The Nexus Q was such a misguided product that Google decided to pull the plug before the device was ever released to consumers. Ten years to the day after its introduction at I/O 2012, the $299 media player positioned as a “social streaming device” remains a unique debacle in Google’s hardware story. Say what you will about Google Glass, but the company’s first foray into wearable tech at least got people talking. The Nexus Q, in contrast, was an example of what can happen when a… Source link
Read More »Google’s Pixel 5 was the last of its kind
From time to time, I’ll grab a random device out of the Verge reviews closet and spend a week or two with it. It’s mostly out of random curiosity and for the sake of comparing “old” products against the latest and greatest. Most recently, I was drawn to Google’s Pixel 5. So I gave it a factory reset, updated the phone to Android 12, and have been using it as my daily driver for the past several days. The experience has been fantastic. I’ve got very large hands — an iPhone… Source link
Read More »Here’s Google’s letter saying employees can relocate to states with abortion rights
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, Google’s chief people officer Fiona Cicconi sent a staff-wide email to employees on Friday informing them of Google’s response to the ruling. Among other things, the email states that Googlers that they can “apply for relocation without justification,” and that people in charge of the relocation process “will be aware of the situation” in assessing their requests. The Supreme Court’s ruling does… Source link
Read More »Brave challenges Google’s search engine dominance with privacy-centered product
Brave challenges Google’s search engine dominance with privacy-centered product | Fortune … Source link
Read More »Google’s new Chromebook features make it easier to connect to Android phones
Google has been working on new Android and Chromebook features that better bridge the gap between phones and laptops over the past year. Today, ChromeOS version 103 arrives with some features to improve how Chromebooks connect to Android phones. The Phone Hub feature of ChromeOS, announced last year, is getting a new recent photos addition. With the 103 ChromeOS update, you’ll be able to quickly access the latest photos you’ve taken on your phone inside the Phone Hub. It’s an easy… Source link
Read More »Google’s PaLM AI Is Far Stranger Than Conscious
Last week, Google put one of its engineers on administrative leave after he claimed to have encountered machine sentience on a dialogue agent named LaMDA. Because machine sentience is a staple of the movies, and because the dream of artificial personhood is as old as science itself, the story went viral, gathering far more attention than pretty much any story about natural-language processing (NLP) has ever received. That’s a shame. The notion that LaMDA is sentient is nonsense: LaMDA is… Source link
Read More »Google’s Pixel Watch will reportedly have an Apple-like range of straps
Any modern smartwatch worth its salt comes with swappable straps. So it’s no surprise that Google is reportedly working on a number of strap options for its forthcoming Pixel Watch. According to 9to5Google, the company is making at least seven straps — including the one showcased during the I/O keynote — for when the smartwatch launches this fall. So far, 9to5Google is reporting that Google’s working on a Milanese-style mesh band, two types of leather bands, a link bracelet, a… Source link
Read More »Has Google’s SEO Office Hours Lost Its Spark?
Google’s John Mueller answered a question about what strategy to use to make specific pages show as sitelinks in Google’s search results. Mueller provided an answer that noticeably matched what’s in the official Google Search Central documentation for sitelinks, although he added a little more nuance than what’s in the official documentation. Nevertheless, Google’s new tightly controlled SEO Office Hours format is starting to show some limitations. How to Make Pages Appear as a… Source link
Read More »Opinion | If Google’s AI is truly alive — now what?
Placeholder while article actions load “Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it,” the anguished monster tells his creator in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” defending his right to exist now that he has been brought to consciousness. Early summer may feel like an odd time to revisit a gothic horror classic. But the ethical questions the novel raises — about humanity, technology, our responsibilities toward our creations — seem… Source link
Read More »Stanford researcher isn’t worried about Google’s ‘sentient’ chatbot
First came HAL-9000 and The Terminator. Now, Google’s LaMDA chatbot? Last week, Google suspended an engineer for breaching the company’s confidentiality policy, after he publicly revealed his conviction that the search giant’s AI chatbot LaMDA had achieved sentience. It opened the door for plenty of jokes — and nervous laughter — about the deadly sentient computers that have been part of popular culture for decades, from “2001: A Space Odyssey” to “The Terminator.” But you don’t have to… Source link
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