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After announcing that version 14 of Google Duo brought with it improved performance and availability in more countries, Justin Uberti, Technical Lead of the application, was asked how much data it used when on cellular networks. Surprisingly, as confirmed by Uberti, Duo uses as much as 8MB of data per minute…

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YouTube, being one of the largest platforms for viewing online video content, is all about helping users upload their own content to share with others. Unfortunately, two of the tools that the service provided for those who wanted to create “polished” videos without the use of expensive software are going away on September 20th. Those are YouTube’s video editor and photo slideshow tools…

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Since its inception, Google’s homepage has not changed much. On it, you will see the company’s logo and the search bar. Besides some links around the borders, Google.com is pretty sparse. Then, after Google unveiled a revamp of Feed, rumors started floating around that it would one day be added to the search giant’s homepage.

Do you think Google should place a news feed or something else on its homepage?

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Quantum computing is still in its infancy, but Google has plans to drive the development of applications and tools for the technology by offering researchers access to hardware. In the long-term, Google wants to offer a quantum computing service alongside its other cloud products.

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Google has won at least an interim victory in its dispute with the U.S. Department of Labor over a planned anti-discrimination audit of the company.

An administrative judge has ruled that Google was justified in its refusal to hand over pay data for 21,000 employees to allow the Dept of Labor to check whether the company was paying men more than women …

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A French court has ruled against the country’s own tax authority, and decided that Google need not pay a €1.11B ($1.27B) tax bill. Although the ruling so far applies only to Google and only in France, it sets a precedent that could influence other cases in Europe.

The French government took the view that when Google sold ads to French companies, that revenue was earned in France, and was subjected to taxes there. Accordingly, it sent the company a bill for almost $1.3B, covering ads sold in the country between 2005 and 2010, down from an earlier demand for €1.6B …

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It’s not often that a huge list of tech giants get together to speak with one voice, and it’s even more remarkable when they are protesting legislation which could actually benefit them, but that’s what’s happening today. A Day of Action has been called to ask the FCC to retain net neutrality rules.

Amazon, Dropbox, eBay, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Reddit, Snap, Spotify and Twitter are just 11 of the 40 tech companies encouraging you to have your say …

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Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car company, has been test-driving its custom Chrysler Pacifica minivans in Phoenix, Arizona for the last couple of months. This public-facing testing is to help teach Waymo’s cars and minivans how to drive independently on public streets. Now, the company has been working with a local police and fire department to train the self-driving minivans to better recognize and react to emergency vehicles…

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As we get closer to the release of the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2, we’re unavoidably going to start hearing more rumors. While we’ve already heard some tidbits about each of the devices, we haven’t yet seen what they might look like. We’re now possibly one step closer to that, however, as a pair of purported cases for both the Pixel 2 and XL 2 have now leaked.

But as for the legitimacy of these cases, unfortunately, we’re leaning towards dubious at best.

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When Google unveiled the Pixel and Pixel XL late last year, the company announced that the phone would, of course, be available in the typical black and silver colors. What surprised people was a bright blue variant that Google deemed “Really Blue.”

With the next generation of Pixel smartphones supposed to be announced in the coming months, what color do you really hope Google decides to ship the handsets in?

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Most of a key Project Loon patent has been cancelled by the US Patent and Trademark Office after another company succeeded in convincing the agency that it came up with the idea first.

Project Loon uses free-floating balloons to provide Internet access to remote areas, beaming down Wi-Fi from overhead. The patent which has been cancelled relates to how Alphabet steers the balloons …

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The UK’s privacy body, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), has ruled that a research partnership arrangement between Google DeepMind and the National Health Service (NHS) was illegal …

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Google has published its latest diversity report, saying that it is ‘making progress’ on a more diverse workforce but recognizes that there is ‘much more to do.’ It has announced a new hire to help it do so.

To push our work forward, we’re thrilled that Danielle Brown will be joining Google as our new Vice President of Diversity. She’ll start in July, and comes with the deep conviction that Google provides a platform where she and the team can make a real impact internally and across the tech industry.

Its latest numbers show that the company is still predominantly male and either white or Asian …

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The European Commission has levied its highest ever fine in an antitrust case, ruling that Google must pay €2.42B ($2.72B) for favoring its own shopping comparison service in search results. This is far higher than the €1B fine expected.

Further fines – equivalent to 5% of parent company Alphabet’s daily worldwide turnover – will apply unless Google resolves the issue within 90 days …

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Over the weekend, a new leak surfaced that reportedly sheds more light on the upcoming Walleye and Taimen devices. The leak hints at both of the devices’ specs, hardware design, and IO. Based off of these leaks, which of the two new upcoming Google smartphones are you most interested in?

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Google is refusing to hand over salary data to the government after the Labor Dept accused it of underpaying female employees …

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The first step in an ambitious plan by Google to turn downtown San Jose into a “mixed-use, transit-oriented office space” was approved last night. For the company, the campus portion could fit up to 20,000 Googlers, while the surrounding area would be drastically reshaped.

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Google has been found guilty of antitrust behavior over the way it promoted its own shopping services over that of competitors, reports the Financial Times. This is one of three separate European investigations into the legality of the company’s trading practices.

The paper says that a formal announcement will be made ‘in the coming weeks,’ and that the search giant will be fined a billion Euros ($1.12B) by the European Commission …

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Google today announced an update to its Local Guides program — perhaps the biggest one in a while. Starting today, Local Guides can reach up to level 10, whereas previously the “game” was capped at level 5. That means those who previously maxed out their points have reason to start updating Google Maps data again…

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