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Google brings Gemini-powered search history and Lens to Chrome desktop

Ivan Mehta — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Google Thursday said that it is introducing new Gemini-powered features for Chrome’s desktop version, including Lens for desktop, tab compare for shopping assistance, and natural language integration for search history. Years after introducing and evolving Google Lens on mobile, the feature is finally coming to desktop. Rolling out to users across the world in the […]

Google Cloud expands its database portfolio with new AI capabilities

Frederic Lardinois — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Google's new features include Gemini in BigQuery and Looker to help users with data engineering and analysis.

Google Cloud now has a dedicated cluster of Nvidia GPUs for Y Combinator startups

Maxwell Zeff — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Google Cloud is giving Y Combinator startups access to a dedicated, subsidized cluster of Nvidia graphics processing units and Google tensor processing units to build AI models. It’s part of Google Cloud’s effort to cozy up with promising early-stage AI startups, in hopes some of them will evolve into massive, compute-hungry businesses. “We want to […]

Google releases new ‘open’ AI models with a focus on safety

Kyle Wiggers — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 22:25:16 +0000

Google has released a trio of new, “open” generative AI models that it’s calling “safer,” “smaller” and “more transparent” than most — a bold claim, to be sure. They’re additions to Google’s Gemma 2 family of generative models, which debuted back in May. The new models, Gemma 2 2B, ShieldGemma and Gemma Scope, are designed […]

Google Maps announces new features and somehow none of them are ‘pause navigation’

Sean O'Kane — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 21:52:04 +0000

Look, we’ve all been there. You’re on a road trip and you pull off the highway for some food or fuel. And then Google Maps starts (rudely) yelling at you to get back on the road. The company has all the money and AI chips in the world and yet the app can’t just chill […]

It took some serious nerve for Wiz to walk away from Google’s $23B offer

Ron Miller — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 19:19:28 +0000

For one thing, Wiz could have seen Google’s offer as validation that it's better off staying independent.

UK antitrust body probes Google’s ties with AI rival Anthropic

Paul Sawers — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 11:23:31 +0000

The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has revealed an early-stage probe into Google’s ties with Anthropic, after the Alphabet subsidiary invested in its U.S. AI rival over several rounds. While it’s not at the stage of being an official investigation yet, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is inviting stakeholders and other “interested parties” to comment ahead […]

Dear Google, who wants an AI-written fan letter?

Anthony Ha — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 19:09:27 +0000

The first time I saw Google’s latest commercial, I wondered, “Is it just me, or is this kind of bad?” By the fourth or fifth time I saw it, I’d stopped wondering. It starts innocuously enough, with a father talking about how much his daughter loves Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (she “might even be the world’s number […]

OpenAI comes for Google with SearchGPT

Cody Corrall — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 17:05:00 +0000

OpenAI is testing SearchGPT, a new AI search experience to compete directly with Google. The feature aims to elevate search queries with “timely answers” from across the internet and allows the user to ask follow-up questions. The temporary prototype is currently only available to a small group of users and its publisher partners for testing […]

Legal tech, VC brawls and saying no to big offers

Marina Temkin — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 19:03:00 +0000

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. To get Startups Weekly in your inbox every Friday, sign up here. This week we are talking about Wiz’s bold decision, VC’s public feud, legal tech’s new capital and a16z’s close call. Let’s go! Most interesting startup stories […]

Google makes its Gemini chatbot faster and more widely available

Kyle Wiggers — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

In its bid to maintain pace with generative AI rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI, Google is rolling out updates to the no-fee tier of Gemini, its AI-powered chatbot. The updates are focused on making the platform more performant — and more widely available. Starting Thursday, Gemini 1.5 Flash — a lightweight multimodal model Google announced […]

Google Maps adds a slew of features to entice Indian drivers, commuters and travelers

Jagmeet Singh, Ivan Mehta — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 07:30:07 +0000

Google Maps is improving navigation through flyovers and narrow roads in India through new feature updates.

Google Play gets ‘Comics’ feature for manga readers in Japan

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 13:05:00 +0000

Alongside a slew of announcements for Play — such as AI-powered app comparisons and a feature that bundles similar apps — Google has introduced new “Curated Spaces,” hubs dedicated to specific topics. Announced Wednesday, “Comics” is designed to appeal to manga fans. Positioned at the top of the screen in between “For You” and “Top […]

Wiz walks away from Google’s $23B acquisition offer: Read the CEO’s note to employees

Marina Temkin — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 03:04:35 +0000

Cybersecurity startup Wiz has turned down a $23 billion acquisition offer from Alphabet, Google’s parent company, according to a source familiar with discussions. Despite the offer representing a substantial premium over its last private valuation of $12 billion, Wiz’s management team with the support of investors has opted to remain independent, the person said. Wiz’s […]

Google’s Jigsaw open sources Altitude to help online platforms weed out extremist content

Paul Sawers — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:36:30 +0000

Nine months on, and Jigsaw is now formally handing Altitude over to Tech Against Terrorism, which will continue its development and maintenance.

Made by Google 2024: Pixel 9, Gemini, a new foldable and other things to expect from the event

Brian Heater — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 19:00:00 +0000

Google is expected to announce four Pixel devices: the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Premium, running Android 15.

M&A activity heats up with Wiz, Graphcore, etc.

Marina Temkin — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 19:05:00 +0000

This week, Google is in discussions to pay $23 billion for cloud security startup Wiz, SoftBank acquires Graphcore, and more.

Google accused of misleading consumers to grab more data for ads

Natasha Lomas — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 12:24:33 +0000

Italy's competition watchdog is investigating how Google gets user consent in order to link their activity across different services for ad profiling.

Google backs Indian open source Uber rival

Manish Singh — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 05:32:00 +0000

Google has become one of the latest investors in Moving Tech, the parent firm of Indian open source ridesharing app Namma Yatri that is quickly capturing market share from Uber and Ola with its no-commission model. Bengaluru-based Moving Tech has raised $11 million in a pre-Series A funding round co-led by Blume Ventures and Antler, […]

Google’s talks to buy Wiz, and the gap between AI spending and AI revenue

Rebecca Bellan — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 16:18:08 +0000

On today’s episode of Equity, Rebecca Bellan explored Google’s reported talks to acquire Wiz, a cloud security company, for around $23 billion. Wiz provides an “all-in-one approach to cloud security,” pulling data from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and others, then scanning it all for security risk factors — something that Google might […]