Daily Archives: July 18, 2021

Google has parted ways with its VP of developer relations for Google Cloud, according to an internal email that employees said followed a contentious all-hands meeting about antisemitism.

"I wanted to share that today is Amr Awadallah's last day at Google," Eyal Manor, Google Cloud vice president of engineering and product, wrote in the email to staff Thursday evening and viewed by CNBC. "Effective immediately, the Cloud DevRel organization will report into Ben Jackson, who will report into Pali Bhat."

Manor's email went on to praise the team for helping Cloud's "massive growth" while thanking them for reaching out about cultural issues. "I know it has been particularly challenging with a number of organizational changes and leadership transitions while we've all been navigating a global pandemic and don't have the benefit of connecting in person together like we used to."

Awadallah, who was vice president of Developer Relations and joined the company in 2019, wrote a 10,000-word manifesto on LinkedIn in June about his previous antisemitism. It was titled "We Are One."

"I hated the Jewish people, all the Jewish people"! and emphasis here is on the past tense," his manifesto began. "Yes, I was anti-Semitic, even though I am a Semite, as this term broadly refers to the peoples who speak Semitic languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, among others."

Google Cloud headquarters sits in Sunnyvale, California.

Google Cloud

In interviews with CNBC, several employees described a contentious staff meeting on Wednesday, which touched on the manifesto. CNBC also viewed internal documentation of complaints. The meeting replay was sent to more than 100 employees from the team Thursday, employees said.

"Thank you to those of you who reached out," Manor said in the departure announcement email. "It shows how much you care about this organization and building a maintaining a supportive culture."

Google declined to comment. Awadallah did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment sent via direct message to his Facebook account.

Awadallah, an Egyptian American who is well-known in the cloud industry, also posted his manifesto on YouTube and Twitter in attempts to decry antisemitism by recounting how he became enlightened after he "hated all Jews." In an awkward attempt to decry hate amid the Israel-Palestinian conflict, he listed all the Jews he knew who he said were good people. Employees said his public admission, which omitted major historic Jewish events, made it difficult for public-facing developer advocates who are tasked with being the face and bridge for Google developers internally and externally.

Within the manifesto, Awadallah describes how he was "cautious" of VMware co-founder Mendel Rosenblum based on his last name but that he learned to appreciate him after getting to know him and his spouse, VMware co-founder and former Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene, who both invested in Awadallah's company Cloudera.

The contention and departure one month after the manifesto come as Google faces questions about how it handles diversity among its leaders and a perceived double standard by rank-and-file employees.Employees said they often faced reprimand for far less offensive social media posts.

Employees who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said the frustration with Awadallah's leadership style had been building for months, leading up to this week's all-hands meeting, where employees confronted him about their discomfort with his manifesto, working with him and the leadership attrition of his reporting leaders. The meeting, employees said, required mediation from a human resources employee who had to step in several times.

"On one hand, I'm grateful that you not longer hate my children," a Google director of Network Infrastructure and Tech Site lead said in a LinkedIn comment. "On the other, this has made my job as one of your colleagues much harder. The previous situation has made being a Jewish leader at Google tough. This has made it almost untenable."

While Awadallah in his manifesto acknowledged his prior prejudice in apparent pursuit of "peace," he used anecdotes and personal stories to try to make a point about why his current assertions are correct. One way he does this is by sharing his 23andMe results, which showed he was 0.1% Ashkenazi Jewish, which he typed in boldface as a reason for why he's technically Jewish, too. Employees said Awadallah had previously used his 23andMe results to justify his opinions.

Google Cloud Developer Relations VP Amr Awadallah tweeted at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey because the site determined his post was considered hate speech.

"I admire many Jewish people as I shared earlier, but I will also tell you this with unwavering conviction: TheJewish people aren't any more special than the Christian, Black, Hispanic, White, Muslim, Asian, Arab peoples or any other group of people for that matter," his manifesto read.

When employees expressed their discomfort at the all-hands meeting Wednesday, the executive doubled down on his manifesto and insisted employees misunderstood, they said.

A Google Cloud VP tweeted a "confession" about antisemitism.

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Google parts with Cloud VP after uproar over his manifesto renouncing his antisemitism - CNBC

The new Drive app was a hefty 238MiB download and a pain-free but surprisingly long (several minutes) installation.

Jim Salter

After installation finishes, the new Drive user is offered a mercifully brief feature tour.

Jim Salter

You can run the locally mounted Google Drive folders one of two waysstreaming or mirrored. Streaming folders don't download files from the cloud unless and until you actually open them.

Jim Salter

There are extra settings buried behind a gear icon in the Google Drive Preferences dialog itself. Note the drive letter selection, Office presence detection, and Photos quality settings.

Jim Salter

Beneath the Office, drive letter, and Photos settings, we can scroll down to set the local cached files directory, proxy settings, and bandwidth limiters.

Jim Salter

Google has released a new Google Drive desktop app that replaces old versions for both home and business. The new Drive app builds in features from Google Photos, Backup and Sync (the old, primarily consumer app), and Drive File Stream (the old, business-targeted version).

Frankly, there doesn't appear to be much new in the upgraded appthe update looks like more of a clean-up and unification effort than anything else. Major features include:

According to Google's introduction, users of the older Backup and Sync app will start getting in-app prompts to transition to Drive for desktop, which it recommends users complete by September of this year.

Backup and Sync users will support a guided workflow for transitioning from the old app to the new on July 19, and Google Workspace domains (both Rapid and Scheduled release tracks) will see in-app notifications prompting transition beginning on August 18. The deprecated Backup and Sync app will cease functioning entirely on October 1.

The answer is simple, but we want to draw a heavy underscore because it's not typical these daysall Google service users can use the new Drive app. This includes free personal accounts and paid enterprise Google Workspace accounts.

In other words, if you're a Google Drive user, it's time download the new appthere's no point in putting it off. If you're a Google Workspace administrator, you have two months to test and deploy the new app before Backup and Sync curls up and dies on October 1.

Listing image by Jim Salter

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Googles new Drive app replaces Backup and Sync with Drive File Stream - Ars Technica

MOUNTAIN VIEW (KPIX) Hundreds of Bay Area Google employees headed back to work on Monday, two months ahead of the companys full reopening.

Google is the latest of the tech giants in the Bay Area to slowly start phasing employees back into the office on Monday, offering a glimpse of post-Covid work life balance.

Mike Mozer, a research scientist at the company, described the return to the office after 16 months away as spookily normal.

Its sort of this bizarro, like you fall right back into the routine. Theres nothing really that unusual about it, said Mozer.

Google will not require masks indoors if employees are vaccinated and provide verification. Workers who are not vaccinated must wear a mask indoors, and submit to weekly Covid tests. The buildings will not have capacity limits or social distancing rules.

In a blog post in May, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company will begin moving toward a hybrid schedule, with 60% of employees working three days a week by September. Another 20% will be working in new office locations, and the remaining 20% will work from home.

Pichai also announced a new work from anywhere option, available for up to four weeks out of the year. The new offering is meant to provide employees with more flexibility during summer break and holidays.

Engineer Qian Chang is looking forward to workplace perks, like free food.

I dont need to cook on my own, everyday now, said Chang.

The news of Google employees beginning to return to Mountain View was met with smiles at the Sports Page Bar and Grill. The business survived the pandemic largely due to its expansive outdoor patio that was able to accommodate guests through much of the lockdown, according to co-owner Jacqueline Graham. Sports Page retained all its employees, and will begin hiring when Google employees begin returning to the office en masse.

Of course its a good sign for all the local businesses here in Mountain View, said Graham. I think life is getting back to normal. I think people want to be out and about, again.

Mozer, the research scientist, will be coming in five days per week.

Even though I dont have to. Its good energy to be here, lots of people to talk to, said Mozer.

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COVID Reopening: Google Workers Go Back To The Office - CBS San Francisco

Dive Brief:

As corporations procure more renewables and energy storage directly and increasingly seek to match all of their energy demand with carbon-free power, RMI's paper highlights the need for a holistic approach in order to best utilize the resources being added.

"Hourly load-matching strategies can help lay the groundwork for a decarbonized grid in the long term but should be carefully tailored to region-specific grid dynamics to also maximize emissions reductions in the near term," the report concluded.

To ultimately decarbonize the grid, the report notes annual corporate renewable procurement targets will not be enough but hourly matching comes with higher costs.

"As the level of hourly matching is increased, costs for hourly load matching rise in three distinct stages, well above costs for meeting annual procurement targets," RMI found.The cost to match anywhere from 30% to 80% of a facility's hourly demand with wind and solar are "relatively stable but increase significantly at higher levels of hourly load matching due to the need to use storage."

Buyers targeting "higher levels" of hourly matching greater than 85% "will face high costs in most markets if they rely only on only wind, solar, and lithium-ion batteries," RMI said. However, 100% matching also means buyers "create a demand signal for emerging technologies that can also meet valuable system-wide needs in decarbonized grids."

Microsoft and Google are among a few large companies that have piloted hourly load-matching strategies.Google set a goal of achieving round-the-clock carbon-free power supplyin 2018 and in September unveiled a plan to get there by 2030. In 2019,Microsoft announced a plan to power facilities from renewables 24/7,working with ENGIE to reach its goal.

RMI's report, produced with support from Microsoft, examined the costs, emissions impacts and renewables integration implications of hourly matching strategies in seven electricity markets, including four in the United States:PJM Interconnection, California Independent System Operator, Southwest Power Pool and Duke Energy's territory in the Southeast.

"Hourly procurement works best and can be most beneficial for the grid overall if it is done within the context of an organized electricity market," Dyson said. Corporate procurements and 24x7 matching could grow, "to the extent that wholesale markets with direct access are expanded and reformed." Maintaining the traditionally regulated, vertically-integrated monopoly utility structure in some regions could slow the growth of 24x7 corporate procurements,he said.

RMI's research recommends expanding wholesale market access to scale up hourly-procurement benefits, and ensuring procurements work for the entire grid.

"With more advanced procurement strategies, corporate procurement can play a key role in decarbonization of the grid as a whole," RMI said. "Coordinated action" around hourly-matching strategies "presents a rare opportunity to speed progress to a clean grid."

There is a tremendous amount that leading energy buyers can do to drive both near-term and long-term grid decarbonization, especially if they tailor their actions to needs of the grid as a whole, RMI Principal and co-author of the report Charles Teplin said in a statement.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated Google's clean energy goals. The company wants to source round-the-clock carbon-free energy by 2030.

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As Google, Microsoft and others pursue 24x7 clean energy, RMI report shows how they can do it better - Utility Dive

The Amazon shopping app in the Google Play Store on an Android smartphone.

Christoph Dernbach | picture alliance | Getty Images

Apple has removed Fakespot, a well-known app for detecting fake product reviews, from its App Store after Amazon complained the app provided misleading information and potential security risks.

Fakespot's app works by analyzing the credibility of an Amazon listing's reviews and gives it a grade of A through F. It then provides shoppers with recommendations for products with high customer satisfaction.

Amazon said it reported Fakespot to Apple for investigation after it grew concerned that a redesigned version of the app confused consumers by displaying Amazon's website in the app with Fakespot code and content overlaid on top of it. Amazon said it doesn't allow applications to do this. An Amazon spokesperson claimed, "The app in question provides customers with misleading information about our sellers and their products, harms our sellers' businesses, and creates potential security risks."

By Friday afternoon, following a review from Apple, the app was no longer available on the App Store.

Misleading or fake user reviews have proven to be a major problem for online retailers, including Amazon. The company has recently ramped up its efforts to detect and cull fake reviews. Its third-party marketplace, made up of millions of sellers, has grown to account for more than half of the company's overall sales, but it has become fertile ground for fake reviews, counterfeits and unsafe products. Regulators in the U.S. and abroad have taken steps to curb fake reviews on and off Amazon.

As fake reviews continue to proliferate the internet, third-party apps and websites have sprung up to help shoppers spot them, such as Fakespot, ReviewMeta and ReconBob.

Amazon reported well-known fake review detector app Fakespot to Apple for investigation, triggering its removal from the App Store.

Amazon

Apple said in a statement that Amazon on June 8 initiated a dispute with the Fakespot app over intellectual property rights. Apple said it provided Fakespot with steps to keep their app on the store and gave them "ample time" to resolve the issue. It then reached out to Fakespot on June 29, weeks before their app was removed from the App Store.

An Apple spokesperson didn't immediately respond to questions on which App Store guidelines were violated by Fakespot.

But Amazon pointed CNBC to two subsections of Apple's App Store guidelines that Fakespot may have violated. One guideline states that apps must make sure they're permitted to use, access, monetize access to or display content from a third-party service. Another guideline states that apps should not include false information and features.

Amazon also claims Fakespot's coding technique makes it possible for the app to collect and track information from customers. The company last January made similar claims against PayPal-owned Honey, a browser extension that lets users find coupons while shopping online, warning users it could be a "security risk."

In an interview, Fakespot founder and CEO SaoudKhalifah said he disputed Amazon's claim that the app presents security risks and said that while Fakespot does collect some user data, it doesn't sell it to third parties.

Khalifah added that many apps use the same coding technique, called "wrapping," to include a web browser view, such as coupon providers. He said many apps and websites also collect and track user information, including Amazon.

"We don't steal users' information, we've never done that," Khalifah said. "They've shown zero proof and Apple acted on this with zero proof."

Fakespot released a new version of its app at the end of May. Amazon reported the app to Apple in mid-June, Khalifah said.

Khalifah said he was upset that Apple didn't give Fakespot adequate warning that the app would be taken down from the App Store, or the ability to rectify issues with the app.

"Imagine going to a tenant and saying you have to take all your stuff, you have to leave right now. That's how I feel right now, to be quite honest with you," he added.

Fakespot's app is still available on the Google Play Store for Android devices as of Friday evening.

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Amazon asked Apple to remove an app that spots fake reviews, and Apple agreed - CNBC