Category: Alphabet

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Waymo launches self-driving taxi service, but caveats abound

sudshr47 December 5, 2018

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The future is here: Waymo One, a self-driving taxi service by Alphabet’s self-driving company Waymo, has officially launched. 

Unfortunately, to paraphrase sci-fi prophet William Gibson, this future is very unevenly distributed. The service will first be available to “early riders” — people who’ve already used Waymo technology — and only in Chandler, Tempe, Mesa, and Gilbert, which are all cities near Phoenix, Arizona. 

And the cars will actually have a human in the driver’s seat — Waymo-trained drivers who will supervise the cars, at least at first. 

More about Google, Alphabet, Waymo, Waymo One, and Self Driving Taxi

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Insurance startup Bright Health raises $200M at ~$950M valuation

sudshr47 November 30, 2018

Bright Health, another startup seeking to disrupt an antiquated industry, has raised $440 million since 2016.

View More Insurance startup Bright Health raises $200M at ~$950M valuation
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The highest flying consumer tech stocks have lost $1 trillion

sudshr47 November 20, 2018

Another day, another stock market setback for once high-flying technology companies, which have lost roughly $1 trillion in the latest stock market slide. Shares of the core group of consumer technology companies including Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, and Netflix are falling again — contributing to the big indexes like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the […]

View More The highest flying consumer tech stocks have lost $1 trillion
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On Black Friday, you’ll be able to watch the entire ‘Lego Movie’ in a YouTube ad

sudshr47 November 20, 2018

On Black Friday, YouTube says it’s teaming up with Warner Bros. Pictures to allow viewers to watch “The Lego Movie” for free as part of a promotion for the upcoming sequel. YouTube recently (and quietly) began making certain movies like “Rocky,” “The Terminator” and “Legally Blonde” available for free, with advertising. This campaign is an […]

View More On Black Friday, you’ll be able to watch the entire ‘Lego Movie’ in a YouTube ad
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Google is closing its Schaft robotics unit after failing to find a buyer

sudshr47 November 15, 2018

Sad news for anyone into giant robots: Google is closing down Schaft, its secretive unit that develops bipedal robots aimed at helping out in disaster efforts and generally looking badass. The news was first reported by Nikkei, but Google confirmed to TechCrunch that the business will be shuttered. It said it is helping staff find new roles, […]

View More Google is closing its Schaft robotics unit after failing to find a buyer
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Google gobbling DeepMind’s health app might be the trust shock we need

sudshr47 November 14, 2018

DeepMind’s health app being gobbled by parent Google is both unsurprising and deeply shocking. First thoughts should not be allowed to gloss over what is really a gut punch. It’s unsurprising because the AI galaxy brains at DeepMind always looked like unlikely candidates for the quotidian, margins-focused business of selling and scaling software as a service. […]

View More Google gobbling DeepMind’s health app might be the trust shock we need
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Waymo is testing what it should charge for its robotaxi service

sudshr47 October 27, 2018

Self-driving startup Waymo, a Google spin -off owned by parent company Alphabet, has started to test pricing models for rides in its autonomous vehicles in Phoenix, the latest indication that the company is preparing to launch a commercial robotaxi service. Waymo has not launched a wide-scale commercial robotaxi service in Phoenix — or anywhere — just yet. But it is […]

View More Waymo is testing what it should charge for its robotaxi service
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Vishal Makhijani steps down as chief executive of Udacity

sudshr47 October 25, 2018

Vishal Makhijani, the long time chief executive of online education company Udacity, is stepping down as its chief executive officer, TechCrunch has learned. Makhijani first joined the company in 2013 as chief operating officer under Sebastian Thrun, the company’s founder and chief executive at the time. In 2016, Thrun, the original architect of Alphabet’s self-driving […]

View More Vishal Makhijani steps down as chief executive of Udacity
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Google will not bid for the Pentagon’s $10B cloud computing contract, citing its “AI Principles”

sudshr47 October 9, 2018

Google has dropped out of the running for JEDI, the massive Defense Department cloud computing contract potentially worth $10 billion. In a statement to Bloomberg, Google said that it decided not to participate in the bidding process, which ends this week, because the contract may not align with the company’s principles for how artificial intelligence […]

View More Google will not bid for the Pentagon’s $10B cloud computing contract, citing its “AI Principles”