Tag Archives: TechCrunch

Area 120, the Google in-house incubator responsible for products such as Checks, Tables, Stack and ThreadBite, has been significantly affected by broader layoffs at Google parent company Alphabet. A spokesperson tells TechCrunch via email that the majority of the Area 120 team has been “winded down,” and that only three projects from the division will graduate later this year into core Google product areas. The spokesperson wouldn’t say which specific… Source link

A date has been set for a trial by jury in a significant antitrust case against Google involving its alleged abuses of power in the Android app market. Fortnite maker Epic Games and dating app giant Match Group, joined by over three dozen state Attorneys General, have accused Google of unfairly leveraging its market dominance and harming competition through its Google Play Store terms and practices. In particular, the plaintiffs take issue with the commissions Google requires on app… Source link

Google has been dealt a significant blow in one of its key overseas markets. India’s Supreme Court on Thursday declined to block an antitrust order that requires the Android-maker to make a series of changes that could topple its financial viability. India’s apex court rejected to block the ruling against Google by the nation’s antitrust watchdog Competition Commission of India. The court extended the deadline for enforcement of CCI’s order by one week,… Source link

Late last week it emerged Google intends to ignore a call by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) — the international body that works to guide the development of web standards — to rethink the Topics API: A key ad-targeting component of Google’s so-called “Privacy Sandbox” proposal to evolve the adtech stack Chrome supports for targeted advertising. Topics refers to an ad-targeting component of the Sandbox proposal which is based on tracking web users interests via their… Source link

Late last week it emerged Google intends to ignore a call by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) — the international body that works to guide the development of web standards — to rethink the Topics API: A key ad-targeting component of Google’s so-called “Privacy Sandbox” proposal to evolve the adtech stack Chrome supports for targeted advertising. Topics refers to an ad-targeting component of the Sandbox proposal which is based on tracking web users interests via their… Source link

Google’s clock app for Android has plenty of sound options to set as an alarm. If you don’t like the default tone, you can use a song or a podcast from Spotify or YouTube Music (only if you have a premium subscription), too – and Google now also allows you to record a voice clip and set that as an alarm tone as well. This feature was first noticed by Esper.io’s Mishaal Rahman. As he noted, this is a server-side push, so as long as you are using Clock app… Source link

Soundboxes — hardware used by merchants that emits sounds every time a mobile payment is made — have taken off in India, where point of sale activity can get busy and voice alerts from the soundbox help alert multitasking shopkeepers and assistants to a transaction going through. Now, to keep pushing ahead to build out its own payments business in the world’s second-largest internet market, Google is getting in on the act. The internet giant, which is currently one of the mobile… Source link

ShareChat, the Indian social media startup backed by Twitter, Google, Tiger Global and Temasek, has laid off 20% of its workforce — or over 400 employees — just a month after eliminating more than 100 roles. The startup informed its employees about the decision on Monday morning. It deactivated access to accounts and wiped out all data of impacted employees, a person familiar with the development told TechCrunch. In December, ShareChat laid off nearly 5% of its… Source link

Google warned on Friday that if the Indian antitrust watchdog’s ruling is allowed to progress it would result in devices getting expensive in the South Asian market and lead to proliferation of unchecked apps that will pose threats for individual and national security, escalating its concerns over the future of Android in the key overseas region. “Predatory apps that expose users to financial fraud, data theft and a number of other dangers abound on the… Source link

Google is finally rolling out emoji reactions to people using Google Meet for video calls starting today. The company said that this feature will be first available on iOS and the web with Android support coming soon. The search giant first announced this feature last year, but it is reaching users just now. Users can click or tap on the smile icon on the bottom pane to post a reaction emoji — with support for different skin tones — on the video call. When… Source link