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Tag: Google

  • Sexual harassment: another top tech exec resigns

    A top executive and cofounder of Binary Capital has admitted to using his “position of power in exchange for sexual gains,” forcing him into resignation, according to media reports.

    The Information reported on Thursday that six women had accused Justin Caldbeck, a prominent venture capitalist of “unwanted and inappropriate advances”, with several saying the misconduct occurred when they sought funding or guidance while trying to start businesses.

    According to The Guardian, three of the women went public with their claims. Among them are Niniane Wang, who co-created Google Desktop; Susan Ho, co-founder of Journy and Leiti Hsu, another co-founder of Journy.

    While Wang alleged that Caldbeck tried to sleep with her while informally recruiting her for a job, Ho said the venture capitalist sent her text messages in the middle of the night suggesting they meet up while they were in the process of discussing investing in her startup.

    Hsu said Caldbeck groped her under a table at a bar.

    The three other women who preferred anonymity shared stories with The Information about sexually explicit text messages and advances from Caldbeck despite their professional relationships.

    Caldbeck had earlier denied the allegations before admitting them.

    Denying the allegations, he said: “I strongly deny the Information’s attacks on my character. The fact is, I have always enjoyed respectful relationships with female founders, business partners, and investors”.

    Admitting the allegations and resigning, Caldbeck said in a statement on Friday that “The power dynamic that exists in venture capital is despicably unfair,” adding: “The gap of influence between male venture capitalists and female entrepreneurs is frightening and I hate that my behavior played a role in perpetrating a gender-hostile environment”.

    This is the latest discrimination and misconduct scandal to rock Silicon Valley.

    Uber chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick was forced into resignation in the course of the past week for a major sexual harassment scandal as well.

     

  • Google begins removing personal medical records from search results

    Google begins removing personal medical records from search results

    Google has removed private medical records from its search results, Bloomberg reports, after quietly changing its policy on content removal.

    On Thursday, the company’s search policy was amended to include “confidential, personal medical records of private people” under a list of content it may remove from search results.

    Although Google has historically been reluctant to intervene with its search algorithms, it has banned some confidential material from appearing in results, such as credit card numbers, bank account information, and social security numbers.

    In 2015, the company began removing revenge porn from search results, as well.

    The decision to remove medical records follows several high-profile data breaches around the world.

    Information on tens of millions of people was stolen following a 2015 hack targeting Anthem, the second-largest insurer in the US.

    Between 2010 and 2013, approximately 29 million medical records in the US were affected by data breaches, according to a study released in 2015.

     

     

  • Facebook launches anti-extremism UK training program

    Facebook is launching a program in the UK to train and fund local organizations to combat extremist material online, as internet companies attempt to clamp down on hate speech and violent content on their services.

    Facebook, which outlined new efforts to remove extremist and terrorism content from its social media platform last week, will launch the Online Civil Courage Initiative in the UK on Friday, the company said in a statement.

    The new initiative will train non-governmental organizations to help them monitor and respond to extremist content and create a dedicated support desk so they can communicate directly with Facebook, the company said.

    “There is no place for hate or violence on Facebook,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer. “We use technology like AI to find and remove terrorist propaganda, and we have teams of counterterrorism experts and reviewers around the world working to keep extremist content off our platform.”

    The British government has stepped up attacks on Silicon Valley internet companies for not acting quickly enough to take down extremist online propaganda and fostering “safe places” where extremists can breed following a string of attacks in recent months in London and Manchester.

    Facebook, Alphabet’s Google, and Twitter have responded by saying they have made heavy investments and employed thousands of people to take down hate speech and violent content over the past two years. Security analysts say the efforts have dramatically reduced the use of these platforms for jihadist recruitment efforts, although more work needs to be done.

    Prime Minister Theresa May has sought to enlist British public opinion to force the U.S. internet players to work more closely with the government rather than proposing new legislation or policies to assert greater control over the web.

    Earlier this week, May urged fellow European Union leaders at a meeting in Brussels to join her in putting pressure on tech companies to ‘rid terrorist material from the internet in all our languages’.

    She called for the internet companies to shift from reactively removing content when they are notified of it, toward greater use of automatic detection and removal tools – and ultimately preventing it from appearing on their platforms in the first place.

     

     

  • Google faces record EU antitrust fine

    The European Union’s antitrust watchdog in the coming weeks is set to hit Google with a record fine for manipulating its search results to favour its own comparison-shopping service, according to people familiar with the matter.

    Wall Street Journal reports the penalty against Google is expected to top the EU’s previous record fine of €1.06 billion (about $1.18 billion) levied on a company allegedly abusing its dominance in 2009.

    The fine could reach as high as 10% of the company’s yearly revenue, which stood at $90.27 billion last year, WSJ reported.

    But more painful to Google than a sizable fine could be other consequences that come with the European Commission’s decision, including changes not only to the tech giant’s business practices but with other services as well.

    The EU’s decision could also embolden private litigants to seek compensation for damages at national courts.

    Google’s general counsel Kent Walker had previously argued that forcing the company to place competitors’ product ads in its search results “would just subsidize sites that have become less useful for consumers”.

    The regulator’s move would come as welcome relief to a range of web companies, large and small and both European and American, and even Nigerian who have been urging the EU for years to take antitrust action against Google.

     

    Source

     

  • Gboard: Best keyboard app gets ‘Wow’ update

    Google’s keyboard app Gboard for Android has got an update bringing several new features.

    These include phrase suggestions, improved in-place search, and an interesting emoji handwriting feature. These features are available version Gboard v6.3 for Android.

    The first new feature is handwriting support for emojis.

    You can now draw your desired emoji on the keyboard, and the app will recognize it and throw suggestions based on it.

    In the emoji search box, there is now a handwriting icon to draw emoji directly onto the screen.

    Furthermore, the new feature called phrase suggestions automatically throws recommendations at you based on what you type in the app.

    For example, when you you type ‘What do you think’, you will be prompted with ‘about this?’.

    Gboard already has a search feature that lets you search Google for just about anything. With this update, Google now offers multiple results, making it easier to search and share in any app.

    “When you’re searching in the keyboard, we’ll now offer multiple results for you to browse through, making it easier to search and share in any app.

    “In addition, on a card, you can click through to go to Maps, call a business, or watch a YouTube video.

    “Just press the G or arrow->magnifying glass in the suggestion strip to start searching,” Reena Lee, Product Manager, Gboard notes in its blog.

    Lastly, Gboard now supports more than 200 language varieties, and has also added suggestions and gesture typing for Azerbaijani (Iran), Dhivehi, French (Belgium), Hawaiian, Maori and Samoan languages, and simple keyboards so you can type and text in Dzongkha, Ewe, Navajo, Tsonga, and K’iche’.

    A relatively minor update to Gboard for iOS – version 1.4.5 – brings Vietnamese language support, bug fixes and improvements, and a new typing conversion feature.

    Gboard on iOS can now do math and unit conversions in-app. For example, typing 91+25 or 5kg to grams will give you relevant results, eradicating the need to open a calculator or any other app for conversions.

    You can download the latest versions of iOS and Android from App Store and Google Play Store for free right away.

     

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  • UK to fine Facebook, Google for terror content – Theresa May

    Prime minister Theresa May has confirmed the UK will look to create a new ‘legal liability’ that could see Facebook, Google, Twitter and other leading tech firms fined if they don’t remove “unacceptable content” from their websites.

    In a brief statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office, May says the UK has formed a partnership with France to “tackle online radicalisation”.

    The statement says the two countries aim to take “much stronger action against tech companies that fail to remove unacceptable content”.

    “The UK and France will work together to encourage corporations to do more and abide by their social responsibility to step up their efforts to remove harmful content from their networks, including exploring the possibility of creating a new legal liability for tech companies if they fail to remove unacceptable content,” May says.

    The legal liability would include the potential for firms to be fined if they don’t remove questionable content.

    May adds that the UK government will keep working with technology companies and wants to help them develop “tools” that can “identify and remove harmful material automatically”.

    The announcement follows multiple suggestions from May and Conservative Party colleagues that “cyberspace” should be regulated.

    In the build-up to the June snap general election and following both the Manchester and London Bridge terror attacks, May said there should be no “safe space” for those planning terror attacks to talk online.

     

     

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  • Paris Accord: US tech firms dare President Trump again, ‘go unusual’

    Paris Accord: US tech firms dare President Trump again, ‘go unusual’

    Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google are among hundreds of US businesses joining an effort to support the Paris climate agreement as part of a public campaign announced Monday.

    Dubbed “We Are Still In,” the launch of the initiative comes just days after President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw from the international accord, stunning much of the world and breaking with a broad host of industry executives who supported the deal.

    The campaign’s participants, who also include hundreds of investors, universities, local officials and state governments, have pledged to support the Paris accord and “pursue ambitious climate goals,” according to an open letter the campaign released.

    The group also took aim at Trump, saying his decision “damages the world’s ability to avoid the most dangerous and costly effects of climate change.” The business leaders and officials described Trump’s move as “out of step with what is happening in the United States.”

    The campaign on climate is the latest example of some of the biggest players in Silicon Valley opposing Trump’s key policies. The president’s travel ban and ongoing litigation surrounding his immigration orders have also sparked widespread condemnation from the tech industry.

    After the president revealed last week that he intends to exit the agreement, several high-profile business leaders said they would end their advisory roles with Trump, in protest. Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk and Disney chief executive Robert Iger said last week that they would no longer serve on the president’s economic advisory council. Executives from Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google also swiftly criticised Trump’s decision after his announcement.

    Dozens of states last week said they would forge ahead with their climate policies and their aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in response to the president’s move. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, D, also unveiled the largest renewable energy investment by any state, a $1.65 billion plan to support renewable energy and energy efficiency.

     

  • London terror attack: Facebook wants ‘hostility’ against terrorists

    London terror attack: Facebook wants ‘hostility’ against terrorists

    Facebook says it wants to make its platform “hostile” to terrorists after an attack in London left at least seven people dead this weekend.

    Simon Milner, the company’s director of policy, issued a widely reported statement Sunday that said the social media platform works “aggressively” to remove terrorist content.

    “We want Facebook to be a hostile environment for terrorists,” he said.

    U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May had earlier called for closer regulation of the internet, saying Sunday that terrorists need to be denied the digital tools they use to communicate and plan attacks.

    “We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed,” May said. “Yet that is precisely what the internet and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide.”

    May also said that democratic governments must regulate cyberspace, adding that “we need to do everything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremism online.”

    Tech companies have increasingly come under pressure in Europe because of the way they handle threats and hate speech.

    And Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and many other services have created encrypted channels that may shield communications from law enforcement.

    Milner said Sunday that Facebook alerts authorities if it means preventing a terrorist attack from happening.

    “If we become aware of an emergency involving imminent harm to someone’s safety, we notify law enforcement,” he said in the statement.

    Nick Pickles, Twitter’s head of public policy in the U.K., also defended his company Sunday, telling CNNMoney in a statement that “terrorist content has no place on Twitter.”

    He added that the company will “never stop working” to prevent events like the London terror attack from happening again.

    At least seven people were killed and 48 were wounded Saturday night in London when three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge. They then went on a stabbing spree at nearby bars and restaurants.

    The attack happened less than two weeks after 22 people were killed in another attack linked to terrorism at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.

     

     

    CNN

     

  • Photos of Google ‘landscrapper’ London headquarters

    Photos of Google ‘landscrapper’ London headquarters

    Google has submitted plans to build a new London headquarters, designed by Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Ingels.

    The proposed 11-storey building would total 1 million square feet and include a landscaped rooftop garden.

     

    It would also have a swimming pool, café and athletic facilities; and ground floor retail space has been factored into the design as well.

    The building would be near King’s Cross railway station in London.

    If Google’s application at Camden Council is approved, construction could start 2018 in earnest.

     

    Back to story…

     

    CNN

     

  • Google unveils plans to build ‘landscrapper’ London headquarters [Photos included]

    Google unveils plans to build ‘landscrapper’ London headquarters [Photos included]

    Google has released designs for a new 11-story, 1 million-square-foot landscrapper headquarters in London near King’s Cross railway station, complete with a sprawling, landscaped rooftop garden.

    The facilities will include a cafe, gym and pool as well as a rooftop track and ground-floor retail spaces, according to the company’s application for permission to build.

    The campus has been designed by an all-star team that includes Thomas Heatherwick, the British designer behind London’s 2012 Olympic cauldron, and Danish architect Bjarke Ingels’ BIG firm.

    The two are also collaborating on Google’s Mountain View campus in California, according to CNN.

    The current designs seem characteristic of the two men.

    Heatherwick was the mastermind behind the recently scrapped garden bridge in London, and last year, Ingels opened what he calls a “courtscraper” — a structure that combines a communal courtyard with the density of a skyscraper — in New York.

    “Our design for the new Google campus at King’s Cross is rooted in the local character of the area, taking advantage of the contextually defined building envelope while creating continuously cascading work environments that will connect Googlers across multiple floors,” Ingels said in a statement.

    “By opening up the ground floor and activating the roofscape, the light and airy workspaces are sandwiched between the terraced gardens on the roof — and market halls, auditoria and shops on the ground,” he added.

    Heatherwick, whose studio is based in King’s Cross, said “We have treated this new building for Google like a piece of infrastructure too, made from a family of interchangeable elements which ensure that the building and its workspace will stay flexible for years to come”.

    The company currently has a smaller headquarters in the area, along with another nearby building.

    Google had submitted designs for a new headquarters in 2013, but they were later scrapped.

    If the new application is approved by Camden Council, construction will start next year.

     

    Click here to see photos…

     

     

    CNN