Category Archives: Google

A Florida man who used a fitness app to track his bike rides found himself a suspect in a burglary when police used a geofence warrant to collect data from nearby devices, an NBC News investigation finds. Zachary McCoy had never been in the home where the burglary occurred, but by leaving his location settings on for the RunKeeper app, he unwittingly provided information about his whereabouts to Google, which placed him at the scene of the crime.

Since McCoy had biked past the house where the burglary took place three times on the day of the alleged crime part of his usual route through the neighborhood he was deemed a suspect. NBC News says Googles legal investigations team contacted McCoy in January, notifying him that Gainesville police were demanding information from his Google account.

He was eventually cleared as a suspect, but not before hiring a lawyer to help him figure out exactly what data police were seeking. The geofence warrant a type of search warrant required Google to provide data from any devices it recorded near the scene of the burglary, including location. This data is usually drawn from Android location services; collection can be turned off from the accounts menu in settings.

Law enforcement requests for geofence warrants have risen sharply in the past several years NBC News notes, rising 1500 percent from 2017 to 2018 and another 500 percent between 2018 and 2019. Last year, the New York Times highlighted the 2018 case of Jorge Molina, accused in an Arizona homicide after police used a geofence warrant that suggested he was near the scene of the crime. The case against Molina eventually fell apart as new evidence came to light.

Last month, Google announced it was putting new restrictions on which Android apps can track location in the background, with all new Google Play apps that seek background access subject to a review process, beginning in August.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Google location data turned a random biker into a burglary suspect - The Verge

Google is slowly but steadily opening its Stadia cloud gaming service to more interested customers, with a new promotion starting this month that offers three months of its Stadia Pro subscription to owners of Chromecast Ultra devices. Its not required that you buy a new device. Rather, you just have to opt to receive promotional emails from Google, and the company is sending out the offer to known Chromecast Ultra-owning customers.

Google confirmed to The Verge that this is the first promotion of its kind for Stadia and it works like the platforms buddy pass system. Its not clear if its restricted to a certain country, but Stadia is available in 14 countries and regions around the globe right now.

To be clear, Stadia Pro is the only version of Googles cloud service that is currently available; there will be a standard Stadia tier without 4K streaming that will be free, but the company has yet to launch it. As it stands, the only way to play Stadia outside a Chrome browser or on a supported Android device is with a Chromecast Ultra connected to a TV.

Right now, Stadia Pro costs $10 a month. Prior to this promotion, the only way to access the service at all has been through a buddy pass given out by an existing subscriber or by purchasing the $129 Premiere edition. That bundle comes with a Stadia Pro three-month pass, Googles custom Stadia controller, and a Chromecast Ultra.

But Google may be now interested in getting more users on the platform. In December, the company gave Stadia Pro users an extra buddy pass to give out. The company also just announced the opening of a new internal game studio in Playa Vista, California, led by the former head of God of War creator Santa Monica Studio, that will be dedicated to developing Stadia exclusives.

Update March 6th, 10:22PM ET: Clarified that the promotion isnt restricted to new Chromecast Ultra buyers. Google says all you need to do is opt in to receive promotional emails from the company and the offer should be emailed to eligible customers.

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Google now giving away three months of Stadia access to Chromecast owners - The Verge

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on stage during the annual Google I/O developers conference in Mountain View, California, May 8, 2018.

Stephen Lam | Reuters

As Silicon Valley companies cancel their massive annual conferences amid the coronavirus spreading, they're kickingsome cash over to the cities that were supposed to host them.

Nearly all the major tech companies have announced decisions to cancel, alter and pull out of various upcoming conferences which have been their biggest annual events.More than 100,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed around the world. California governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and San Francisco officials reported its first two confirmed cases Thursday, triggering large employers like Facebook and Google to tell employees to work from home.

Pulling events and keeping employees home means some areas will get a lot less foot traffic than they expected, which can be a sore spot for San Francisco Bay Area cities like San Jose, whose residents have complained that the tech companies' rapid expansions have contributed to the region's issues surrounding displacement and housing. But companies are trying to mitigate the damage with contributions.

Google announced that its Google Cloud Next 2020 event that was scheduled for April 6 through 8th in San Francisco will only be held virtually. Shortly after, the companycanceled Google I/O, the company's big annual in-person develop conference that draws in more than 7,000 attendees to its headquarters' backyard in Mountain View, California.

The company now says it will donate $1 million to local Mountain View organizations to support small businesses, increase computer science opportunities for Mountain View schools, and increase awareness and education efforts around coronavirus, the company told CNBC.

Facebook also canceled two events, including its annual developer conference F8, which was scheduled for April in San Jose and was expected to draw more than 5,000 attendees. To make up for the disruption, Facebook isdoubling its usual donation to the San Jose community to $500,000 this year. Because it typically hosts local students at the conference, the company added that it will it will still provide "F8-inspired experiences for those students in lieu of hosting them at the event itself."

"Working with the next generation of developers is one of the highlights of what we do," wrote Facebook's vice president of platform partnerships Konstantinos Papamiltiadis in a blog post. "We remain committed to the city of San Jose, where we've hosted F8, and its community,"

After dropping an event in San Francisco, Facebook said it will donate $20,000 in cash to the Chinese Newcomers Service Center (CNSC), a local San Francisco-based nonprofit, which supports businesses in its Chinatown. The company said it would be donating another $5,000 total in non-expiring Facebook ad credits to those in the community who want it, a Facebook spokesperson said.

San Francisco's Chinatown has seen a decline in business as a result of the fear around the coronavirus, which originated in China before spreading globally. City officials said San Francisco's Chinese American, Chinese immigrant and other Asian American communities have been targeted by racist behavior since the coronavirus began, despite being zero cases there.

Facebook also said it will provide free advertisements to the World Health Organization (WHO) in attempts to keep misinformation on its platform at bay. Google said it is donating $25 million in ad credits to the WHO and government agencies and will make more available if needed.

WATCH NOW: Coronavirus cases top 97,000

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Facebook, Google among those kicking some cash over to Silicon Valley communities affected by coronavirus cancellations - CNBC

As companies start to prepare for the increased likelihood that the coronavirus outbreak may become more widespread, several big tech companies have started to tell employees they should work from home. Twitter, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon have all given their employees instructions to work remotely for the time being if they can do so.

For example, Twitter has asked all 5,000 of its employees to work from homeand has made it mandatory for employees in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan. While the company's San Francisco headquarters will stay open for employees who feel they need to come in for work, the company has canceled all business travel and backed out of SXSW.

Amazon'sheadquarters is in Seattle, an area that has seen several deaths from the virus, and the company announced that a worker theretested positive. Amazon is currently notifying others who may have had contact with that employee and has asked its Seattle employees to work from home.

And those aren't the only companies sending team members home for the forseeable future. Microsoft is encouraging its Seattle and San Francsico employees to work from home in addition to those working in South Korea and Singapore. Google has halted all international travel and has recommended its Seattle-area employees work remotely.

The move doesn't only affect the way employees at those companies work--it also affects potential employees. Facebook, for example, has started conducting interviews via videoconferencing instead of in person. The company has alsoasked employees who do come to the office not to bring guests, a move Google has put in place as well.

Deciding whether to encourage your team to work from home can be a challenge. If you don't have systems in place to support their work and keep everyone connected, suddenly working remotely can create a number of problems. At the same time, keeping your team healthy and productive should be equal priorities, especially since beyond just your responsibility to the people who work for you, a sick workforce isn't a particularly productive one.

Fortunately, several of those same companies are offering free versions of their team collaboration tools for the next few months. Microsoftand Google, for example, are making their fully featured tiers of Teams and Hangouts Chat, respectively, available as a free trial for the next few months.

In reality, most small businesses don't haveplans to respond to public health concerns,but now is the time to start considering how your company might respond should a more widespread outbreak occur. That plan should include both when it makes sense for employees to work remotely, as well aswhat tools you'll need tokeep your team connected.

It's still entirely possible that areas of the country won't see large numbers of COVID-19 cases, but hoping that's the case isn't a plan. That's your job as a leader, to make a plan now so that you're ready when you need it.Your company, your team, and your customers deserve nothing less.

Published on: Mar 6, 2020

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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Microsoft, Google, and Twitter Are Telling Employees to Work From Home Because of Coronavirus. Should You? - Inc.

HONG KONG, HONG KONG - November 27: A woman using an Macbook Pro as she uses Google G Suite on ... [+] November 27, 2017 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong. (Photo by studioEAST/Getty Images)

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

1 Google is capitalizing on coronavirus and giving businesses and schools G Suite enterprise features until July 1st.

Google announced this past week that they are going to be giving access to their advanced Hangouts Meet feature to all Education and G Suite customers up until the first of July this year. The extension will allow G Suite Education and G Suite Basic users to access Enterprise features such as permitting up to 250 individuals to take part in a call, capability to record and save meetings, and livestreaming content for thousands of viewers. (Source: Venture Beat)

Why this is important for your business:

Businesses and educational institutions are being impacted the most by the Coronavirus with many high-profile companiessuch as Twittertelling their workers to work remotely. Google shared thatwith the virus causing some major concerns they want to be help be a part of the solution in a small way by allowing businesses and educational institutions stay connected. Smart thinking. As the impact of Coronovirus spreads, more businesses are asking their employees to work from home (see below). So what better opportunity to take advantage G Suite and other cloud based tools?

2 As coronavirus worsens, companies renew focus on collaboration and remote work.

Due to the recent coronavirus outbreak, businesses all over the United States are working to find ways to maintain productivity while keeping their employees safe. Slack and Zoomboth major players in the workplace productivity space saw their stock prices rise over the last several weeks as businesses find ways to keep their employees health in check and to help individuals work remotely. According to recent data, 69% of businesses in the United States already allow employees to work from home, and the number may soon be more due to the outbreak. (Source: Computer World)

Why this is important for your business:

If theres anything good that comes from this latest health situation, its that many companies are being forced into implementing remote software toolsand I know that once they do theyll discover the benefits. Software makers like Slack and Zoom are seeing more interest and for good reason. Many other application providers from customer relationship management to accounting and project management are also encouraging their customers to get more employees using their tools from home.

3 These are the first passwords hackers will try when attacking your device.

According to F-Securea security company whose mission is to track and identify patterns among cyber security breachestheir decoy servers established all over the globe are helping find the passwords that are proving to be the most vulnerable when it comes to hackers. Recently released data has shown that passwords like admin, 12345, default, password, and root are the most easily hacked passwords that cyber attackers use. Guidelines outlined by the U.K government suggested that any device that is connected to the internet should have unique passwords and that those passwords should not be able to be reset to universal factory settings. (Source: ZDNet)

Why this is important for your business:

Really? Youre still using 12345 as your password? You know thats not right and you know that doing so makes your network and data more susceptible than ever. Make it a point to get these passwords changed. Use symbols, caps and lower case. Better yet use a phrase that no one will ever think of like The Phillies will win the 2020 World Series!Thats such an outlandish statement that I doubt any hacker (or Phillies fan) would even consider it.

4 Kabbage is taking aim at big banks with its small business cash flow tools.

Kabbage recently announced that they are going to be getting more involved in small business by launching their newest financial management tool called Kabbage Insights. Kabbage Insights will provide its customers a detailed picture of their cash flow instantaneously, allowing small business owners to be more effective and efficient when it comes to the choices they need to make when it comes to finances. The newest tool uses AI as one of the methods to help produce data to help small businesses see and understand their cash flow more quickly and accurately and at any time. (Source: Banking Dive)

Why this is important for your business:

Great to see Kabbage providing even more tools for its small business community that helps them increase their cash flow. This is exactly the kind of service a good financial services company should be providing: not just capital, but advice and tools for using capital in the best way possible. It benefits both parties on either side of financing transaction.

5 Microsoft Teams just added new Outlook integration, chat updates, and more.

Microsoft has announced that they have made some changes to their Teams platform in order to make processes more simplified and streamlined. One of the biggest moves is the way Teams and Outlook will be integrated moving forward, now allowing users to take an email from Outlook and immediately move it over into the chat feature in Teams in one click, and vice versa. Meetings and calls have been given improvements as well with the addition of live captions option to make it easier for individuals to know what is happening in meetings, regardless if the audio quality is poor or the room is too noisy. Leaders will now also be able to assign tags to individuals in an entire organization in order to more efficiently get messages across to larger groups of people in designated roles. (Source: ZDNet)

Why this is important for your business:

Microsoft (full disclosure: my company is a Microsoft partner) continues to add new features to its Teams application, which is the reason why the application is growing in popularity and giving the people at Slack such headaches. If your company is already using Office 365 it would be very worthwhile to bring a partner or trainer in to teach you the benefits of Microsoft Teams. You may already own it!

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Google Announces A Coronavirus Incentive For G SuiteAnd Other Small Business Tech News - Forbes

WhenJack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and Square,announced he was going to live in Africa for a few months, it raised a few eyebrows on Wall Street.

Dorsey's potential move to Africa is one of the reasons why Paul Singer, billionaire investor and founder of Elliott Management,wants to remove Dorsey from his job as Twitter CEO.Dorsey now might reconsider his trip to Africa because of coronavirus concerns.

Tech companies have consistently looked to China and India not Africa for growth.

But that's beginning to change. Africa now has more than 600 active technology hubs, with facilities and support for tech and digital entrepreneurs. That's up from 442 in 2018. And its population is expected to explode to 4.3 billion by the year 2100, according to the United Nationsand the Pew Research Center.

And big tech companies such as Twitter, Google and Microsoft have begun to take notice. Watch the above video to see why Africa is well on its way to a technology boom.

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Why companies like Microsoft and Google are betting big on Africa - CNBC

SAN FRANCISCO Anthony Levandowski, a former star Google and Uber engineer who helped pioneer self-driving cars, filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday after a court ordered him to pay $179 million to Google over a contract dispute.

The damages stemmed from an arbitration case between Google and Mr. Levandowski. The engineer had for years worked on self-driving cars at Google before leaving to create an autonomous vehicle start-up in 2016 and then later joining the ride-hailing giant Uber.

An arbitration panel had ruled in December that Mr. Levandowski and another colleague, Lior Ron, had engaged in unfair and deceptive practices by secretly poaching away Google colleagues to join the start-up. On Wednesday, a San Francisco County court confirmed the arbitration panels decision that Mr. Levandowski pay $179 million to Google.

In his filing for bankruptcy protection, Mr. Levandowski said he had $50 million to $100 million in personal assets, which would not be enough to pay the damages to Google.

Uber declined to comment, as did Mr. Levandowskis lawyer. In a statement, Waymo, the self-driving car company that was spun out of Google, said, We will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure our confidential information is protected as we build the worlds most experienced driver.

The substantial damages and bankruptcy filing are another ignominious chapter for one of Silicon Valleys onetime brightest technologists.

Mr. Levandowski had been paid handsomely for his years of work at Google and had a close relationship with Larry Page, a founder and former chief executive of the search giant. But the relationship changed when Mr. Levandowski left Google and took some of the companys self-driving talent with him to found Otto, a self-driving truck start-up. Mr. Levandowski later sold Otto to Uber for more than $600 million.

His good fortune soon ran out. In 2017, Waymo the newly christened self-driving company spun out of Google sued Uber and Mr. Levandowski for theft of trade secrets, accusing the two of conspiring to steal years of autonomous vehicle research to bolster Ubers own self-driving program. Uber and Waymo eventually settled, with Uber handing Waymo roughly $245 million in Uber stock.

But it was not over for Mr. Levandowski.

Last August, federal prosecutors charged him with 33 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets from Google, a case that is still open.

At the same time, Google pursued its own case against Mr. Levandowski for poaching employees, resulting in Wednesdays ruling.

Its unclear if Mr. Levandowski will have to pay, given that his employment agreement with Uber stated it indemnified him. In a securities filing this week, Uber left the question open.

While Uber and Levandowski are parties to an indemnification agreement, whether Uber is ultimately responsible for such indemnification is subject to a dispute between the company and Levandowski, Ubers filing said.

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Star Engineer Who Crossed Google Is Ordered to Pay $179 Million to Company - The New York Times

Google is starting to roll out 4K streaming support for Stadia on the web. 9to5Google reports that a number of Reddit users have spotted the new 4K support in games like Assassins Creed Odyssey, Mortal Kombat 11, and Grid. The option doesnt appear to be available for all Stadia users, though. Weve tested three Stadia accounts and none of them have the 4K option just yet.

If youre a Stadia user then you can check your connection quality and resolution by pressing shift + tab once a game is launched and selecting the connection section. A 4K label should appear if your connection and display supports the new streaming option.

Its not yet clear how Google will handle 4K streams over the web to devices with a 1080p or 1440p screens. If Google requires a 4K monitor and hasnt implemented downscaling for Stadia on the web then a lot of people will be left out of this new option. Well test this fully once the 4K option appears on our Stadia test accounts.

Google also appears to be readying new features for Stadia. A recent Stadia app hints at the highly anticipated free tier, YouTube streaming, family game sharing, and more.

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Google Stadia now supports 4K streaming on the web - The Verge

If youve gotten used to ordering around John Legend (or his voice, at least) as your Google Assistant, be prepared for a loss: Google has announced that it will discontinue the celebrity cameo voice on March 23rd. Google added the singers voice to its roster of available Google Assistant voices at Google I/O last April. It previously noted that the feature would run for limited time, but the company never specified how long it would last. (Disclaimer: John Legend is a Vox Media board member.)

John Legends cameo came with its own set of personality-specific Easter eggs. Youll get him crooning if you ask him to sing you Happy Birthday or if you ask about Chrissy Teigen, his equally famous wife.

For now, if you really want a celebrity voice as your Google Assistant over the standard selections, Google will continue to offer comedian Issa Rae as an option. But dont fall in love because its likely that her voice get axed from Assistant sometime in the near future as well.

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Google will lose its John Legend Google Assistant voice on March 23rd - The Verge

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has pushed more companies and organizations to transition to remote work, and now both Google and Microsoft have said they will grant access to their more robust teleconferencing and collaboration tools that are typically only available to enterprise customers to make it easier for people to work from home. Both companies are only offering free access for a limited time.

Google announced this morning that it would be rolling out free access to advanced features for Hangouts Meet to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally through July 1st. That means organizations can host meetings with up to 250 participants, live stream to up to 100,000 viewers within a single domain, and record and save meetings to Google Drive. Normally, Google charges $13 extra per user per month for these features in addition to G Suite access under its enterprise tier, which adds up to a total of $25 per user per month.

Microsoft is offering a free six-month trial globally for a premium tier of Microsoft Teams, Business Insider first reported on Tuesday. The tier was originally designed to enable hospitals, schools, and businesses in China to get up and running quickly on Microsoft Teams, and that tier is now available globally. However, when you try to sign up for it, youll be prompted to work with a Microsoft partner or a member of Microsofts sales team to get it set up.

On March 10th, Microsoft says it will also roll out an update to the free version of Teams that will lift restrictions on how many users can be part of a team and allow users to schedule video calls and conferences.

Both Google and Microsoft have also responded to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, by canceling conferences taking place in April and May. Google has also halted most international travel for employees, and Microsoft has recommended that employees work remotely to help prevent the spread of the disease.

Update, March 3rd, 7:41PM ET: Weve clarified Microsofts offerings after conversations with a Microsoft spokesperson.

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Google and Microsoft are giving away enterprise conferencing tools due to coronavirus - The Verge