought anti-piracy bills in Congress. They peaked the following year amid continuing battles over whether it could be held responsible for distributing pirated books, music or movies,&quot; says the report.</p>

<p>And as the data from the report highlights, 329 Google-funded research papers identified have been cited nearly 6,000 times in over 4,700 unique articles.</p>

<p>It has been further reported that all these Google-funded studies in question were authored by academics and economic consultants from some of the prominent schools and universities, including Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and University of California Berkeley.</p>

<p>While Google may not be the only company to have engaged in such unfair practices to advance policy goals, but insights from the report and antitrust charges slapped in the past hint at the company&rsquo;s involvement in unscrupulous business practices.</p>

<p><strong>Google retorts to CfA&rsquo;s report</strong></p>

<p>Responding to allegations made by the CfA, Google has called the report &ldquo;highly misleading.&rdquo; Expressing disappointment, Google mentions that the CfA has even attributed Google for the work supported by organisations to which Google donated money to.</p>

<p>Google further points out that many of the academics listed by the Campaign for Accountability have condemned the company, their approach and policy positions on a wide range of topics.</p>

<p>But what is ironic here is that Google in return goes on to ask the CfA to reveal their funders. Taking potshots at the CfA in its snooty <a href="https://www.blog.google/topics/public-policy/responding-campaign-accountability-report-academic-research/">blog post</a>, Google highlights that this group has consistently refused to name its corporate funders. And without mincing its words, Google has directly named Oracle as one of the CfA&rsquo;s funders - something it says the world already knows about.</p>

<p>As Google claims, Oracle &quot;is running a well-documented lobbying campaign against us. In its own name and through proxies, Oracle has funded many hundreds of articles, research papers, symposia and reports.&quot;</p>

<p>While Google has clearly dismissed the report, the data and statistics listed in the CfA report put forth a scenario, which, if proven true, could be damaging to the industry and the academic world at large.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


?Google uses its immense wealth and power to attempt to influence policy makers at every level,? says CfA executive director Daniel Stevens

It seems that the dark clouds of controversies are hovering over Google relentlessly. After recently being slapped with a fine of record 2.7 billion US dollars by European antitrust regulators for favouring its own shopping service, Google has now been accused of funding academic research in the US and Europe - with the intention to influence decisions on matters of public policy. US-based Campaign for Accountability (CfA) has come out with a report called “Google Academics”, alleging the US tech giant of funding 329 research papers (with 179 directly-funded and 150 indirectly-funded) since 2005 on issues related to antitrust, net neutrality, copyright and anti-piracy, to protect its business interests. CfA executive director Daniel Stevens has even gone on to state that the company has used its position and wealth to influence policy makers. “Google uses its immense wealth and power to attempt to influence policy makers at every level.” Because the fact of the matter is that policy makers and regulators often rely on research papers and academic work for a lot of policy decisions. And if the report was true - in entirety or in parts, this could mean that most of the decisions by policy makers must have inadvertently been taken in favour of Google. Calling the report “highly misleading”, Google, however, has outrightly rejected all the allegations, but there are a few observations that can’t go unnoticed. Take a look at the graph below to understand some interesting insights. Year-wise representation of Google-funded studies on antitrust issues. (Others) × This is an year-wise representation of Google-funded studies on antitrust cases. As you see, the largest number of Google-funded studies were published in 2012, which coincided with the time when a plethora of antitrust investigations were made to scrutinise the company’s practices by the Federal Trade Commission and European regulators. And as the CfA’s report claims, 50 Google-funded studies on antitrust issues were published between 2011 and 2013. But that spike came down by 2013 - which happened to be the same time during which the Federal Trade Commission shut its investigation. But interestingly, the studies on antitrust issues saw an upward shift in 2015. And it was the time when the European Commission pressed Google with formal antitrust charges. If the data is to be believed, more than a third (113) of the Google-funded studies centre around antitrust issues. Another graph here highlights that it was just not antitrust, but research papers around copyright issues were also properly timed by Google. Google-funded copyright papers surged as the company battled anti-piracy bills. (Reuters) × "Google-funded studies on copyright issues also surged in 2012, as the company fought anti-piracy bills in Congress. They peaked the following year amid continuing battles over whether it could be held responsible for distributing pirated books, music or movies," says the report. And as the data from the report highlights, 329 Google-funded research papers identified have been cited nearly 6,000 times in over 4,700 unique articles. It has been further reported that all these Google-funded studies in question were authored by academics and economic consultants from some of the prominent schools and universities, including Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and University of California Berkeley. While Google may not be the only company to have engaged in such unfair practices to advance policy goals, but insights from the report and antitrust charges slapped in the past hint at the company’s involvement in unscrupulous business practices. Google retorts to CfA’s report Responding to allegations made by the CfA, Google has called the report “highly misleading.” Expressing disappointment, Google mentions that the CfA has even attributed Google for the work supported by organisations to which Google donated money to. Google further points out that many of the academics listed by the Campaign for Accountability have condemned the company, their approach and policy positions on a wide range of topics. But what is ironic here is that Google in return goes on to ask the CfA to reveal their funders. Taking potshots at the CfA in its snooty blog post, Google highlights that this group has consistently refused to name its corporate funders. And without mincing its words, Google has directly named Oracle as one of the CfA’s funders - something it says the world already knows about. As Google claims, Oracle "is running a well-documented lobbying campaign against us. In its own name and through proxies, Oracle has funded many hundreds of articles, research papers, symposia and reports." While Google has clearly dismissed the report, the data and statistics listed in the CfA report put forth a scenario, which, if proven true, could be damaging to the industry and the academic world at large.

Is Google funding academics to protect its business interests?

<p>Alphabet wants users to post millions of stories, video, and photos on its&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Earth&nbsp;platform in the next few years, the program chief said at a launch event in Brazil for content focused on showcasing the Amazon rainforest.</p>

<p>The &quot;Voyager&quot; tool allows internet surfers to take interactive tours of exotic destinations on Google&nbsp;Earth&nbsp;led by the likes of primatologist Jane Goodall, with photos, information, and maps.</p>

<p>However, regular users will be able to create their own unedited content for private or public use within two to three years,&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Earth&nbsp;Director Rebecca Moore said. &quot;The story of your family history, the story of your favourite hiking trip, it could be anything. It doesn&#39;t have to be profound,&quot; she said at the event in Sao Paulo.</p>

<p>Moore took the stage at an event in Sao Paulo to unveil the &quot;I am the Amazon&quot; project, which has mapped 11 sites to document the relationship between the rainforest and its people, touching on topics like food, water and cultural origins.</p>

<p>To tell the stories of communities such as the Yanomami people, Cinta Larga and the Boa Vista Quilombola,&nbsp;Google&nbsp;and partners used tools like 3D cameras to accompany satellite images with videos and text.</p>

<p>Moore did not reveal the budget for the project but she ruled out the idea of advertising on the platform and said it is not&nbsp;Google&#39;s intention to turn a profit from the venture. &quot;Google&nbsp;Earth&nbsp;is our gift to the world,&quot; she said. &quot;In terms of budget,&nbsp;Google&nbsp;has nice revenue from advertising, and not everything&nbsp;Google&nbsp;does has to make money.&quot;</p>


Regular users will be able to create their own unedited content for private or public use within two to three years

Alphabet wants users to post millions of stories, video, and photos on its Google Earth platform in the next few years, the program chief said at a launch event in Brazil for content focused on showcasing the Amazon rainforest. The "Voyager" tool allows internet surfers to take interactive tours of exotic destinations on Google Earth led by the likes of primatologist Jane Goodall, with photos, information, and maps. However, regular users will be able to create their own unedited content for private or public use within two to three years, Google Earth Director Rebecca Moore said. "The story of your family history, the story of your favourite hiking trip, it could be anything. It doesn't have to be profound," she said at the event in Sao Paulo. Moore took the stage at an event in Sao Paulo to unveil the "I am the Amazon" project, which has mapped 11 sites to document the relationship between the rainforest and its people, touching on topics like food, water and cultural origins. To tell the stories of communities such as the Yanomami people, Cinta Larga and the Boa Vista Quilombola, Google and partners used tools like 3D cameras to accompany satellite images with videos and text. Moore did not reveal the budget for the project but she ruled out the idea of advertising on the platform and said it is not Google's intention to turn a profit from the venture. "Google Earth is our gift to the world," she said. "In terms of budget, Google has nice revenue from advertising, and not everything Google does has to make money."

Google Earth to let users post stories, photos in coming years

<p>After being hit by a massive fine of 2.4 billion Euro by EU antitrust regulations, Google has again invited trouble due to its search results. This time the search engine highlighted results for &quot;Best Torrent sites&quot;.</p>

<p>The results for &#39;best torrent sites&#39; listed down Rarbg, 1337x, isoHunt, The Pirate Bay and many others torrent sites.The report was first published by Torent Freak.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Google also displayed illegal infamous software like Putlocker and Alluc along with legal streaming such as Hulu and Crakle, for the search of &#39;streaming sites&#39;. This is in variance with Google&#39;s &nbsp;attempt of curbing online piracy.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In February Google and MIcrosoft entered into an agreement with the British Phonographic Industry and Motion Picture Association to delist pirated websites from the first page of search results. The agreement was supposed to come into effect from June 1, 2017. However, the latest developments reflect a failure of this attempt.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Google had shown similar pirated ratings of movies previously. The entertainment industry has already blamed Google for not doing much to curb piracy.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Google justified its stance on the matter by saying that the results are generated based on algorithms. &quot; These results are generated algorithmically, but in this particular case, do not reflect what we had in mind for this feature, and we are looking into it.&quot;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Google results placed together pirated software along with legal streaming sites

After being hit by a massive fine of 2.4 billion Euro by EU antitrust regulations, Google has again invited trouble due to its search results. This time the search engine highlighted results for "Best Torrent sites". The results for 'best torrent sites' listed down Rarbg, 1337x, isoHunt, The Pirate Bay and many others torrent sites.The report was first published by Torent Freak. Google also displayed illegal infamous software like Putlocker and Alluc along with legal streaming such as Hulu and Crakle, for the search of 'streaming sites'. This is in variance with Google's attempt of curbing online piracy. In February Google and MIcrosoft entered into an agreement with the British Phonographic Industry and Motion Picture Association to delist pirated websites from the first page of search results. The agreement was supposed to come into effect from June 1, 2017. However, the latest developments reflect a failure of this attempt. Google had shown similar pirated ratings of movies previously. The entertainment industry has already blamed Google for not doing much to curb piracy. Google justified its stance on the matter by saying that the results are generated based on algorithms. " These results are generated algorithmically, but in this particular case, do not reflect what we had in mind for this feature, and we are looking into it."

Google results show pirated sites

<p>Google has ramped up its legal firepower as it prepares to do battle with EU antitrust regulators after a landmark 2.4 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) fine and the possibility of a second record sanction before the end of the year.</p>

<p>Alphabet unit Google, the world&#39;s most popular internet search engine, is drawing on the expertise of at least five top law firms in Brussels to help it deal with its EU regulatory troubles.The EU competition authority hit the company with a 2.4 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) penalty last month for unfairly favouring its shopping service.</p>

<p>Antirust regulators are also weighing a record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and a third case involves its AdSense for Search platform.</p>

<p>The Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe&#39;s second-highest, will be the first battleground for Google if it challenges the European Commission&#39;s June decision and potentially disruptive changes to its business practices.</p>

<p>Cleary Gottlieb, Allen &amp; Overy, Slaughter and May, Garrigues and White &amp; Case have all been tapped by Google.</p>

<p>Google did not immediately respond to an email for comment.</p>

<p>A partner at London-based law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, Ian Giles, said &quot; The company&#39;s decision to rely on a diverse range of lawyers makes sense because of the risks it faces. Given the potential penalties and damages actions it faces, Google will want to invest in the best possible defence team, and direct legal costs will be a relatively minor consideration,&quot;.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;There may be simple capacity reasons as to why they are sharing the workload between a number of law firms, but there is also value to seeking a second opinion, reconsidering strategy, and bringing new ideas to the table,&quot;&nbsp;he added.</p>

<p>Expect fireworks, economist Georgios Petropoulos at think-tank Bruegel said. &quot;There has been no similar case in European law in the past. It is a very challenging case and difficult to prove one or the other,&quot; he said referring to issues such as market dominance, definition of the relevant market, among others.</p>

<p>&quot;The (Commission&#39;s mention of a) 45-fold increase in traffic to Google shopping and the 85 per cent drop in traffic to some competitor sites suggest there is significant potential for such actions, as does the size of the penalty,&quot; Collyer Bristow lawyer Stephen Critchley wrote in a recent note.</p>

<p>The legal battles will also provide helpful markers for the fast-moving tech industry and regulators struggling to impose old rules on new markets and dominant social platforms, said Petropoulos.&quot;We need some decisions on what is good and what is bad. All these will provide more clarity on how this market works,&quot; he said.</p>

<p>Cleary Gottlieb is advising on the Google shopping case, Allen &amp; Overy together with Cleary on the Android smartphone case and Slaughter and May on the AdSense case, the sources said. Garrigues and White &amp; Case, which signed up former General Court Judge Nicholas Forwood last year, are also providing competition advice.</p>

<p>Forwood took part in the Luxembourg court&#39;s 2007 and 2012 rulings on Microsoft, which did battle with the EU in several investigations that ultimately cost it more than 2.2 billion euros in penalties.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The move has come after the EU competition authority hit the company with a 2.4 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) penalty last month for unfairly favouring its shopping service

Google has ramped up its legal firepower as it prepares to do battle with EU antitrust regulators after a landmark 2.4 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) fine and the possibility of a second record sanction before the end of the year. Alphabet unit Google, the world's most popular internet search engine, is drawing on the expertise of at least five top law firms in Brussels to help it deal with its EU regulatory troubles.The EU competition authority hit the company with a 2.4 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) penalty last month for unfairly favouring its shopping service. Antirust regulators are also weighing a record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and a third case involves its AdSense for Search platform. The Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe's second-highest, will be the first battleground for Google if it challenges the European Commission's June decision and potentially disruptive changes to its business practices. Cleary Gottlieb, Allen & Overy, Slaughter and May, Garrigues and White & Case have all been tapped by Google. Google did not immediately respond to an email for comment. A partner at London-based law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, Ian Giles, said " The company's decision to rely on a diverse range of lawyers makes sense because of the risks it faces. Given the potential penalties and damages actions it faces, Google will want to invest in the best possible defence team, and direct legal costs will be a relatively minor consideration,". "There may be simple capacity reasons as to why they are sharing the workload between a number of law firms, but there is also value to seeking a second opinion, reconsidering strategy, and bringing new ideas to the table," he added. Expect fireworks, economist Georgios Petropoulos at think-tank Bruegel said. "There has been no similar case in European law in the past. It is a very challenging case and difficult to prove one or the other," he said referring to issues such as market dominance, definition of the relevant market, among others. "The (Commission's mention of a) 45-fold increase in traffic to Google shopping and the 85 per cent drop in traffic to some competitor sites suggest there is significant potential for such actions, as does the size of the penalty," Collyer Bristow lawyer Stephen Critchley wrote in a recent note. The legal battles will also provide helpful markers for the fast-moving tech industry and regulators struggling to impose old rules on new markets and dominant social platforms, said Petropoulos."We need some decisions on what is good and what is bad. All these will provide more clarity on how this market works," he said. Cleary Gottlieb is advising on the Google shopping case, Allen & Overy together with Cleary on the Android smartphone case and Slaughter and May on the AdSense case, the sources said. Garrigues and White & Case, which signed up former General Court Judge Nicholas Forwood last year, are also providing competition advice. Forwood took part in the Luxembourg court's 2007 and 2012 rulings on Microsoft, which did battle with the EU in several investigations that ultimately cost it more than 2.2 billion euros in penalties.

Google taps top law firms to fight EU regulatory battles - sources

<p>The smartphone industry is not innovating as aggressively as they would do in the recent past. As a result, all phones today look and offer pretty much the same - something that has been bothering consumers, tech pundits, enthusiasts and critics, alike. And therefore, to understand the change in the way the mobile industry is progressing, where it stands today and where it is actually heading, we spoke with former Motorola India head Amit Boni - who is now serving Smartron India as VP for sales and marketing. Serving the mobile industry for a long time, Amit shared with us some interesting insights on the innovation lull in the smartphone arena and what is going to be the next defining factor in the mobile world.</p>

<p><em><strong>WION: How far do you think the smartphone market has come ever since the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007 and where does it actually stand today?</strong></em></p>

<p><strong>Amit: </strong>Well, if you are talking specifically in India context, I think, we are still a long way to go. If you see, the per capita smartphone penetration in India is still low. The TAM (Total Addressable Market) in India on the phones is probably upwards of 200 million units, probably a little more than that. But if you see the number of smartphones only, we are still looking at 120-125 million as the Total Addressable Market for the year.</p>

<p>So, fundamentally there is still a lot of people out there who are going for feature phones. And then you have a bunch of people, who are really buying not-so-great-quality smartphones in entry-level price tiers. So from purely India context, there is still a long way to go before we say everyone in India has a smartphone in hand. So the prospects out here, the transition out here, it will still unravel over the next 4-5 years.</p>

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<h5>You can practically accuse the industry of lack of innovation. There is very limited work happening in terms of hardware innovation.</h5>
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<p><em><strong>WION: But Amit given that every phone today has something similar to offer, what do you think is holding the phone companies back from standing out - lack of innovation or market saturation or something else?</strong></em></p>

<p><strong>Amit: </strong>From my perspective, that is definitely not market saturation. You can practically accuse the industry of lack of innovation. There is very limited work happening in terms of hardware innovation. Most of the work that is being done is happening at the chipset level. Those guys are doing some really good work; let&rsquo;s say, Quick Charge from Qualcomm and so on and so forth.</p>

<p>So, there is a lot of good stuff that is coming on that side. But otherwise, from a pure hardware side, very limited work has happened over the last 5-8 years - in terms of innovation. I think, a lot of it has got to do with how the industry is structured, how a lot of people essentially look at success - not necessarily in terms of innovation, but in terms of how they do market shares.</p>

<p>If you see even in India, there are these articles that come out every three months saying now this is number 1, that is number 2 and that is number 3. And there is a huge hyperbolic conversation that starts happening around that, which tells you the mindset that a lot of companies come out with. They think about how do I make the numbers, how do I sell more rather than thinking how do I generate tremendous amount of intellectual property, how do I innovate and what makes me come out with some great products for end consumers.</p>

<p><em><strong>WION: So where do you see the mobile industry going, or rather, say what do you think is going to be the next defining factor in the smartphone space?</strong></em></p>

<p><strong>Amit: </strong>Before I answer that, let&rsquo;s take a step back. If you see fundamentally phones, we look at them as a standalone product. So, over time, there is a good device or there is not such a good device, it&rsquo;s essentially spec-to-spec comparisons. People will say, there is more RAM, this is a bigger display, there is more internal storage. This is what people generally talk about.</p>

<p>As long as that stays, there is not much that is going to happen. But I think there is a growing understanding and I can tell you from Smartron perspective that when we are doing a bunch of devices, we are focusing on mobile ecosystem, because we understand that it&rsquo;s not only about putting in great hardware, what consumers are looking for is great use cases.</p>

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<h5>The future of smartphones or, may be, a lot of other consumer electronics will be modularity.</h5>
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<p><em><strong>WION: Amit, having said that there is lack of innovation in the smartphone space, there are still companies that have been striving to make things better and coming up with new concepts, and one such is the modular concept. But how do you see this concept emerging, how far can it make as an approach or do you think if it has the potential to appeal to masses out there?</strong></em></p>

<p><strong>Amit:</strong> I think modularity is a phenomenally good concept. Unfortunately, I don&rsquo;t think companies so far have been able to come out with something that truly does justice to that thought process. As a concept, if somebody tells you that you don&rsquo;t have to replace your overall device but you can go, and for example, replace a camera if there is a new camera sensor coming in or you can just replace the speaker with a better speaker, it&rsquo;s interesting.</p>

<p>I think, at an eclectic level, there are some really interesting thoughts out there, but it also need to be seamless for end consumers. It cannot be either highly priced so much so that your modular solutions are, at times, costing as high as your device itself or that the use cases are difficult to do.</p>

<p>There have been various attempts by a multitude of companies. They have tried to do modularity in one form or the other. But I think there is some way to go on that. I think the future of smartphones or may be, a lot of other consumer electronics will be modularity. Are we there yet? No. I think it&rsquo;s going to be another 4-5 years down the line till you see modular use cases coming, which will be more widespread.</p>

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<h5>I don&rsquo;t see GST changing anything with respect to manufacturing strategies. But what GST will interestingly do is it will alter the dynamics of last 3-4 years as you have seen between online and offline.</h5>
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<p><em><strong>WION: And talking about innovation, how promising do you find the concept of Augmented Reality-ready smartphones?</strong></em></p>

<p><strong>Amit:</strong> From a pure tech-next step, I see innovation in 2-3 different facets. I see innovation in terms of use cases. I see innovation in terms of business models. And then you see innovation purely in terms of technology additions. From a pure technology addition perspective, your Internet of Things, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) are next steps where your devices and technology will become a lot more connected.</p>

<p>There is a bunch of work that can happen - right from as simple thing as sports-themed cafes to actually doing a lot of education work. I think, AR and VR could play really interesting work. In next year or two, they will start becoming a lot more mainstream in a lot of ways.</p>

<p>But, as I said, a lot of this is dependent on your players in the market. If somebody thinks, you are not important enough as a country to get a flavour of AR and VR or IOT, then people are not going to do that. One of the problems that we have in India is that a lot of people think of market share as their primary driver. They want a run on those musical chairs.</p>

<p>As a result, nobody focuses on what consumers really want out there. They give them products that they believe are going to sell more without realising how you could make a user&rsquo;s life better. But I think if there are a bunch of people, who take that stance saying that this has use cases for Indian consumers, I think, you will see it becoming more mainstream over next 12-18 months.</p>

<p><strong><em>WION: As we all know, India is one of the sought-after markets when it comes to smartphones, and a lot of companies are setting up their manufacturing units in India, but now with GST into the picture, how do you see the game is going to be like for manufacturers out there?</em></strong></p>

<p><strong>Amit:</strong> I don&rsquo;t see it changing anything for the manufacturing , because I am sure that the government is cognisant of the investments that have been made&nbsp; in terms of having a better manufacturing ecosystem in the country. I am pretty sure that they are going to be supportive of that. I don&rsquo;t see GST changing anything with respect to manufacturing strategies. But what GST will interestingly do is it will alter the dynamics of last 3-4 years as you have seen between online and offline. Because suddenly now there is no arbitrage in terms of VAT that existed earlier for online players. It&rsquo;s a much more better-level playing field. I think it needs to be seen how the market shifts.</p>

<p><em><strong>WION: And Amit, there is one trend that I have been observing for a long time. A lot of companies enter the the high-end segment of the Indian mobile market at attractive prices. They keep the pricing really competitive for a couple of years and then eventually, they move to the price brackets where premium phones from top-notch players compete. I first noticed this trend with Motorola, then Google&rsquo;s Nexus lineup and now OnePlus is on the same path. What is the thought or better say, strategy behind it?</strong></em></p>

<p><strong>Amit: </strong>There are two things. So, a lot of players, when they enter the market, see pricing as an entry strategy. If you can increase the value for an end-consumer without spending that much money in marketing and brand building, you are probably going to have a much better price point. And those price points are interesting to consumers and they come in hoards to buy that.</p>

<p>In terms of really taking the price points up, I think it&rsquo;s singularly focused on pricing as a strategy. It&rsquo;s not a sustainable strategy, because supply chains globally in the phone industry give you a limited leverage - in terms of one&rsquo;s cost structure better than somebody else&rsquo;s. But I think there is not a lot of difference in those cost structures. So, if you keep on harping on those same price points, as a company, you are not going to survive.</p>

<p>So, companies need to make sure that they have a portfolio that spans a few product price points. May be, then they want to do a pricing play on a couple of products, which is plausible. But anyone, whose focus clearly is on pricing to begin with and then wants to move up, that doesn&rsquo;t work. But why they are forced is because sometimes, the economics come to bite back and say, a company cannot keep on doing those price points because they are not sustainable.</p>

<p><strong><em>WION: We all know that how you played an instrumental role in Motorola India&rsquo;s business. So what is your plan for Smartron, a company which is yet to hold some grounds in the market? What is the way forward?</em></strong></p>

<p><strong>Amit:</strong> Smartron, essentially, is not a smartphone company. We are an Internet of Things company. We have multiple areas of interest in terms of hardware as well as software. We have multiple categories - we have phones, wearables, computing and smart homes, to name a few. We will have play on the enterprise and infrastructure side of it. so, there is a bunch of things that we are looking at doing at Smartron.</p>

<h3><strong>You can watch the full interview here:</strong><br />
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Smartron India VP Amit Boni explains why all phones today look and offer pretty much the same - something that has been bothering consumers, tech pundits, enthusiasts and critics, alike.

The smartphone industry is not innovating as aggressively as they would do in the recent past. As a result, all phones today look and offer pretty much the same - something that has been bothering consumers, tech pundits, enthusiasts and critics, alike. And therefore, to understand the change in the way the mobile industry is progressing, where it stands today and where it is actually heading, we spoke with former Motorola India head Amit Boni - who is now serving Smartron India as VP for sales and marketing. Serving the mobile industry for a long time, Amit shared with us some interesting insights on the innovation lull in the smartphone arena and what is going to be the next defining factor in the mobile world. WION: How far do you think the smartphone market has come ever since the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007 and where does it actually stand today? Amit: Well, if you are talking specifically in India context, I think, we are still a long way to go. If you see, the per capita smartphone penetration in India is still low. The TAM (Total Addressable Market) in India on the phones is probably upwards of 200 million units, probably a little more than that. But if you see the number of smartphones only, we are still looking at 120-125 million as the Total Addressable Market for the year. So, fundamentally there is still a lot of people out there who are going for feature phones. And then you have a bunch of people, who are really buying not-so-great-quality smartphones in entry-level price tiers. So from purely India context, there is still a long way to go before we say everyone in India has a smartphone in hand. So the prospects out here, the transition out here, it will still unravel over the next 4-5 years. You can practically accuse the industry of lack of innovation. There is very limited work happening in terms of hardware innovation. × WION: But Amit given that every phone today has something similar to offer, what do you think is holding the phone companies back from standing out - lack of innovation or market saturation or something else? Amit: From my perspective, that is definitely not market saturation. You can practically accuse the industry of lack of innovation. There is very limited work happening in terms of hardware innovation. Most of the work that is being done is happening at the chipset level. Those guys are doing some really good work; let’s say, Quick Charge from Qualcomm and so on and so forth. So, there is a lot of good stuff that is coming on that side. But otherwise, from a pure hardware side, very limited work has happened over the last 5-8 years - in terms of innovation. I think, a lot of it has got to do with how the industry is structured, how a lot of people essentially look at success - not necessarily in terms of innovation, but in terms of how they do market shares. If you see even in India, there are these articles that come out every three months saying now this is number 1, that is number 2 and that is number 3. And there is a huge hyperbolic conversation that starts happening around that, which tells you the mindset that a lot of companies come out with. They think about how do I make the numbers, how do I sell more rather than thinking how do I generate tremendous amount of intellectual property, how do I innovate and what makes me come out with some great products for end consumers. WION: So where do you see the mobile industry going, or rather, say what do you think is going to be the next defining factor in the smartphone space? Amit: Before I answer that, let’s take a step back. If you see fundamentally phones, we look at them as a standalone product. So, over time, there is a good device or there is not such a good device, it’s essentially spec-to-spec comparisons. People will say, there is more RAM, this is a bigger display, there is more internal storage. This is what people generally talk about. As long as that stays, there is not much that is going to happen. But I think there is a growing understanding and I can tell you from Smartron perspective that when we are doing a bunch of devices, we are focusing on mobile ecosystem, because we understand that it’s not only about putting in great hardware, what consumers are looking for is great use cases. The future of smartphones or, may be, a lot of other consumer electronics will be modularity. × WION: Amit, having said that there is lack of innovation in the smartphone space, there are still companies that have been striving to make things better and coming up with new concepts, and one such is the modular concept. But how do you see this concept emerging, how far can it make as an approach or do you think if it has the potential to appeal to masses out there? Amit: I think modularity is a phenomenally good concept. Unfortunately, I don’t think companies so far have been able to come out with something that truly does justice to that thought process. As a concept, if somebody tells you that you don’t have to replace your overall device but you can go, and for example, replace a camera if there is a new camera sensor coming in or you can just replace the speaker with a better speaker, it’s interesting. I think, at an eclectic level, there are some really interesting thoughts out there, but it also need to be seamless for end consumers. It cannot be either highly priced so much so that your modular solutions are, at times, costing as high as your device itself or that the use cases are difficult to do. There have been various attempts by a multitude of companies. They have tried to do modularity in one form or the other. But I think there is some way to go on that. I think the future of smartphones or may be, a lot of other consumer electronics will be modularity. Are we there yet? No. I think it’s going to be another 4-5 years down the line till you see modular use cases coming, which will be more widespread. I don’t see GST changing anything with respect to manufacturing strategies. But what GST will interestingly do is it will alter the dynamics of last 3-4 years as you have seen between online and offline. × WION: And talking about innovation, how promising do you find the concept of Augmented Reality-ready smartphones? Amit: From a pure tech-next step, I see innovation in 2-3 different facets. I see innovation in terms of use cases. I see innovation in terms of business models. And then you see innovation purely in terms of technology additions. From a pure technology addition perspective, your Internet of Things, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) are next steps where your devices and technology will become a lot more connected. There is a bunch of work that can happen - right from as simple thing as sports-themed cafes to actually doing a lot of education work. I think, AR and VR could play really interesting work. In next year or two, they will start becoming a lot more mainstream in a lot of ways. But, as I said, a lot of this is dependent on your players in the market. If somebody thinks, you are not important enough as a country to get a flavour of AR and VR or IOT, then people are not going to do that. One of the problems that we have in India is that a lot of people think of market share as their primary driver. They want a run on those musical chairs. As a result, nobody focuses on what consumers really want out there. They give them products that they believe are going to sell more without realising how you could make a user’s life better. But I think if there are a bunch of people, who take that stance saying that this has use cases for Indian consumers, I think, you will see it becoming more mainstream over next 12-18 months. WION: As we all know, India is one of the sought-after markets when it comes to smartphones, and a lot of companies are setting up their manufacturing units in India, but now with GST into the picture, how do you see the game is going to be like for manufacturers out there? Amit: I don’t see it changing anything for the manufacturing , because I am sure that the government is cognisant of the investments that have been made in terms of having a better manufacturing ecosystem in the country. I am pretty sure that they are going to be supportive of that. I don’t see GST changing anything with respect to manufacturing strategies. But what GST will interestingly do is it will alter the dynamics of last 3-4 years as you have seen between online and offline. Because suddenly now there is no arbitrage in terms of VAT that existed earlier for online players. It’s a much more better-level playing field. I think it needs to be seen how the market shifts. WION: And Amit, there is one trend that I have been observing for a long time. A lot of companies enter the the high-end segment of the Indian mobile market at attractive prices. They keep the pricing really competitive for a couple of years and then eventually, they move to the price brackets where premium phones from top-notch players compete. I first noticed this trend with Motorola, then Google’s Nexus lineup and now OnePlus is on the same path. What is the thought or better say, strategy behind it? Amit: There are two things. So, a lot of players, when they enter the market, see pricing as an entry strategy. If you can increase the value for an end-consumer without spending that much money in marketing and brand building, you are probably going to have a much better price point. And those price points are interesting to consumers and they come in hoards to buy that. In terms of really taking the price points up, I think it’s singularly focused on pricing as a strategy. It’s not a sustainable strategy, because supply chains globally in the phone industry give you a limited leverage - in terms of one’s cost structure better than somebody else’s. But I think there is not a lot of difference in those cost structures. So, if you keep on harping on those same price points, as a company, you are not going to survive. So, companies need to make sure that they have a portfolio that spans a few product price points. May be, then they want to do a pricing play on a couple of products, which is plausible. But anyone, whose focus clearly is on pricing to begin with and then wants to move up, that doesn’t work. But why they are forced is because sometimes, the economics come to bite back and say, a company cannot keep on doing those price points because they are not sustainable. WION: We all know that how you played an instrumental role in Motorola India’s business. So what is your plan for Smartron, a company which is yet to hold some grounds in the market? What is the way forward? Amit: Smartron, essentially, is not a smartphone company. We are an Internet of Things company. We have multiple areas of interest in terms of hardware as well as software. We have multiple categories - we have phones, wearables, computing and smart homes, to name a few. We will have play on the enterprise and infrastructure side of it. so, there is a bunch of things that we are looking at doing at Smartron. You can watch the full interview here:

Q&A: Former Moto India head Amit Boni on innovation lull & next step in smartphone space

<p>Some of Alphabet&#39;s Google&nbsp;services including, Admin Console, Calendar, and Hangouts, suffered some service disruption on Thursday but the outages have now been resolved, according to&nbsp;Google&nbsp;service status page.</p>

<p>The status page also said that &#39;the problem with&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Drive should be resolved.&#39;</p>

<p>Earlier reports of an issue with&nbsp;Google&nbsp;services were being investigated.&nbsp;GoogleDrive faced a similar disruption issue early in January this year.</p>


Some of Alphabet Google services including, Admin Console, Calendar, and Hangouts suffered service disruption

Some of Alphabet's Google services including, Admin Console, Calendar, and Hangouts, suffered some service disruption on Thursday but the outages have now been resolved, according to Google service status page. The status page also said that 'the problem with Google Drive should be resolved.' Earlier reports of an issue with Google services were being investigated. GoogleDrive faced a similar disruption issue early in January this year.

Google says service disruption issues resolved

<p>European union antitrust regulators slammed Google&#39;s Alphabet unit with 2.42-billion-euro ($2.7 billion) fine, on allegations that the world&#39;s most popular internet search engine favours its own shopping services and did not exercise a healthy competition with rivals.</p>

<p>The European Commission said that Google has 90 days to stop its unfair practices or Alphabet shall face a further penalty of up to 5 per cent of it&#39;s average daily global turnover.</p>

<p>After a seven-year long investigation, the Commission found that Google had systematically given prominent placement in searches to its own comparison shopping service -- Google Shopping, and demoted those of rivals in search results.</p>

<p>&quot;What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation,&quot; European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.</p>

<p>It is the biggest regulatory setback for Google, which settled with US&nbsp;enforcers in 2013 with a requirement to stop &quot;scraping&quot; reviews and other data from rival websites for its own products.</p>

<p>The hard fine, which is the largest for a single company in an EU antitrust case, exceeding the 1.06-billion-euro sanction handed down to US&nbsp;chipmaker Intel in 2009, hints that EU will be just as tough with Google in the two other cases.</p>

<p>The EU competition enforcer has charged Google with using its Android mobile operating system to crush rivals, a case that could potentially be the most damaging for the company, with the system used in most smartphones.</p>

<p>The company has also been accused of blocking rivals in online search advertising, with the Commission warning of deterrent fines if Google is found guilty of breaching EU rules.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Google has released a statement, denying the allegations.</p>

<p>($1 = 0.8890 euros)</p>

<p>(With inputs from Reuters)</p>


The commission found that Google had systematically given prominent placement in searches to its own comparison shopping service

European union antitrust regulators slammed Google's Alphabet unit with 2.42-billion-euro ($2.7 billion) fine, on allegations that the world's most popular internet search engine favours its own shopping services and did not exercise a healthy competition with rivals. The European Commission said that Google has 90 days to stop its unfair practices or Alphabet shall face a further penalty of up to 5 per cent of it's average daily global turnover. After a seven-year long investigation, the Commission found that Google had systematically given prominent placement in searches to its own comparison shopping service -- Google Shopping, and demoted those of rivals in search results. "What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. It is the biggest regulatory setback for Google, which settled with US enforcers in 2013 with a requirement to stop "scraping" reviews and other data from rival websites for its own products. The hard fine, which is the largest for a single company in an EU antitrust case, exceeding the 1.06-billion-euro sanction handed down to US chipmaker Intel in 2009, hints that EU will be just as tough with Google in the two other cases. The EU competition enforcer has charged Google with using its Android mobile operating system to crush rivals, a case that could potentially be the most damaging for the company, with the system used in most smartphones. The company has also been accused of blocking rivals in online search advertising, with the Commission warning of deterrent fines if Google is found guilty of breaching EU rules. Google has released a statement, denying the allegations. ($1 = 0.8890 euros) (With inputs from Reuters)

EU slams Google with record 2.42 billion-euro fine for tampering with search results

<p>Google&rsquo;s self-professed mission is to organise the world&rsquo;s information. But a company known for engineering excellence is still trying to solve the very human problem of how to organise itself.</p>

<p>Nearly two years ago, Google co-founder Larry Page announced the tech giant would be remade as Alphabet, a holding company whose units would include Google and an array of unrelated pursuits in areas such as healthcare, self-driving cars, and urban planning.</p>

<p>Wall Street cheered. Previously those riskier ventures had been lumped into Google&#39;s overall financial results. Investors would now see Google&rsquo;s performance independent of its so-called &#39;Other Bets,&#39; an eclectic collection of 11 ventures.</p>

<p>They include Nest which is a maker of Wi-Fi enabled thermostats, Calico which seeks to prolong the human lifespan and X, the company&#39;s secretive research lab.</p>

<p>Alphabet&#39;s top management also aimed to boost accountability by appointing chief executives to head each of the Other Bets. Few people in Google&#39;s constellation of ventures had ever held the title prior to that.</p>

<p>But so far Alphabet has failed to show it can convert its Other Bets from experiments to businesses with the reach, impact and money-making potential of Google&rsquo;s core search and advertising operations. Interviews with two dozen former Alphabet executives and employees reveal an organization grappling with how much time and resources Other Bets deserve in the pursuit of profitability.</p>

<p>In the first quarter, which ended on March 31, the ventures lost a combined $855 million; that&#39;s on top of a collective $3.6 billion loss for 2016. As a whole, Alphabet generated $90.3 billion in revenue in 2016. Google&#39;s share of that revenue was $89.5 billion, while its 2016 operating income was $27.9 billion.</p>

<p>Alphabet&#39;s early days have seen more pruning than expansion of its holdings.</p>

<p>The company has skinned back plans for Google Fiber, which delivers rapid Internet service in 10 metro areas. This month, Alphabet agreed to sell robotics company Boston Dynamics to Japanese multinational SoftBank Group. It unloaded its Terra Bella satellite imaging business in February.</p>

<p>At one point last year, it was even looking to sell Nest, the largest of the Other Bets. Google paid an eye-popping $3.2 billion for the start-up in 2014.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, a series of executives have departed since the reorganization, including the heads of Nest, an Internet operation called Access and a venture capital firm known as GV.</p>

<p>An Alphabet spokeswoman declined repeated requests for comment or to make executives available for interviews. Supporters of the restructuring frame the early struggles as typical growing pains.</p>

<p>For now, Wall Street isn&#39;t worried. Alphabet&#39;s stock is near an all-time high, having reached $1,000 per share in June. Ruth Porat, the no-nonsense chief financial officer who has steered the restructuring, has won rave reviews from investors for enforcing financial accountability across Alphabet.</p>

<p>Some Other Bets have made notable strides. Life sciences initiative verily recently attracted $800 million in outside investment. Self-driving car project Waymo is considered among the leaders in the burgeoning industry.</p>

<p>Analysts say the structure will enable Alphabet to do what most companies can not,conceive the next wave of innovation in-house or through the development of key acquisitions. That goal is central to both the company&#39;s mission and investor expectations.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The reason Google gets to trade at a decent multiple&hellip; is because there&#39;s a growth story beyond advertising,&rdquo; said analyst James Wang of ARK Investment Management.</p>

<p>CEO or COO?</p>

<p>The Alphabet structure is Google&rsquo;s stab at an age-old corporate conundrum: sustaining innovation within a giant enterprise.</p>

<p>Alphabet&#39;s strategy is to give entrepreneurs the autonomy of a startup, coupled with the discipline of a traditional corporate structure.</p>

<p>Roughly once a quarter, Other Bets leaders meet with the Alphabet board which is comprised of Porat, Page, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and David Drummond, Alphabet&#39;s senior vice president of corporate development, to discuss funding and performance.</p>

<p>At the same time, Alphabet is establishing separate compensation plans for the Other Bets to reward employees if their ventures succeed, mirroring startup incentives.</p>

<p>The formula has primed Alphabet&#39;s emerging businesses for &quot;global impact,&quot; Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said this month at the annual stockholders meeting at the Mountain View headquarters.</p>

<p>&quot;There is one solution that we know works well in capitalism, which is boards, shareholders, CEOs,&quot; Schmidt said. &quot;My bet is that the traditional lessons of business organisation will, in fact, result in success at Alphabet.&quot;</p>

<p>Still, Alphabet top brass continues to hold sway over key strategy and financing decisions, a dynamic that has chafed Other Bets chief executives who have complained they are treated more like chief operating officers than shot callers.<br />
In addition, scrutiny from Wall Street limits how generous Alphabet can be in extending Google&#39;s resources to Other Bets, said Brian McClendon, a former vice president of engineering at Google. &#39;As of yet, the restructuring hasn&rsquo;t provided what I think is one of the immediate benefits, which is a risk-taking investment&#39; he said.</p>

<p>NICKELED AND DIMED</p>

<p>Some companies acquired by Google found that being part of Alphabet was not what they had bargained for.<br />
Two former Nest employees said they were promised generous funding and time to achieve profitability following the company&#39;s acquisition by Google in 2014. But after the restructuring, Alphabet executives were keenly focused on revenue, one former employee said.</p>

<p>Pricey overhead has made the path to profitability tougher. After the restructuring, Alphabet began charging Other Bets for their portion of shared services such as security and facilities, ending what had previously amounted to a subsidy. The units also felt pressure to maintain Google perks such as free employee meals.</p>

<p>&ldquo;One of the pitfalls (of Alphabet) is that those companies are asked to stand on their own two feet, but they may inherit the cost structure of Google,&quot; said Nest investor Peter Nieh, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.</p>

<p>In early 2016, Alphabet explored selling Nest in an effort code-named Project Amalfi. No deal materialized, and Nest co-founder Tony Fadell departed last year. Fadell declined to comment.</p>

<p>Boston Dynamics, acquired in 2013 during a robotics shopping spree led by Android creator Andy Rubin, enjoyed generous funding at first. But it was adrift after Rubin&#39;s departure. Rubin did not respond to requests for comment.</p>

<p>GRUMPY GOOGLERS</p>

<p>The creation of the Other Bets has also changed what it means to work for Google.</p>

<p>Some grumble that their role now is to subsidize innovation at their sister companies, rather than to innovate themselves.</p>

<p>According to one former Googler, it sent a sort of message to people who stayed back at Google, whether in search or in ads. The ad said &#39;Your job isn&rsquo;t to push the envelope&#39;.</p>

<p>Employee transfers to X, the illustrious &ldquo;moonshot factory,&rdquo; are more complicated now that it&#39;s a separate entity, former employees say.</p>

<p>That&rsquo;s a striking shift, especially for high-performing employees accustomed to moving about the company almost at will, said Punit Soni, a former Google employee who is now chief executive of Learning Motors, an artificial intelligence startup.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A basic premise of Google was people could do whatever they wanted,&rdquo; Soni said. &ldquo;I can see why people will feel like it&rsquo;s no longer the old Google.&quot;</p>

<p>In the meantime, co-founder Page is pursuing yet another &#39;moonshot&#39; called flying cars. He is the primary investor in Kitty Hawk, a startup in the field that is entirely outside the Alphabet umbrella.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


A company known for engineering excellence is still trying to solve the very human problem of how to organise itself

Google’s self-professed mission is to organise the world’s information. But a company known for engineering excellence is still trying to solve the very human problem of how to organise itself. Nearly two years ago, Google co-founder Larry Page announced the tech giant would be remade as Alphabet, a holding company whose units would include Google and an array of unrelated pursuits in areas such as healthcare, self-driving cars, and urban planning. Wall Street cheered. Previously those riskier ventures had been lumped into Google's overall financial results. Investors would now see Google’s performance independent of its so-called 'Other Bets,' an eclectic collection of 11 ventures. They include Nest which is a maker of Wi-Fi enabled thermostats, Calico which seeks to prolong the human lifespan and X, the company's secretive research lab. Alphabet's top management also aimed to boost accountability by appointing chief executives to head each of the Other Bets. Few people in Google's constellation of ventures had ever held the title prior to that. But so far Alphabet has failed to show it can convert its Other Bets from experiments to businesses with the reach, impact and money-making potential of Google’s core search and advertising operations. Interviews with two dozen former Alphabet executives and employees reveal an organization grappling with how much time and resources Other Bets deserve in the pursuit of profitability. In the first quarter, which ended on March 31, the ventures lost a combined $855 million; that's on top of a collective $3.6 billion loss for 2016. As a whole, Alphabet generated $90.3 billion in revenue in 2016. Google's share of that revenue was $89.5 billion, while its 2016 operating income was $27.9 billion. Alphabet's early days have seen more pruning than expansion of its holdings. The company has skinned back plans for Google Fiber, which delivers rapid Internet service in 10 metro areas. This month, Alphabet agreed to sell robotics company Boston Dynamics to Japanese multinational SoftBank Group. It unloaded its Terra Bella satellite imaging business in February. At one point last year, it was even looking to sell Nest, the largest of the Other Bets. Google paid an eye-popping $3.2 billion for the start-up in 2014. Meanwhile, a series of executives have departed since the reorganization, including the heads of Nest, an Internet operation called Access and a venture capital firm known as GV. An Alphabet spokeswoman declined repeated requests for comment or to make executives available for interviews. Supporters of the restructuring frame the early struggles as typical growing pains. For now, Wall Street isn't worried. Alphabet's stock is near an all-time high, having reached $1,000 per share in June. Ruth Porat, the no-nonsense chief financial officer who has steered the restructuring, has won rave reviews from investors for enforcing financial accountability across Alphabet. Some Other Bets have made notable strides. Life sciences initiative verily recently attracted $800 million in outside investment. Self-driving car project Waymo is considered among the leaders in the burgeoning industry. Analysts say the structure will enable Alphabet to do what most companies can not,conceive the next wave of innovation in-house or through the development of key acquisitions. That goal is central to both the company's mission and investor expectations. “The reason Google gets to trade at a decent multiple… is because there's a growth story beyond advertising,” said analyst James Wang of ARK Investment Management. CEO or COO? The Alphabet structure is Google’s stab at an age-old corporate conundrum: sustaining innovation within a giant enterprise. Alphabet's strategy is to give entrepreneurs the autonomy of a startup, coupled with the discipline of a traditional corporate structure. Roughly once a quarter, Other Bets leaders meet with the Alphabet board which is comprised of Porat, Page, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and David Drummond, Alphabet's senior vice president of corporate development, to discuss funding and performance. At the same time, Alphabet is establishing separate compensation plans for the Other Bets to reward employees if their ventures succeed, mirroring startup incentives. The formula has primed Alphabet's emerging businesses for "global impact," Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said this month at the annual stockholders meeting at the Mountain View headquarters. "There is one solution that we know works well in capitalism, which is boards, shareholders, CEOs," Schmidt said. "My bet is that the traditional lessons of business organisation will, in fact, result in success at Alphabet." Still, Alphabet top brass continues to hold sway over key strategy and financing decisions, a dynamic that has chafed Other Bets chief executives who have complained they are treated more like chief operating officers than shot callers. In addition, scrutiny from Wall Street limits how generous Alphabet can be in extending Google's resources to Other Bets, said Brian McClendon, a former vice president of engineering at Google. 'As of yet, the restructuring hasn’t provided what I think is one of the immediate benefits, which is a risk-taking investment' he said. NICKELED AND DIMED Some companies acquired by Google found that being part of Alphabet was not what they had bargained for. Two former Nest employees said they were promised generous funding and time to achieve profitability following the company's acquisition by Google in 2014. But after the restructuring, Alphabet executives were keenly focused on revenue, one former employee said. Pricey overhead has made the path to profitability tougher. After the restructuring, Alphabet began charging Other Bets for their portion of shared services such as security and facilities, ending what had previously amounted to a subsidy. The units also felt pressure to maintain Google perks such as free employee meals. “One of the pitfalls (of Alphabet) is that those companies are asked to stand on their own two feet, but they may inherit the cost structure of Google," said Nest investor Peter Nieh, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. In early 2016, Alphabet explored selling Nest in an effort code-named Project Amalfi. No deal materialized, and Nest co-founder Tony Fadell departed last year. Fadell declined to comment. Boston Dynamics, acquired in 2013 during a robotics shopping spree led by Android creator Andy Rubin, enjoyed generous funding at first. But it was adrift after Rubin's departure. Rubin did not respond to requests for comment. GRUMPY GOOGLERS The creation of the Other Bets has also changed what it means to work for Google. Some grumble that their role now is to subsidize innovation at their sister companies, rather than to innovate themselves. According to one former Googler, it sent a sort of message to people who stayed back at Google, whether in search or in ads. The ad said 'Your job isn’t to push the envelope'. Employee transfers to X, the illustrious “moonshot factory,” are more complicated now that it's a separate entity, former employees say. That’s a striking shift, especially for high-performing employees accustomed to moving about the company almost at will, said Punit Soni, a former Google employee who is now chief executive of Learning Motors, an artificial intelligence startup. “A basic premise of Google was people could do whatever they wanted,” Soni said. “I can see why people will feel like it’s no longer the old Google." In the meantime, co-founder Page is pursuing yet another 'moonshot' called flying cars. He is the primary investor in Kitty Hawk, a startup in the field that is entirely outside the Alphabet umbrella.

Insight - With Alphabet, Google faces a daunting challenge of organising itself

<p>Social media giants Facebook, Google&#39;s YouTube, Twitter, and Microsoft are forming a global working group to combine their efforts to remove terrorist content from their platforms.</p>

<p>Responding to pressure from governments in Europe and the United States after a spate of militant attacks, the companies said they would share technical solutions for removing terrorist content, commission research to inform their counter-speech efforts and work more with counter-terrorism experts.</p>

<p>&quot;The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism will formalise and structure existing and future areas of collaboration between our companies and foster cooperation with smaller tech companies, civil society groups and academics, governments and supra-national bodies such as the EU and the UN,&quot; the companies said in a statement.</p>

<p>The move comes on the heels of last week&#39;s call from European heads of state for tech firms to establish an industry forum and develop new technology and tools to improve the automatic detection and removal of extremist content. The political pressure on the companies has raised the prospect of new legislation at EU level, but so far only Germany has proposed a law fining social media networks up to 50 million euros ($56 million) if they fail to remove hateful postings quickly. The lower house of the German parliament is expected to vote on the law this week.</p>

<p>The companies will seek to improve technical work such as a database created in December to share unique digital fingerprints they automatically assign to videos or photos of extremist content. They will also exchange best practices on content detection techniques using machine learning as well as define &#39;standard transparency reporting methods for terrorist content removals.&#39;</p>

<p>Earlier this month Facebook opened up about its efforts to remove terrorism content in response to criticism from politicians that tech giants are not doing enough to stop militant groups using their platforms for propaganda and recruiting. Google announced additional measures to identify and remove terrorist or violent extremist content on its video-sharing platform YouTube shortly thereafter. Twitter suspended 376,890 accounts for violations related to the promotion of terrorism in the second half of 2016 and will share further updates on its efforts to combat violent extremism on its platform in its next Transparency Report.</p>

<p>The social media firms said they would work with smaller companies to help them tackle extremist content and organisations such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies to work on ways to counter online extremism and hate. All four companies have initiatives to counter online hate speech and will use the forum to improve their efforts and train civil society organisations engaged in similar work.</p>


The companies said they will share technical solutions for removing terrorist content, commission research to inform their counter-speech efforts and work more with counter-terrorism experts

Social media giants Facebook, Google's YouTube, Twitter, and Microsoft are forming a global working group to combine their efforts to remove terrorist content from their platforms. Responding to pressure from governments in Europe and the United States after a spate of militant attacks, the companies said they would share technical solutions for removing terrorist content, commission research to inform their counter-speech efforts and work more with counter-terrorism experts. "The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism will formalise and structure existing and future areas of collaboration between our companies and foster cooperation with smaller tech companies, civil society groups and academics, governments and supra-national bodies such as the EU and the UN," the companies said in a statement. The move comes on the heels of last week's call from European heads of state for tech firms to establish an industry forum and develop new technology and tools to improve the automatic detection and removal of extremist content. The political pressure on the companies has raised the prospect of new legislation at EU level, but so far only Germany has proposed a law fining social media networks up to 50 million euros ($56 million) if they fail to remove hateful postings quickly. The lower house of the German parliament is expected to vote on the law this week. The companies will seek to improve technical work such as a database created in December to share unique digital fingerprints they automatically assign to videos or photos of extremist content. They will also exchange best practices on content detection techniques using machine learning as well as define 'standard transparency reporting methods for terrorist content removals.' Earlier this month Facebook opened up about its efforts to remove terrorism content in response to criticism from politicians that tech giants are not doing enough to stop militant groups using their platforms for propaganda and recruiting. Google announced additional measures to identify and remove terrorist or violent extremist content on its video-sharing platform YouTube shortly thereafter. Twitter suspended 376,890 accounts for violations related to the promotion of terrorism in the second half of 2016 and will share further updates on its efforts to combat violent extremism on its platform in its next Transparency Report. The social media firms said they would work with smaller companies to help them tackle extremist content and organisations such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies to work on ways to counter online extremism and hate. All four companies have initiatives to counter online hate speech and will use the forum to improve their efforts and train civil society organisations engaged in similar work.

Social media giants step up joint fight against extremist content

<p>Alphabet&#39;s Google will stop scanning Gmail content for creating personalised ads from later this year, bringing the widely-used email service in line with its enterprise offering, G Suite.</p>

<p>The decision was outlined in a blog post by Google cloud computing chief Diane Greene, who joined the company in 2015 and has been responsible for the rapid growth of Google&#39;s cloud business.</p>

<p>Google&#39;s practice of analysing incoming and outgoing emails of its free consumer Gmail users has been criticised on privacy concerns.</p>

<p>Google&#39;s G Suite business bundle have been gaining more enterprise users in the past year, with more than 3 million companies paying for the G Suite service, the company said.</p>

<p>Gmail has more than 1.2 billion users worldwide.</p>


The decision has been outlined in a blog post by Google cloud computing chief Diane Greene

Alphabet's Google will stop scanning Gmail content for creating personalised ads from later this year, bringing the widely-used email service in line with its enterprise offering, G Suite. The decision was outlined in a blog post by Google cloud computing chief Diane Greene, who joined the company in 2015 and has been responsible for the rapid growth of Google's cloud business. Google's practice of analysing incoming and outgoing emails of its free consumer Gmail users has been criticised on privacy concerns. Google's G Suite business bundle have been gaining more enterprise users in the past year, with more than 3 million companies paying for the G Suite service, the company said. Gmail has more than 1.2 billion users worldwide.

Now, Google will not scan your Gmail messages for creating targeted ads

<p>&nbsp;Alphabet Inc&#39;s Google will implement more measures to identify and remove terrorist or violent extremist content on its video-sharing platform YouTube, the company said in a blog post on Sunday.</p>

<p>Google said it would take a tougher position on videos containing supremacist or inflammatory religious content by issuing a warning and not monetizing or recommending them for user endorsements, even if they do not clearly violate its policies.</p>

<p>The company will also employ more engineering resources and increase its use of technology to help identify extremist videos. &nbsp;It will also train new content classifiers to quickly identify and remove such content.</p>

<p>&quot;While we and others have worked for years to identify and remove content that violates our policies, the uncomfortable truth is that we, as an industry, must acknowledge that more needs to be done,&quot; said Google&#39;s general counsel Kent Walker.</p>

<p>Google will expand its collaboration with counter-extremist groups to identify content that may be used to radicalize and recruit extremists.</p>

<p>The company will also reach potential Islamic State recruits through targeted online advertising and redirect them towards anti-terrorist videos in a bid to change their minds about joining.</p>

<p>Germany, France and Britain, countries where civilians have been killed and wounded in bombings and shootings by Islamist militants in recent years, have pressed Facebook and other providers of social media such as Google and Twitter to do more to remove militant content and hate speech.</p>

<p>Facebook on Thursday offered additional insight on its efforts to remove terrorism content, a response to political pressure in Europe to militant groups using the social network for propaganda and recruiting.</p>

<p>Facebook has ramped up the use of artificial intelligence such as image matching and language understanding to identify and remove content quickly, the company said in a blog post.</p>


Germany, France and Britain, countries where civilians have been killed and wounded in bombings and shootings by Islamist militants in recent years, have pressed Facebook and other providers of social media such as Google and Twitter to do more to remove militant content and hate speech

Alphabet Inc's Google will implement more measures to identify and remove terrorist or violent extremist content on its video-sharing platform YouTube, the company said in a blog post on Sunday. Google said it would take a tougher position on videos containing supremacist or inflammatory religious content by issuing a warning and not monetizing or recommending them for user endorsements, even if they do not clearly violate its policies. The company will also employ more engineering resources and increase its use of technology to help identify extremist videos. It will also train new content classifiers to quickly identify and remove such content. "While we and others have worked for years to identify and remove content that violates our policies, the uncomfortable truth is that we, as an industry, must acknowledge that more needs to be done," said Google's general counsel Kent Walker. Google will expand its collaboration with counter-extremist groups to identify content that may be used to radicalize and recruit extremists. The company will also reach potential Islamic State recruits through targeted online advertising and redirect them towards anti-terrorist videos in a bid to change their minds about joining. Germany, France and Britain, countries where civilians have been killed and wounded in bombings and shootings by Islamist militants in recent years, have pressed Facebook and other providers of social media such as Google and Twitter to do more to remove militant content and hate speech. Facebook on Thursday offered additional insight on its efforts to remove terrorism content, a response to political pressure in Europe to militant groups using the social network for propaganda and recruiting. Facebook has ramped up the use of artificial intelligence such as image matching and language understanding to identify and remove content quickly, the company said in a blog post.

Google to take measures to prevent terrorist content on youtube

<p>Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said on Monday that Amazon Prime Video would be available on Apple TV and other Apple devices starting later this year.</p>

<p>Apple has about 50 media partners that supply content to its Apple TV and on the television app on its popular iPhone. But Amazon&#39;s service, which includes hit shows like &quot;Transparent,&quot; has been a notable absence from Apple&#39;s hardware.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/apple-debuts-homepod-speaker-to-take-on-amazon-google-16472">Also read: Apple debuts HomePod speaker to take on Amazon, Google</a></p>

<p>CEO Tim Cook also used the Apple keynote to show off new iPad and Mac computer models, as well as provide glimpses at coming versions of the software powering the technology titan&#39;s devices.</p>

<p>Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said the next Mac operating system will be named &quot;High Sierra&quot; in tribute to the California mountain range.</p>

<p>High Sierra features will include being able to stop unexpected videos from starting to play automatically when landing on web pages and &quot;intelligent tracking prevention&quot; that will prevent ads from following people about the internet.</p>

<p>High Sierra will be released later this year as a free update, according to Federighi.</p>

<p><em>(WION with inputs from agencies)</em></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Apple has about 50 media partners that supply content to its Apple TV and on the television app on its popular iPhone.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said on Monday that Amazon Prime Video would be available on Apple TV and other Apple devices starting later this year. Apple has about 50 media partners that supply content to its Apple TV and on the television app on its popular iPhone. But Amazon's service, which includes hit shows like "Transparent," has been a notable absence from Apple's hardware. Also read: Apple debuts HomePod speaker to take on Amazon, Google CEO Tim Cook also used the Apple keynote to show off new iPad and Mac computer models, as well as provide glimpses at coming versions of the software powering the technology titan's devices. Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said the next Mac operating system will be named "High Sierra" in tribute to the California mountain range. High Sierra features will include being able to stop unexpected videos from starting to play automatically when landing on web pages and "intelligent tracking prevention" that will prevent ads from following people about the internet. High Sierra will be released later this year as a free update, according to Federighi. (WION with inputs from agencies)

WWDC 2017: Amazon Prime Video coming to Apple devices

<p>In the wake of the recent terror attack in London on Saturday night, British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement wherein she mentioned different ways that need to be adopted to counter terrorism. Emphasising on the need to overhaul strategies to combat extremism, May held tech companies partly responsible for providing extremists a &ldquo;safe space&rdquo; to grow.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/london-bridge-attack-facebook-twitter-aim-to-clean-terrorist-content-16431">Also </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/london-bridge-attack-facebook-twitter-aim-to-clean-terrorist-content-16431">Read:</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/london-bridge-attack-facebook-twitter-aim-to-clean-terrorist-content-16431">&nbsp;Facebook, Twitter aim to clean &#39;terrorist content&#39;</a></p>

<p>&ldquo;We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed. Yet that is precisely what the internet, and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide,&rdquo; said May in a statement on the London Bridge terror attack.</p>

<p>It is true that extremist groups are using the web to recruit members, spread hate and extremist propaganda, send coded messages and coordinate attacks, but it wouldn&rsquo;t be right to condemn internet companies for the same as these companies, seemingly, are doing a fair job to take down any content or accounts that are involved in terrorist activities and/or encourage support for terrorism.</p>

<p>Facebook, for instance, has been using a mix of tech and humans to prevent the spread of extremist content on the website. &quot;Using a combination of technology and human review, we work aggressively to remove terrorist content from our platform as soon as we become aware of it,&rdquo; said Simon Milner, director of policy at Facebook in an emailed statement.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And if we become aware of an emergency involving imminent harm to someone&#39;s safety, we notify law enforcement,&rdquo; added Milner.</p>

<p>Twitter, on the other hand, <a href="https://transparency.twitter.com/en/gov-tos-reports.html">suspended a total of 3,76,890 accounts</a> for promoting terrorism between July-Dec 2016. According to the company, 3/4th of the accounts taken down were discovered with the help of Twitter&#39;s internal, proprietary spam-fighting tools, while only the two per cent of those were suspended in the reported time after government requests.</p>

<p>Not only Facebook and Twitter, Google has also been playing an active role to fight terrorism on its multiple platforms. For instance, YouTube doesn&rsquo;t encourage the spread of hateful content and immediately removes any content that aims to incite violence. Its software further prevents the video from being reposted. In 2015 alone, YouTube removed 92 million videos for violation of its policies through a mix of user flagging and its own spam-detection technology. However, videos that were taken down for terrorism or hate speech violations happened to be 1 per cent of them.</p>

<p>In fact, companies including Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and YouTube last year joined hands to help curb extremist content online. They teamed up to create a shared industry database of unique digital fingerprints for images and videos that support extremist organisations. Those digital fingerprints come to the companies&#39; help for identifying extremist content so that it can be easily removed.</p>

<p><strong>Cyberspace regulation</strong></p>

<p>Not only May held tech companies responsible for the growing extremism online, but she also expressed the need &ldquo;to work with allied democratic governments to reach international agreements that regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremist and terrorism planning.&quot; While it is believed that May&rsquo;s recent remark suggesting the need to regulate the internet and encryption could aggravate problems further.</p>

<p>Explaining why this wouldn&rsquo;t be a right move to opt for cyberspace regulation, privacy advocacy organisation <a href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2017/the-london-attacks">Open Rights Group said</a>, &ldquo;This could be a very risky approach. If successful, Theresa May could push these vile networks into even darker corners of the web, where they will be even harder to observe.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;While governments and companies should take sensible measures to stop abuse, attempts to control the Internet is not the simple solution that Theresa May is claiming,&rdquo; added British non-profit.</p>

<p>The government, on the other hand, finds encrypted data to be of threat to national security. It has been long arguing that companies should provide investigators with the backdoor access to the encrypted information. But privacy advocates have been suggesting that by forcing tech companies to share encrypted data wouldn&rsquo;t protect national security.</p>

<p>Weakening encryption wouldn&rsquo;t guarantee people&rsquo;s safety, says cyber security expert Richard Forno. Terrorists in such cases may develop their own cyber channels, Forno hinted at a likely possibility. &quot;The bad guys are not constrained by the law. That&#39;s why they&#39;re bad guys,&rdquo; he added.</p>

<p>Also, building backdoor entries into encryption could make data, which include personal and confidential details, more prone to hacking.</p>

<p>No wonder, tech companies like Facebook and Google are behaving responsibly and putting in their efforts to prevent the spread of extremist content, without compromising on the user privacy, but the bigger question is that is it solely the tech companies&#39; job to police the internet?</p>

<p>Will the Internet censorship help curb the terrorism? We don&rsquo;t believe so.</p>

<p><em>(WION)</em></p>


British Prime Minister Theresa May held tech companies partly responsible for providing extremists a ?safe space? to grow.

In the wake of the recent terror attack in London on Saturday night, British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement wherein she mentioned different ways that need to be adopted to counter terrorism. Emphasising on the need to overhaul strategies to combat extremism, May held tech companies partly responsible for providing extremists a “safe space” to grow. Also Read: Facebook, Twitter aim to clean 'terrorist content' “We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed. Yet that is precisely what the internet, and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide,” said May in a statement on the London Bridge terror attack. It is true that extremist groups are using the web to recruit members, spread hate and extremist propaganda, send coded messages and coordinate attacks, but it wouldn’t be right to condemn internet companies for the same as these companies, seemingly, are doing a fair job to take down any content or accounts that are involved in terrorist activities and/or encourage support for terrorism. Facebook, for instance, has been using a mix of tech and humans to prevent the spread of extremist content on the website. "Using a combination of technology and human review, we work aggressively to remove terrorist content from our platform as soon as we become aware of it,” said Simon Milner, director of policy at Facebook in an emailed statement. “And if we become aware of an emergency involving imminent harm to someone's safety, we notify law enforcement,” added Milner. Twitter, on the other hand, suspended a total of 3,76,890 accounts for promoting terrorism between July-Dec 2016. According to the company, 3/4th of the accounts taken down were discovered with the help of Twitter's internal, proprietary spam-fighting tools, while only the two per cent of those were suspended in the reported time after government requests. Not only Facebook and Twitter, Google has also been playing an active role to fight terrorism on its multiple platforms. For instance, YouTube doesn’t encourage the spread of hateful content and immediately removes any content that aims to incite violence. Its software further prevents the video from being reposted. In 2015 alone, YouTube removed 92 million videos for violation of its policies through a mix of user flagging and its own spam-detection technology. However, videos that were taken down for terrorism or hate speech violations happened to be 1 per cent of them. In fact, companies including Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and YouTube last year joined hands to help curb extremist content online. They teamed up to create a shared industry database of unique digital fingerprints for images and videos that support extremist organisations. Those digital fingerprints come to the companies' help for identifying extremist content so that it can be easily removed. Cyberspace regulation Not only May held tech companies responsible for the growing extremism online, but she also expressed the need “to work with allied democratic governments to reach international agreements that regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremist and terrorism planning." While it is believed that May’s recent remark suggesting the need to regulate the internet and encryption could aggravate problems further. Explaining why this wouldn’t be a right move to opt for cyberspace regulation, privacy advocacy organisation Open Rights Group said, “This could be a very risky approach. If successful, Theresa May could push these vile networks into even darker corners of the web, where they will be even harder to observe.” “While governments and companies should take sensible measures to stop abuse, attempts to control the Internet is not the simple solution that Theresa May is claiming,” added British non-profit. The government, on the other hand, finds encrypted data to be of threat to national security. It has been long arguing that companies should provide investigators with the backdoor access to the encrypted information. But privacy advocates have been suggesting that by forcing tech companies to share encrypted data wouldn’t protect national security. Weakening encryption wouldn’t guarantee people’s safety, says cyber security expert Richard Forno. Terrorists in such cases may develop their own cyber channels, Forno hinted at a likely possibility. "The bad guys are not constrained by the law. That's why they're bad guys,” he added. Also, building backdoor entries into encryption could make data, which include personal and confidential details, more prone to hacking. No wonder, tech companies like Facebook and Google are behaving responsibly and putting in their efforts to prevent the spread of extremist content, without compromising on the user privacy, but the bigger question is that is it solely the tech companies' job to police the internet? Will the Internet censorship help curb the terrorism? We don’t believe so. (WION)

Terrorism on web: Why it's not fair to condemn tech companies and regulate cyberspace

<p>Aiming to make search more personalised, Google has added a &ldquo;Personal&rdquo; tab to its search results page. Clicking on this tab allows users to search through their Google account, which includes data from Gmail as well as Google Photos.</p>

<p>The personalised search results also show information like recent purchases and flight details.</p>

<p>Twitter user Jessica Grammer was the first one to spot this tab. She also tweeted a screenshot of the new feature embedded in the search results page.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Anyone notice the &quot;personal&quot; SERP option in <a href="https://twitter.com/Google">@Google</a> yet? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SEO?src=hash">#SEO</a> cc <a href="https://twitter.com/rustybrick">@rustybrick</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sengineland">@sengineland</a> <a href="https://t.co/F2NOXgVFcA">pic.twitter.com/F2NOXgVFcA</a></p>
&mdash; Jessica Grammer (@Jgrammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jgrammer/status/867861482318565376">May 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>The &ldquo;Personal&rdquo; tab is visible to users only if they are signed into their Google accounts. The new filter can be accessed by clicking the &ldquo;More&rdquo; tab.</p>

<p>The feature is not currently rolled out for everyone. It appears that Google plans to make it available to users in a phased-manner.</p>

<p>We, however, are yet to hear from Google on the same.</p>

<p>(WION)</p>


Personalised search results show information like recent purchases and flight details

Aiming to make search more personalised, Google has added a “Personal” tab to its search results page. Clicking on this tab allows users to search through their Google account, which includes data from Gmail as well as Google Photos. The personalised search results also show information like recent purchases and flight details. Twitter user Jessica Grammer was the first one to spot this tab. She also tweeted a screenshot of the new feature embedded in the search results page. Anyone notice the "personal" SERP option in @Google yet? #SEO cc @rustybrick @sengineland pic.twitter.com/F2NOXgVFcA — Jessica Grammer (@Jgrammer) May 25, 2017 × The “Personal” tab is visible to users only if they are signed into their Google accounts. The new filter can be accessed by clicking the “More” tab. The feature is not currently rolled out for everyone. It appears that Google plans to make it available to users in a phased-manner. We, however, are yet to hear from Google on the same. (WION)

You can now search your personal data by running a Google search

<p>Google is offering a four-month free subscription on its music streaming service Google Play Music for new subscribers, allowing users to scan up to 50,000 songs from their music library.</p>

<p>Typically, Google offers a 90-day free trial when a user signs up, but the offer has been extended by one month, reported<em> The Verge</em>.</p>

<p>Users can listen to custom radio stations on their computer or mobile device using Google Play Music service.</p>

<p>However, users who use the free service face ads on their app, unlike those subscribers who pay around $10.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Such users can also listen to over 35 million songs, download music to listen offline, and get access to YouTube Red.</p>

<p>Though Google has offered similar deals in the past, it was not clear how long the deal would remain active.</p>

<p>(IANS)</p>


Google offers a 90-day free trial when a user signs up for its music service, but the offer has now been extended by one month

Google is offering a four-month free subscription on its music streaming service Google Play Music for new subscribers, allowing users to scan up to 50,000 songs from their music library. Typically, Google offers a 90-day free trial when a user signs up, but the offer has been extended by one month, reported The Verge. Users can listen to custom radio stations on their computer or mobile device using Google Play Music service. However, users who use the free service face ads on their app, unlike those subscribers who pay around $10. Such users can also listen to over 35 million songs, download music to listen offline, and get access to YouTube Red. Though Google has offered similar deals in the past, it was not clear how long the deal would remain active. (IANS)

Google Play Music now offers free subscription for four months

<p>Almost 36.5 million Android devices have been affected with a new malware dubbed &lsquo;Judy&rsquo;. It has been found in 41 apps on the Google Play Store, and uses infected devices to generate fraudulent clicks on advertisements, generating revenues for the perpetrators behind it.</p>

<p>According to Check Point, some of the apps discovered resided on Google Play for several years, but all were recently updated. It is unclear how long the malicious code existed inside the apps, hence the actual spread of the malware remains unknown. The security firm also stated that the malicious apps reached an astonishing spread between 4.5 million and 18.5 million downloads.</p>

<p>Similar to previous malware which infiltrated Google Play, such as FalseGuide and Skinner, Judy reportedly relies on the communication with its Command and Control server (C&amp;C) for its operation. After the firm alerted Google, the apps were removed from the Play store.</p>

<p><strong>How does the &#39;Judy&#39; malware work?</strong></p>

<p>To bypass Bouncer, Google Play&rsquo;s protection, the hackers create a seemingly benign bridgehead app, meant to establish connection to the victim&rsquo;s device, and insert it into the app store. Once a user downloads a malicious app, it silently registers receivers which establish a connection with the C&amp;C server.</p>

<p>The server replies with the actual malicious payload, which includes JavaScript code, a user-agent string and URLs controlled by the malware author.</p>

<p>The malware opens the URLs using the user agent that imitates a PC browser in a hidden webpage and receives a redirection to another website. Once the targeted website is launched, the malware uses the JavaScript code to locate and click on banners from the Google ads infrastructure. Upon clicking the ads, the malware author receives payment from the website developer, which pays for the illegitimate clicks and traffic.</p>

<p><strong>Who is behind the &#39;Judy&#39; malware?</strong></p>

<p>CheckPoint stated that the malicious apps are all developed by a Korean company named Kiniwini, registered on Google Play as ENISTUDIO corp. The company develops mobile apps for both Android and iOS platforms. It is quite unusual to find an actual organization behind mobile malware, as most of them are developed by purely malicious actors. It is important to note that the activity conducted by the malware is not borderline advertising, but definitely an illegitimate use of the users&rsquo; mobile devices for generating fraudulent clicks, benefiting the attackers.</p>

<p><strong>A list of malicious apps released by Check Point:</strong></p>

<p>Fashion Judy: Snow Queen style</p>

<p>Animal Judy: Persian cat care</p>

<p>Fashion Judy: Pretty rapper</p>

<p>Fashion Judy: Teacher style</p>

<p>Animal Judy: Dragon care</p>

<p>Chef Judy: Halloween Cookies<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Wedding Party<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Teddy Bear care<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Bunny Girl Style<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Frozen Princess<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: Triangular Kimbap<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: Udong Maker &ndash; Cook<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Uniform style<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Rabbit care<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Vampire style<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Nine-Tailed Fox<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: Jelly Maker &ndash; Cook<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: Chicken Maker<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Sea otter care<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Elephant care<br />
<br />
Judy&rsquo;s Happy House<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: Hotdog Maker &ndash; Cook<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: Birthday Food Maker<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Wedding day<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Waitress style<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: Character Lunch<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: Picnic Lunch Maker<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Rudolph care<br />
<br />
Judy&rsquo;s Hospital: Pediatrics<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Country style<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Feral Cat care<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Twice Style<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Myth Style<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Fennec Fox care<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Dog care<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Couple Style<br />
<br />
Animal Judy: Cat care<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: Halloween style<br />
<br />
Fashion Judy: EXO Style<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: Dalgona Maker<br />
<br />
Chef Judy: ServiceStation Food<br />
<br />
Judy&rsquo;s Spa Salon</p>


Infected devices are used to generate fraudulent clicks on advertisements, generating revenues for the perpetrators behind it

Almost 36.5 million Android devices have been affected with a new malware dubbed ‘Judy’. It has been found in 41 apps on the Google Play Store, and uses infected devices to generate fraudulent clicks on advertisements, generating revenues for the perpetrators behind it. According to Check Point, some of the apps discovered resided on Google Play for several years, but all were recently updated. It is unclear how long the malicious code existed inside the apps, hence the actual spread of the malware remains unknown. The security firm also stated that the malicious apps reached an astonishing spread between 4.5 million and 18.5 million downloads. Similar to previous malware which infiltrated Google Play, such as FalseGuide and Skinner, Judy reportedly relies on the communication with its Command and Control server (C&C) for its operation. After the firm alerted Google, the apps were removed from the Play store. How does the 'Judy' malware work? To bypass Bouncer, Google Play’s protection, the hackers create a seemingly benign bridgehead app, meant to establish connection to the victim’s device, and insert it into the app store. Once a user downloads a malicious app, it silently registers receivers which establish a connection with the C&C server. The server replies with the actual malicious payload, which includes JavaScript code, a user-agent string and URLs controlled by the malware author. The malware opens the URLs using the user agent that imitates a PC browser in a hidden webpage and receives a redirection to another website. Once the targeted website is launched, the malware uses the JavaScript code to locate and click on banners from the Google ads infrastructure. Upon clicking the ads, the malware author receives payment from the website developer, which pays for the illegitimate clicks and traffic. Who is behind the 'Judy' malware? CheckPoint stated that the malicious apps are all developed by a Korean company named Kiniwini, registered on Google Play as ENISTUDIO corp. The company develops mobile apps for both Android and iOS platforms. It is quite unusual to find an actual organization behind mobile malware, as most of them are developed by purely malicious actors. It is important to note that the activity conducted by the malware is not borderline advertising, but definitely an illegitimate use of the users’ mobile devices for generating fraudulent clicks, benefiting the attackers. A list of malicious apps released by Check Point: Fashion Judy: Snow Queen style Animal Judy: Persian cat care Fashion Judy: Pretty rapper Fashion Judy: Teacher style Animal Judy: Dragon care Chef Judy: Halloween Cookies Fashion Judy: Wedding Party Animal Judy: Teddy Bear care Fashion Judy: Bunny Girl Style Fashion Judy: Frozen Princess Chef Judy: Triangular Kimbap Chef Judy: Udong Maker – Cook Fashion Judy: Uniform style Animal Judy: Rabbit care Fashion Judy: Vampire style Animal Judy: Nine-Tailed Fox Chef Judy: Jelly Maker – Cook Chef Judy: Chicken Maker Animal Judy: Sea otter care Animal Judy: Elephant care Judy’s Happy House Chef Judy: Hotdog Maker – Cook Chef Judy: Birthday Food Maker Fashion Judy: Wedding day Fashion Judy: Waitress style Chef Judy: Character Lunch Chef Judy: Picnic Lunch Maker Animal Judy: Rudolph care Judy’s Hospital: Pediatrics Fashion Judy: Country style Animal Judy: Feral Cat care Fashion Judy: Twice Style Fashion Judy: Myth Style Animal Judy: Fennec Fox care Animal Judy: Dog care Fashion Judy: Couple Style Animal Judy: Cat care Fashion Judy: Halloween style Fashion Judy: EXO Style Chef Judy: Dalgona Maker Chef Judy: ServiceStation Food Judy’s Spa Salon

Beware! 'Judy' malware infects 36.5 million Android devices

<p>Google is testing a way to tie online ads to brick-and-mortar store purchases, a move whetting marketing appetites while fueling privacy worries.</p>

<p>A product called &quot;Google Attribution&quot; was unveiled at a marketing conference this month in San Francisco by the internet giant. Google has long been able to determine when users click on an ads and make a purchase, but linking online and offline habits takes its analytics a step further.</p>

<p>Google senior vice president Sridhar Ramaswamy, who announced that Attribution is in test mode with a limited number of partners and will be rolled out to more advertisers in coming weeks, touted the tool as being able to answer the long-challenging question of whether marketing campaigns are working.</p>

<p>&quot;Google Attribution makes it possible for every marketer to measure the impact of their marketing across devices and across channels,&quot; Ramaswamy said.</p>

<p>&quot;Data-driven attribution uses machine learning to determine how much credit to assign to each step in the consumer journey -- from the first time they engage with your brand for early research down to the final click before purchase.&quot;</p>

<p>Real-world customer email addresses or loyalty plan information can be woven with Google data from services such as AdWords, Google Analytics and DoubleClick Search to provide &quot;a complete view&quot; of marketing performance, according to the company.</p>

<p>Using artificial intelligence, or machine learning, to better analyse and understand consumer behavior to target ads and promote sales was a major theme of the conference.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Ad &#39;holy grail&#39;&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>For several years now, AdWords has enabled advertisers to measure visits to real-world stores stemming from online campaigns, Ramaswamy noted. &quot;Still, measuring store visits is just one part of the equation,&quot; Ramaswamy said. &quot;You also need insights into how your online ads drive sales for your business.&quot;</p>

<p>Real-world transactions matched back to Google ads are handed in &quot;a secure and privacy-safe way,&quot; with store sales information reported in aggregated and anonymised forms to protect individual privacy, according to the company.</p>

<p>Tying online activity to offline shopping decisions has been a &quot;holy grail&quot; for advertisers for quite some time, and comes with worrisome privacy implications, according to ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley.</p>

<p>Attribution threatens to intrude on a core tenant of privacy, that people can have dealings with one party not spill over into affairs with other parties they interact with, Stanley contended.</p>

<p>&quot;This is an evolution, not a revolution; another step toward increased monitoring of individuals,&quot; Stanley said.</p>

<p>&quot;Each step raises the question &#39;Where does this all stop?&#39;&quot;</p>

<p>Stanley expected Google to be on its best behavior when it came to handling the growing trove of information about users, but that even the best of intentions could crack under the &quot;enormous hydraulic pressure of the profit motive&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;We have the full fury and genius of the capitalist system being driven toward monitoring people in ever increasing detail and companies are competing to do so,&quot; Stanley said</p>

<p>&quot;It will not stop without some sort of rules in which we as a society express our values through legal protections.&quot;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>More tempting ads?</strong></p>

<p>Google and Facebook dominate the online ad world, and what one does to prove its worth to advertisers is likely to be copied by the other, according to Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.</p>

<p>Attribution promised to give Google a way to assure advertisers they are getting their money&#39;s worth at the firm&#39;s online venues.</p>

<p>&quot;The big problem is that showing conversion from ad consumption to purchase has been horrible,&quot; Enderle said of online marketing. &quot;This has been a problem for a long time. Google is trying to make a metric so they get credit for it when you do purchase after viewing an ad.&quot;</p>

<p>Data showing which ads are translating into real sales should mean that the relevance of ads people see online will improve as marketers abandon mis-aimed or ineffectively tailored messages, the analyst reasoned.</p>

<p>&quot;You are going to be hit with ads for things that you might actually want to buy, so you are going to spend a lot more money,&quot; Enderle predicted.</p>

<p>Worries about privacy sparked by linking offline and online activities are a decade or so late, because the time to protest was when collection began of the troves of data about people, the analyst argued.</p>

<p>&quot;There really is no downside to this application,&quot; Enderle said while discussing Google&#39;s marketing metrics move.</p>

<p>&quot;This is the good side of collecting data; it is what else is being done with the data that should be unnerving and that we really don&#39;t know.&quot;</p>

<p>(AFP)</p>


Google's Sr VP touted the tool as being able to answer the long-challenging question of whether marketing campaigns are working

Google is testing a way to tie online ads to brick-and-mortar store purchases, a move whetting marketing appetites while fueling privacy worries. A product called "Google Attribution" was unveiled at a marketing conference this month in San Francisco by the internet giant. Google has long been able to determine when users click on an ads and make a purchase, but linking online and offline habits takes its analytics a step further. Google senior vice president Sridhar Ramaswamy, who announced that Attribution is in test mode with a limited number of partners and will be rolled out to more advertisers in coming weeks, touted the tool as being able to answer the long-challenging question of whether marketing campaigns are working. "Google Attribution makes it possible for every marketer to measure the impact of their marketing across devices and across channels," Ramaswamy said. "Data-driven attribution uses machine learning to determine how much credit to assign to each step in the consumer journey -- from the first time they engage with your brand for early research down to the final click before purchase." Real-world customer email addresses or loyalty plan information can be woven with Google data from services such as AdWords, Google Analytics and DoubleClick Search to provide "a complete view" of marketing performance, according to the company. Using artificial intelligence, or machine learning, to better analyse and understand consumer behavior to target ads and promote sales was a major theme of the conference. Ad 'holy grail' For several years now, AdWords has enabled advertisers to measure visits to real-world stores stemming from online campaigns, Ramaswamy noted. "Still, measuring store visits is just one part of the equation," Ramaswamy said. "You also need insights into how your online ads drive sales for your business." Real-world transactions matched back to Google ads are handed in "a secure and privacy-safe way," with store sales information reported in aggregated and anonymised forms to protect individual privacy, according to the company. Tying online activity to offline shopping decisions has been a "holy grail" for advertisers for quite some time, and comes with worrisome privacy implications, according to ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley. Attribution threatens to intrude on a core tenant of privacy, that people can have dealings with one party not spill over into affairs with other parties they interact with, Stanley contended. "This is an evolution, not a revolution; another step toward increased monitoring of individuals," Stanley said. "Each step raises the question 'Where does this all stop?'" Stanley expected Google to be on its best behavior when it came to handling the growing trove of information about users, but that even the best of intentions could crack under the "enormous hydraulic pressure of the profit motive". "We have the full fury and genius of the capitalist system being driven toward monitoring people in ever increasing detail and companies are competing to do so," Stanley said "It will not stop without some sort of rules in which we as a society express our values through legal protections." More tempting ads? Google and Facebook dominate the online ad world, and what one does to prove its worth to advertisers is likely to be copied by the other, according to Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group. Attribution promised to give Google a way to assure advertisers they are getting their money's worth at the firm's online venues. "The big problem is that showing conversion from ad consumption to purchase has been horrible," Enderle said of online marketing. "This has been a problem for a long time. Google is trying to make a metric so they get credit for it when you do purchase after viewing an ad." Data showing which ads are translating into real sales should mean that the relevance of ads people see online will improve as marketers abandon mis-aimed or ineffectively tailored messages, the analyst reasoned. "You are going to be hit with ads for things that you might actually want to buy, so you are going to spend a lot more money," Enderle predicted. Worries about privacy sparked by linking offline and online activities are a decade or so late, because the time to protest was when collection began of the troves of data about people, the analyst argued. "There really is no downside to this application," Enderle said while discussing Google's marketing metrics move. "This is the good side of collecting data; it is what else is being done with the data that should be unnerving and that we really don't know." (AFP)

Google linking online and offline worlds in new ad challenge, fuelling privacy concerns

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