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☆ Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says future wars will be fought by AI drones and calls tanks 'useless'
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-30 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Eric Schmidt says drones are the future of warfare, calling the use of tanks "useless." AdvertisementEx-Google CEO Eric Schmidt said future wars will be fought by AI-powered drones, and urged the US military to do away with what he called "useless" tanks. In fact, buy 10, buy 20, buy 50, buy 100." Related Video Russian vs. Western-made tanks in the Ukraine warFor almost a decade, Schmidt has advised the US government and military on technology. AdvertisementAsked about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Schmidt said he had been surprised by innovations in drone technology.

Persons: Eric Schmidt, Schmidt, —, He's, Sebastian Thrun, Forbes Organizations: Service, Future Investment Initiative, Department of Defense's Innovation, US National Security, Artificial Intelligence, Stanford University, Troops Locations: Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Russian

☆ Inside the life and career of Larry Page, Google's co-founder and first CEO
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Avery Hartmans | Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

AdvertisementSo who is Larry Page and how did he get to where he is today? AdvertisementPage and Sergey Brin create GoogleGoogle co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page met as students at Stanford. Google's parent company, Alphabet, has developed self-driving cars through Waymo, the company formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car project. Page's personal lifeGoogle cofounder Larry Page and his wife, the scientist Lucinda Southworth C Flanigan/FilmMagicThroughout it all, Page has kept information about his personal life closely guarded. Life after GoogleGoogle cofounder Larry Page bought Cayo Norte, an island in Puerto Rico.

Persons: —, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Page, Sundar Pichai, Gloria, Carl Page —, Larry, what's, Nikola Tesla, he's, Brin's, BackRub, Brin, Eric Schmidt, Schmidt, Andy Rubin's, he'd, Andrew Kelly, Sergey, Lucinda Southworth C, Lucinda Southworth, Richard Branson, Page's, Carl Victor Page, Carl Page, He's, Hugh Langley Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Michigan State University . Education, Getty, Michigan State University, The, Montessori, Google Google, Stanford, Associated Press, University of Michigan, Labs, Reuters Page, Virgin Group, Investments, Carl Victor Page Memorial Foundation, Zee Aero, Pacific, Virgin Island, Atomic Locations: Michigan, Waymo, Toronto, Stanford, Caribbean, Palo Alto, Cayo Norte, Puerto Rico, Koop, Tavarua, Fiji

☆ Pivotal, the flying-car company backed by Google cofounder Larry Page, lays off 10% of staff
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewPivotal, the flying car company backed by Google cofounder Larry Page, announced this week it had laid off nine employees, or 10% of its staff, according to the company and a memo seen by Business Insider. It went on sale in January starting at $190,000, and the company says the units will ship in June. His early prototyping caught the attention of Page, who agreed to financially back the company and move it to Palo Alto, California in 2014. Page initially planned to merge Opener with Kittyhawk, his other flying car venture, but tensions between leaders kept the two operations apart.

Persons: —, Larry Page, Ken Karklin, Karklin, Marcus Leng, Page, Kittyhawk, Leng Organizations: Service, Business, Karklin, Kittyhawk, Boeing Locations: Canadian, Palo Alto , California, Wisk

☆ These 'unusual' 4 traits helped Jeff Bezos grow Amazon into a $1 trillion company, says current CEO
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Jeff Bezos built Amazon into a tech behemoth and "everything store" that's now worth $1.6 trillion. Jassy, Bezos' longtime deputy, took the company's reins after the Amazon founder stepped down in 2021. "There aren't too many other bigger thinkers than Jeff Bezos," Jassy said, adding: "He always had a way of getting teams to think bigger." Jassy nonetheless touted Bezos' approach for inspiring great work from employees that helped fuel Amazon's success. "[Bezos] had a way of having really high standards, and then having everybody really stretch and aspire to those standards."

Persons: Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, Fortune, Bezos, GeekWire, Jassy, Jeff, You've, it'll Organizations: Economic, Amazon, Pacific Science Center, Web Services Locations: Davos, Switzerland

☆ In a 'lost' interview, Jeff Bezos revealed why he chose books as the 'best product' to sell on Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In the beginning, it was just books — and Jeff Bezos had a reason for that hyper-specificity. Out of all the different products you might be able to sell online, books offered an "incredibly unusual benefit" that set them apart, Bezos said. "There are more items in the book category than there are items in any other category, by far," said Bezos. But in the book space, there are over 3 million different books worldwide active in print at any given time across all languages, [and] more than 1.5 million in English alone." "When you have that many items, you can literally build a store online that couldn't exist any other way," he explained.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, Bezos, —, Brian Roemmele Organizations: Libraries Association

☆ Leaked audio and emails reveal how leaders at flying car startup Kittyhawk scrambled to execute orders when Larry Page returned, and told workers to 'drink the Kool-Aid'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Google cofounder Larry Page took back control of his flying-car company Kittyhawk last year. One employee told Anderson it would take three weeks to get ahold of one particular component they needed. "When I told [Larry] three weeks, he was not sympathetic and immediately told me I was wrong," Anderson said. I don't know that you're wrong, but Larry Page tells me you're wrong. "Please ignore Doug's email," Thrun responded in a follow-up email to the company.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Say goodbye to the US car market as we know it, TikTok will pay for AR filters, and YouTubers share how they make money
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and I'm taking a few days off to watch my best friend graduate with their PhD. (Don't worry, my colleagues in London will be bringing you your daily dose of tech news while I'm away.) Pharmacy startup TruePill is searching for its panacea. Employees told to "drink the Kool-Aid" at Larry Page's startup. Current and former employees told Insider about the recent turmoil.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: The end of coding as we know it, why the 4-day workweek works, and wild Kittyhawk designs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But all of you had something insightful to share (there was even the odd pet picture, too!) Now, this week I wanted to share some of our top stories from our Discourse team. Tech companies have rushed to embrace generative AI, recognizing its ability to turbocharge programming, Insider's Aki Ito writes. And for better or worse, this effectively marks the end of coding as we know it. A growing body of evidence suggests a shorter workweek prevents employee burnout, fosters a healthier workplace, and boosts company productivity.

☆ China doesn’t want US cars like Ford and General Motors. That’s a big problem for their futures.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

America has a problem: China — the world's largest car market — doesn't want its vehicles. In 2022, data shows Ford and General Motors' car sales in China each dropped more than 20% from the year before. My colleagues Alexa St. John and Nora Naughton break down how the future of US automakers hinges on China. Although Google founder Larry Page's flying car company Kittyhawk majorly flopped, it left us with some interesting vehicles. Hop aboard to see all the funky flying car models here.

☆ Mental-health apps have a dark secret — and it raises important questions about the future of online therapy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a video posted by Vice, Clarke addressed Clearlink's return-to-office mandate and said that many of his remote workers didn't open their laptops for a month. Online therapy fills a critical need — but it has a dark side. The data Loris used to create its "empathetic" software was generated from text conversations with people in distress, sourced from Loris' parent company, Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit suicide-prevention hotline. That is, however, according to Musk, who told Tucker Carlson that the two tech billionaires disagreed on safety and regulation. The real reason bosses are freaked out by remote work: they think it's for "sissies."

☆ Take a look at the wildest vehicles designed by Kittyhawk, Google cofounder Larry Page's failed flying-car company
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Hugh Langley | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Last September, Larry Page's flying car company Kittyhawk, closed its doors. It was a stunning failure for what was once the vanguard of the eVTOLs (electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft) industry. The company was started in 2015 and explored a range of concepts for eVTOLs over its lifespan. In our exclusive story on the rise and fall of Kittyhawk, we revealed several of the company's ideas for new flying cars. Another of the ideas, an autonomous taxi named Wisk, is still alive as part of a joint venture with Boeing.

☆ How Larry Page's flying-car company of the future turned into a stunning failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Although I'm currently pretty homesick and jet lagged, I'm blessed with "the life-changing magic of working from home." One worker told my colleague Rebecca Knight how remote work transformed her life and how returning to the office has killed company morale. The stunning failure of Google founder Larry Page's flying-car company. In April 2022, company morale plummeted when it axed one of its most promising projects, those former insiders say. The company put together a thorough document to help managers navigate pay-related conversations with employees, and Insider got a look.

☆ Inside the Rise and Fall of Kittyhawk, Larry Page's Failed Flying Car Company
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Hugh Langley | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

Killing off projects had become something of a tradition at Kittyhawk, the secretive flying-car startup launched by the Google cofounder Larry Page. Larry Page has used his Google money to found a series of flying car companies with one common goal: "to free the world of traffic." "When Bloomberg did their original exposé, that's when urban air mobility became a thing," a former Kittyhawk employee recalled. Everyone thought: If Larry Page is in this space, there must be something here." Interpreting "Larry-isms" or "learning to speak Larry" were essential skills for any Kittyhawk employee who wanted to retain their sanity.

☆ JPMorgan is asking senior managers to be in the office five days a week. Here's the latest on return-to-office mandates.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Matt Turner | Dave Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On the agenda today:But first: JPMorgan is asking senior managers to be in the office five days a week. The company told senior managers this week that they "have to be visible on the floor" in a memo asking managing directors to be in the office five days a week. Last month, Disney told employees they were expected to be back to the office four days a week. And Amazon said it wants all employees back in the office at least three days a week by next month, setting off both internal opposition and support, and a scramble to get office space ready. A dozen former Kittyhawk employees told Insider that Kittyhawk found itself torn between the conflicting visions and shifting priorities of its billionaire founder and his handpicked CEO.

☆ Meet the brothers building massive spacecraft to leverage SpaceX’s Starship
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

What we're finding is that, with the new launch capabilities of vehicles like Starship, there's actually an interesting opportunity to go the opposite direction," Karan Kunjur told CNBC. Los Angeles-based startup K2 Space, co-founded by CEO Karan Kunjur and CTO Neel Kunjur, is setting out to build satellite buses — the physical structure of a spacecraft that provides power, movement and more. A pair of brothers is aiming to challenge the way spacecraft are built, by going against the industry trend and designing massive satellites in a bet that towering rockets such as SpaceX's Starship are the way forward. K2 Space, a play on the brothers' surname and a nod to astronomer Nikolai Kardashev's scales of civilization, marks Karan and Neel's first venture together and fuses their previously divergent careers. For K2, the company is targeting prices that would be unheard of for satellite buses of these sizes.

☆ Inside the 'Fly Fleet': billionaire Google founder Sergey Brin's growing flotilla of megayachts, boats, and jet skis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Rob Price | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a quiet harbor in California's Redwood City, 30 miles south of San Francisco, there often sits a gleaming 40-meter yacht flying the flag of the Marshall Islands. Along with Butterfly, which often docks in Redwood City, California, Brin maintains a growing flotilla of yachts, jet skis, and skiffs. To maintain the fleet, Brin employs a 50-person team around the globe, led by the master mariner Mike Gregory. InsiderMany of Brin's smaller water-sports toys — as well as Page's — have been supplied by Kai Concepts, a startup that builds high-tech aquatic vehicles, including foilboards and a kite-propelled boat. While he spends much of his time at his collection of tropical islands around the world, he has sold his superyacht Senses and downsized to an assortment of smaller vessels.

Page purchased Hans Lollik and its smaller neighboring island, Little Hans Lollik, in 2014 for $23 million. The Hans Lollik Islands in the US Virgin Islands were bought by Larry Page in 2014 cdwheatley/Getty ImagesPage purchased the islands from Liberty Bankers Life Insurance Company using a limited-liability company called Virgin Island Properties LLC. Page's intentions for the Hans Lollik islands are unclear, but the larger island of the two may have personal significance for the Google cofounder. In the deposition, Osborne hinted that Larry proposed to his wife, the research scientist Lucinda Southworth, on Hans Lollik. Page expands to the South PacificIn 2020, Page added another island to his portfolio: the heart-shaped Tavarua island in Fiji's Mamanuca archipelago.

☆ Larry Page, Sergey Brin Post-Google Lives: Investments, Yachts, Islands
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Hugh Langley | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +33 min

Even before their retirement from Google, Page and Brin relied heavily on their respective family offices to bring order to their worlds. The Bay Area headquarters of Koop, Larry Page's family office, is nondescript and gives little indication of the billionaire's empire. Insider; Marianne Ayala/Insider Show less Bayshore Global Management, Sergey Brin's family office, is based in Palo Alto and has a bit more of a public face. Insider; Marianne Ayala/Insider Show lessThe difference in styles holds true for Brin's family office, Bayshore Global Management. The CEO of Page's family office is Wayne Osborne, a former elder in the Presbyterian Church who attended Princeton Theological Seminary.

☆ Another tech bubble bursts: 2022 has been brutal for Silicon Valley workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +28 min

Gem: 100A maker of recruiting software, the startup cut a third of its workforce Nov. 1, The Information reported. HealthCare.com: 149The health insurance marketplace announced the job cuts Aug. 3, Miami Inno reported, citing state regulatory filings. Fabric: 120The robotics startup said July 13 that it was layoffing off 40% of them, TechCrunch reported, citing company confirmation. It affected about 300 people, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported, citing company confirmation. Policygenius: 170The online insurance company cut about 25% of its staff, Axios reported June 6, citing company confirmation.

☆ Chinese Tesla rival Xpeng built the most literal interpretation of 'flying car' we've seen yet — watch its maiden voyage
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Xpeng, a Chinese electric-vehicle maker that competes with Tesla, unveiled a new flying-car prototype. The X3 is a car with four rotors on it, enabling it to switch between driving and flying. Xpeng, the Chinese electric-vehicle maker that rivals Tesla, unveiled a new flying car prototype in late October internally named the X3. Most "flying car" ideas from startups are heavy on the flying, light on the car. "Designed for both air flight and road driving, the flying car conveniently features a sleek rotor fold-away system for seamless conversation between driving and flying," the company said in a press release.

☆ Larry Page’s electric air taxi startup is winding down
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Kittyhawk, the electric air taxi startup backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, announced Wednesday that it plans to “wind down” operations. Kittyhawk had the lofty mission of “building autonomous, affordable, ubiquitous and eco-conscious air taxis,” according to its website. The company launched other electric aircraft prototypes and announced a partnership with Boeing in 2019. In a tweet, Wisk said that it remains “in a strong financial position,” with both Boeing and Kittyhawk as investors. Like Kittyhawk, Wisk is developing an “all-electric, self-flying air taxi” that it says “rises like a helicopter and flies like a plane,” according to its website.

☆ Kittyhawk, Google Co-Founder Larry Page’s Air Taxi Startup, Is Winding Down
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Allison Prang | Andrew Tangel | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kittyhawk, a startup backed by Google co-founder Larry Page that was working on developing air taxis, said it is winding down its business. “We’re still working on the details of what’s next,” the company said Wednesday in a two-sentence post on LinkedIn.

☆ Google co-founder's flying car start-up is winding down
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Google co-founder Larry Page's flying car start-up Kittyhawk is winding down, the company announced Wednesday. The company unveiled a demonstration video of a flying car in 2017, and Thrun said he envisioned a time where people would be able to hail flying cars through an app like Lyft or Uber. Kittyhawk showcased a flying car model called the Flyer in 2018 which could hold one person and fly up to 20 miles. The company announced a strategic partnership with airplane manufacturer Boeing the following year. However, by 2020, Kittyhawk announced plans to shut down its Flyer program and shifted focus to its electric aircraft called Heaviside, according to reports.

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