Daily Archives: October 24, 2020

Google's Fulton Market OFfice | Photo: Shutterstock

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced Thursday that the tech giant will be hiring 10,000 new employees in Chicago and a handful of other U.S. cities as part of its ongoing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

Back in June, Google said it planned to increase the number of people from underrepresented backgroundsin senior level positions by 30 percent. This latest announcement is taking it a step further, with the aim of doubling itsnumber of Black employeesat all levels by 2025. To do this, the company will hire 10,000 people across its offices in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Chicago and NYC over the next five years, including 1,000 new hires by 2021.

Google has two offices in Chicago one of which was opened just last year and employs about 600 people locally, who focus mainly on product engineering, technical infrastructure and finance.

Also in ChicagoIllinois Is the Nations Second-Largest Manufacturing Center. mHUB Aims to Make It Number One

Most recently, the company made headlines in the city when it admitted 4Degrees, a Chicago startup headed by Ablorde Ashigbi, into its inaugural accelerator for Black founders that was created in June. In this latest announcement, Pichai says the company will continue to support entrepreneurs of color with its $5 million U.S. Black Founders Fund, and minority-owned businesses more broadly through millions of dollars worth of grants.

Google relies on thousands of suppliers to run its business, so it plans to spend $100 million with Black-owned businesses in that way, too. This is part of its broader commitment to spend at least $1 billion with diverse-owned suppliers in the U.S. every year starting next year.

Internally, Pichai also says Google is committed to supporting the people of color it already employs. Since June, he says the company has managed to place a designated consultant to support underrepresented employees in each of its teams. It also created a new student loan repayment program and is partnering with healthcare providers to create new programs that address concerns that disproportionately affect Black and other marginalized communities.

Meaningful, lasting change needs to come from within our own walls, Pichai said. The equity were working towards internally will help us build better products and continue to support our users, businesses and communities. This effort is at the heart of our mission to make information accessible to everyone.

More Chicago tech newsChowbus Raised $30M, Vibes New CRO, and More

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Google Plans to Hire Thousands in Chicago to Diversify Its Workforce - Built In Chicago

Google's jumping on the 5G train with the $499 Pixel 4A 5G (499, AU$799) and $699 Pixel 5 (599 and AU$999). The phones run the latest Android 11 OS, have a second ultra-wide camera and bigger batteries than any previous Pixel phone. But as the marquee device, the Pixel 5 is equipped with a few more features. These goodies include a 90Hz display, 2GB more RAM, a bigger battery and a water-resistant, aluminum body. It also has wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. (For more on the differences, check out CNET's video, Pixel 5 and Pixel 4A 5G spec comparison.)

Other than that, the phones have the same camera setup, processor and general look and feel. And because they have so many overlapping features, I lean towards the Pixel 4A 5G. While I love the higher refresh rate on the Pixel 5 and wireless charging, that $200 I'd be pocketing by going with the 4A 5G makes it worth skipping out on those features, at least for me. After all, with that chunk of change I could buy a pair of wireless earbuds or more storage on Google One. Plus, it still has 5G and a bigger screen, which makes the Pixel 4A 5G my pick of the three new Pixel phones this year (yes, don't forget about that Pixel 4A from August) and one of my top overall picks for Android phones in its price range.

As for the Pixel 5, it's hard to recommend given its price. True, it is $100 cheaper than the Pixel 4 ($378 at Back Market)was when it launched last year. And Google knows people aren't willing to spend a lot right now and is producing only 800,000 Pixel 5 phones this year. But while the Pixel 5 is Google's flagship phone, it isn't exactly an ultra-premium flagship phone. There are plenty of alternatives from Samsung, Apple, OnePlus and even LG that boast better hardware.

Most cost as much or more than the Pixel 5, but not all. The OnePlus 8 ($700 at Amazon), for example, is currently $600 for the 8GB/128GB model. It too has 5G, an ultra-wide lens, a 90Hz display and the T-Mobile variant is water-resistant. Though it doesn't have wireless charging or reverse wireless charging, it has a larger display and the more powerful Snapdragon 865 chipset, as opposed to the Pixel 5's Snapdragon 765G. And if you're looking for even more flagship features, like 8K video recording, a faster processor, expandable storage or more cameras (like a telephoto lens), it's best to look elsewhere altogether.

Like in past years, the Pixel phones' main selling point is the camera. Google got rid of the telephoto lens that we saw on the Pixel 4 and replaced it with an ultra-wide camera. Though I like having a telephoto lens, the ultra-wide camera works well and I do enjoy having the wider field of view for sweeping landscapes or just fitting more content in a single frame.

Tweaking a photo using the Portrait light tool.

The camera's low-light mode, branded as Night Sight, takes great pictures in dim lighting and now it works in portrait mode so you can still take those polished, dramatic pictures in the dark. The effect isn't always perfect, however. In the photos I took I did see some patchiness around my flyaway hairs and instances where my fingers in the foreground (holding up a peace sign) was confused and blurred out as part of the background. Google also added a tool that lets you play around with portrait lighting. It's easy to use and it came in handy whenever I took a generally nice image, but the lighting just didn't quite come out right.

For video, the phone still uses a mix of optical and electronic image stabilization that gives video a smooth, almost drone-like quality. And there are now different types of optimizations you can choose for stabilization, including Cinematic Pan. This offers a slower, more cinematic look for panning. (I also like that Google included quick explainers and samples of when to use each of these options and what they look like; it makes the phone quite user-friendly.) And for slow-motions fans, the phone can now record 60fps in 4K resolution.

In general, the cameras are still fantastic (keep in mind the Pixel 5 and 4A 5G share the same cameras). Pictures have great dynamic range, shots are vibrant and clear and Night Sight does an excellent job at handling low-light. Digital zooming maxes out at 7x and while it works well enough, details do get muddied on faraway objects.

But, the delta between the Pixel's camera and other phones isn't as wide anymore. Compared to the OnePlus 8T, for example, pictures looked pretty on par with one another. I did still prefer its low-light photos though, since the Pixel had better dynamic range and white balance. And given the hardware and software improvements Apple made with its iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro cameras, the Pixel 5 may have even more catching up to do, according to CNET senior reporter Stephen Shankland. As a pro-level photographer, Shankland noted that Apple's superior telephoto zoom and new features like ProRaw could pull it above its rivals.

We'll be conducting a lot more camera comparisons in the coming weeks, so check back with CNET as we continue our analysis.

This shot of boats in the evening were taken with the main 12-megapixel camera.

The same scene captured with the 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera.

A closeup shot of this succulent shows sharp detailing.

This photo of the building was taken across the street using the main camera and no zoom.

The same shot of the building using the 7x digital zoom.

This picture exemplifies the Pixel's wide dynamic range. When the OnePlus 8T took the same image, the signage on the building was blown out and unreadable.

Night Sight now works with portrait mode to take bokeh-like photos in the dark. Here, my only light sources were a nearby candle and a computer monitor a few feet away.

Night Sight lit up this very dim scene near a lake, and you can see details in the foreground shrubbery as well as the apartment lights in the background.

The Pixel phones run Android 11 and there isn't a huge amount of new software things we haven't already seen since the OS has been rolling out. That includes Dark Mode, Quick Controls and a feature I've used often to help with this very review -- the built-in screen recorder.

Hold For Me lets Assistant take your place while you're put on hold.

The devices do preview something called Hold For Me, which lets Google Assistant take your place when you're on hold and notifies you when a real person is back on the line. It builds off the same AI technology as Call Screen and the interface is quite efficient when I used it to call a dummy line that Google setup. You still have to hover around the phone when a person takes up your call, but I'll take any relief I can get from crappy hold music.

The native recorder app also has more tricks up its sleeve since the last time I took a look at it on the Pixel 4A. I'm not too sure why Google has really leaned in on this app, but as someone who uses it all the time for taking notes and recording interviews, I'm not complaining. You can now edit text and copy or remove chunks of audio. Unfortunately, you can only edit text one word at a time for now, which prevented me from breaking a misheard word into two (it transcribed me saying "their powers," into "empowered") and it was tedious when I had to correct a handful of mistakes in a row. I do like this new tool in the Recorder app, which creates a little graphic if you want to share some quote or audio snippet on social media.

Compared to the Pixel 4, the Pixel 5 and 4A 5G have thinner bezels and a hole-punch camera display on the front. The rear camera bump is more flushed on the Pixel 5 too, which looks much nicer.

When designing the Pixel 5, Google said it wanted the phone to have a soft look that's reminiscent of a pebble or stone. Perhaps because the cozy, Scandinavian aesthetic is trendy right now, but I dig the phone's matte, natural appearance. It reminds me of high-end Japanese washi paper and the sage green color looks especially good. The reflective accents of the power button and "G" logo on the back are also a lovely touch. On the surface, I couldn't tell the difference between the Pixel 5's aluminum design and the Pixel 4A 5G's polycarbonate, or plastic, encasing. But in the hand it does feel denser, despite being smaller.

The Pixel 5 also has a 90Hz display, meaning the screen refreshes 90 frames a second. Most phones, including the Pixel 4A 5G, refresh 60 times a second, though there are some that have 120Hz displays, like the OnePlus 8T and Galaxy S20. For the Pixel 5 to have a higher refresh rate means that scrolling through news feeds and web pages feel much smoother and almost bouncy. To save on battery life, there are some situations that the phone will revert back to 60Hz, like when the screen is static or when an app doesn't necessarily call for a high refresh rate.

The Pixel 5 has a 90Hz display

The Pixel 5 and 4A 5G feature a Snapdragon 765G processor. It's an interesting choice given that a lot of current flagships and last year's Pixel 4 have the more robust Snapdragon 855 chipset. While that means the Pixels' benchmark scores aren't as high as, say, the OnePlus 8 or Galaxy S20, the phones are comparable to devices that have the Snapdragon 765G processor, like the LG Velvet for example. It's still fast and reliable too, and during my time with it, I didn't experience any hiccups or lag time throughout my day-to-day tasks.

The Pixel 5 has a 4,000-mAh battery while the Pixel 4A 5G has a 3,800-mAh battery. It's the highest capacity of any Pixel phones in years past, but keep in mind plenty of other phones -- like the OnePlus 8 and the Galaxy S20 have batteries that are as big or even bigger than that.

From what I've seen so far, the Pixel phones are able to go without charging for more than 24 hours with mild usage. I remember last year with the Pixel 4, that phone's battery noticeably drained pretty quickly through the day and fortunately I'm not seeing the same thing here. Battery tests on the Pixel 5 for continuous video playback on Airplane mode clocked an average of 21 hours, 43 minutes. This is an excellent time, especially when considering that the Pixel 4 averaged half that time at 10 hours. But we're going to conduct streaming tests on the Pixel 5, so check back for an update. Lastly, Google is introducing a new mode called Extreme Battery Saver. It's an option on top of the regular battery saver mode and it severely limits app usage to extend battery life.

*prices are at launch

Discover the latest news and best reviews in smartphones and carriers from CNET's mobile experts.

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Pixel 5 review: Google's newest phone hasn't pulled ahead of its rivals - CNET

Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern speaks from his home during a session at the virtual GeekWire Summit on Tuesday.

Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern says he hopes the U.S. Justice Departments antitrust complaint against Google ultimately changes the search giants behavior, and creates a fair marketplace for the online travel company and others that both compete with Google and rely on its dominant search engine for traffic and customers.

Im very pleased to see the government finally taking some action, Kern said at the GeekWire Summit on Tuesday, marking the companys first public statement on the case since it was filed Tuesday morning. Hopefully, it will create a fair marketplace for us, which is all we want. We have no axe to grind against Google, except that we dont think the marketplace is equitable.

Expedia Group, based in Seattle, includes major travel brands such as vrbo, Orbitz, Hotwire, Trivago, Hotels.com, and Egencia in addition to the flagship Expedia.com. Kern, a longtime Expedia Group board member, has been CEO since April, leading the company through the travel downturn, caused by the pandemic, and an internal restructuring of its technology and operations.

Company leaders including Kern and Chairman Barry Diller have been outspoken about the challenges created by Googles dual role as search platform and competitor. Expedia pointed out in a regulatory filing earlier this year that Google has been building out its online travel offerings while further prioritizing its own products in search results.

The company has traditionally spent heavily on Google search ads to boost traffic to Expedia Group brands.

In a post responding to the suit, Google called the governments case deeply flawed and dubious.

We understand that with our success comes scrutiny, but we stand by our position, said Kent Walker, Google senior vice president of global affairs, in the post. American antitrust law is designed to promote innovation and help consumers, not tilt the playing field in favor of particular competitors or make it harder for people to get the services they want.

A recent House Judiciary Committee antitrust report quoted an anonymous market participant saying that Google deceptively siphons internet traffic away from its vertical competitors in online travel and forces them to pay more for [search engine monetization] and Ads in order to get meaningful placement on Googles [search engine results page]. It said Google also requires its vertical competitors to provide their inventory feed to populate the ads, allowing Google to appropriate vertical service providers valuable inventory data.

I think theres definitely truth in all of those statements, Kern said when asked about that section of the House antitrust report during his GeekWire Summit appearance. Google would say theyre doing what the consumer wants. Thats what they always tell us. It makes a better auction, or it makes for better information.

We take a different view, Kern said. Theyre inevitably, through their practices, making it harder for the people who have paid to give them the right to keep making it harder for us, he said. Its a prisoners dilemma, always, of how much you participate or dont, and what that does to your own business as you try to change the dynamics of heir auctions and other things.

He added, Our goal is only a fair fight. We have no axe to grind against anyone were in business with, or any of our competitors. We just want a fair fight.

[The full interview with Kern, and other GeekWire Summit sessions, are available on-demand exclusively to attendees of the virtual event.Learn more and register here.]

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Expedia Group CEO on Google antitrust case: Very pleased to see the government finally taking action - GeekWire

The company will hire 10,000 staffers in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta over the next five years as part of an effort to double the number of Black employees and invest in the long-term growth of U.S. locations that contribute to a high quality of life for Black+ Googlers, CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post today.Google will hire 1,000 of those workers next year.

Google, which had 118,899 employees at the end of last year, hired more than 20,000 employees in 2019. The company has more than 1,200 employees in Chicago and has been ramping up its technology team in recent years in search, hardware and cloud computing.

Google, like many big tech companies, has been under pressure for years to increase its diversity from Rev. Jesse Jackson and others. After widespread protests in the wake of George Floyd's death, Google said it would spend $175 million to support Black-owned businesses and increase diversity in management. Just 5.5 percent of its employees are Blackup from 4.8 percent a year earlier.

The hiring pledge comes days after U.S. Department of Justice filed anantitrust lawsuitagainst the company that accuses it of abusing its power in the search market. Pichai did not mention the lawsuit in the post, but the company this week called the lawsuitdeeply flawed.

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Google to ramp up hiring in Chicago, New York and other cities - Crain's Chicago Business

Recent spy photos of the refreshed 2022 Silverado interior reveal that the pickup icon will come with a new interior design filled with fresh features and the latest tech. Now, GM Authority is here to report that the upcoming 2022 Chevy Silverado will likely come equipped with Google Infotainment Services, as well.

Back in September of 2019, General Motors announced that it would integrate a variety of features and technology developed by the tech giant into new 2021 model year vehicles, including Google Navigation, Google Voice Assistant, and the Google app ecosystem. The new features would replace their respective GM counterparts, while continuing to leverage Android operating software.

At the time of the announcement, General Motors declined to state exactly which models would come with Google Infotainment Services. However, GM Authority has already confirmed that the all-new 2022 GMC Hummer EV will indeed come with Google Infotainment Services, as covered previously, and now, it looks as though the upcoming 2022 Chevy Silverado will use them as well.

Evidence of such comes from recent spy photos of the 2022 Silverado interior, which reveals a large infotainment screen integrated with the pickups center stack. Not only does the new screen integrate directly with the dash in a fashion similar to the all-new 2021 GMC Yukon Denali, but elements on the enlarged screen appear to come with similar iconography as that used by Google Infotainment Services technology.

If the refreshed 2022 Silverado interior does come with Google-supported infotainment, drivers will likely be able to do things like conduct hands-free calling and texting, climate control adjustments, and music selection via Google Voice Assistant, as well as get from A to B using Google Embedded Navigation.

The 2022 Silverado interior will be overhauled over the outgoing model, complete with the new, larger screen already mentioned, as well as a new center stack and a new center console, and a push-button shifter instead of a column-shift, all of which aims at resolving the perceived weak points of the vehicle. In addition to a new interior, the 2022 Chevy Silverado will also feature redesigned front and rear fascia designs.

Subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevrolet Silverado news, Chevrolet news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.

2022 Chevrolet Silverado Photos

Jonathan Lopez

Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Refreshed 2022 Silverado Interior Will Likely Use Google Infotainment Services - GM Authority