The Chrysler Pacifica could soon drive itself. Photo: Fiat ChryslerThe Chrysler Pacifica could soon drive itself. Photo: Fiat Chrysler
Google is on the verge of signing a new deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to build “several dozen” self-driving minivans, according to a new report.
The first models could be on the road sometime this year for the first phase of the self-driving vehicle partnership, but it’s not yet clear what the main objective is.
You won’t find a lot of Trump yard signs in the valley. Source: CrowdPAC
Silicon Valley campaign donations have poured way more money into the presidential bids of Democrats than Republicans, surprising nobody, ever.
This shocking revelation comes from a report from CrowdPAC, a non-partisan, political crowdfunding organization that has discovered that the companies most likely to donate to campaigns are Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon. And while the findings don’t include fine-grain data like individual amounts or the actual numbers of employees, they do make one overwhelming conclusion:
YouTube wants to takeover your TV. Photo: YouTubeLook out for bumper ads! Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Android.
When you’re excited to watch the latest videos from your favorite YouTube channels, the last thing you want to see before them is ads you can’t skip. Normally, they don’t appear on every video you watch, but Google is planning to change that.
The company today announced that is introducing 6-second “bumper ads” that will play before all videos watched on mobile devices, and you have no choice but to sit through them.
The looming shutdown of Revolv has some home-automation fans questioning the Internet of Things. Photo: Andrew Stawarz/Flickr CC
Revolv smart hubs will no longer be supported as of May 15. Even though subscribers have known this was coming since February, there wasn’t a lot of attention until an author’s highly critical piece was published on Medium.
That story has spurred conversations questioning investment in the Internet of Things, or IoT, and prompted Nest to consider compensating users who were early investors in the Revolv hub.
Tech companies want to protect encryption. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of MacTech companies want to protect encryption. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple and Google have leant their names to an open letter taking aim at a controversial new anti-encryption bill, which demands that tech companies make their devices breakable at will.
“We write to express our deep concerns about well-intentioned but ultimately unworkable policies around encryption that would weaken the very defenses we need to protect us from people who want to cause economic and physical harm,” the letter opens.
In addition to Apple and Google, other tech giants which signed the missive include Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Netflix, and more.
Apple TV might get exclusive TV shows. Photo: Apple
Hollywood’s top filmmakers held secret meetings with Apple at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, according to a new report that claims Apple is planning to make a big play to take on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video by creating its own original TV shows and movies.
Apple hosted a secret ‘iTunes Lounge’ at Sundance for a number of invitation-only events for film makers, producers, actors, and other A-list talent to hear the company’s pitch on how it plans to create a ton of original content that will be exclusively available on Apple TV.
Zuckerberg's new H&M collection. Photo: H&MThat’s Snoop Dogg… churning out code for YouTube. Photo: YouTube
For most of us, April Fools’ Day is an abomination. It’s like watching your dad crack terrible jokes at a party. But unlike your dad, some tech companies have perfected the art of the April Fools’ prank and come up with some pretty spectacular ones.
Here are some of the best that have made us LOL today.
Gmail "Mic Drop" didn't go down as well as Google hoped. GIF: GiphyGmail “Mic Drop” didn’t go down as well as Google hoped. GIF: Giphy
One of Google’s April Fools’ Day pranks was so unpopular with users that the company was forced to pull it just hours after it rolled out.
The Gmail stunt, which automatically inserted a “mic drop” GIF into users’ emails as they were sent, was greeted by a torrent of complaints and labeled inappropriate.
That's great and all, but couldn't it be swipier? Screenshot: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac
The world’s biggest search engine is planning a new way to get its software onto Apple products, The Verge is reporting. It’s a Google iPhone keyboard that developers hope will trump the stock iOS one.
Third-party keyboards are nothing new, but very few actually have a shot at replacing Apple’s as the go-to typing tool either because of pointless features or shoddy design. But we think that if anyone’s going to give it a running start, it’s Google.
Apple may be hooking up with its long-time rival Google. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple may be hopping into bed with long-time tech giant frenemy Google, migrating part of its iCloud business over from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to Google’s Cloud Platform.
Apple will reportedly pay Google between $400 and $600 million as part of the deal, which could be around twice the estimated amount Google’s cloud business did in total revenue last year.
See ya, Safari! Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Googlebot, the giant webcrawler that Google uses to scan webpages and update its index, is ditching its iPhone disguise to become an Android.
Rather ironically, the tool has been masquerading as an Apple device running iOS 8.3 for years, but it will soon become a Nexus 5X running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow to become more efficient.
More of your Android apps are going to look like this. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of MacMore of your Android apps are going to look like this. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Your Android apps are going to get an iOS-style makeover soon, thanks to new design guidelines from Google.
Mostly concerned with the bottom of Android apps, Google is looking to have its developers place a bar across the bottom of their apps that will let users navigate between different sections of the app, just like iOS currently does.
Apple is leading the way when it comes to encryption. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Android
Google, Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp and other tech giants are reportedly working on their own increased privacy measures, as Apple continues to win over the general public during its encryption standoff with the FBI.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of MacPrepare for even better browsing on mobile. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Google’s mobile Chrome web browser gets a new update today, which — according to the Chrome team — has “more than a barge full of performance and stability fixes.”
We’re not sure how many software fixes a barge would hold, but we feel confident in saying it’s a whole lot.
A Google car may have caused its first ding. Photo: Google
A Google self-driving car was involved in a collision with a public bus this month, and it could be the first time one of the company’s autonomous vehicles was to blame for an accident.
Tim Cook's tech friends are coming to Apple's defense. Photo: ABC News
The FBI’s demand that Apple build a backdoor into a terrorist’s iPhone has done the seemingly impossible by getting Microsoft, Google and Apple all on the same team.
Many of the country’s top tech firms have revealed that they will file friend-of-the court briefs in defense of Apple’s position that no company should be compelled by the government to break its own security and thus put the public safety of millions of users at risk.
Google’s neural network continues to amaze. With a new deep-learning machine called PlaNet, which has been trained by 126 million images and their accompanying EXIF data, it has picked up the “superhuman” ability to pinpoint the location of almost any photo.
He doesn't agree with Tim Cook. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Apple has added Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to its growing list of elite tech allies that support that company’s fight against the FBI’s demands to create a back door on iOS to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone.
During an appearance today at the the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Zuckerberg said that adding backdoor access to devices is neither effective nor the right thing to do.
"Be together. Not the same." Photo: Google“Be together. Not the same.” Photo: Google
Google takes a leaf out of Samsung’s marketing playbook in its latest Android ad, with a subtle swipe at Apple and the lack of choice you get when you choose iOS.
“Monotune” is part of the company’s “Be together. Not the same.” campaign, and it’s nothing short of brilliant.
Apple wants to dramatically improve its 2 percent share on the smartphone market in India. Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter
Apple has set its sights on taking over the smartphone market in India and its planning to bring more than just retail jobs to the country in the process.
The company confirmed today that it is planning to invest $25 million in a new office complex this year in Hyderabad that will bring 4,500 jobs to the area during the construction process.
Spread the love… and the music. Photo: Google/Cult of AndroidSpread the love… and the music. Photo: Google/Cult of Android
Google wants you to give the gift of music this Valentine’s Day, and to help, it’s offering 50 percent off Play Music subscriptions. For a limited time, you can get a whole month for just $4.99 — down from $9.99.
Gmail is safer than ever. Photo: Jay Wennington/Unsplash
It’s Safer Internet Day 2016, and Google just announced two big changes for Gmail that will make it even more secure. Starting this week, the company will make it easier to identify unencrypted and unauthenticated emails to make life even harder for scammers.
You'll probably see more of this screen until things get fixed. Photo: Google
If you use Google’s Chrome web browser, you’re now even safer from sneaky advertisers that try to get you to download their crummy software with fake download buttons.
Chances are you’ve seen these around, even on some large sites like Sourceforge and CNET, and might have clicked on one or two by accident, as intended.
Google’s new addition to its Safe Browsing initiative will block sites that have these deceptive download buttons on them.