Tag: Google

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Google reportedly vegetation to make use of personal chips in Chromebooks from 2023

Google reportedly plants to use own chips in Chromebooks from 2023

Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President, Chrome at Google Inc., holds up a new Chromebook Pixel as he speaks during an introductory event in San Francisco, Calif., On Thursday, February 21, 2013. Google Inc., owner of the world’s most popular search engine, introduced a touchscreen version of the Chromebook laptop, increasing its challenge to Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. for hardware.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Google is nearing the introduction of its own central processing units, or CPUs, for its Chromebook laptops, according to a Wednesday report by Nikkei Asia quoting people familiar with the matter.

According to reports, the U.S. tech giant plans to start using its CPUs in Chromebooks and tablets that run on the company’s Chrome operating system from around 2023. Google didn’t immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

CPUs can be thought of as the brains of a computer as they perform all of the main tasks of a machine. Google currently uses CPUs from Intel and AMD to power its Chromebooks. Google’s new chips are reportedly based on blueprints from Arm, the British chip designer at SoftBank, whose chip architectures power 90% of the world’s smartphones.

At the beginning of the month, Google announced that it would build its own smartphone processor called the Google Tensor. The chip will power the new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro devices, which will go on sale in the fall.

Read the full Nikkei Asia review here.

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World News

Google, Microsoft plan to spend billions on cybersecurity after assembly with Biden

Google, Microsoft plan to spend billions on cybersecurity after meeting with Biden

Business leaders in sectors ranging from technology to insurance pledged billions of dollars to step up cybersecurity efforts at a White House meeting with President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

The meeting comes in the wake of several high profile cyberattacks, including those on state software company SolarWinds and the Colonial Pipeline, which have made such security issues even more pressing.

Commitments range from working on new industry standards to providing stronger security tools for other companies to training workers to fill the roughly 500,000 vacant U.S. cybersecurity jobs. Biden recently signed an executive order requiring US authorities to use two-factor authentication for logins, which can help prevent cyberattacks.

The White House said Apple will create a program dedicated to improving security in its technology supply chains, including working with suppliers to introduce multi-factor authentication and security training.

Google said it will invest more than $ 10 billion over five years to strengthen cybersecurity and promised to train 100,000 Americans in technical areas like IT support and data analysis as part of its career certificate program. Google’s financial commitment will be used to strengthen the software supply chain and open source security, among other things.

Microsoft has allocated $ 20 billion over five years to provide more advanced security tools, CEO Satya Nadella tweeted after the meeting. He added that Microsoft will invest $ 150 million to help government agencies update their security systems and develop cybersecurity training partnerships. Microsoft has spent $ 1 billion annually on cybersecurity since 2015.

IBM said it will train more than 150,000 people in cybersecurity skills in three years, while working with traditionally black colleges and universities to help diversify its workforce. The company also announced a new data storage solution for critical infrastructure businesses and said it was working to develop secure encryption methods for quantum computing.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told CNBC ahead of the meeting and in front of the White House on Wednesday that cybersecurity was “the topic of the decade”. He said he hoped for better coordination between the public and private sectors emerging from the meeting and said IBM would do its part to support professionals in the field.

Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing division, plans to provide account holders with free multifactor authentication devices to better protect their data. There are also plans to offer “safety awareness training” to organizations and individuals.

A spokesman for financial services firm TIAA pointed to several ongoing initiatives being taken to train more cybersecurity workers. This includes a partnership with New York University that enables TIAA employees to complete a fully reimbursed master’s degree in cybersecurity.

Leaving the White House, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon called the meeting “a very productive, collaborative discussion.”

“Hopefully we will follow up and do a good job of protecting our country from a really complex problem,” he said.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the event “brought the right people together to have a good discussion.”

Two water company executives who left the meeting told CNBC that the discussion emphasized collaboration between sectors. American Water CEO Walter Lynch said there was an “understanding that we must work together to tackle the country’s cyber threats.”

– CNBC’s Mary Catherine Wellons and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.

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WATCH: Colonial Pipeline hackers reportedly received $ 90 million in bitcoin before being shut down

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Health

Google billionaire Larry Web page granted New Zealand residency

Google billionaire Larry Page granted New Zealand residency

Alphabet CEO, Larry Page. 

Emmanuel Dunand | AFP | GettyImages

Larry Page, the billionaire Google co-founder, has been granted residency in New Zealand and spent time in the country during the coronavirus pandemic, the New Zealand government confirmed to CNBC Friday.

Page, 48, applied for New Zealand residence in November 2020 via the nation’s “Investor Plus” residency visa but the application was unable to be processed because he was offshore at the time.

The visa, which requires applicants to have NZ$10 million ($7 million) to invest in New Zealand over a three-year period, was then processed after he landed in Auckland on Jan. 12, one day after the Page family filed an urgent application for the son to be evacuated from Fiji due to a medical emergency.

“Once Mr. Page entered New Zealand, his application was able to be processed and it was approved on 4 February 2021,” Immigration New Zealand said in a statement.

New Zealand health minister Andrew Little told Parliament on Thursday the nation gets roughly 100 medevac requests a year. “I’m advised all of the normal steps occurred in this case,” he said in response to a question about how Page had managed to enter New Zealand when the borders were shut to non-residents. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, New Zealand has kept its infection rates low by refusing entry to overseas travelers.

“Immigration New Zealand can confirm Larry Page met relevant requirements to be approved entry to New Zealand,” a spokesperson told CNBC.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, said before Parliament that she hadn’t been briefed on Page’s visit. “With all [medevac] cases, those are decisions for clinicians, and I absolutely trust our clinicians to make decision,” Ardern said.

Located in relative isolation from the largest population centers of the world, New Zealand has become a popular destination with high net worth individuals in recent years.

The sparsely populated country, home to around 5 million people, has been hailed as one of the best places in the world to ride out a societal collapse, as it’s relatively self-dependent in terms of food and energy. It also boasts a temperate climate and a stable political system.

The news of Page’s visit and his residency has reignited a longstanding debate over whether the super rich can essentially buy access the South Pacific county as and when they want. Billionaire Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and profited from an early bet on Facebook, was granted Kiwi citizenship in 2017 even though he’d only spent 12 days in New Zealand.

Thiel has invested in local start-up Xero and bought property across the country, as well as a 193-hectare estate in Wanaka on New Zealand’s rugged South Island. While he is yet to build anything on the site, he has been in contact with at least three architects.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told the New Yorker in 2016 that he and Thiel plan to get on a private jet and fly to one of Thiel’s properties in New Zealand in the event of some kind of systemic collapse event.

 

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Health

Elon Musk’s Neuralink backed by Google Ventures, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman

Elon Musk's Neuralink backed by Google Ventures, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman

SpaceX Founder and Chief Engineer Elon Musk speaks during the Satellite 2020 Conference in Washington, DC, the United States on March 9, 2020.

Yasin Öztürk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s brain-machine interface company Neuralink has raised $ 205 million from investors including Google Ventures, Peter Thiels Founders Fund and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The Series C round, announced in a blog post on Thursday, was led by Dubai-based Vy Capital.

It comes two years after Neuralink raised $ 51 million. The total investment in the company now amounts to $ 363 million, according to the start-up tracker Crunchbase.

Founded in 2016, Neuralink seeks to develop high bandwidth brain implants that can communicate with phones and computers.

The company is targeting quadriplegics with its first devices – who cannot interact with many of today’s devices – and is working on human studies.

“The first clue this device is for is to help quadriplegics regain their digital freedom by allowing users to interact with their computers or phones in high bandwidth and naturally,” it says.

So far, the technology has been tested on pigs and a monkey that could play the video game pong with its mind.

The company said its first product, known as the N1 Link, will be “completely invisible” after implantation and will transmit data over a wireless connection. Musk, who is the CEO of Neuralink as well as Tesla and SpaceX, previously described Neuralink as a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires going into your brain.

“The funds from the round will be used to bring Neuralink’s first product to market and accelerate research and development on future products,” said Neuralink.

Keeping up with AI

Neuralink said Thursday its mission is to “develop brain-machine interfaces that treat various brain disorders, with the ultimate goal of creating an entire brain interface that can more closely connect biological and artificial intelligence.”

AI is only getting smarter, and Musk previously said that Neuralink’s technology could one day allow people to “ride on”.

People are practically already “cyborgs” because they have a tertiary “digital layer” thanks to telephones, computers and applications, he said during a clubhouse discussion in February.

“With a direct neural interface, we can improve the bandwidth between your cortex and your digital tertiary layer by many orders of magnitude,” said Musk. “I would say probably at least 1,000 or maybe 10,000 or more.”

The cortex is a part of the brain that plays a key role in memory, attention, perception, thinking, language, and awareness. The digital plane he is referring to can be anything from a person’s iPhone to their Twitter account.

Long-term, Musk claims that Neuralink could enable humans to use telepathy to send concepts to each other and after death to exist in a “stored state” that could then be plugged into a robot or other human. He admitted he was breaking into science fiction territory.

Musk said the Neuralink device will be operational

Neuralink demo

Several other companies are also developing brain-computer interfaces, including Blackrock Neurotech, supported by Thiel and his friend Christian Angermayer.

Elsewhere, scientists from the University of Melbourne have already achieved some success with brain-computer interfaces.

A university study in October showed that two people thought about controlling a computer with a stentrode (a small array of electrodes mounted on a stent) developed by Australian biotech company Synchron, without having to shave and pierce the skull.

The Stentrode brain-computer interface enabled two people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – a rare neurological disorder – to type, text messages, email, online banking, and make online purchases through thoughts.

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Health

Privateness legal guidelines want updating after Google cope with HCA Healthcare, medical ethics professor says

Privacy laws need updating after Google deal with HCA Healthcare, medical ethics professor says

US privacy laws need to be updated, especially after Google signs a deal with a major hospital chain, medical ethics expert Arthur Kaplan said on Wednesday.

“Now we have electronic medical records, huge amounts of data, and it’s like asking a navigation system from a WWI plane to guide us to the space shuttle,” said Kaplan, professor at the Grossman School of New York University Medicine. said “The news with Shepard Smith.” “We need to update our privacy and informed consent requirements.”

On Wednesday, Google’s cloud unit and hospital chain HCA Healthcare announced a contract that, according to the Wall Street Journal, gives Google access to patient records. The tech giant said it will use it to develop algorithms to monitor patients and help doctors make better decisions.

Jonathan Perlin, HCA’s chief medical officer, told the Journal that the company will remove any identifying information before giving the data to Google so it won’t know who you are. HCA collects data from 32 million patient visits each year and has more than 2,000 locations in 20 states.

But Kaplan told host Shepard Smith that he was concerned that a company like Google, which does a lot of commercial advertising, could correlate and potentially sell the health system information.

“They may not have your name, but sure enough they can find out which subgroup and subpopulation is best by promoting you,” Kaplan said.

Neither Google nor HCA responded to CNBC’s request for comment.

Categories
Politics

White Home to host Google, Intel CEOs to debate chip provide chain

White House studying supply chain 'stress tests' after semiconductor shortages, sources say 

President Joe Biden holds a chip in his hand before speaking in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, USA, on February 24, 2021, ahead of the signing of an ordinance to remedy a global semiconductor shortage.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Executives from companies like Google parent Alphabet, AT&T, Intel and General Motors will attend a virtual summit at the White House on Monday to address the global semiconductor shortage.

The summit comes when the Biden administration embarks on a review of key U.S. supply chains, including those for semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, medical supplies and rare earth metals. The shortage of computer chips is affecting a number of industries, from electric vehicle manufacturers to medical supplies.

Automakers like GM and Ford recently had to cut production estimates or extend downtime to address the shortage. The supply chain was initially at risk at the start of the Covid pandemic, as a large part of the world’s chips are manufactured in Asia, where the crisis first appeared.

US officials and lawmakers have highlighted the potential safety implications of the country’s reliance on other countries for semiconductors. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said in February that “semiconductor manufacturing is a dangerous flaw in our economy and national security.”

For economic and national security reasons, the supply chain assessment set out in Biden’s February Executive Order seeks to assess “the resilience and capacity of America’s manufacturing and industrial defense base supply chains in support of national security [and] Emergency preparedness. “

The White House has also said it is trying to fill gaps in domestic production and supply chains that are “dominated or passed through nations that are becoming or becoming unfriendly or unstable”.

While the White House review does not specifically mention China, the directive is likely largely an attempt by the government to determine how dependent the US economy and military are on a critical group of Chinese exports.

According to the White House, the virtual summit will be hosted by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and NEC Director Brian Deese, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. Attendees will discuss Biden’s American employment plan and strengthening the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, according to the White House.

Here is the full list of companies whose executives are expected to attend the summit:

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WATCH: Chip scarcity is slowing production of game consoles, cars, and more

Categories
Business

From Gucci baggage to Google inventory — right here’s what you can do with stimulus test

From Gucci bags to Google stock — here’s what you could do with stimulus check

A pedestrian wearing a protective mask walks past the Macy’s Inc. flagship store in the Herald Square area of ​​New York, United States, on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.

Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

On any given day, the line in front of the Gucci boutique in the mall in Short Hills, New Jersey on the second floor winds almost to the escalator.

Among the buyers waiting to enter are Gucci’s typical customers as well as new customers who just got $ 1,400 richer.

“Stimulus was definitely beneficial,” said Oliver Chen, retail analyst at Cowen & Co ..

As the economy picks up and the market hits new highs, ambitious purchases like handbags, belts, and shoes – especially those with large, recognizable logos – are picking up pace, said Chen, fueled by the recent round of direct payments approved by Congress and the president Joe Biden through the American rescue plan.

More from Personal Finance:
The final batch of $ 1,400 worth of stimulus checks was issued
Here’s what federal aid could come next
There may still be a way to claim missing stimulus checks

Like the first two direct controls, this incentive is intended to be a stopgap solution for those hard hit by the coronavirus crisis.

For the most part, checks are still used this way.

About 25% of households spend this third round of payments, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In particular, 13% of the most recent stimulus check is expected to be used for groceries and other essential items and only 8% for non-essential items. The rest is used to pay off debts and savings.

But for many who have already been able to pay off debts and save more during the pandemic, “the stimulus check feels like free money,” said Andrea Woroch, consumer savings expert.

“People have this urge to go out and indulge themselves, almost as a reward for being locked up over the past year,” she said.

What Woroch calls “revenge spending” is perfectly fine as long as there is room for it in your budget (which may mean cutting something else out).

However, what generally advises against getting involved in a big ticket article. She says wealth building is a better option.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer advised that after people pay their bills, put most of their money into an S&P 500 index fund. In fact, many young private investors are already planning to spend part of their stimulus payments on stocks.

Here are some numbers that show why you should consider this too.

The S&P 500, now near a record high, has achieved an average annual return of around 14% over the past 10 years.

Let’s say you invested $ 1,400 in the S&P 500 in 2010. According to Morningstar Direct, your investment would have grown to over $ 6,200 by the end of March 2021.

Go back even further, and the rise is staggering: A $ 1,400 investment in the S&P in 1980 would now be worth more than $ 150,000, Morningstar noted.

Categories
World News

Peter Thiel criticizes Google and Apple for being too near China

Peter Thiel criticizes Google and Apple for being too close to China

Peter Thiel, Co-Founder and Chairman of Palantir Technologies Inc., speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Japan on Monday, November 18, 2019.

Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tech investor Peter Thiel criticized major US tech companies for being too close to China when they appeared at a virtual Richard Nixon Foundation event on Tuesday.

Co-founder of PayPal and after an early investment on the Facebook board of directors, Thiel is an outspoken voice in the technology investment world known for opposing opinions and conservative leanings. He has supported defense companies like Palantir and publicly endorsed former President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

On Wednesday, the Nixon session focused on China, and he was accompanied by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.

Thiel criticized Google for its work on artificial intelligence with Chinese universities, in part based on conversations it allegedly had with insiders of the company, according to a transcript of the CNBC-reviewed event.

“Since everything in China is a civil-military merger, Google has worked effectively with the Chinese military, not the American military,” said Thiel. He’s also sad that Google “insiders” told him they worked with the Chinese because “they thought they might as well hand the technology off on their doorstep because if they didn’t give it, it would be stolen anyway . “

A Google spokesman told CNBC, “These allegations are baseless. We do not partner with the Chinese military. We are proud to continue our long history of working with the US government, including the Department of Defense, in many areas, including cybersecurity , Recruitment and health care. “

Thiel had already criticized Google in 2019 and said that the FBI and the CIA should investigate Google and ask whether it had been compromised by Chinese spies.

Thiel also said Apple is unlikely to confront China due to its massive supply chain for making iPhones and other products in the country. He noted that other big tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft don’t have as extensive business interests in the country, in some cases because the Chinese government has curtailed their options there.

He called on the US to put “a lot of pressure” and control on Apple because there is a labor supply chain in the country.

“Apple is probably the one that is structurally a real problem, since the entire iPhone supply chain consists of China,” said Thiel. “Apple has real synergies with China.”

During the conversation, he also appeared to change his position on Bitcoin. Thiel has invested in Bitcoin companies and previously said he was “Long Bitcoin” and considered it the “digital equivalent of gold”.

On Tuesday, Thiel said that Bitcoin is threatening the US dollar.

“Although I’m a kind of pro-crypto-pro-Bitcoin maximalist, I wonder if Bitcoin should also be partially thought of as a Chinese financial weapon against the US, where it threatens fiat money, but it threatens the US in particular Dollars, and China wants to do things to weaken it, so China’s long Bitcoin, “said Thiel.

Categories
Business

Airline web site reserving capabilities restored after Google software program challenge

Airline website booking functions restored after Google software issue

Travelers wearing protective masks walk past a sign pointing to a Covid-19 test site in Terminal 5 of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York on March 26, 2021.

Angus Mordant | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Several major airline sites were temporarily down on Monday due to an issue with the Google software that provides price and flight information for those sites.

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines websites displayed error messages when users searched for flights on Monday afternoon but operated normally after about two hours.

“Earlier today, a data error had an impact on our flight purchasing software, preventing both airline partners and Google Flights from displaying fare information,” said a statement from Google. “We implemented a fix and the problem has now been resolved. We will continue to monitor to make sure this is fully resolved.”

“Delta.com and the Fly Delta app are functioning normally after an issue this afternoon that made it difficult for customers to purchase flights through delta.com, the Fly Delta app and our reservations call center,” it said in a statement from Delta. “The problem was caused by the failure of technology provided to Delta and several airlines by Google. We apologize for the inconvenience this caused.”

Categories
World News

Google speeds partial workplace reopening and places limits on distant work

Google speeds partial office reopening and puts limits on remote work

Google, one of the first major U.S. companies to send employees home due to the coronavirus, is setting new guidelines for remote working to expedite plans to get employees back into the office.

With millions more Americans being vaccinated every day, Google is accelerating reopening plans in some parts of the US on a voluntary basis ahead of the September 1st returns deadline, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC. Due to vaccine availability and a downward trend in Covid-19 cases, offices will reopen in April in limited capacity.

“It’s now been a year since many of us have worked from home and the thought of going back to the office could provoke different emotions,” Fiona Cicconi, Google’s new HR director, wrote on Wednesday in a company-wide e- Mail. Cicconi advised employees to get the Covid-19 vaccine but said it was not mandatory.

If employees want to work remotely for more than 14 additional days per year after September 1st, they must officially apply for this according to a separate notice labeled “Need to know”. You can apply for up to 12 months under “the most exceptional circumstances”. However, the company can call employees back to their assigned office at any time, the message says.

Google is preparing for a major reopening in September, with employees expected to show up in person three days a week. The company takes a different approach than industry peers like Facebook and Twitter, who promised to allow most remote work to be indefinitely.

In a statement emailed to CNBC, Google confirmed the memos, adding that “permanent moves are still on hold for personal reasons”.

CNBC first reported in December that Google has abandoned the idea of ​​remote working and expects workers to live “within the commute” of offices.

Cicconi wrote in Wednesday’s email that staff will be returning to redesigned offices where owners can bring their dogs. She said the planning work was led by the company’s Real Estate and Workplace Services groups.

“The offices won’t look exactly how you remember them, but our great REWS teams are doing their best to make you comfortable, including providing meals, snacks and amenities where possible,” said Cicconi. “We’ll even welcome our Dooglers back.”

Cicconi warned staff to “remain vigilant to prevent another wave of the virus,” adding that Brazil is “having significant difficulty” with rising cases.

Those employees who left the Bay Area during the pandemic to reduce stress and perhaps save money may have an incentive to return. In one of the notes on Wednesday, the company said it could adjust employee salaries based on where they work.

Axios previously reported on Google’s plans to have some employees return in April.

Look now: Google is extending remote working until September 1st and rejecting permanent remote working

Correction: This story has been updated to take into account that employees who wish to work remotely for more than 14 days per year after September 1 must submit a formal application. In an earlier version, the circumstances that would require application were incorrectly characterized.