Google

Due to various leaks, rumors, and our own reporting, we have a pretty good idea of what Google has planned for this year’s Pixel and Pixel XL. A new report today corroborates several specs — like the lack of a headphone jack — and provides the first live images of the device.

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In case you weren’t aware, there’s a pretty major natural phenomenon set to pass over the United States later this month, a total solar eclipse. For the first time in 100 years, a large portion of the US will be able to see this eclipse, and Google’s latest project helps anyone find out the exact time to see the eclipse, and how well they’ll see it.

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Google and Apple have removed hundreds of financial trading apps from their app stores following an investigation suggesting that thousands of people may have been scammed – many of them seniors. Some have reportedly lost their entire life savings.

The action follows an investigation by a newspaper and a review by a securities & investment body …

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The working world is vastly different today than it was just a few short years ago. Due to the rise of robots, artificial intelligence, and other technological advancements, more traditional jobs are being replaced with ones that require much different knowledge and experience. According to a report from USA Today, Google is pledging a total of $50 million in order to help better prepare individuals for the current jobs market.

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Google is works on a number of different products and services, but no matter what project the company takes on, its biggest involvement is, and could always be, its search engine. Google Search has grown and matured quite a bit over the years with subtle improvements and new features, and it looks like Google’s latest venture with Search is to test out automatically-playing videos…

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Late last year, the Nexus 6P and 5X were plagued with bootlooping problems. Unfortunately, for most of the owners who had bricked devices, they were out of warranty, so Google, Huawei, and LG didn’t replace them. This has since caused several class action lawsuits to be filed. Thankfully, for those who still have a broken Nexus 6P, an XDA member has come up with an unofficial solution to bring life back to the handset…

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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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