LONDON — Google is laying off 12,000 workers, or about 6% of its workforce, becoming the latest tech company to trim staff as the economic boom that the industry rode during the COVID-19 pandemic ebbs. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who also leads its parent company Alphabet, informed staff Friday at...
Trump’s Pardon Blitz Keeps Ex-Google Exec Out of Prison for Stealing Secrets
SAN RAMON — A long-running Silicon Valley soap opera took an unexpected twist on Wednesday after outgoing President Donald Trump pardoned a former Google engineer for stealing self-driving car secrets shortly before joining Uber. Trump's surprise pardon of Anthony Levandowski enables him to avoid serving an 18-month sentence in federal...
Google Workers Form New Labor Union, a Tech Industry Rarity
A group of Google engineers announced Monday they have formed a union, creating a rare foothold for the labor movement in the tech industry. About 225 employees at Google and its parent company Alphabet are the first dues-paying members of the Alphabet Workers Union. They represent a fraction of Alphabet's...
Social Media CEOs Rebuff Bias Claims, Vow to Defend Election
WASHINGTON — Under fire from President Donald Trump and his allies, the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google rebuffed accusations of anti-conservative bias at a Senate hearing Wednesday and promised to aggressively defend their platforms from being used to sow chaos in next week's election. Lawmakers of both parties, eyeing...
Justice Dept. Files Landmark Antitrust Case Against Google
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Google for antitrust violations, alleging that it abused its dominance in online search and advertising to stifle competition and harm consumers. The lawsuit marks the government’s most significant act to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years...
2 Stanford Economists Win Nobel Prize for Improving Auctions
STOCKHOLM — Two American economists won the Nobel Prize on Monday for improving how auctions work, research that underlies much of today’s economy — from the way Google sells advertising to the way telecoms companies acquire airwaves from the government. The discoveries of Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson,...
27 New COVID-19 Deaths in Fresno County, Officials Warn Against Labor Day Gatherings
Fresno County reported 27 new deaths related to COVID-19 since Friday. Dr. Rais Vohra, Interim Fresno County Health Officer says it's a sobering reality of where we are in the pandemic. Vohra says many of these recent deaths are people that have been hospitalized for several weeks. Others had underlying...
Amazon Wins FAA Approval To Deliver Packages by Drone
NEW YORK — Getting an Amazon packaged delivered from the sky is closer to becoming a reality. The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it had granted Amazon approval to deliver packages by drones. Amazon said that the approval is an “important step," but added that it is still testing and...
Michigan Plans Dedicated Road Lanes for Autonomous Vehicles
LANSING, Mich. — The state of Michigan and some private partners are taking steps toward building or assigning dedicated lanes for automated vehicles on a 40-mile stretch of highway between Detroit and Ann Arbor. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials announced the project Thursday afternoon near a former railroad station that...
How Much is Our Personal Data Worth?
Regulations proposed on June 1, 2020, to implement the recently enacted California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), provide that consumers will now have the right to know what personal information businesses collect, use, share or sell; the right to delete personal information; the right to opt-out of the sale of personal...