Category Archives: Google

A significant number of entities spanning major public corporations, small businesses and entrepreneurs depend on Google for traffic, and no alternate search engine serves as a substitute, the report said. The lawmakers also accused Apple, Amazon and Facebook of abusing their market power. They called for more aggressive enforcement of antitrust laws, and for Congress to consider strengthening them.

The scrutiny reflects how Google has become a dominant player in communications, commerce and media over the last two decades. That business is lucrative: Last year, Google brought in $34.3 billion in search revenue in the United States, according to the research firm eMarketer. That figure is expected to grow to $42.5 billion by 2022, the firm said.

In its complaint, the Justice Department said that Googles actions had hurt consumers by stifling innovation, reducing choice and diminishing the quality of search services, including consumer data privacy. It also said that advertisers that use its products must pay a toll to Googles search advertising and general search text advertising monopolies.

The lawsuit is the result of an investigation that has stretched for more than a year. Prosecutors have spoken with Googles rivals in technology and media, collecting information and documents that could be used to build a case.

The Justice Department also investigated Googles behavior and acquisitions in the overall market for digital advertising, which includes search, web display and video ads.

But the search case is the most straightforward, giving the government its best chance to win. To prevail, the Justice Department has to show two things: that Google is dominant in search, and that its deals with Apple and other companies hobble competition in the search market.

The Justice Department said Google estimates that almost 50 percent of its search traffic originated on Apple devices in 2019. Because it is such a large portion of its queries, Google pays the iPhone maker an estimated $8 billion to $12 billion a year to remain the default option on its phones, iPads and Mac computers.

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U.S. Accuses Google of Illegally Protecting Monopoly - The New York Times

Google, Facebook and YouTube have increased their already substantial share of the digital advertising pie in Australia, leaving less than 20% for news and other websites, according to a new report from the competition regulator.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report was released on Friday as the government puts the final touches on its legislation to force the digital platforms to share revenue with Australian media companies.

The platforms may be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines if they fail to comply with the proposed news media bargaining code which was unveiled by the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, in July.

The ACCC notes that for a typical $100 spent by advertisers in 2018, $49 went to Google (including ad tech services), $24 to Facebook and $27 to all other websites and ad tech, the report says.

This trend has continued in the 2019 calendar year, with $53 to Google, $28 to Facebook and $19 to all other websites and ad tech.

While Facebook and Googles share of advertising has grown, the industry as a whole has been impacted by Covid-19, with spending slowing.

Facebook advertising expenditure may also be impacted by a number of multinational advertisers which reportedly boycotted advertising on Facebook, but it remains to be seen how these and other events will affect the longer-term advertising revenue of Google and Facebook-owned and operated platforms, and also online advertising services in Australia more broadly, the report says.

The ACCC found the pandemic and the need for isolation have contributed to the growth of online private messaging and other services including Zoom. The social media platform with the biggest growth has been TikTok.

TikTok has risen in Australia from 500,000 unique users in May 2019 to almost 3.7 million unique users in June 2020.

But along with the increase in online activity has been a growth in privacy concerns. The ACCC says Australians online activity is being extensively tracked and it is Facebook and Google who are benefiting from that data.

The ACCCs website analysis found Google and Facebook had the largest presence in online tracking, with Google and Facebooks third-party scripts present on over 80% and 40% respectively of 1000 popular websites in Australia, the report says. Amazon and Microsoft tracking were present on nearly 30% and almost 20% of websites respectively.

Private messaging services have been put under the microscope by the consumer commission.

As of June 2020, Facebook Messenger had an estimated 14.7 million monthly active users and Facebook-owned WhatsApp had an estimated 8 million monthly active users.

Apples private messaging system, iMessage, has between 6 million and 12 million daily active users in Australia while Apples FaceTime has been used by 33% of online Australian adults in the past six months. Messenger and WhatsApp are funded by advertising and privacy concerns are growing.

While the content of messages between users is private, the policies of most services confirm that other user information (such as users account, device and location information) may be used for targeted advertising, the report says.

The ACCC chairman, Rod Sims, has said the watchdog and the Treasury are working to deliver the revised news media bargaining code to the government later in October.

We are considering submissions and taking broad feedback into account, Sims said earlier this month. The news media bargaining code is designed to encourage good faith, commercial negotiations between news media businesses and platforms. The objective is commercial, not one-sided, outcomes.

But Google and Facebook remain opposed to the code as it stands.

Google says it wants a code that works for everyone involved, and most importantly for you and the millions of other Australians who rely on services such as Search and YouTube and is talking to the government about amendments.

Facebook has warned it will block Australians from sharing news if the landmark plan to make digital platforms pay for news content becomes law.

Google has been running a public campaign against the proposed code and launched an international campaign targeting YouTube users when the government announced it would force the company to pay news publishers for content.

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Google, Facebook and YouTube found to make up more than 80% of Australian digital advertising - The Guardian

Google will discontinue its emergency location sharing app Trusted Contacts in December, and has already yanked it from the Google Play Store. Instead, its directing existing users to try similar but less helpful features in Google Maps. Thats a shame, because while Trusted Contacts could let you find a family member even if they dont respond (say, if they are unconscious or in danger), Google Maps requires them to proactively broadcast their location to you.

The announcement was quite abrupt:

Google Maps has been able to do real time location sharing since 2017, but again, you have to opt-in to constant tracking, sharing your location with other people all the time instead of only broadcasting it to loved ones if you dont respond. Trusted Contacts, by comparison, allows you to add people to your contacts who youd like to instantly share your locations with in case of emergency. If one arises, your contacts can request a status update to see if youre alright and you can respond with your location to reassure them. If you dont respond, the app automatically shares your last known location so they can send for help.

When Google originally launched Trusted Contacts, it created this GIF to show how it works:

Folding other apps and features into Google Maps has been Googles strategy for a while, but the Maps feature doesnt feel quite as valuable. And while its possible the Trusted Contacts app didnt have a lot of users, those who were counting on it will need to find something else.

Google is ending support for the app in December, but youll be able to download your contacts from your Trusted Contacts page until the app is shut down. Until then, you might as well get familiar with Google Maps take on location sharing.

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Google kills off app that let you find loved ones location during an emergency - The Verge

When it comes to apps, Android leads the pack with nearly 3 million apps in its official Google Play store. The sheer volume also means that sometimes iffy apps slip through the cracks.

Researchers at the International Digital Accountability Council (IDAC), a nonprofit watchdog based out of Boston, found that a trio of popular and seemingly innocent-looking apps aimed at younger users were recently found to be violating Googles data collection policies, potentially accessing users Android ID and AAID (Android Advertising ID) numbers, with the data leakage potentially connected to the apps being built using SDKs from Unity, Umeng and Appodeal.

Collectively, the apps had more than 20 million downloads between them.

The three apps in question Princess Salon, Number Coloring and Cats & Cosplay have now been removed from the Google Play app store, as you can see in the links above. Google confirmed to us that it removed the apps after IDAC brought the violations to its attention.

We can confirm that the apps referenced in the report were removed, said a Google spokesperson. Whenever we find an app that violates our policies, we take action.

The violations point to a wider concern with the three publishers approach to adhering to data protection policies. The practices we observed in our research raised serious concerns about data practices within these apps, said IDAC president Quentin Palfrey.

The incident is being highlighted at a time when a lot of attention is being focused on Google and the size of its operation. Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Justice and 11 states sued the company, accusing it of monopolistic and anticompetitive behavior in search and search advertising.

To be clear, the app violations here are not related to search, but they underscore the scale of Googles operation, and how even small oversights can lead to tens of millions of users being affected. They also serve as a reminder of the challenges of proactively policing individual violations on such a scale, and that those challenges can land in a particularly risky area: how minors use apps.

At least in the case of two of the publishers, Creative APPS and Libii Tech (whose apps are built around the cast of characters illustrated at the top of this story), other apps are still live. And it also appears that versions of the apps are also still downloadable through APK sites (like this one). There are also versions on iOS (for example here), but IDACs tech team said that in an initial analysis, it didnt immediately see analogous concerns, but will continue to monitor the situation.

The violation in this case is complex but is an example of one of the ways that users can unknowingly be tracked through apps.

Pointing to the behind-the-scenes activity and data processing that gets loaded into innocent-looking apps, IDAC highlighted three SDKs in particular used by the app developers: the Unity 3D and game engine, Umeng (an Alibaba-owned analytics provider known as the Flurry of China that some have described also as an adware provider) and Appodeal (another app monetization and analytics provider) as the source of the issues.

Palfrey explained that the problem lies in how the data that the apps were able to access by way of the SDKs could be linked up with other kinds of data, such as geolocation information. If AAID information is transmitted in tandem with a persistent identifier [such as Android ID] its possible for the protection measures that Google puts in place for privacy protection to be bridged, he said.

IDAC did not specify the violations in all of the SDKs, but noted in one example that certain versions of Unitys SDK were collecting both the users AAID and Android ID simultaneously, and that could have allowed developers to bypass privacy controls and track users over time and across devices.

IDAC describes the AAID as the passport for aggregating all of the data about a user in one place. It lets advertisers target ads to users based on signals for preferences that a user might have. The AAID can be reset by users. However, if an SDK is also providing a link to a users Android ID, which is a static number, it starts to create a bridge to identify and track a user.

Palfrey would not get too specific on whether it could determine how much data was actually drawn as a result of the violations that it identified, but Google said that it was continuing to work on partnerships and procedures to catch similar (intentional or otherwise) bad actors.

One example of the work we are doing here is the Families ad certification program, which we announced in 2019), said the spokesperson. For apps that wish to serve ads in kids and families apps, we ask them to use only ad SDKs that have self-certified compliance with kids/families policies. We also require that apps that solely target children not contain any APIs or SDKs that are not approved for use in child-directed services.

IDAC, which was launched in April 2020 as a spin-off of the Future of Privacy Forum, has also carried out investigations into data privacy violations on fertility apps and COVID-19 trackers, and earlier this week it also published findings on data leakage from an older version of Twitters MoPub SDK affecting millions of users.

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Google removes 3 Android apps for children, with 20M+ downloads between them, over data collection violations - TechCrunch

A new feature being internally tested at Google could remove the need to say Hey Google before voicing commands to Nest Hub smart displays, Android Central reports. Instead, the feature codenamed Blue Steel could allow the device to simply sense your presence, and proactively listen for commands without first needing to hear the wake word.

The functionality has been shown off in a video posted to YouTube by Jan Boromeusz, who Android Central notes previously leaked features like the Nest Hubs new dark mode prior to its official announcement. In the video, Boromeusz can be seen asking for a variety of information, all without once uttering the words Hey Google. His Nest Hub Max smart display is reportedly running leaked internal firmware meant for testing within Google, and its unclear if the company has any plans to release the functionality publicly.

The speculation is that the Nest Hub Max is using its existing ultrasound sensing to sense a persons presence and start listening. At the moment, the smart display uses this to simply adjust the information it shows. However, in the future, this same technology could allow it to listen out for voice commands when it knows youre nearby. Ars Technica speculates that it could also use its cameras Face Match feature to get a better idea of whos speaking. Boromeusz shows an option to turned Blue Steel on and off in the smart displays settings menu.

If released to the public, Blue Steel could raise privacy concerns. A key element of current smart speakers and displays is that they only pay attention to what youre saying after they hear the wake word. Relying upon proximity detection alone increases the risk of the devices hearing something theyre not supposed to, at the expense of your privacy.

That said, Blue Steel could make for a useful optional feature for some. Having to repeatedly say Hey Google or Ok Google before every voice command can be a pain, and this potentially makes accessing information you need far quicker.

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Google tests smart displays that activate without a wake word - The Verge

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American politicians from opposite parties dont agree on much except that technology superpowers are too powerful.

Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans applauded the Justice Departments lawsuit this week accusing Google of illegally protecting its monopoly over search and search advertising. And members of a House committee on both sides mostly agreed that Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple had grown too muscular and were abusing their power.

To find out how Americas tech giants became bipartisan punching bags, I spoke with my colleague Cecilia Kang, who has written about technology companies and Washington policy for nearly 15 years.

Shira: For years, Washington politicians tended to agree that technology companies were great American successes. How did that change?

Cecilia: The moment that many people point to was the 2016 U.S. election, when Russians used Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram to spread disinformation and disrupt the election. But I would say the political backlash to Big Tech started earlier.

Even in the Obama administration, there was the beginning of unease about tech companies influence over commerce, the exchange of ideas, entertainment, advertising and other areas of our lives. And it was easy to see Big Tech as symbols of something amiss when Americans wages stagnated, but tech companies got richer.

Could the tech companies have done anything different to avoid political anger?

In some ways it was inevitable. Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook together have a stock market value of more than $5 trillion. Amazon is one of the biggest employers in the United States. You cant hide at that size. And there is an American tradition of suspicion of big corporations.

(Read Cecilias latest: The Federal Trade Commission is moving closer to a decision about filing an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook.)

Republicans tend to believe the government should be hands-off with corporations. But now prominent Republican politicians want more government intervention or even breakups of Google and other tech companies. Why?

Enforcing antitrust laws is generally seen as a technical, nonpartisan area of law and policy.

And theres a belief among some conservatives that because companies like Facebook and Google have so much power, they too tightly control what people say online and are biased against conservative views. Its fairly novel for Republicans to link free speech to antitrust violations like this.

Is there evidence that Google or Facebook exhibit bias against conservative material online?

From what I understand, credible research tends to show that it isnt true. Its hard to believe conservative voices are suppressed online when people like our colleague Kevin Roose show how widely shared conservative content is on Facebook.

If President Trump or other conservative figures have their social media posts flagged or fact checked by internet companies, its often for nonideological reasons they are more likely to push the limits of companies rules against bullying or sharing false information on important issues like elections.

But most Americans, especially Republicans, believe internet sites censor political viewpoints the companies disagree with.

I get it. Companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter have enormous influence over what we see or dont online, and theres little transparency about how they make those decisions. And top executives of large tech companies are largely seen as liberal.

Googles former chief executive said the antitrust lawsuit was a political hit job by the Trump administration. Was it?

Something can be both politically motivated and done on the merits.

If Joe Biden becomes president and Democrats take over a majority of the Senate, would the Google lawsuit end? Would Big Tech be more in favor?

No. Theres a consensus among Democrats that Big Tech has gotten too powerful and deserves antitrust scrutiny.

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I want to spend another moment on how government officials have handled technology companies.

When I saw politicians cheering the antitrust lawsuit against Google, I wondered if they should be wallowing in shame instead. If government officials had effectively enforced the rules, that might have stopped or slowed some of Googles behavior before it led to what the government now says is an illegal monopoly.

Corporations are going to do what they do find ways to give people a product or service they like and make money doing so. Its up to our elected representatives and watchdogs to make sure companies dont cross the lines.

Thats also a point that my colleague Kate Conger made about Uber and similar app-based companies. One of the ways Uber and Lyft got big fast was their novelty in taking contractor rules typically used for people like the owner of a trucking business and applying it to millions of people who drive perhaps a few hours a week.

Now, more cities and states are questioning whether this widespread gig work was a misapplication of the law that created crummy jobs and burdened taxpayers with costs like unemployment insurance that the companies should be paying instead. Uber and other app-based companies are now fighting a law in California that would reclassify their workers as employees.

One of Kates questions, and mine, is: Where were the government officials before now? The legality of the gig employment model has been in question since these companies founding, Kate told our colleague Jill Cowan for the California Today newsletter. But California and other states moved slowly to clarify and enforce the law.

Like Googles tactics to make its search engine and other web services more prominent, gig work was a legal, ethical and policy question mark for years. There is no clear cut answer, to be fair, but government officials chose not to do much about Google or Uber until the problem became a huge, expensive mess to try to fix.

Russian hackers are at it again: U.S. officials said Russias state hackers had targeted computer networks of dozens of state and local governments and aviation networks, my Times colleagues reported. Theres no evidence that the Russians disrupted any essential election information or changed any votes. American officials wanted to call attention to the activity in case the hackers try to create chaos around the November election.

He made the phone of choice for criminals and mobs: This is quite a yarn from Vice about a business owner whose customized BlackBerry phones became the go-to choice for criminals, gangs and drug dealers to hide their tracks from law enforcement.

This is the most heartwarming thing youll read today. Promise: A woman in New Jersey and a man in Quebec bickered and bonded playing the online game Final Fantasy. Last month, they got married. Lauren Rowello writes for The New York Times about how they fell in love.

Two young raccoons broke into a California bank after hours. They made a mess, but dont worry. They didnt steal anything. (And they werent harmed.)

We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com.

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Why Washington Hates Big Tech - The New York Times

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

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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