Google Maps gets a COVID-19 layer
Google today announced an update to Google Maps that will bring a new COVID-19 layer to the service to help you better understand the number of cases in a given…
European antitrust regulators now have until almost the end of the year to take a decision on whether to green light Google’s planned acquisition of Fitbit. The tech giant announced…
Adobe’s ‘Liquid Mode’ uses AI to automatically redesign PDFs for mobile devices
We’ve probably all been there: You’ve been poking around your phone for an hour, deep in some sort of Google research rabbit hole. You finally find a link that almost…
Japanese startup Nature launches Remo 3, its home appliance smart remote, in the US and Canada
Nature, a Japanese hardware startup that focuses on IoT home devices, announced the launch of Nature Remo 3, its home appliance smart remote, in the United States and Canada today.…
Daily Crunch: Microsoft launches Azure Communication Services
Microsoft takes on Twilio, Google launches a work-tracking tool and Mirakl raises $300 million. This is your Daily Crunch for September 22, 2020. The big story: Microsoft launches Azure Communication…
Microsoft challenges Twilio with the launch of Azure Communication Services
Microsoft today announced the launch of Azure Communication Services, a new set of features in its cloud that enable developers to add voice and video calling, chat and text messages…
Microsoft Azure launches new availability zones in Canada and Australia
Microsoft Azure offers developers access to more data center regions than its competitors, but it was late to the game of offering different availability zones in those regions for high-availability…
Microsoft launches new Cortana features for business users
Cortana may have failed as a virtual assistant for consumers, but Microsoft is still betting on it (or at least its brand) for business use cases, now that it has…
Google launches a work-tracking tool and Airtable rival, Tables
Google’s in-house incubator Area 120 is today introducing a new work-tracking tool, Tables, which aims to make tracking projects more efficient by investing in automation. Instead of simply tracking notes…
Twitter and Zoom’s algorithmic bias issues
Both Zoom and Twitter found themselves under fire this weekend for their respective issues with algorithmic bias. On Zoom, it’s an issue with the video conferencing service’s virtual backgrounds and…
Hailing a self-driving taxi when blind. Learn how Waymo answers that challenge at Sight Tech Global
Imagine yourself unable to see well enough to drive, and how that would change your life. I witness that scenario every day at home with my wife, who is legally…
Microsoft commits to putting more water than it consumes back into the ecosystems where it operates by 2030
One good trend in 2020 has been large technology companies almost falling over one another to make ever-bolder commitments regarding their ecological impact. A cynic might argue that just doing…
Illumina buying cancer-screening spinout Grail in blockbuster $8B biotech deal
Biotech has become one of the hottest areas of venture investment in recent years, as progress in machine learning, genetics, medical devices and biology fuse together into new products for…
Ireland’s data watchdog slammed for letting adtech carry on ‘biggest breach of all time’
A dossier of evidence detailing how the online ad-targeting industry profiles internet users’ intimate characteristics without their knowledge or consent has been published today by the Irish Council for Civil…
Thanks to Google, app store monopoly concerns have now reached India
Last week, as Epic Games, Facebook and Microsoft continued to express concerns about Apple’s “monopolistic” hold over what a billion people can download on their iPhones, a similar story unfolded…
Human Capital: The Black founder’s burden
Welcome back to Human Capital, where we unpack all-things diversity, inclusion and labor in tech. This week, we’re looking at Google’s internal message board problem, as well as some highlights…
This Week in Apps: iOS 14’s surprise arrival, Apple’s app bundle, TikTok & WeChat banned from app stores Sunday
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the TechCrunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry is…
Google pulls India’s Paytm app from Play Store for repeat policy violations
Updated at 13:30 GMT / 07:00 PM IST: The Paytm app is back on the Google Play Store. Our original story follows. Google has pulled the popular Indian financial services…
Facebook is launching smart glasses in 2021, its ‘next step’ to an AR device
At Facebook’s first big event since moving away from the Oculus brand and rebranding its AR and VR efforts as “Facebook Reality Labs,” it announced a new consumer wearable and…
Google today announced the Google Meet Series One, a new video conferencing hardware suite for meeting rooms. Built in collaboration with Lenovo, the Series One uses high-end cameras and microphones…
Waze gets smarter with trip suggestions, lane guidance, traffic notifications and more
Google-owned navigation app Waze is gaining a number of new product features as well as a partnership with Amazon Music, the company announced at its first major virtual event, Waze…
Google will announce a new Pixel, smart speaker and Chromecast September 30
Hardware season is in full swing. Apple’s big Watch event kicks off tomorrow and Samsung is readying itself for a third (!) Unpacked event on September 23. Now Google’s getting…
YouTube hit with UK class action style suit seeking $3BN+ for ‘unlawful’ use of kids’ data
Another class action style lawsuit has been lodged against a tech giant in the U.K. alleging violations of privacy and seeking major damages. The latest representative action, filed against Google-owned…
Google claims net zero carbon footprint over its entire lifetime, aims to only use carbon-free energy by 2030
Google was at the leading edge of large technology companies seeking to go completely carbon neutral, having declared that status in 2007, and subsequently matching all of its global electricity…
This Week in Apps: The App Store’s new rules, Epic’s battle continues, TikTok’s time is up
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the TechCrunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry is…
Daily Crunch: Facebook launches a college-only network
Facebook returns to its college roots, Alexa gets a printing feature and we take a deep dive into Unity’s business. This is your Daily Crunch for September 10, 2020. The…
Google says it’s eliminating Autocomplete suggestions that target candidates or voting
Ahead of the U.S. presidential election, Google says it has taken a number of steps to improve the quality of information that it highlights across its various search and news…
Times Internet is growing despite influx of US tech firms in India
Times Internet said on Thursday it reaches more than 557 million active users in India each month and over 111 million users a day as several of its digital offerings…
Google Maps has had a sort of spotty relationship with the Apple Watch over the years. Google first shipped a Watch-friendly build of Maps back in September of 2015, just…
Online advertising is a game of scale, but one attempt to consolidate two competitors to better take on Google and Facebook has fallen apart. Taboola and Outbrain, startups that each…
