Tag Archives: Google

Google CEO eyes major opportunity in healthcare

Google

MNA Business Desk: Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet Inc and its Google subsidiary, said on Wednesday that healthcare offers the biggest potential over the next five to 10 years for using artificial intelligence to improve outcomes, and vowed that the technology giant will heed privacy concerns. US lawmakers have raised questions about Google’s access to the health records of tens of millions of Americans. Ascension, which operates 150 hospitals and more than 50 senior living facilities across the United States, is Google’s biggest cloud computing customer in healthcare. “When we work with hospitals, the data belongs to the hospitals,” ...

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Google to pay up to $200m on YouTube probe

Google

MNA Science & Technology Desk: Alphabet Inc’s Google will spend up to $200 million to settle a US Federal Trade Commission investigation into YouTube’s alleged violation of a children’s privacy law. Politico reported the settlement is expected to be between $150 million and $200 million. The settlement is set to be announced next week and will be the largest ever fine imposed for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule by collecting personal information from kids without parental consent. Google declined to comment. The FTC voted 3-2 to approve the settlement and sent it to the Justice Department as part ...

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Reliance-Microsoft tie-up poses threat to Amazon, Google in India

Mulan

MNA Business Desk: India’s Reliance Industries Ltd Monday announced a partnership with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, in a move that deepens the offerings of its Jio telecoms unit while posing a direct challenge to rival cloud services providers such as Amazon.com and Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O), reports Reuters. As part of the 10-year alliance, Jio will build data centers across India that will be hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani told shareholders at the company annual shareholders’ meeting. “We now have the capability to develop truly India-native solutions, including speech recognition and natural language understanding for all major ...

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Google Doodle celebrates Earth Day

Google

MNA Science & Technology Desk: Search engine giant Google has created a special Doodle, featuring fun facts about six fascinating creatures to celebrate Earth Day 2019. The doodle on its homepage is showing a series of animations featuring different, unique and special birds and animals. The doodle shows ‘Wandering Albatross’ that has the widest wingspan in the world, next up is a ‘Coastal Redwood’ tree, which is the tallest tree in the world at 377 feet and it shows ‘Paedophryne amanuensis’ the smallest vertebrate in the world and ‘Amazon Water Lily’, the largest aquatic plant. ‘Coelacanth’, a 407 million years ...

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Google disables iPhone app

app

MNA Science & Technology Desk: Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Wednesday it disabled an iPhone app that it had paid some users to install to study their digital habits, following a similar move late on Tuesday by social media network Facebook Inc. Google and Facebook had faced criticism from privacy experts for distributing their research apps through a program iPhone maker Apple Inc had created for companies to distribute apps to employees, according to Reuters. “The Screenwise Meter iOS app should not have operated under Apple’s developer enterprise program — this was a mistake, and we apologise,” Google said in ...

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Google, FB to pay $450K for Washington state violation

Google

MNA Tech Desk: Google and Facebook have agreed to pay $455,000 to settle allegations that they failed to keep proper records about who was paying for campaign ads on their sites, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Tuesday. Google will pay $217,000 and Facebook will pay $238,000 in response to two lawsuits filed in June that accused the tech firms of not obeying the state law on political-ad transparency, Ferguson said. Facebook spokeswoman Beth Gautier said the company was pleased to resolve the matter. “We’re working hard to protect election integrity and prevent foreign interference. We believe all ads ...

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Google rolls out ‘Call Screen’ feature

feature

MNA Tech Desk: Google has started rolling out a feature for its Pixel smartphones that lets users make use of the Google Assistant to see who is calling and why before they answer a call. The feature allows users to see a real-time transcript of how the caller responds so that they can then decide whether to pick up, respond by tapping a quick reply (for example, “I’ll call you back later”), or mark the call as spam and dismiss. “Call Screen is only available to English speakers in the United States who have Pixel 2, 2 XL, 3, or ...

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Google sacks 48 staff over sexual harassment

feature

MNA Tech Desk: Google has sacked 48 people for sexual harassment in the last two years, it has emerged. The terminations included 13 senior managers. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, made the announcement in an email to all employees on Thursday, reported news agency. The email, obtained by CNBC, was in response to a New York Times story that the tech giant had protected Android creator Andy Rubin despite misconduct allegations. Mr Rubin denied the accusations. Mr Pichai’s email, co-signed by vice president of people operations Eileen Naughton, read: “We are dead serious about making sure we provide a safe and ...

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Google introduces ‘Touring Bird’

Touring Bird

MNA Tech Desk: Google’s in-house start-up incubator “Area 120” has introduced a travel guide website called “Touring Bird” that lists tours, attractions and activities for travellers and tourists in popular travel destinations. “Area 120” is a workshop for the tech giant’s experimental products. So far, the site provides information about 20 cities that include New Delhi, Prague, Chicago, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin and Las Vegas among others and they plan to increase their coverage in the coming months. “When you select a destination city, you’ll see popular attractions, suggested tours and activities along with prices, options for free guided tours and ...

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Google to invest $550m in JD.com

feature

MNA Tech Desk: Google will invest $550 million in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse JD.com, part of the US internet giant’s efforts to expand its presence in fast-growing Asian markets and battle rivals including Amazon.com. The two companies described the investment announced on Monday as one piece of a broader partnership that will include the promotion of JD.com products on Google’s shopping service. This could help JD.com expand beyond its base in China and Southeast Asia and establish a meaningful presence in US and European markets. Company officials said the agreement initially would not involve any major new Google initiatives in China, ...

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Google won’t deploy AI to build weapons

feature

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Google will not allow its artificial intelligence software to be used in weapons or unreasonable surveillance efforts, the Alphabet Inc unit said Thursday in standards for its business decisions in the nascent field, reported news agency. The new restrictions could help Google management defuse months of protest by thousands of employees against the company’s work with the U.S. military to identify objects in drone video. Google will pursue other government contracts including around cybersecurity, military recruitment and search and rescue, chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post Thursday. “We want to be clear ...

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Google celebrates Earth Day 2018

Earth Day 2018

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Google collaborates Earth Day 2018 with renowned ethologist and conservationist Dr Jane Goodall to speak about our planet’s future. In the illustrated video of Doodle, she speaks about the conversation efforts and animal welfare. The search engine giant partnered with Jane Goodall and The Jane Goodall Institute to create the graphic, through which Goodall shares her own personal message with the world. Every year, Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 worldwide, and with the Earth Day-themed doodle, Google supports and promotes the environment protection. The theme of Earth Day 2018 is the end of ...

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Google bans cryptocurrency advertising

shut

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Google said on Wednesday it was banning advertisements for cryptocurrency and initial coin offerings, the latest internet company to clamp down on the sector amid growing concerns about scams. Google’s action, which takes effect in June and follows a similar move by Facebook earlier this year, sent the price of the best-known cryptocurrency, bitcoin, down more than 10 percent to its lowest in a month. Interest in cryptocurrencies has surged in the last year as their prices rocketed. That growth has spawned online advertising used by hundreds of companies trying to raise funds by launching ...

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France to take legal action against Google and Apple

France

MNA Science & Technology Desk: France will take legal action against Google and Apple for “abusive business practices”, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Wednesday as transatlantic ties threaten to be riven by a trade war. “I believe in an economy based on justice and I will take Google and Apple before the Paris Commercial Court for abusive business practices” against French start-ups, Le Maire said on RTL radio. He said start-ups face conditions imposed on them when selling their apps on Google and Apple. It is unclear if European nations will obtain waivers, with Trump having singled out the ...

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Uber to pay $245m to settle Waymo’s theft allegations

fined

MNA Business Desk: Uber is paying $245 million to Google’s self-driving car spinoff to end a legal pawl that aired out allegations of a sinister scheme that tore apart the once-friendly companies, reported news agency. The surprise settlement announced Friday came as lawyers for Uber and Waymo, a company hatched from Google, prepared to wrap up the first week of a trial that had attracted international attention. Waymo filed its lawsuit nearly a year ago , adding to Uber’s woes with allegations of a bold high-tech heist orchestrated by its former CEO, Travis Kalanick, and a former Google engineer. That ...

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Google pulls YouTube from Amazon Fire TV

YouTube TV

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Google has blocked YouTube on Amazon’s Fire TV earlier than expected amid growing rivalry between the two tech giants as their businesses continue to overlap. The move is in retaliation for Amazon’s refusal to sell some Google products that compete with the retailer’s gadgets, and Fire TV devices now encourage people to access YouTube via one of the gadget’s web browsers instead, reported news agency. “YouTube and millions of other websites are accessible by using a web browser like Firefox or Silk on Fire TV,” Amazon was quoted as saying. Earlier this month, Google had ...

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NASA, Google find solar system with 8 planets

solar system

MNA Science & Tech Desk: A record-tying eighth planet has been found in a faraway solar system, matching our own in number. Even more amazing, machines and not humans made the discovery. NASA joined with Google on Thursday to announce the finding, reports news agency. This eighth planet orbits the star known as Kepler-90. Like Earth, this new planet, Kepler-90i, is the third rock from its sun. But it’s much closer to its sun — orbiting in just 14 days — and therefore a scorching 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 Celsius) at the surface. In fact, all eight planets are scrunched ...

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Google celebrates Humayun Ahmed’s 70th birthday

Humayun

MNA Feature Desk: Search engine giant Google has created a new Doodle on its homepage, celebrating the life of prolific Bangla writer Humayun Ahmed on the occasion of his 70th birth anniversary. Humayun Ahmed (13 November 1948 – 19 July 2012) was a Bangladeshi writer, dramatist, screenwriter, filmmaker, song writer, scholar, lecturer. His breakthrough was his debut novel Nondito Noroke published in 1972. He wrote over 200 fiction and non-fiction books, all of which were bestsellers in Bangladesh. Ahmed’s writing style is characterised as magical realism. His books were the top sellers at the Ekushey Book Fair during the 1990s ...

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Google delays white Pixel 2 orders

YouTube TV

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Google has delayed the delivery of some of its newly-launched white Pixel 2 devices by up to a month as it is having a hard time keeping the smartphone in stock. “Some people who ordered a white Pixel 2 and received an estimated ship date of late October are receiving emails saying their order has been delayed by up to a month,” a report in The Verge said late Monday. To make up for the delay, Google is now offering these customers a free Live Case, which normally sell for $40. Based on Reddit reports, ...

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Balloons to help restore Puerto Rico’s cell networks

balloons

MNA Science & Technology: Google’s parent company is set to launch balloons into the Caribbean skies in an attempt to restore telephone networks in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Alphabet Inc., which controls Google, obtained authorization from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deploy the devices — developed from 2013 as part of a project known as “Loon.” It aims to temporarily re-establish Puerto Rico’s cellular network — where 83 per cent of cell sites were still out of service Friday, according to FCC figures. “More than two weeks after Hurricane Maria struck, millions of Puerto Ric a statement. ans are ...

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Google introduced “Babel Fish” earbuds

earbuds

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Google on Wednesday introduced new Pixel earbuds that the company says are capable of real-time translation of conversations in different languages. A demonstration given as Google unveiled a host of new products infused with its digital “Assistant” smarts got people playfully referring to Pixel Buds as an internet-Age version of alien “Babel Fish” depicted in famed science fiction work “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” In the literature, inserting a Babel Fish in an ear enabled a person to understand anything spoken in any language. Pixel Buds, synched to freshly-introduced second-generation Pixel smartphones, promised real-time ...

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Google adds fact-checking tag to search results globally

feature

MNA Science & Technology Desk: Google is adding a fact-checking tag to search results worldwide, its latest initiative to help curb the spread of misinformation and fake news, the company said on Friday. The new tags, to be used in all languages for users universally, will use third-party fact-checkers to indicate whether news items are true, false or somewhere in-between. “For the first time, when you conduct a search on Google that returns an authoritative result containing fact checks for one or more public claims, you will see that information clearly on the search results page,” Google said in a ...

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‘Google Doodle’ celebrates Bangladesh’s 47th Independence Day

doodle

MNA Science & Tech Desk: World’s most popular web search engine Google has been celebrating Bangladesh’s 47th Independence and National Day by creating a special doodle on its homepage. The doodle, featuring a girl carrying the national flag of Bangladesh and the combination of red and green colours, which are the colours of the national flag, has been seen above the search box on the homepage of Google since early Sunday. Google for the first time in its history made a special doodle in celebration of Bangladesh’s Independence Day in 2013. However, it is a special, temporary alteration of the ...

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Google doodle celebrates International Women’s Day

International

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Search engine giant Google on Wednesday dedicated the International Women’s Day in a creative manner through its doodle. Women’s Day is celebrated across the world on 8 March. With eight slide shows, the doodle reminded of the female pioneers and their vast contributions in multiple fields – from arts to science. Instead of bedtime lullabies and fairy-tale stories, Google this time brought a change in the art of story-telling through the doodle. The doodle began with a grandmother narrating to her granddaughter the tales of real-life women who stood apart for their courage, made an ...

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New LinkedIn site design encourages engagement

LinkedIn

MNA Science & Tech Desk: LinkedIn announced a new look tied to a complete overhaul of its technology architecture, which brings conversations and content front and center. The redesign brings the LinkedIn desktop in line with the mobile browser version launched in 2015. LinkedIn will roll out its new desktop globally over the next few weeks. Among the changes: Streamlined navigation bar — now with seven core areas: Home, Messaging, Jobs, Notifications, Me, My Network and Search; Smarter messaging — a real-time interface with more robust capabilities, such as being able to identify people within a user’s network who work ...

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Russia requests Apple, Google to remove LinkedIn app

remove

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Condemning LinkedIn of flouting local laws that require internet firms to store data on citizens within the nation’s borders, the Russian authorities have asked Apple and Google to remove the professional networking site app from their online stores, reported news agency. A Russian court blocked the Microsoft-owned LinkedIn service for breaching the country’s data protection rules. According to The New York Times, Apple has confirmed that it was asked to remove its LinkedIn app in Russia about a month ago. “Google has not confirmed if it had removed LinkedIn in Russia but said that it ...

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Google to show off new smartphone

new smartphone

MNA Technology Desk: Google sent out invitations to an October 4 event, hinting that the Internet titan will show off a new smartphone powered by its Android mobile software, reported news agency. Emailed invitations revealed only the time and place for the gathering in San Francisco, the message topped by blue, red, yellow, and green dots of color. Google fired off a Twitter message with hashtag #madebygoogle and a video of what appeared to be a long rectangular search term box morphing into a silhouette of a smartphone. Industry trackers have been expecting Google in October to show off its ...

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