Google News

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Google agreed to pay $350 million to settle a lawsuit by shareholders related to a security bug at its now-defunct Google+ social media website. A preliminary settlement was filed late on Monday in San Francisco federal court after more than a year of mediation, and requires approval by U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson. It resolves claims that Google learned by March 2018 about a three-year software glitch that exposed Google+ users’ personal data, yet… Source link

Google research reveals global spyware threat NurPhoto via Getty Images Google has just published a comprehensive report titled ‘Buying Insights’ that provides critical insights into commercial surveillance vendors. This report is the outcome of the joint efforts of both the Threat Analysis Group and the Jigsaw Unit at Google. The report unequivocally affirms that these vendors pose a real and significant threat to Google users, notwithstanding the massive amounts of data collected by… Source link

Amid spread of AI tools, tech giant joins fight for a transparent online world. February 8, 2024, 9:00 AM ET • 5 min read Google announced Thursday that it is joining a coalition of companies dedicated to helping increase transparency around artificial intelligence and digital content. As examples of AI-generated content continue to make headlines — from fake sexually explicit AI images of Taylor Swift, to a deceptive AI-generated voice clone of President Biden — the need for clarity around… Source link

Google on Monday donated $1 million to the Rust Foundation specifically to improve interoperability between the language and C++. C++, a popular general purpose programming language, has arguably fallen out of fashion due to concerns over safety. Memory safety errors are the source of the majority of vulnerabilities for Google and Microsoft, and this has led to evangelism for memory-safe Rust and a scarlet letter for C/C++. “Based on historical vulnerability density statistics,… Source link

Eric Risberg/AP Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, takes part in a discussion at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit Nov. 16, 2023, in San Francisco. Washington CNN  —  … Source link

Google is introducing an experimental feature in Google Maps that uses AI to help users discover local businesses that meet specific needs. AI-Powered Discovery The new feature utilizes large language models to analyze Google Maps’ database of over 250 million places, photos, ratings, reviews, and more. After entering a conversational search query, Google Maps will suggest personalized recommendations for businesses, events, restaurants, and activities in the area. For example, you can ask… Source link

By Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Monday set a Sept. 9, 2024, date for the start of a jury trial in a lawsuit the U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of states filed last year against Google that accused the company of abusing its dominance of digital advertising technology. The lawsuit, filed in January 2023, accuses Google of monopolizing the market for digital advertising and undermining competition. The government has said Google should be forced to sell… Source link

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET Google Bard disappointed users upon its launch with its underwhelming performance. However, Google has made several AI advancements since then, including releasing its most advanced LLM, Gemini, and rolling out an impressive image generator released last week. To follow on those upgrades, it looks like Bard is getting a rebrand. Also: The best AI chatbots On Saturday, Android developer Dylan Roussel spotted a changelog for Bard, dated February 7, 2024, that revealed… Source link

The dust has settled on the new Galaxy S24 lineup, and now a discount on the Google Pixel 8 Pro is arriving right on schedule. If you’re not sold by Samsung’s latest, Google’s newest smartphone is dropping to $799 shipped as its first discount since Galaxy Unpacked last month. This unlocked 128GB smartphone usually sells for $999 and is now seeing a $200 price cut down to match the all-time low. This is the same holiday pricing we saw through Black Friday, too. The $200 in… Source link

When Diane Hirsh Theriault’s co-worker returned from lunch to Google’s Cambridge, Mass., office one afternoon in October, his work badge couldn’t open a turnstile. He quickly realized it was a sign that he had been laid off. Ms. Hirsh Theriault soon learned that most of her fellow Google News engineers in Cambridge had also lost their jobs. More than 40 people in the news division were cut, a company union said, though a number of them were later offered jobs elsewhere inside Google. Ms…. Source link