Items tagged with sundar pichai
From the outside looking in, there is a bit of uncertainty surrounding Google's hardware business, and especially its line of Pixel phones. Following the launch of the Pixel 4, a report came out claiming there was a fair bit of behind-the-scenes turmoil during the phone's development, which may have impacted its reception—the Pixel 4 line sold poorly compared to the Pixel 3 family, in the first six months of availability. What gives? "Hardware is hard," as Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, put it in an interview with The Verge. The sentiment reminds me of Acer's reaction to Microsoft developing its first Surface tablet several years ago. At the time, an Acer executive likened the...
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Many smartphone users would agree that bloatware, or pre-installed apps that cannot be deleted, are fairly irritating. However, several organizations are now also arguing that bloatware could potentially violate users’ privacy. An open letter from over fifty groups has requested that Google prevent bloatware from exploiting users’ data. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Amnesty International, and Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) addressed an open letter to Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai regarding pre-installed apps and privacy. This past year, Pichai stated in a New York Times op-ed that “Privacy cannot be a luxury good offered only to people who...
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Google is in essence in damage control model following a European Union fine imposed on the company totaling $5 billion. The European Commission has called on Google to cease its "illegal conduct" relating to its business operations with the Android operating system "in an effective manner within 90 days of the decision". The European Commission is skewering Google over these three critical violations. "First, Google's practices have denied rival search engines the possibility to compete on the merits," writes the European Commission. "The tying practices ensured the pre-installation of Google's search engine and browser on practically all Google Android devices and the exclusivity payments...
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Google CEO Sundar Pichai was recently interviewed, and the conversation covered many topics in the tech world. One of the areas that was touched upon was artificial intelligence (AI) and what the future will hold for the technology. In that regard, Pichai likens AI to fire. Pichai said in the interview, "AI is one of the most important things that humanity is working on. It’s more profound than, I don’t know, electricity or fire." "[While fire is good] it kills people, too. They learn to harness fire for the benefits of humanity, but we have to overcome its downsides, too." The Google exec thinks that AI will do great things for humanity, like helping to find a cure for cancer. However,...
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There is something to be said from ordering an Android device with Google's own branding. For one, you do not have to worry about a bunch of third-party junk being pre-installed and custom overlays—Google phones deliver an unadulterated Android experience. You also get immediate access to new Android builds. Those perks help to drive sales of Google's Pixel handsets, and its second generation Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are selling especially well with twice as many pre-orders. Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated during an earnings call for Google's parent company Alphabet that pre-orders for the Pixel 2 on day one were double what they were last year for the first generation Pixel phones. The dramatic...
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As we reported previously, Google is looking to have more control over its future Nexus smartphones. In the past, Google has farmed out the design and manufacturing of its Nexus devices to third-party OEMs, and has installed a bone stock version of Android. While that approach is nice for those that want a no frills, barebones Android experience, not many people are actually lining up to purchase a Nexus smartphone. According to CEO Sundar Pichai, Google is looking to be a little more ambitious about the design of its Nexus smartphones going forward. While Google still has no plans to go it alone with manufacturing its Nexus smartphones, it will have more input on the design direction of future...
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You have to hand it to Google, the search giant has done a great job plugging itself into pop culture and has a sense of humor to boot. One example is Android. More specifically, Android's naming scheme, which goes in alphabetical order and is always representative of a tasty treat, the newest being Marshmallow. It started with Cupcake, then there was Donut, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, and Kit Kat, the sole sugary treat that was part of a promotional tie in with Nestlé and The Hershey Company. That led many to wonder if Google would follow suit with Android M, though as we now know, KitKat was a one-off play with a candy company. Nevertheless, the tradition...
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Most people already recognize Google as a verb, and now it's officially part of Alphabet. Yes, that's Alphabet with a capital "A," which is a newly formed entity that its CEO Larry Page describes as "mostly a collection of companies." That includes Google, Alphabet's largest building block, along with "companies that are pretty far afield" of Google's Internet products. "What do we mean by far afield? Good examples are our health efforts: Life Sciences (that works on the glucose-sensing contact lens), and Calico (focused on longevity)," Page explains. "Fundamentally, we believe this allows us more management scale, as we can run things independently that aren’t very related. Alphabet is about...
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