Category Archives: Google

Googles Work Profile tool for Android, which lets you hide your work apps and data with the flip of a switch and keeps your personal phone use safe from your company, will be coming to more users next year. According to a blog post from the company, currently, the feature is limited to phones that your organization manages, but Google says itll start to become available to people using Google Workspace in 2022. After that, itll branch out with the ultimate goal of letting anyone using Android for work flip a switch to make their business apps disappear.

The ability to turn off work, especially when many of us are working remotely, is sorely needed. My colleague Monica Chin recently wrote a great argument for why you should have a personal laptop and a work laptop that you can close at the end of the day (and that doesnt expose your business to your company). Its nice to see Google making its software equivalent of that available to more people because while having two phones really cements the work / life walls, its just not practical for most (and could honestly be a bit of a headache).

Google also says that its working with identity and single sign-on providers Ping, Okta (choice of The Verges IT department), and Forgerock to improve security when users access their companys content. The company wants to have users authenticate in its Custom Tabs system, rather than a WebView, making the experience faster for employees and allowing providers like Okta to access more of the phones security information.

Googles focus on security, which includes pushing the Android Management API that comes with Androids recommended requirements set by default and lets enterprises get new features quickly, isnt just talk, either. Its also launched a bug bounty specifically for Android Enterprise, which will pay up to $250,000 if youre able to find a major vulnerability on Pixel devices running Googles business-focused software.

The focus on security, combined with the other improvements weve covered, makes it seem like Googles focusing on making Android more suitable for the future where many of us work remotely an especially relevant focus for the company, which is planning on (eventually) implementing a hybrid work system for its own employees.

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Google will make it easier to separate your work and personal life on Android - The Verge

Google is one step closer to launching its new data privacy section for Play Store apps. App developers can now fill out the relevant details via Googles new Data safety form on the Play Console. The company says the required information will be visible to users from February 2022 and mandatory for developers to submit by April that same year.

This new feature was announced back in May, after Apple started showing similar privacy and data disclaimers for apps in the App Store last December. The data section is supposed to give consumers a quick and simple overview of what apps are doing with their information. Developers will be encouraged to tell users the following:

Developers can now enter this information via the Google Play Console, and Google has added guides for developers to help them navigate this new requirement. Following our common protocols, well begin gradual rollout today and expect to expand access to everyone within a couple of weeks, said Google in a blog post.

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Googles app privacy briefings go live in the Play Store in February 2022 - The Verge

Snap Inc. predicted a weaker holiday season than expected and pointed the finger at Apple Inc. and supply-chain constraints Thursday afternoon, and shares fell more than 20% in after-hours trading.

Snap SNAP, -0.71%, the maker of photo messaging app Snapchat, said privacy changes imposed by Apple AAPL, +0.15% on iOS devices hurt Snaps ability to target and measure its digital advertising.

Our advertising business was disrupted by changes to iOS ad tracking that were broadly rolled out by Apple in June and July, the company reported. Broadly speaking, these changes have upended many of the industry norms and advertiser behaviors that were built on IDFA (Apples unique device identifier for advertising) over the past decade.

While we anticipated some degree of business disruption, the new Apple-provided measurement solution did not scale as we had expected, making it more difficult for our ad partners to measure and manage their ad campaigns for iOS.

Read: Opinion:Snap points to possibility of Apple causing the long-feared ad-mageddon

In a 65-minute webcast Thursday, Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel described Apples changes to analysts as a frustrating setback, and said his advertising customers tools were essentially rendered blind.

Were now operating at the scale necessary to navigate significant headwinds, including changes to the iOS platform that impact the way advertising is targeted,measured, and optimized, as well as global supply chain issues and labor shortages impacting our partners, Spiegel said in a statement.

Compounding matters, Snap said global supply chain disruptions and labor shortages caused companies to pull back on their advertising spending, and a cautious holiday forecast suggested fears that advertisers uncertain about their holiday supply would advertise.

Snap SNAP, -0.71% announced a net loss of $71.9 million, or 5 cents a share, down from a loss of $199.8 million, or 14 cents a share a year ago and besting street predictions of a loss of 10 cents a share, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Snaps sales improved 57% to $1.07 billion the companys first billion-dollar quarter but they were lower than Street estimates of $1.1 billion.

Snap said it expects the Apple privacy changes and global supply chain disruptions to linger through the holiday season, typically the biggest of the year for advertising companies. Executives issued fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $1.165 billion to $1.205 billion, significantly short of the $1.36 billion projected on average by analysts polled on FactSet.

The fact that these challenges are largely exogenous makes the provision of guidance particularly challenging and complex, Snap Chief Financial Officer Derek Andersen said in the webcast late Thursday.

(W)e still expect these headwinds to continue to impact our business throughout Q4 as the adoption of new measurement solutions will take time, Andersen said. It is still not clear what the longer term impact of the iOS platform changes may be, and this may not be clear until at least several months or more after the ecosystem stabilizes and advertisers are able to fully implement the new solutions we aredeveloping.

Thursdays precipitous drop in stock erased recent gains; Snap shares are up 50% so far this year, while the broader S&P 500 index SPX, +0.30% has improved 21% in 2021. Shares of Facebook Inc. FB, +0.32%, by comparison, are up 25% this year, but they also fell in the extended session Thursday, by more than 6%. Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +0.08% GOOG, +0.26%, Twitter Inc. TWTR, -0.61% and Pinterest Inc. PINS, -2.12% also dropped in late trading.

The results the first from a major social-media company during earnings season are being closely watched by investors in the other social-media companies. Those companies, like Snap, are heavily dependent on digital advertising, which swooned/galloped in the September quarter, according to Wall Street analysts.

Snap reported 306 million daily active users in the third quarter, edging an average analyst forecast of 301.8 million, according to FactSet.

On Tuesday, Snapannouncedthe launch of a global creative studio, called Arcadia, to help brands develop augmented reality advertising and experiences. The studio which has already teamed up with Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, -0.41%, Shake Shack Inc. SHAK, -1.54%, and World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. WWE, -0.05% will partner with brands and creators to engage with Snapchats millennial and Gen Z audiences.

Augmented reality is one of our most exciting long-term opportunities because it is simultaneously very early in its technological development and already used by hundreds of millions of people, Spiegel said in the webcast. More than 200 million people engage with AR every day on Snapchat, across a variety of use cases including entertainment, fashion, education, and the arts.

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Snap stock plummets as it blames Apple and the supply chain for sales miss - MarketWatch

Brave, the privacy-focused browser that blocks third-party ads and trackers by default, is switching to using its own search engine by default, the company has announced. The change will be applied for new users, and will affect which search engine is used via the browsers address bar. Brave Search will replace Google in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, Qwant in France, and DuckDuckGo in Germany. More countries will be switched over in the coming months.

Its a significant step for Braves fledgling search engine, which launched in public beta earlier this year, since most people just take what theyre given. The search engine set as the browser default is a valuable promotion tactic, and so important that the practice has become a significant focus of antitrust scrutiny. In Europe, Google now offers a choice of search engines for Android users after it was fined $5 billion by EU regulators for, among other things, illegally tying Google search to Android. Over the years, Google has also paid companies like Apple and Firefox to be the default search engine in their browsers.

As we know from experience in many browsers, the default setting is crucial for adoption, and Brave Search has reached the quality and critical mass needed to become our default search option, and to offer our users a seamless privacy-by-default online experience, Braves co-founder and CEO Brendan Eich said in a statement. He added that its search engine now handles nearly 80 million queries per month.

Although the switch will boost Brave Searchs prominence with Brave users, the browsers marketshare is so small that it doesnt even register against established competitors like Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Opera, according to data from StatCounter. Nevertheless, as of September 2021, Brave claims that its browser had almost 40 million monthly active users.

As well as boosting the prominence of Braves search engine, the move is a sign of its confidence in the new privacy-focused service. Brave Search is notable for being built on Braves own independent index of the web, whereas many competitors rely on a mix of results from larger indexes like Microsofts Bing (although Brave has said it will pull in results from other providers where it cant produce enough of its own). The company says its search engine does not track users, their searches, or their clicks.

Alongside the change in default search engine, Brave is also launching a new opt-in system for users to contribute their data and help improve its search results. Brave claims its Web Discovery Project collects search and browsing data in a way that cant be linked to individual users, and that cannot be sold to advertisers or handed over to the authorities.

Brave Search is currently free to use and does not show any ads, but the company says that it plans to roll out ads in its free version in the future, as well as launch an ad-free premium service.

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Brave browser replaces Google with its own search engine - The Verge

The logo of Russia's state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, is reflected in a laptop screen showing Google start page, in this picture illustration taken May 27, 2021. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Illustration/File Photo

MOSCOW, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it would this month seek to fine U.S. tech giant Google a percentage of its annual Russian turnover for repeatedly failing to delete content deemed illegal, Moscow's strongest effort yet to rein in foreign tech firms.

Communications regulator Roskomnadzor said Google had failed to pay 32.5 million roubles ($458,100) in penalties levied so far this year and that it would now seek a fine of 5-20% of Google's Russian turnover, which could reach as much as $240 million, a significant increase.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia has ramped up pressure on foreign tech companies as it seeks to assert greater control over the internet in the country, slowing down the speed of Twitter (TWTR.N) since March and routinely fining others for content violations.

Opposition activists have accused Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Apple (AAPL.O) of caving to Kremlin pressure after they removed an anti-government tactical voting app from their stores.

Roskomnadzor earlier in October said it would ask a court to impose a turnover fine on social media firm Facebook(FB.O), citing legislation signed by President Vladimir Putin in December 2020.

"A similar case will be put together in October against Google," Roskomnadzor said in emailed comments to Reuters on Tuesday, noting that the company also owned video-hosting site YouTube.

The SPARK business database showed that Google's turnover in Russia in 2020 was 85.5 billion roubles. A 5-20% fine would amount to between 4.3 and 17.1 billion roubles.

Google is currently fighting a court ruling demanding it unblock the YouTube account of a sanctioned Russian businessman or face a compounding fine on its overall turnover that would double every week and force Google out of business within months if paid.

($1 = 70.9450 roubles)

Additional reporting and writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Google faces a fine of up to 20% of Russian revenue this month - Reuters

Need to have a conversation in a language you dont know, make sense of a printed sign or quickly translate a message? With Google and Apple revving their machine-learning engines in their Google Translate and Apples Translate apps, theres a whole new world of communication possibilities right in your pocket.

Keep in mind that computer interpretation is not perfect. You may get some awkward translations (and stares). Third-party apps may be more in depth. But these freebies can provide a general sense of things and become learning aids. Heres a quick tour.

Google Translate is in its 15th year and available on the web, as a Chrome browser extension and as an Android and an iOS app. Apple released its Translate app last year for the iPhone and added it to last months iOS 15 update for the iPad.

Google Translate supports more than 100 languages, while the version from Apple handles 11. Depending on the app and language, you may need an internet connection, unless the content is available to download for offline use. Audio pronunciation or other features may not be available for some languages. And read the apps privacy policy if you have data-sharing concerns.

Google Translate and Apples Translate are fairly easy to use. Just tap open the app and choose the languages you want to translate between. Enter text or say it aloud to get the translation through screen and speaker.

Both apps support a Conversation mode, where you can carry out a bilingual chat (in a supported language) with someone as the app automatically translates. And you can save favorite phrases for later reference in both apps.

Google Translate and the Google Lens visual search tool can use your phones camera to scan and translate the text on signs, in books, within photographs and in other printed matter. Just open the camera app, point it at the text you want to convert and tap the Translate button.

Apples Live Text feature, new with iOS 15, offers similar abilities. Point the camera at text and when a yellow frame appears around the words, tap the text icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Select the words to convert and tap Translate from the pop-up menu on the screen. You can translate text in photos the same way.

Youll find that the baked-in powers of translation extend to other compatible apps, too. For example, in Google Translate on an Android phone, tap the Menu icon in the top-left corner, choose Settings and enable the Tap to Translate function. When you find text that you want to convert, highlight the words and tap the Translate option in the pop-up menu, then select the language you want.

Apples Translate converts text in compatible apps on iOS devices (like the Safari browser) and can replace text youve typed with a translated version. Select the text you want to convert, and from the menu above, tap Translate; you may need to tap the arrow at the end of the menu to get to that option. When the full Translate menu appears, you can see and hear the translation and then choose one of several options, including Replace with Translation.

Dont forget that your virtual assistant can also be of service. The Google Assistant for Android and iOS has an interpreter mode to translate conversations in dozens of languages on demand. Just say something like Hey, Google, be my Mandarin interpreter and follow along. Apples Siri works with the Translate app to provide quick language tips as well just say something like Hey, Siri, how do I say, Wheres the nearest train station? in French?

While the apps provide hands-free interpretations, there may be times when you want to type in a language you already know (or dont). Android and iOS both include alternate keyboard layouts for dozens of languages.

To add an alternate-language keyboard in Googles Gboard for Android or iOS, open an app that accepts text input (like your mail app), tap the Settings icon, then Languages and Add Keyboard to select a language. Tap the three-dot More icon on the Gboard menu to get to a Google Translate option for your typed text.

On an iPhone or iPad running iOS 15, open the Settings icon and choose General and then Keyboard. Select Add New Keyboard and choose a language from the menu. Once you have added the new keyboard(s), you can switch between them by pressing the globe icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

And what to do if a native speaker tells you the apps translation is way off? Visit the Help & Feedback menu in the Google Translate settings or report it to Apples Translate Feedback page.

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How to Talk to the World Through Free Translation Apps - The New York Times

Bill Gates, the fourth-wealthiest person in the world, doesn't need to make money by investing in climate change. But for those who are looking to strike it rich, Gates sees plenty of opportunities.

In an interview that aired Wednesday as part of the virtual SOSV Climate Tech Summit, Gates said future returns in climate investing will be comparable to what the biggest tech companies have produced.

"There will be eight Teslas, 10 Teslas," Gates said. "And only one of them is, is well known today."

The electric car company led by Elon Musk has doubled in value in the past year and is up over 2,000% in the past five years.

"For the winners, anybody who invested in Tesla is feeling very smart," Gates said.

He predicts the gains will be spread out over a wider swath of companies, beyond the electric vehicle space.

"There will be, you know, Microsoft, Google, Amazon-type companies that come out of this space," Gates said.

Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975, while Amazon and Google were launched in the 1990s as the internet was taking off. They're now three of the four most-valuable U.S. companies. Currently, Gates is worth $134.3 billion, according to Forbes.

SOSVis a Princeton, New Jersey-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage climate-tech start-ups.

Gates invests in clean tech through his firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which also counts Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and Ray Dalio as investors.

While Gates is bullish on the sector, he said that a lot of money will get washed away, just as did when the internet bubble popped, adding that today it's "like the early days of software and computing."

Gates said much of the technology is "at the lab level," and that investors will need to be careful in assessing the economic viability of the idea.

Also, many of the projects will need a lot of investment before they can be proven to work.

Some things like nuclear fusion, nuclear fission and energy storage require "hundreds of millions or, in the case of nuclear, billions" of dollars to test out, he said. "You're not quite sure whether" those technologies are "going to be able to contribute or not," he said.

In addition to hefty capital commitments, climate tech needs governments to set "encouraging policies" that facilitate the adoption of zero-emissions technologies, he said.

Investors wanting to put money into the space with less risk "can be part of financing solar fields," he said.

The more difficult markets to predict are direct air carbon capture, hydrogen, steel and aviation fuel.

"We will have a high failure rate," Gates said. But there are enough ideas that "we have a likelihood of substantial success," particularly with the right government assistance, he said.

"Somebody who can't afford risk or if you expect near term returns it's, you know, I would look elsewhere," Gates said.

WATCH: The future of nuclear power

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Bill Gates says climate tech will produce 8 to 10 Teslas, a Google, an Amazon and a Microsoft - CNBC

Google Docs offers features that are essential for creating memos, tailoring resumes, and editing essays. A useful tool to help edit your documents is the strikethrough function, which places a line through selected text. This allows the person who's editing the document to show what information should be deleted before it's published, or it can be used stylistically to show a change of thought while writing.

1. Open Google Docs in a browser and create a new document or select an existing one.

2. Highlight the text you want to strike through.

3. Click Format, on the menu bar at the top of the page.

4. Hover over Text to reveal another dropdown menu.

5. Select Strikethrough to add a line through the highlighted text.

Note: You can also use the shortcut keys to perform a strikethrough on the highlighted text. Press Command + Shift + X on a Mac or Alt + Shift + 5 on a PC.

1. Open the Google Docs app on your phone or tablet and select a document.

2. Tap the Pen icon at the bottom of the screen to start editing.

3. Double-tap to highlight a word or drag the cursor to select multiple words.

4. Tap the Font icon (an A with lines next to it) in the menu at the top of the screen.

5. In the Text tab, tap the S icon to perform a strikethrough.

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How to use the strikethrough feature in Google Docs to indicate text that should be removed - Business Insider India

This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Kate LInebaugh: Sundar Pichai is the CEO of one of the world's largest companies, Alphabet, the parent company of Google. And right now he's leading the company through a complex period. He's rethinking the workplace and company culture. He's dealing with growing calls for more regulation. And he's figuring out how to confront an explosion of misinformation. On Friday, the Editor in Chief of the Wall Street Journal had the chance to sit down with Pichai to talk about the challenges ahead for the company. So today we get to hear from Pichai himself. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Kate Linebaugh. It's Monday, October 18th.Coming up on the show, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on how one of the world's biggest tech companies is looking toward the future. Our Editor In Chief Matt Murray sat down with Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai last week. Their interview was recorded outside on a warm sunny day for the Wall Street Journal Tech Live Conference. Matt started the conversation with a topic companies everywhere are figuring out, the future of work.

Matt Murray: Let's start with something on everybody's mind right now, which is the workforce return. You have, I think, pushed your official starting date at Google now back to January. Where are you right now on returnees, remote work, mask mandates, test mandates, and what you expect to see in the workforce in the next few months?

Sundar Pichai: You're right. It's been the topic du jour. I've been amazed at how long, how much time we have spent thinking about it. At a high level, we are operating with the view that the future of work will be flexible, it will have inherent flexibility built into it. We deeply believe in the power of getting people together, which is why you saw us recently buy a building in New York and investing for the future. But we are roughly planning on a three/two model.

Matt Murray: Three days in, two days-

Sundar Pichai: Three days in, two days off. Four days, complete flexibility to work from anywhere. And we are looking to accommodate about 20% of our workforce to be fully remote over time. So it's something we've been thinking about. We are giving people a lot more freedom to relocate to a different base. So trying to embrace and build in flexibility. We are embracing it as a challenge to go to new places around the country and bring in people, be DC, be Chicago, be it New York, bringing people with more perspective, a diverse workforce. So we've taken it as an opportunity. But beyond January, we are just going to tell people to make decisions locally, not centrally anymore, because different places in the world are going through different trajectories.

Matt Murray: But, and you said you worry about culture and people being together, how are you going to have the culture you want to have and need to have and that everybody can feel a part of whether they're in the office or working remotely? That's going to really be a big challenge, isn't it?

Sundar Pichai: It is. And we are kind of borrowing against the equity we had created like of many years of working in-person together, which is why we believe in the power of physical spaces. So we are re-imagining it quite a bit, trying to create more collaboration spaces, fun places for people to come and get together. We do think we have to earn, it has to make sense for people as to what they get out of by coming all the way to work, particularly if they're going to be on video at work too. But I think people also feel it, particularly new employees, younger employees. They're clearly, when we opened our New York offices back, we are up to 50% occupancy back.

Matt Murray: And it's voluntary there, there's no-

Sundar Pichai: It is voluntary, but it's about 50% back. And last week we had lines in our cafes for the first time. And so the energy in the office was back there, and for what it's worth, it's anecdotal, people seemed really happy to be back. And so I do think there is an inherent human desire to come and connect as well.

Matt Murray: How much are you going in right now?

Sundar Pichai: This week I've been in every day, but it's been about two to three days a week.

Matt Murray: Yeah.

Sundar Pichai: Yeah.

Matt Murray: And how crowded is it when you go in?

Sundar Pichai: I would say about 20 to 30% voluntary back. I said New York is 50%. So it's a whole range.

Matt Murray: Is this going to be a permanent change, three/two? Is it going to be a temporary change? Is it transitional? Is it here for, you're planning as if it's here forever, but realistically in five or 10 years, is this a new model for how Google should operate?

Sundar Pichai: I think so. Even in places like New York and San Francisco our employees dealt with long commutes and that was a real issue. And so I do think people get a better balance in a three/two model. And our data shows that we can make that three/two model work, but the three is important. The three days in person is going to be important for collaboration and community, I feel. So it's about getting the balance, but we are embracing that and it's not just in New York. We probably will invest in real estate around because we want unique workspaces where it's easy for teams to do get togethers. Or if you want to ideate something and collaborate, it should be much more seamless to do so. So we are re-imagining it that way.

Matt Murray: You were talking a minute ago about different offices, people working at home, diversity of your workforce. I think in all ways, experientially, geographically, is Silicon Valley different in terms of being the center of tech is? Is tech everywhere now?

Sundar Pichai: It's a growing pie. So in some ways it's difficult to say. I still, there are strong indications which tell me Silicon Valley is still doing amazing things and has access to the best talent possible, but there is more activity and energy in these other places than ever before. So I think it's a growing pie and it's not just going to be Silicon Valley alone anymore. You are definitely going to see other places doing well, which is good, I think, overall, but the Valley still has something special. I haven't seen that part change yet.

Matt Murray: I have to ask about your workforce a bit. It feels like employees speaking up and how to respond and how to deal, it's a new part of the toolkit for a CEO today that you have to learn to manage. So are you more vocal yourself, internally at least, at pushing back if you disagree or saying, "I disagree with you," or, "You could have your opinion." Have you changed how you interact with your own folks on issues where they challenge you?

Sundar Pichai: Well, I view it as a strength, because running a large company, you want to make sure the company is doing the right things. So it brings a sense of accountability, which I've always viewed as the strength of the company. We've invested in channels and ways by which people can raise their concerns. And, we've done better as a company there, but, and I think it's a process we've gone through is to be clear on the other side too, explain ourselves, and sometimes we make a decision and a set of our employees may not agree with it, but be clear and firm and show that's what we are going to do. And I think it's important. There has to be a dialogue of respect on both sides, I think, but I think CEOs need to embrace the fact that in the modern workplace, employees want to have a say in where they work. And I think there is strength in that too. So I think that's the way I've looked at it.

Kate LInebaugh: After the break, how Google is approaching challenges from the outside, misinformation, and regulation.Last month, Alphabet said it would ban vaccine related misinformation on YouTube, which it owns. This applies not just to COVID vaccines, but many other vaccines too, like measles or Hepatitis B. Alphabet also has said it won't put advertisements on YouTube videos that deny climate change. These kinds of actions have raised questions about whether sites like YouTube can be considered neutral platforms.

Matt Murray: Aren't you basically acting as a publisher when you have to make decisions like that? Realistically, making those kinds of decisions about content and how to monitor it or what's acceptable or not, that seems like something that is not going away for a big company like Alphabet, like Google.

Sundar Pichai: Look, I mean, I would say one way you can think about it is at end of the day we are trying to balance content creators, users, and advertisers. So even in that area, that policy change, there's a lot of brand advertisers on YouTube. You can look at it from a free market basis and say they don't want their ads next to content because they think it's brand negative. And we have to respect where advertisers want to spend their money. And if they pull out, creators suffer too. And, we as a company are incented to get it right, even from a business viewpoint for us too.

Matt Murray: And are there areas of controversial topics or controversial speech though, where beyond what the advertisers think, your view is it has to be protected, it has to be carved out. I mean, that must come up sometimes too for you.

Sundar Pichai: All the time. COVID has been an area, right? The answer is a lot of times raising a authoritative information, including news sources. So that's been an important part of what we do in YouTube. We are also trying to find expert organizations which people would accept. That's always harder than you realize. In some countries, public health authorities are viewed as an authoritative source and it's a bit more controversial here in the US, but so those are all areas we are trying to find the right balance. So in COVID, authoritative sources for us would be news organizations, expert medical organizations, think a Mayo Clinic or a Cleveland Clinic, and in institutions like that.

Matt Murray: Let me ask you about the privacy debate. Of course, it never really goes away, and you're facing a lawsuit now of course involving incognito mode from some users claiming that there's unlawful tracking. And using people's data has been central to the success Google has had. How at odds are changing notions of privacy with Google's business model? And does the business model need to change itself here, because of that?

Sundar Pichai: Most of the data today we keep is for the benefit of the user and to give it back. We support our products through advertising and increasingly we are offering alternate models as well. So for example, Google apps don't have advertising and they're subscription based. You can use YouTube that way. But even in advertising, we need very limited information to make sure the ad is relevant to you and that enough people find the ad effective. So I think we will have good frameworks to evolve things in putting people's privacy first, but people do demand experiences. People tell us we have done a good job. If you remind them that they are maybe going to be in New York and it's going to rain and maybe they need to pack an umbrella. Or they want the fastest direction home at the end of a long day. And so it's the trust. We listen to that, and we are building experiences for users. That's what guides us. And one of the biggest changes we announced is by default auto deleting your activity data. But I want the biggest privacy risk most users face is security. If you look at all the breaches, so the work we do to keep you users safe in products like Gmail, et cetera. So that's where we put a lot of effort in as well.

Matt Murray: What's changed that made security, it is a big issue, lots of CEOs and executives talk about it and face it. The attacks, I take it, the kind of cyber hacking attacks and other things are worse than ever right now and what what's causing that?

Sundar Pichai: Look, I mean, the world of cyber doesn't have norms and conventions we have established in the real world. You don't have the Geneva Convention equivalent on the cyber world. So over time I think we need to internalize that and governments in a multilateral basis, the G20s et cetera, need to put it up higher on the agenda.

Matt Murray: You're calling for regulation on that front.

Sundar Pichai: I'm calling for global frameworks. You're going to need it for areas like cybersecurity, just like we have it in the real world, you know? And if not, you're just going to see more of it because countries would resort to those things. And so I do think you're going to need more frameworks like this for time.

Matt Murray: Sundar Pichai, thank you very much for the time today and the conversation. Really enjoyed the chance to sit down with you.

Sundar Pichai: Thanks, Matt. Pleasure to be here.

Kate LInebaugh: That's all for today, Monday, October 18th. The Journal is a co-production of Gimlet and the Wall Street Journal. To hear the full conversation with Sundar Pichai and other interviews with people like Paul Davison, CEO of Clubhouse, or Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, you can join the WSJ Tech Live Conference at techlive.wsj.com. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.

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Google's CEO on the Future of Work - The Journal. - WSJ Podcasts - The Wall Street Journal

Google, led by CEO Sundar Pichai, has given a trio of properties to the city of San Jose (Getty Images, iStock)

Google gave San Jose a trio of contiguous downtown properties where the city hopes as many as 240 affordable homes will sprout, a deal tied to the technology powerhouses vast transit village planned around the areas main transit hub.

The parcels total about 0.8 acres and are a five-minute walk north of SAP Center, where the San Jose Sharks play home games. The site is now home to a handful of commercial and industrial buildings, two of which had been occupied by a vehicle repair shop.

Northern Californias most populous city is falling short of the states target for low-income housing production. By the end of last year, it had issued building permits for only about 17 percent of housing for those on very low incomes and 6 percent for low-income housing, according to California Department of Housing and Community Development data. It has about a year and three months to boost both of those numbers.

The sites Google gave to the city 240, 250, and 260 North Montgomery Street and 255 North Autumn Street, one of which includes two addresses may allow for about 200 new affordable housing units, according to Googles 30-year development agreement with San Jose for its planned mixed-use village, dubbed Downtown West. The city hopes to bump that number up to 240, Nanci Klein, its economic development director, said in an interview on Wednesday.

A representative for Google didnt follow up on a request for comment. The Mercury News earlier reported details of the companys property donation to the city, which was recorded with the Santa Clara County Clerk-Recorders Office on Monday.

Whether the homes end up getting built rests partly on whether the city rezones the area for residential use and its approval of whatever project ends up being proposed there, according to the development agreement.

The transfer of three properties from Google to the city is part of the companys $255 million community benefits plan it outlined earlier this year under Downtown West.

This is one of the first parts that the city is seeing come from the community benefits plan, Klein said. Although Google didnt have to transfer the land until early next year, the company is delivering early on those promises.

The city hasnt picked a development partner or architect and hasnt completed a timeline, Klein said. It takes about four years to conceptualize and build affordable housing in San Jose, she said.

Located around Diridon Station, the citys main transit hub, Downtown West spans 80 acres and includes 4,000 new homes, 25 percent of which are designated as affordable, including the land Google is giving to the city. The project also includes up to 7.3 million square feet of office space, 500,000 square feet for so-called active uses such as restaurants, arts, and cultural spaces, and 300 hotel rooms.

The San Jose City Council unanimously approved Downtown West in May. Under a best-case scenario, it would reportedly take Google at least 10 years to fully build the development, although it has 30 years to complete it. The company hopes to begin building new roadways and other project-related infrastructure in 2022 and break ground on its first buildings in 2023.

Contact Matthew Niksa

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Google gives land to San Jose that city is eyeing for new affordable homes - The Real Deal