Category: google
Waymo brings in $2.25 billion from outside investors, Alphabet
Waymo, the former Google self-driving car project that is now a business under Alphabet, said Monday it raised $2.25 billion in a fundraising round led by Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Mubadala Investment Company. This is the company’s first external investment, which also included Magna, Andreessen Horowitz,…
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Pixel phones updated with new gesture controls, emoji, AR effects & more
One of the benefits of owning a Pixel smartphone is that it improves over time as Pixels are first to receive updates that deliver the latest fixes and improvements. The first round of new features arrived in December, including a filter for robocalls, more photo controls, improved Duo calls, and…
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Silicon Valley could be Biden’s funding lifeline post South Carolina
Presidential candidate Joe Biden is likely to throw a fundraising lifeline to Silicon Valley donors after his commanding South Carolina victory and heading into the next wave of primaries. A pro-Biden super Pac, Unite the Country — whose past backers include senior tech figures — is picking up efforts to…
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This Week in Apps: Coronavirus impacts app stores, Facebook sues mobile SDK maker, Apple kicks out a cloud gaming app
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads in 2019 and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019,…
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Microsoft’s Cortana drops consumer skills as it refocuses on business users
With the next version of Windows 10, coming this spring, Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistant will lose a number of consumer skills around music and connected homes, as well as some third-party skills. That’s very much in line with Microsoft’s new focus for Cortana, but it may still come as a…
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Google, Toyota invest in WhereIsMyTransport to map transport in emerging cities
In emerging markets, up to 80% of the population may have to rely on informally-run public transport to get around. Literally, privately-run buses and cars. But journey-planning apps that work well for commuters in developed markets like New York or London do not work well in emerging markets, which is…
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