It turns our rumours of Google's automated-driving division were half true. While it's not scaling back, it is teaming up with a traditional auto-maker. Waymo, as the division is now called, is currently said to be in formal talks with Honda, to collaborate on driverless car development. Announced as a …
Read More »Google car rebranded as Waymo, still very much alive
Google's car project is not being scaled back as was rumored, but has instead been rebranded as Waymo and will now operate under the Alphabet brand, much like many other Google projects which aren't search or advertising related. Doubling down on its efforts, Waymo will soon be adding a further …
Read More »Google reportedly set to ‘scale back’ self-driving car plans
Google's self-driving cars have been in the public eye for a couple of years now and have been tested on public roads for quite some time. However, it looks like the company may no longer be interested in developing its own completely autonomous cars as a report this week claims …
Read More »Google will be running entirely on renewable energy next year
Over the years, many giant tech companies have been working towards becoming greener and it looks like Google may be leading the pack in that regard as from 2017 onwards, Google will run entirely on renewable energy. Since Google operates some of the largest services in the world, including its …
Read More »Google to increase jobs and build new UK HQ post-Brexit
Google has confirmed its plans to build a brand new headquarters in London, doubling its current UK office space and creating an additional 3000 jobs. This is a huge move that should bring quite a boost to the UK tech industry, with current estimates claiming that this move should see …
Read More »Google to flag ‘repeat offenders’ with Safe Browsing
Google has had a ‘Safe Browsing' option for its search engine for some time now and while it does flag potentially dangerous sites with malware, right now there are ways to circumvent being flagged. Some malicious sites will cease bad practices temporarily, wait for Google to remove the unsafe warnings …
Read More »Despite boosted profits, expansion, Facebook is earning tax credits
Even though it earned close to £5 billion pounds around the world in 2015, Facebook has managed to earn itself more than £11 million in tax credits with the British government, meaning that it can offset future tax bills to reduce those figures. This comes at a time of massive …
Read More »Hacks and spying, how Yahoo lost a billion dollars
As a company still riding its wave of late '90s popularity, Yahoo is a company out of time. Its poor timing has really bitten it in the ass this year though, as while trying to accept a buyout from Verizon to the tune of near $5 billion, it's been faced …
Read More »Google’s Daydream View brings VR to Android for £70
Google has officially taken its first step into virtual reality hardware by announcing the Daydream View headset, bringing virtual reality to a wider range of Android smartphones at a lower price compared to the Samsung Gear VR. It still requires a smartphone for display and horsepower duties but at £69, …
Read More »Google to unveil HTC-made DaydreamVR headset today
Google is expected to be announcing its first Daydream Virtual Reality headset today but it looks like we may have the details a little ahead of time. According to sources, Google's first Daydream headset will be announced today with a low $79 price tag, completely undercutting Samsung's GearVR and potentially …
Read More »Pokémon Go launch traffic was 50 x what Niantic expected
Even the best/worst case scenario for Niantic's launch of Pokémon Go traffic, was 10 times off in its estimation. The augmented reality developer ended up receiving 50 times the predicted traffic when it launched Pokémon Go earlier this year, which is why there were so many server issues and likely …
Read More »World’s biggest tech firms now working on AI together
If the robots ever do decide to take over, at least we'll have plenty of people to blame. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and IBM have all formed a partnership to help further the cause of AI development and acceptance the world over. It's not a lobby group, we're told, but …
Read More »Google has three EU antitrust charges to fight off in October
Update: Right now, the European Union has an anti-trust case out against Google over Android and the amount of Google-owned apps and services that come pre-installed with the OS. Google was initially supposed to present its defence back in July but had the deadline extended to September. However, it looks …
Read More »Indonesia is latest country to investigate Google’s unpaid tax
Google has been targeted in a number of countries for unpaid taxes over the past year. In the UK it managed to strike a deal with ministers to pay around 10 percent of what it owes, but that may not be the case in Indonesia. The national tax office said …
Read More »Google has put a stop to Project Ara
Ever since the Phonebloks concept first hit the web, the idea of a modular smartphone has really took off and Google was the first to take the idea seriously, kicking off Project Ara. We have seen Ara evolve a lot over the last couple of years and just a few months …
Read More »Rumour claims Google may ditch Nexus brand after all
It seems that these days, the rumour mill can't quite make up its mind about what is happening with Google and its next batch of Nexus devices. We had previously heard that HTC was set to help out with the next few smartphones but now, new reports this week are …
Read More »Google is dropping Google+ from the Play Store
Google has begun ditching its Google+ social networking integration from the Play Store, as it continues to make the service far less ubiquitous. While there was once a section about people you knew and what they thought of various apps, and you needed a G+ account to leave reviews, none …
Read More »Making music with paintings: the TiltBrush music video
One of the more interesting features to come out of virtual reality development in recent weeks was the introduction of audio-reactive brushes in 3D painting experience, TiltBrush. Users have been experimenting with it since and it's lead to some amazing creations, like this VR painting music video. The song used …
Read More »The EU has a new batch of antitrust complaints for Google
The European Union already has two antitrust cases running against Google at the moment, one for Google Shopping and another for Android. Now, it looks like a third case is brewing as the EU has some fresh antitrust complaints against Google's advertising business. According to the statement of objections, Google's …
Read More »Google defends its anti-piracy efforts in updated report
Google gets a lot of grief from copyright holders claiming that the company isn't doing enough to stop piracy, despite the company's many efforts. However, this week, Google defended the amount of effort it puts in to suppressing stolen content in an updated anti-piracy report that goes over exactly what …
Read More »Google might be building its own Nexus Smartwatch
It seems that things in the Android Wear smartwatch world have slowed down a bit lately but this week, reports have begun circulating suggesting that Google is currently working on two of its own smartwatches, set to launch under the Nexus brand. This isn't the first time that we have …
Read More »Google’s new trans-pacific cable can handle 60 terabits per second
A new Google backed cable linking the U.S. and Japan has now come online, delivering up to 60 terabits per second of bandwidth to both nations, which should massively improve internet speeds between the two countries and across the Pacific in general. Google claims this is the world's most data-intensive …
Read More »Off-centre extremism: Facebook, Google auto-takedown videos
Get ready for extremist videos with off-centre camera work, lighting overlays and shrunken content – Google and Facebook are now automatically taking down videos thought to be related to terrorism, so the uploaders may need to find a way to get around it. Although neither Facebook or Google have announced …
Read More »Google DeepMind wants a kill switch for AI
Google's Artificial Intelligence researchers at DeepMind have proposed that a ‘kill switch' be built for AI to prevent machines from outsmarting us and taking over. The idea is to create a way to “repeatedly safely interrupt” an algorithm, according to a new paper created in association with the University of Oxford …
Read More »Youtube is still going after ripping sites
Youtube has never been a fan of the sites and browser extensions that make it easy to download videos from its site, in their entirety or when converted to MP3s. It's been going after them with legal action for years and it shows no sign of stopping. It's latest target …
Read More »France: Google won’t get a tax deal
One of the biggest financial scandals in the UK earlier this year, was when Google managed to negotiate paying around 10 per cent of the tax it owed the British government. France however isn't so keen to see Google skip out on back taxes and following a raid on the …
Read More »Investigators raid Google’s Paris HQ over €1.6 billion in unpaid taxes
It looks like Google has caught the attention of the authorities over in France as the search giant's Paris headquarters were raided this morning. Over 100 investigators entered the campus in search of evidence of €1.6 billion in unpaid taxes. The probe at Google's offices has been under way since …
Read More »Project Ara won’t have swappable CPU, RAM or display modules
Google's Project Ara is set to be one of the most customisable smartphones on the market when it comes out next year. However, it won't be a simple case of buying the ‘skeleton' and upgrading the hardware when it starts getting slow as the CPU, RAM and main display won't …
Read More »Google confirms plans to build its own VR headset
Google I/O is taking place this week and alongside various other Chrome OS and Android related announcements, Google spoke a little about its new virtual reality project known as ‘Daydream'. As part of this new project, Google has confirmed that it intends to build a VR headset, which will serve …
Read More »Google has an AI processor and it already works well
The development of ever smarter artificial intelligences is going to be a major component of high-tier tech firms over the next few years, but Google looks to have the jump on most of them. It's developed its own AI processor, specifically designed for high-operational tasks and it's been testing its …
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