Google News

Enlarge / Google: “Just look at all these form factors!” There are 3 billion active Android devices in circulation now, and that means developers are eager to support Android. The vast majority of those devices are phones, so for app developers not particularly interested in the wider Android ecosystem, that means pump out a phone app and you’re done. A vibrant ecosystem of non-phone Android hardware is also out there, though—Wear OS,… Source link

MOUNTAIN VIEW, UNITED STATES: The logo of internet search engine company Google at the headquarters … [+] in Mountain View in Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco, 05 June 2005. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images [Updated 06/25/2021] Google Update Alphabet’s stock (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has seen a rise of 45% since the end of 2020 but is now close to its near term potential. In comparison the S&P 500 rose by 13%… Source link

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Friday that its formal inquiry, which builds on a preliminary probe launched last May, could force Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOGL) to change the way they deal with fake reviews or result in court action. “Our worry is that millions of online shoppers could be misled by reading fake reviews and then spending their money based on those recommendations,” CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli said in a statement. “Equally, it’s simply not fair if… Source link

Google Fi’s VPN service has started rolling out to subscribers on iPhone, the company has announced. The feature, which routes your phone’s internet traffic through an encrypted connection to protect your privacy, has been available on Android since launching in beta in November 2018. The launch comes a little later than Google’s previously announced “spring” release date, but it’s close. In a followup tweet Google says not all iPhone users will have access to the feature… Source link

This includes where the same users “have reviewed the same range of products or businesses at similar times to each other and there is no connection between those products or businesses or where the review suggests that the reviewer has received a payment or other incentive to write a positive review”. Source link

The Amazon logo displayed on a smartphone and a PC screen. Pavlo Gonchar | LightRocket via Getty Images LONDON — Britain’s competition regulator on Friday launched a formal probe into Amazon and Google over concerns they haven’t done enough to tackle fake reviews. “We are investigating concerns that Amazon and Google have not been doing enough to prevent or remove fake reviews to protect customers and honest businesses,” Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said in a statement. “It’s… Source link

Google is testing a new feature to notify people when they search for a topic that may have unreliable results. The move is a notable step by the world’s most popular search engine to give people more context about breaking information that’s popular online — like suspected UFO sightings or developing news stories — that are actively evolving. The new prompt warns users that the results they are seeing are changing quickly, and reads, in part, “If this topic is new, it can… Source link

Google is delaying its long-promised move to block third-party cookies from its Chrome browser by another year, citing the need to “move at a responsible pace” and “avoid jeopardizing the business models of many web publishers which support freely available content.” Google’s business model likely factored into the decision, too: It relies on third-party cookies for some of its lucrative ad business and is a major player in the digital advertising ecosystem that will be upended… Source link

Google pushed back plans to phase out a widely used technology to track the web activity of users, in an effort to address growing concerns from regulators and digital advertising industry rivals. In a blog post on Thursday, Google said it intended to start gradually blocking trackers, or cookies, from its Chrome web browser in mid-2023 and eliminate them altogether later that year. Previously, Google had said it planned to begin stripping cookies from Chrome in January 2022. Google’s… Source link

Update: Google has now confirmed the delay, writing in a blog post that its engagement with UK regulators over the so-called “Privacy Sandbox” means support for tracking cookies won’t start being phased out in Chrome until the second half of 2023. “We plan to continue to work with the web community to create more private approaches to key areas, including ad measurement, delivering relevant ads and content, and fraud detection,” it writes. “Today, Chrome and others have… Source link