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☆ Google antitrust trial crystallizes Apple’s risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Nov 15 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The antitrust case against Google is spelling out some serious problems. The U.S. Department of Justice claims that Alphabet maintains its market dominance by striking deals to make Google the default search engine on other companies’ devices and browsers. One expert witness for Google said Apple receives 36% of the ad revenue Google makes from searches on Apple’s Safari browser. Kevin Murphy, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, and an expert witness for Google, made the remark, Bloomberg reported. The two companies have had a partnership since 2002, where Google shares advertising revenue generated from users of Apple devices, and Google is the default search engine for these devices.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Tim Cook, Bernstein, Kevin Murphy, Alphabet’s Google, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Sharon Lam Organizations: Apple, REUTERS, Reuters, Google, U.S . Department of Justice, Microsoft, U.S . Department, University of Chicago, Bloomberg, Alphabet’s, Thomson

☆ Google, Lendlease axe plans for $15 billion development in Bay Area
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Manav Tanneeru | Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Alphabet’s Google has scrapped a development deal to build $15 billion worth of homes, offices and retail space in California’s Silicon Valley. The announcement comes amid a period of deep cost-cutting and layoffs for Google and during a time when commercial real estate is faltering. Billion-dollar investmentsIn June 2019, Google made a $1 billion pledge to help develop more affordable housing in the increasingly unaffordable region. A month later, Google partnered with Lendlease to redevelop its landholdings for a 10- to 15-year project valued at $15 billion. Lending to commercial real estate developers and managers largely comes from small and mid-sized banks, where the pressure on liquidity has been most severe.

Persons: Lendlease, “, ” Lendlease, Google’s, we’ve, ”, Sundar Pichai, “ We’ve, ” Scott Foster, Goldman Sachs Organizations: CNN, Google, San Francisco Bay Project, Alexa, Wall Street Journal, Lendlease Locations: Silicon, San Francisco Bay, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Bay, Mountain View

☆ Suzanne Vranica — Advertising Editor at The Wall Street Journal
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Suzanne Vranica | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Suzanne VranicaSuzanne Vranica covers the advertising and marketing industries and is part of The Wall Street Journal’s media & marketing bureau in New York. During her long tenure on the beat, she’s covered the inner workings of Madison Avenue and companies such as WPP, Omnicom, and Publicis. Her stories often chronicle how advertising across all forms of media is being disrupted by technology and data. Suzanne helped launch CMO Today, a web vertical started by the Journal in 2014 that addresses the rapidly transforming marketing businesses and the role of marketing in the C-Suite. A New York native, Suzanne is a graduate of Iona College.

Persons: Suzanne Vranica Suzanne Vranica, she’s, Suzanne Organizations: WPP, Omnicom, Google, Iona College Locations: New York, Madison, Westchester County

☆ How the tech sector in Israel is navigating the war
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

London CNN —Israel’s vast tech sector has seen its fair share of crises, from financial downturns and the Covid-19 pandemic to periodic flare-ups in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “This is different than anything we’ve faced before,” said Avi Hasson, the CEO of Start-Up Nation Central (SNC), a non-profit that promotes Israel’s tech industry globally. “Seasoned investors with experience backing Israeli startups are not backing away due to the war,” said Samid of TechAviv. For many in Israel’s tech industry, the devastating circumstances have only served to underscore the sector’s famed resilience. “Israeli [tech] hasn’t stopped,” Hasson noted.

Persons: we’ve, ”, Avi Hasson, wasn’t, Leah Walters, Monday.com, Rafael Henrique, Yaron Samid, Jensen Huang, Jon Medved, “, Hillel Fuld, it’s, hasn’t, ” Hasson Organizations: London CNN, Hamas, Nation Central, CNN, Tech, SNC, Nasdaq, Tel, Nvidia, Israel Innovation Authority, ” Tech, Microsoft, Google Locations: Israel, Tel Aviv, “, Israeli

CEO Sam Altman has made the acquisition of more AI chips a top priority for the company. Meta's (META.O) custom chip effort has been beset with issues, leading the company to scrap some of its AI chips, according to a Reuters report. OpenAI's main backer, Microsoft (MSFT.O), is also developing a custom AI chip that OpenAI is testing, The Information has reported. Demand for specialized AI chips has soared since the launch of ChatGPT last year. Nvidia is one of the few chipmakers that produces useful AI chips and dominates the market.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Altman, Bernstein, Stacy Rasgon, Anna Tong, Stephen Nellis, Max A, Kenneth Li, Stephen Coates 私 Organizations: REUTERS, FRANCISCO, Reuters, Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, Amazon.com, Annapurna Labs, Devices Locations: WASHINGTON, San Francisco

☆ Verizon executive testifies Google search always pre-installed on mobile phones
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Diane Bartz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File PhotoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Monday questioned a Verizon executive about the company’s decision to always pre-install Google’s Chrome browser with Google search on its mobile phones, as the government sought to show that Alphabet’s Google broke antitrust law to maintain its dominance in online search. Antonio Rangel, who teaches behavioral biology at the California Institute of Technology, testified last week that people are likely to stick with defaults like search engines or map apps on computers and mobile phones. In response, Google lawyer John Schmidtlein showed the court data indicating that users happily stick with Google’s search engine when pre-installed on their devices but switch away from others they like less. Companies have defended themselves by emphasizing that their services are free, as in the case of Google, or inexpensive, as in the case of Amazon.com. He may decide simply to order Google to stop practices he has found to be illegal or he may order Google to sell assets.

Persons: Arnd, Brian Higgins, “, Google’s, James Kolotouros, Antonio Rangel, John Schmidtlein, Trump, Judge Amit Mehta Organizations: REUTERS, WASHINGTON, U.S . Justice, Verizon, Google, California Institute of Technology, Companies Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, Washington, California, U.S

The Google sign is reflected in a rain puddle outside their offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., June 27, 2017. Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Sept 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Want to know how to remove Google as the iPhone’s default search tool? According to him, the search engine operated by Alphabet (GOOGL.O) enlists Apple (AAPL.O) to answer the query by directing users to its website. Using Google as the default search engine wasn’t Apple’s “choice,” Dintzer said. Follow @BenWinck on XFollow @thereallsl on XCONTEXT NEWSThe U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Alphabet’s Google started on Sept. 12.

Persons: John Schmidtlein, Kenneth Dintzer, Google, ” Schmidtlein, Schmidtlein, ” Dintzer, It’s, Tim Cook, Alphabet’s Google, Ben Winck, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam Organizations: Google, Rights, Reuters, Apple, U.S . Department of, Yahoo, Verizon Communications, Microsoft, Netscape, U.S, U.S . Department, Alphabet’s, Thomson Locations: Cambridge , Massachusetts, U.S, Safari, Japan, Washington, New York

☆ DOJ fights uphill battle; Google a losing one
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The government, in its opening statements, argued that the $1.7 trillion company’s search engine partnerships illegally protected its monopoly, harming consumers. The problem for the DOJ is that consumers readily dole out their data, and not just to Google. Device manufacturers and browser creators choose Google because it’s the highest quality option, and users can easily pick another default search engine, John Schmidtlein, Google’s lead lawyer, argued. The government’s lawyers have their work cut out for them, but a DOJ loss won’t mean a Google victory. The company’s partnerships may set Google as the default search engine on devices and browsers, but users can usually change their default option with a few clicks.

Persons: General Merrick Garland, Jonathan Kanter, Kenneth Dintzer, Dintzer, Amit Mehta, John Schmidtlein, Google’s, DOJ doesn’t, Google's, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Sharon Lam Organizations: U.S . Justice, Alphabet's Google, Justice Department, Reuters, U.S . Department of Justice, Alphabet’s, Google, DOJ, Microsoft, Court, Big Tech, Alphabet’s Google, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON

☆ Artificial Intelligence Can Make Companies Greener, but It Also Guzzles Energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Nuha Dolby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

Artificial intelligence can help tackle climate change, but to fulfill that promise companies need to find a way to limit AI’s own climate impact. Alphabet’s Google and American Airlines used AI to help planes create fewer vapor trails, which contribute to global warming. For many companies using AI there are both positive and negative effects on their carbon emissions and water use. In the U.S., where there is no central electric grid, training models in one state versus another can have a significant impact on carbon emissions. A Google data center in Oregon.

Persons: Omar Marques, Sasha Luccioni, Bloom, “, Luccioni, Andrew Selsky, Shaolei Ren, Ren, There’s, ” Ren, Amalia Kontesi, Equinix, ”, Christopher Wellise, Jacob Reynolds Equinix, Face’s, ” Luccioni Organizations: Sustainable Business, Google, American Airlines, Zuma, Bloom, Energy, Stanford, Associated Press, University of California Riverside, Research, Microsoft, Workers Locations: San Francisco, Bloom, U.S, California, Virginia, New York, Oregon, San Francisco and New York, Americas, Asia, Spain

☆ Baidu, SenseTime stocks rise from launch of ChatGPT-style AI bots to the public
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —Chinese tech firms Baidu and SenseTime launched their ChatGPT-style AI bots to the public on Thursday, marking a new milestone in the global AI race. The news sent its shares 3.1% higher in New York on Wednesday and 4.7% higher in Hong Kong on Thursday. Meanwhile, SenseTime, an AI startup based in Hong Kong, also announced the public launch of its SenseChat platform on Thursday. China published new rules on generative AI in July, becoming one of the world’s first countries to regulate the industry. Since then, competitors such as Alibaba (BABA) and SenseTime have announced plans to launch their own ChatGPT-style tools, adding to the list of Chinese businesses jumping on the bandwagon.

Persons: SenseTime, ERNIE Bot, ERNIE, Alibaba, ”, Robin Li Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Baidu, CNN, Alphabet’s Google Locations: Hong Kong, New York, China, United States

☆ SPECIAL REPORT-Inside the subsea cable firm secretly helping America take on China
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Joe Brock | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +23 min

Reuters is revealing details of the Diego Garcia project and SubCom’s deepening ties with the Pentagon. SubCom’s loyalty is especially important because it is the only major U.S. subsea cable company. Rather, they carefully obscured the U.S. military component within a larger private-sector cable project, according to four subsea cable industry sources with knowledge of the arrangement. That project, known as the Oman Australia Cable, was spearheaded by SUBCO, a Brisbane-based subsea cable investment company owned by Australian entrepreneur Bevan Slattery. Once the Navy project was complete, AT&T’s submarine cable project morphed into a commercial business, the former employees said.

Persons: Diego Garcia, SubCom, Cerberus, Stephen Feinberg, Donald Trump, Feinberg, Joe Biden, Biden, Eckhard Bruckschen, They’ve, ” Bruckschen, Trump, Brad Smith, –, Mao Ning, ”, Jacob Helberg, Bevan Slattery, SUBCO’s, Richard Payne, Payne, “ We’re, ” Payne, Alex Kerska, Catherine Creese, Creese, David Coughlan, Coughlan, Slattery, SubCom’s Coughlan, Rich, Australia West Express –, John Mariano, Anthony Albanese, Albanese, Caesar, Kellee Wicker, ” Wicker Organizations: CS, SubCom, Google, Microsoft, Meta, ., U.S, Navy, Cerberus Capital Management, U.S . Navy, President’s Intelligence, Board, U.S . Navy’s Pacific Fleet, U.S . Pacific Fleet, U.S ., Pentagon, America Inc, Cable Consultancy, Reuters, Japan’s NEC Corporation, France’s Alcatel Submarine Networks, China’s HMN, U.S . Department of Defense, White, U.S . Department of Justice, Foreign, Oracle, China Economic, Security, Commission, U.S . Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, government’s, Cable Security Fleet, Oman Australia Cable, SUBCO, The, The U.S . Pacific Fleet, SUBCO’s Oman Australia Cable, Facebook, Defense, Intelligence, SubCom’s, London Stock Exchange Group, U.S . Coast Guard, Naval, Cable, Office, Tyco Telecommunications, Australian, Financial, Australia West Express, GoTo Networks, couldn’t, Netflix, AT, Tyco International, Tyco, New, Washington, Science, Technology, Wilson, “ Cables Locations: Diego, Indian, China, New Jersey, United States, U.S, Soviet, Washington, New York, Philippine, South China, Beijing, America, American, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Eatontown , New Jersey, British, Britain, Australian, Australia, Oman, Brisbane, Southeast Asia, The U.S, SUBCO’s Oman, Perth, SubCom, Guam, U.S . Pacific, Republic of Djibouti, of Africa, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Scotland, Newfoundland

☆ Inside the subsea cable firm secretly helping American take on China
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +24 min

Persons: Diego Garcia, SubCom, Cerberus, Stephen Feinberg, Donald Trump, Feinberg, Joe Biden, Biden, Eckhard Bruckschen, They’ve, ” Bruckschen, Trump, Brad Smith, –, Mao Ning, ”, Jacob Helberg, Bevan Slattery, SUBCO’s, Richard Payne, Payne, “ We're, ” Payne, Alex Kerska, Catherine Creese, Creese, David Coughlan, Coughlan, Slattery, SubCom’s Coughlan, Rich, Australia West Express –, John Mariano, Anthony Albanese, Albanese, Caesar, Kellee Wicker, ” Wicker, Joe Brock, Mohammad Kawoosa, Edgar Su, Catherine Tai Design, Eve Watling, Marla Dickerson Organizations: CS, SubCom, Google, Microsoft, Meta, ., U.S, Navy, Cerberus Capital Management, U.S . Navy, President’s Intelligence, Board, U.S . Navy’s Pacific Fleet, U.S . Pacific Fleet, U.S ., Pentagon, America Inc, Cable Consultancy, Reuters, Japan’s NEC Corporation, France’s Alcatel Submarine Networks, China’s HMN, U.S . Department of Defense, White, U.S . Department of Justice, Foreign, Oracle, China Economic, Security, Commission, U.S . Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, government’s, Cable Security Fleet, Oman Australia Cable, SUBCO, The, The U.S . Pacific Fleet, SUBCO’s Oman Australia Cable, Facebook, Defense, Intelligence, SubCom’s, London Stock Exchange Group, U.S . Coast Guard, Naval, Cable, Office, Tyco Telecommunications, Australian, Financial, Australia West Express, GoTo Networks, couldn’t, Netflix, AT, Tyco International, Tyco, New, Washington, Science, Technology, Wilson, “ Cables Locations: Diego, Indian, China, New Jersey, United States, U.S, Soviet, Washington, New York, Philippine, South China, Beijing, America, American, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Eatontown , New Jersey, British, Britain, Australian, Australia, Oman, Brisbane, Southeast Asia, The U.S, SUBCO’s Oman, Perth, SubCom, Guam, U.S . Pacific, Republic of Djibouti, of Africa, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Scotland, Newfoundland

☆ Facebook to end news access in Canada over incoming law on paying publishers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Meta Platforms Inc plans to end access to news on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada once a parliament-approved legislation requiring internet giants to pay news publishers comes into effect, the company said on Thursday. “Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act taking effect,” Meta said in a statement. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Meta and Google were using “bullying tactics” as they campaign against the legislation. Google and Facebook had also threatened to curtail their services in Australia when similar rules were passed into law. The heritage ministry has had meetings with Facebook and Google this week, and it looks forward to further discussions, a government spokesperson said.

Persons: ” Meta, ”, Justin Trudeau, Meta, Pablo Rodriguez, ” Rodriguez, Danielle Coffey, “, ” Coffey Organizations: CNN, Inc, Facebook, “, Google, Heritage, News Media Alliance, Big Tech Locations: Canada, Australia, Europe, United States

☆ Cancel That Brainstorm. There’s a Better Way to Spur Good Ideas.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Callum Borchers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The value of gathering to swap loosely formed thoughts is highly suspect, despite being a major reason many companies want workers back in offices. “You do not get your best ideas out of these freewheeling brainstorming sessions,” says Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School. He discovered that his 16-person team, now fully remote, thrives when people develop ideas on their own and can share them in writing. An Amazon spokesman adds that the company’s brainstorming sessions are sometimes unstructured but often begin with colleagues sharing well-researched memos, reducing time spent on ill-conceived ideas. Oh, he’s also noticed that the duds tend to come first, so to leave time for the good stuff, he prescribes two-hour meetings.

☆ Office Brainstorms Are a Waste of Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Callum Borchers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Office wardrobe malfunctions? The value of gathering to swap loosely formed thoughts is highly suspect, despite being a major reason many companies want workers back in offices. “You do not get your best ideas out of these freewheeling brainstorming sessions,” says Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School. Mostly, though, grumblers have accepted such meetings as an inescapable office reality, like elevator Muzak and bad coffee. An Amazon spokesman adds that the company’s brainstorming sessions are sometimes unstructured but often begin with colleagues sharing well-researched memos, reducing time spent on ill-conceived ideas.

☆ TikTok ban is the least palatable of options
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Montana is following a movement around the United States to try to keep Americans from using TikTok. That has consequences: The United States has never pulled a platform used by so many people to communicate. China, which before TikTok had never cracked the U.S. market with a successful social media network, is unlikely to let ByteDance part with TikTok. More recently the company had been working with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to ease concerns. TikTok users in the United States could still binge on short videos, but the company – and its rivals – would face tougher constraints.

Investors cheered the buyback plan, sending shares of the Google parent as much as 4% higher in after-hours trade before they pared gains to trade up 1.6%. Demand rose for cloud services and Google's ad sales held up better than expected. Alphabet reported a slight dip in first-quarter ad sales from a year earlier to $54.55 billion, which nonetheless beat analyst estimates of $53.71 billion. It was the third such decline for the company since it went public in 2004, but was the second in a row following a fourth-quarter ad sales drop of 3.6%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter ended March 31 stood at $69.79 billion compared with estimates of $68.95 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ GM plans to phase out Apple CarPlay in EVs, with Google’s help
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto systems allow users to mirror their smartphone screens in a vehicle’s dashboard display. GM is designing the on-board navigation and infotainment systems for future EVs in partnership with Alphabet’s Google. GM’s Chevrolet brand in the past boasted of offering more models with CarPlay or Android Auto than any other brand. GM plans to continue offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto mirroring systems in its combustion models. Owners of vehicles equipped with the mirroring technologies will still be able to use the systems, GM said.

☆ Internet providers warn against EU plans to make Big Tech cover telcos costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - A group representing internet service providers across Europe said on Tuesday that a proposal to make Big Tech companies pay towards telecom operators' network costs could create systemic weakness in critical infrastructure. In September, European Commission’s industry chief Thierry Breton said he would launch a consultation on so-called “fair share" payments in early 2023, before proposing legislation. Sanghani added that legislators should not prioritise "administrative rules [over] technical necessity or a high-quality internet" for those in Europe. Critics of the proposed SPNP (Sending Party Network Pays) model have warned the so-called "traffic tax" could lead content-driven platforms like Facebook and other social media platforms to route their services via ISPs (internet service providers) outside of the EU. This could have a knock-on effect for users in Europe, with platforms potentially compromising quality and security for the sake of avoiding fees.

☆ Chatty AI and Protein-Predicting Algorithm Defined the Year in Emerging Tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

They also built supercomputers designed to handle the growing influx of data needed for evermore complex AI applications. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. Using an AI algorithm called AlphaFold, the London-based lab said it had expanded its database of predicted protein structures to 214 million, up from 1 million as of December 2021, representing all proteins known to science, including proteins found in animals, plants, bacteria and other organisms. Though researchers say the commercial application of nuclear fusion likely remains years and perhaps decades away, the technology might one day help fight climate change. In March, Sandbox AQ, a software startup developing quantum-computing and artificial-intelligence tools for commercial use, officially spun off from Alphabet’s Google to become a stand-alone company.

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