Google founder believes Alphabet will kickstart innovation
Are you still wondering what the heck is up with all this Alphabet talk? It may seem confusing at first, but it’s really quite a simple concept.
As we explained in our thorough Alphabet run-down, this was pretty much done to separate Google from all its subsidiaries, as the Search Giant was getting too large for its own good. With each company operating on its own, under a different leadership and personalized strategies, each division can now thrive in a much more specialized manner.
Not to mention, investors would be more interested in small companies that will grow fast and strong. To a giant like Google, these smaller companies’ successes don’t mean as much in terms of revenue.
Read more:
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- Google owns Alphabet… the full domain and all!
But there is another factor to consider here, and it’s one our fellow dreamers at Google seem to be more focused on. Google founder Larry Page took the stage at a Fortune Magazine dinner in San Francisco to tell us a bit about what they want to see coming from Alphabet, and the key focus was innovation. Even more so than business or money (or so he says).
The major point here is that it would be a mess if Google tried to run all of its acquired companies. Aside from Search and Android, Google would have to operate Calico, Fiber, Ventures, Capital, Nest and many other subsidiaries to come. It’s just not what Google is “good at”, so they thought it was better to give these companies a bit of breathing space.
Under the Alphabet system, engineers and scientists would have more freedom to create the awesome products they impressed Google with, to begin with. Not to mention, these inventors probably don’t like the idea of working with a company, and would feel more inspired otherwise. There’s plenty of annoyances stapled to working with a large company like Google.
“Companies have pretty bad reputations. It’s not like a lot of people wake up in the morning and say, ‘I want to go work for a company.’ They do it because they have to.” -Larry Page, Google founder
The key point we have to take away from this is that the switch to Alphabet was not about the consumer; it was about employers and employees. This is why Google chose the name “Alphabet”, apparently. They didn’t want it to be too catchy for the user, as it could overshadow Google. As a consumer, you should see little to no difference in the way you interact with these services.
Now we just have to play the waiting game and see how all these Alphabet companies take advantage of their new freedoms. The future looks bright and full of letters. You can be sure we will spell them all here at Android Authority as soon as any detail emerges!
Larry Page will no longer have any say over Google’s operations in China, leaves decisions up to Sundar Pichai
Since Google split off as a subsidiary of Alphabet, Larry Page took over as CEO of Alphabet and handed the reigns of Google to Sundar Pichai. This means that while Page is still technically higher up the ladder than Pichai, he’s not making any decisions about Google’s business moves going forward, especially over how the company is handling their operations in China.
Google has had a turbulent ride with China and the Chinese government, and after pulling their Play Services in 2010, they’ve been working on getting back into the mix with a Chinese-friendly Google Play Store. Android still holds a pretty strong market share in the country, so obviously the company wouldn’t want to just abandon that and let smaller OEMs continue to use Android with no competition, but Larry Page won’t be the one making decisions there.
While Page isn’t calling the shots directly, he’s still in an advisory position to Pichai to decide what to do going forward. However, Alphabet wants its subsidiaries to make their own decisions about products and what countries to operate in, and that’s what we’re going to see happen.
source: Business Insider
Come comment on this article: Larry Page will no longer have any say over Google’s operations in China, leaves decisions up to Sundar Pichai
Larry Page will no longer have any say over Google’s operations in China, leaves decisions up to Sundar Pichai
Since Google split off as a subsidiary of Alphabet, Larry Page took over as CEO of Alphabet and handed the reigns of Google to Sundar Pichai. This means that while Page is still technically higher up the ladder than Pichai, he’s not making any decisions about Google’s business moves going forward, especially over how the company is handling their operations in China.
Google has had a turbulent ride with China and the Chinese government, and after pulling their Play Services in 2010, they’ve been working on getting back into the mix with a Chinese-friendly Google Play Store. Android still holds a pretty strong market share in the country, so obviously the company wouldn’t want to just abandon that and let smaller OEMs continue to use Android with no competition, but Larry Page won’t be the one making decisions there.
While Page isn’t calling the shots directly, he’s still in an advisory position to Pichai to decide what to do going forward. However, Alphabet wants its subsidiaries to make their own decisions about products and what countries to operate in, and that’s what we’re going to see happen.
source: Business Insider
Come comment on this article: Larry Page will no longer have any say over Google’s operations in China, leaves decisions up to Sundar Pichai
Inbox by Gmail will read your emails and type out replies for you
You may not know it yet, but Google’s artificial intelligence algorithms are already changing your life.
For now, AI is still a discreet, almost invisible presence running on Google’s vast neural networks, helping with things like returning the best answers to your confusing questions, finding that funny picture you took at the beach that time, or selecting just the right thumbnail from the thousands of frames of a YouTube video. But that’s only the beginning.
AI is soon going to power another feature: reading and understanding your emails and coming up with quick replies you may want to send. Think of it as a very basic personal assistant that can deal with the pesky task of replying to your petty missives.
See also: What is machine learning?
Here’s how the Smart Reply feature, which will arrive to Inbox by Gmail soon, works. Two AIs work in tandem – one “reads” the email and turns it into an algorithm-friendly vector that represents the essence of the message. The other reads the vector and comes up with three distinct and grammatically sound replies.
The replies won’t different just in form – the AI makes sure that the meaning of the reply is distinct as well. That may sound trivial, but according to Google, making sure the AI wouldn’t just rephrase the same idea was a real challenge early on. Another challenge? Teaching the AI not to reply to everything with “I love you,” a phrase that it really favored in its early days.
Say you get an invitation to a dinner. The AI will parse it and suggest three likely responses: “I am busy, can’t make it” or “Sounds good, I’ll be there” or “I will try to make it.” Don’t worry, the app won’t send replies on its own. You will still have to pick up the preferred reply and send it, or use it as a starting point for a longer email.
At its core, this is a smarter “canned reply” type feature, that has been around for years. But the potential is great. The AI will probably one day be able to check your calendar or your hangouts messages before making a suggestion. You won’t need to check your agenda before replying, the app will do it for you.
See also: How machine learning will revolutionize the mobile experience
If you’re worried about privacy, Google says no human will ever see your messages. The AI algorithms learn by repeated trial and error, without human intervention.
Google says the feature works with longer emails, but we’ll have to see it in action to tell just how good it is.
Inbox by Gmail can be installed from the Play Store right here.
Grove grows your veggies indoors using LED lights and fish poop
The Grove Ecosystem is for people who want to grow veggies and herbs indoors, as well as take care of some pet fish at the same time. Its setup and name should give you a clue on how it works: it uses aquaponics to nourish your produce. In other words, anything you plant relies on nutrients from processed fish poop and other wastes to grow. To induce photosynthesis, the cabinet-like structure also has LED lights that mimic the sun. Plus, it connects via WiFi to its accompanying app, which tracks its energy consumption, microbe levels and each component’s condition.
Source: Grove Ecosystem
Inbox by Gmail’s new Smart Reply function will compose quick and concise replies for you
Replying to emails can be tiresome at times, taking up valuable time when you have other, more important tasks to complete. It seems Google is aware of this particular plight though, because the Gmail team has just announce a new feature called Smart Reply for Inbox by Google users that will provide a choice of short replies when browsing through your emails.
Smart Reply is, as the name implies, smart. It will generate up to three responses that it deems is appropriate for a specific email. As you can see in the GIF above, Smart Reply comes up with three options to choose from, short, concise and relevant to the question posed in the email. It would appear especially useful for those email conversations that don’t require elaborate etiquette. Of course, just because there’s an applicable choice, doesn’t mean you can’t add more detail to it, as the GIF below illustrates quite nicely. I can imagine the Smart Reply feature proving to be quite useful
The Smart Reply function is an example of how machine learning can be useful in our everyday lives. The update should available from the Google Play Store sometime this week, so keep an eye out for it.
Source: Gmail Blog
Come comment on this article: Inbox by Gmail’s new Smart Reply function will compose quick and concise replies for you
Google shutters plans for standalone retail store in NYC
After investing over a year of effort and $6 million for renovations, Google appears to have abandoned plans to open their first standalone retail store, which was to be located in New York City. Located at 131 Greene Street in the SoHo district, the location is a 5,442 square foot space that is now being marketed for subleasing for $2.25 million annually.
When word first surfaced regarding Google’s plans to open a retail store, many saw it as part of a strategy to match Apple, and to a lesser extent Microsoft, in having a standalone retail presence. The store reportedly would carry products like Chromebook laptops, Google’s own Nexus line of mobile devices, and other hardware that has typically been sold through the online Google Play Store.
Google has not provided any comment regarding why they are now trying to rent the space and not pursuing their own retail location. However, earlier this year Google opened a “store within a store” in London with plans to open more, albeit limited to the U.K. market. Potentially those have proven successful enough that Google has decided to go that route rather than investing in additional brick-and-mortar locations. Samsung has employed a similar strategy opening Samsung Experience Shops inside of Best Buy stores.
source: Crain’s New York Business
via: The Verge
Come comment on this article: Google shutters plans for standalone retail store in NYC
Google’s Inbox gets a ‘Smart Reply’ tool that suggests short responses
Gmail’s Inbox app packs a number of features aimed at helping you better tackle your email load. Starting this week, it’s getting one more. The new tool is called Smart Reply and it automatically suggests short responses to messages where a lengthy discourse isn’t needed. After using machine learning to analyze the emails you receive, Inbox comes up with some appropriate responses to save time by allowing you to respond with fewer taps. And just like it does to wrangle spam, the app learns how you reply over time so it can offer better suggestions the more you use it. Smart Reply will be hitting both the Android and iOS versions of Inbox this week, so keep your eye peeled for the update to arrive.
Source: Official Gmail Blog
Sling TV now works with Google’s Chromecast
Just as Google promised, Sling TV has brought its streaming television service over to Chromecast iOS and Android apps. Even better, the company is offering a few deals to sweeten the pot. New customers who prepay for three months of Sling TV’s “Best of Live TV” package (worth around $60, in total) are eligible for a free Chromecast. Current Chromecast owners can instead opt for a two-month trial of Sling TV, which you’ll be able to sign up for from the Chromecast site today. We found Sling TV to be pretty solid when we first tested it earlier this year, and it’s only gotten better over time, as more channels were added and the overall experience improved. The news also puts Sling TV on pretty much all of the major streaming boxes, aside from the new Apple TV. But we hope to see it there too — even Plex has made its way to the Apple TV already.
Source: BusinessWire, Sling TV
Google drone package deliveries to arrive by 2017
Google’s restructure under the new Alphabet umbrella company could be the start of exciting new things for each of the brand’s sub-divisions. Today David Vos, leader of Google’s Project Wing, announced that the company plans to have a drone delivery service up and running come 2017.
The company is said to be in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Transportation (DoT) to come up with a drone registration and air traffic control system that would enable safer mass flight. The system will apparently use cellular and internet technology to coordinate flights at altitudes under 500 feet (152 meters). Drones over a certain size are likely to require registration with the DoT and enforcement could begin before the end of the year.
“Our goal is to have commercial business up and running in 2017,” – David Vos, Project Wing
Project Wing is part of the Google X research group and was announced back in August 2014, but the group had been working on the technology for two years before then. Project Wing showcased a large prototype drone in Australia at the time, but new designs are apparently in the works.
See also: Project Wing: Google’s drones could one day drop your groceries from the sky
This isn’t the first time that we have heard about flying deliveries. Amazon unveiled its own plans for flying drone package deliveries back in 2013. Other companies are also planning similar drone based businesses, but these are not expected to take off until rules and regulations regarding commercial drones have been finalized and published. This is expected to happen sometime in early 2016.
There are clearly some technical and regulatory hurdles still left to overcome, but packages could be arriving on your doorstep via drone in the not too distant future.
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