Google – Page 11

Google’s ad tech empire may be $95B and “too big” to sell, analysts warn DOJ

adx, Antitrust law, DoubleClick, Google, google ad manager, google ad tech, google monopoly, online advertising, Policy / Mike M. / September 11, 2024

“Impossible to negotiate” —

Google Ad Manager is key to ad tech monopoly, DOJ aims to prove.

Ashley Belanger – Sep 11, 2024 6: 20 pm UTC

Enlarge / A staffer with the Paul, Weiss legal firm wheels boxes of legal documents into the Albert V. Bryan US Courthouse at the start of a Department of Justice antitrust trial against Google over its advertiing business in Alexandria, Virginia, on September 9, 2024. Google faces its second major antitrust trial in less than a year, with the US government accusing the tech giant of dominating online advertising and stifling competition.

Just a couple of days into the Google ad tech antitrust trial, it seems clear that the heart of the US Department of Justice’s case is proving that Google Ad Manager is the key to the tech giant’s alleged monopoly.

Google Ad Manager is the buy-and-sell side ad tech platform launched following Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick and AdX in 2008 for $3 billion. It is currently used to connect Google’s publisher ad servers with its ad exchanges, tying the two together in a way that allegedly locks the majority of publishers into paying higher fees on the publisher side because they can’t afford to drop Google’s ad exchange.

The DOJ has argued that Google Ad Manager “serves 90 percent of publishers that use the ad tech tools to sell their online ad inventory,” AdAge reported, and through it, Google clearly wields monopoly powers.

In her opening statement, DOJ attorney Julia Tarver Wood argued that acquisitions helped Google manipulate the rules of ad auctions to maximize profits while making it harder for rivals to enter and compete in the markets Google allegedly monopolized. The DOJ has argued those alleged monopolies are in markets “for publisher ad servers, advertiser ad networks, and the ad exchanges that connect the two,” Reuters reported.

Google has denied this characterization of its ad tech dominance, calling the DOJ’s market definitions too narrow. The tech company also pointed out that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigated and unconditionally approved the DoubleClick merger in 2007, amidst what the FTC described as urgent “high profile public discussions of the competitive merits of the transaction, in which numerous (sometimes conflicting) theories of competitive harm were proposed.” At that time, the FTC concluded that the acquisition “was unlikely to reduce competition in any relevant antitrust market.”

But in its complaint, the DOJ argued that the DoubleClick “acquisition vaulted Google into a commanding position over the tools publishers use to sell advertising opportunities, complementing Google’s existing tool for advertisers, Google Ads, and set the stage for Google’s later exclusionary conduct across the ad tech industry.”

To set things right, at the very least, the DOJ has asked the court to order Google to spin off Google Ad Manager, which may or may not include valuable products like Google’s Display and Video 360 (DV360) platform. There is also the possibility that the US district judge, Leonie Brinkema, could order Google to sell off its ad tech business entirely.

One problem with those proposed remedies, analysts told AdAge, is that no one knows how big Google’s ad tech business really is or the actual value of Google Ad Manager.

Google Ad Manager could be worth less if Google’s DV360 platform isn’t included in the sale or if selling either the publisher or advertiser side cuts out data allowing Google to set the prices that it wants. The CEO of an ad platform called Permutive, Joe Root, told AdAge that “it is hard to say how much of the value of Google’s ads business is because it has this advertiser product and DV360, versus how much of its value comes from Google Ad Manager alone.”

Root doubts that Google Ad Manager is “on its own that valuable.” However, based on “newly released documents for the trial,” some analysts predict that “any new entity spun out of Google” would be “almost too big for any buyer,” AdAge reported.

One estimate from an ad tech consultant who helms a strategic advisory firm called Luma Partners, Terence Kawaja, suggested that Google’s ad tech business as a standalone company “could be worth up to $95 billion” today, AdAge reported.

“You can’t divest $100 billion,” Kawaja said. “There is no buyer for it. [Google] would have to spin it off to shareholders, that’s how any forced remedy would manifest.”

Google’s ad tech empire may be $95B and “too big” to sell, analysts warn DOJ Read More »

AI ruling on jobless claims could make mistakes courts can’t undo, experts warn

AI, AI bias, ai hallucinations, AI models, Artificial Intelligence, generative ai, Google, google ai, nevada, Policy, unemployment / DJ Henderson / September 10, 2024

Nevada will soon become the first state to use AI to help speed up the decision-making process when ruling on appeals that impact people’s unemployment benefits.

The state’s Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation (DETR) agreed to pay Google $1,383,838 for the AI technology, a 2024 budget document shows, and it will be launched within the “next several months,” Nevada officials told Gizmodo.

Nevada’s first-of-its-kind AI will rely on a Google cloud service called Vertex AI Studio. Connecting to Google’s servers, the state will fine-tune the AI system to only reference information from DETR’s database, which officials think will ensure its decisions are “more tailored” and the system provides “more accurate results,” Gizmodo reported.

Under the contract, DETR will essentially transfer data from transcripts of unemployment appeals hearings and rulings, after which Google’s AI system will process that data, upload it to the cloud, and then compare the information to previous cases.

In as little as five minutes, the AI will issue a ruling that would’ve taken a state employee about three hours to reach without using AI, DETR’s information technology administrator, Carl Stanfield, told The Nevada Independent. That’s highly valuable to Nevada, which has a backlog of more than 40,000 appeals stemming from a pandemic-related spike in unemployment claims while dealing with “unforeseen staffing shortages” that DETR reported in July.

“The time saving is pretty phenomenal,” Stanfield said.

As a safeguard, the AI’s determination is then reviewed by a state employee to hopefully catch any mistakes, biases, or perhaps worse, hallucinations where the AI could possibly make up facts that could impact the outcome of their case.

Google’s spokesperson Ashley Simms told Gizmodo that the tech giant will work with the state to “identify and address any potential bias” and to “help them comply with federal and state requirements.” According to the state’s AI guidelines, the agency must prioritize ethical use of the AI system, “avoiding biases and ensuring fairness and transparency in decision-making processes.”

If the reviewer accepts the AI ruling, they’ll sign off on it and issue the decision. Otherwise, the reviewer will edit the decision and submit feedback so that DETR can investigate what went wrong.

Gizmodo noted that this novel use of AI “represents a significant experiment by state officials and Google in allowing generative AI to influence a high-stakes government decision—one that could put thousands of dollars in unemployed Nevadans’ pockets or take it away.”

Google declined to comment on whether more states are considering using AI to weigh jobless claims.

AI ruling on jobless claims could make mistakes courts can’t undo, experts warn Read More »

DOJ claims Google has “trifecta of monopolies” on Day 1 of ad tech trial

ad tech, Antitrust law, Google, google ad manager, monopoly, online advertising, Policy / Mike M. / September 9, 2024

Enlarge / Karen Dunn, one of the lawyers representing Google, outside of the Albert V. Bryan US Courthouse at the start of a Department of Justice antitrust trial against Google over its advertiing business in Alexandria, Virginia, on September 9, 2024.

On Monday, the US Department of Justice’s next monopoly trial against Google started in Virginia—this time challenging the tech giant’s ad tech dominance.

The trial comes after Google lost two major cases that proved Google had a monopoly in both general search and the Android app store. During her opening statement, DOJ lawyer Julia Tarver Wood told US District Judge Leonie Brinkema—who will be ruling on the case after Google cut a check to avoid a jury trial—that “it’s worth saying the quiet part out loud,” AP News reported.

“One monopoly is bad enough,” Wood said. “But a trifecta of monopolies is what we have here.”

In its complaint, the DOJ argued that Google broke competition in the ad tech space “by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers, and brokers, to facilitate digital advertising.”

The result of such “insidious” allegedly anti-competitive behavior is that today Google pockets at least 30 cents “of each advertising dollar flowing from advertisers to website publishers through Google’s ad tech tools … and sometimes far more,” the DOJ alleged.

Meanwhile, as Google profits off both advertisers and publishers, “website creators earn less, and advertisers pay more” than “they would in a market where unfettered competitive pressure could discipline prices and lead to more innovative ad tech tools,” the DOJ alleged.

On Monday, Wood told Brinkema that Google intentionally put itself in this position to “manipulate the rules of ad auctions to its own benefit,” The Washington Post reported.

“Publishers were understandably furious,” Wood said. “The evidence will show that they could do nothing.”

Wood confirmed that the DOJ planned to call several publishers as witnesses in the coming weeks to explain the harms caused. Expected to take the stand will be “executives from companies including USA Today, [Wall Street] Journal parent company News Corp., and the Daily Mail,” the Post reported.

The ad tech trial, which is expected to last four to six weeks, may be the most consequential of the monopoly trials Google has recently faced, experts have said.

That’s because during the DOJ’s trial proving Google’s monopoly in search, it remained unclear what remedies the DOJ sought. Some ways to destroy Google’s search monopoly could be “unlikely to create meaningful competition” or hurt Google’s bottom line, experts told Ars, but a more drastic order to spin out its Chrome browser or Android operating system could really impact Google’s revenue. It won’t be until December that the DOJ will even provide a rough outline of proposed remedies in that case, Reuters reported, with the judge not expected to rule until next August.

But the DOJ has been very clear about the remedies needed in the ad tech case, “asking Brinkema to order a divestment of Google’s Ad Manager suite of services, which is responsible for many of the rectangular ads that populate the tops and sides of webpages across the Internet,” the Post reported.

Because the most “obvious” remedy would be to require Google to sell off parts of its ad business, experts told AP News that the ad tech trial “could potentially be more harmful to Google” than the search trial. Perhaps at the furthest extreme, antitrust expert Shubha Ghosh told Ars that “if this case goes against Google as the last one did, it could set the stage for splitting it into separate search and advertising companies.”

In the DOJ’s complaint, prosecutors argued that it “is critical to restore competition in these markets by enjoining Google’s anticompetitive practices, unwinding Google’s anticompetitive acquisitions, and imposing a remedy sufficient both to deny Google the fruits of its illegal conduct and to prevent further harm to competition in the future.”

Ghosh said that undoing Google’s acquisitions could lead to Google no longer representing both advertisers’ and sellers’ interests in each ad auction—instead requiring Google to either pick a side or perhaps involve a broker.

Although the Post reported that Google has argued that “customers prefer the convenience of a one-stop shop,” the DOJ hopes to prove that Google’s alleged monopoly has shuttered newspapers across the US and threatens to do more harm if left unchecked.

DOJ claims Google has “trifecta of monopolies” on Day 1 of ad tech trial Read More »

Harmful “nudify” websites used Google, Apple, and Discord sign-on systems

AI, ai deepfakes, Apple, Google, Policy, syndication / Kelly Newman / August 30, 2024

Major technology companies, including Google, Apple, and Discord, have been enabling people to quickly sign up to harmful “undress” websites, which use AI to remove clothes from real photos to make victims appear to be “nude” without their consent. More than a dozen of these deepfake websites have been using login buttons from the tech companies for months.

A WIRED analysis found 16 of the biggest so-called undress and “nudify” websites using the sign-in infrastructure from Google, Apple, Discord, Twitter, Patreon, and Line. This approach allows people to easily create accounts on the deepfake websites—offering them a veneer of credibility—before they pay for credits and generate images.

While bots and websites that create nonconsensual intimate images of women and girls have existed for years, the number has increased with the introduction of generative AI. This kind of “undress” abuse is alarmingly widespread, with teenage boys allegedly creating images of their classmates. Tech companies have been slow to deal with the scale of the issues, critics say, with the websites appearing highly in search results, paid advertisements promoting them on social media, and apps showing up in app stores.

“This is a continuation of a trend that normalizes sexual violence against women and girls by Big Tech,” says Adam Dodge, a lawyer and founder of EndTAB (Ending Technology-Enabled Abuse). “Sign-in APIs are tools of convenience. We should never be making sexual violence an act of convenience,” he says. “We should be putting up walls around the access to these apps, and instead we’re giving people a drawbridge.”

The sign-in tools analyzed by WIRED, which are deployed through APIs and common authentication methods, allow people to use existing accounts to join the deepfake websites. Google’s login system appeared on 16 websites, Discord’s appeared on 13, and Apple’s on six. X’s button was on three websites, with Patreon and messaging service Line’s both appearing on the same two websites.

WIRED is not naming the websites, since they enable abuse. Several are part of wider networks and owned by the same individuals or companies. The login systems have been used despite the tech companies broadly having rules that state developers cannot use their services in ways that would enable harm, harassment, or invade people’s privacy.

After being contacted by WIRED, spokespeople for Discord and Apple said they have removed the developer accounts connected to their websites. Google said it will take action against developers when it finds its terms have been violated. Patreon said it prohibits accounts that allow explicit imagery to be created, and Line confirmed it is investigating but said it could not comment on specific websites. X did not reply to a request for comment about the way its systems are being used.

In the hours after Jud Hoffman, Discord vice president of trust and safety, told WIRED it had terminated the websites’ access to its APIs for violating its developer policy, one of the undress websites posted in a Telegram channel that authorization via Discord was “temporarily unavailable” and claimed it was trying to restore access. That undress service did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment about its operations.

Harmful “nudify” websites used Google, Apple, and Discord sign-on systems Read More »

Google avoids “link tax” bill with deal to fund California journalism and AI

Google, google journalism, Policy / Shannon Garcia / August 22, 2024

Google funding for news orgs —

Critics say Google got off easy as it agrees to pay $55 million into news fund.

Jon Brodkin – Aug 22, 2024 7: 20 pm UTC

Getty Images | Josh Edelson

Google has agreed to fund local journalism and an artificial intelligence initiative in California as part of a deal that would reportedly result in lawmakers shelving a proposal to require Google to pay news outlets for distributing their content. But the deal’s state financing requires legislative approval as part of California’s annual budget process and is drawing criticism from some lawmakers and a union for journalists.

Governor Gavin Newsom is on board, saying that the “agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California—leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians.” The deal “will provide nearly $250 million in public and private funding over the next five years, with the majority of funding going to newsrooms,” said an announcement by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, a Democrat.

A “News Transformation Fund” would be created with funding from the state and Google and be administered by the UC Berkeley School of Journalism. The state would contribute $30 million the first year and $10 million in each of the next four years, according to a summary provided to Ars by Wicks’ office.

Google would contribute $55 million to the news fund over five years, consisting of $15 million the first year and $10 million in each of the next four years. The funds would be distributed to news organizations based on how many journalists they employ.

Google also agreed to provide $62.5 million over five years for a “National AI Innovation Accelerator.” Wicks’ office said the accelerator “will be administered in collaboration with a private nonprofit, and will provide organizations across industries and communities—from journalism, to the environment, to racial equity and beyond—with financial resources and other support to experiment with AI to assist them in their work.”

The “nearly $250 million” figure quoted by Wicks’ office includes a commitment from Google to continue funding the company’s existing journalism programs with $10 million annually for five years.

Union calls deal a “shakedown”

The Media Guild of the West union slammed the deal as a “shakedown” in a statement issued yesterday. The agreement is disappointing partly because it came “after two years of advocacy for strong antimonopoly action to start turning around the decline of local newsrooms,” the group said.

“The publishers who claim to represent our industry are celebrating an opaque deal involving taxpayer funds, a vague AI accelerator project that could very well destroy journalism jobs, and minimal financial commitments from Google to return the wealth this monopoly has stolen from our newsrooms,” the union said. “Not a single organization representing journalists and news workers agreed to this undemocratic and secretive deal with one of the businesses destroying our industry.”

Perhaps explaining why journalism and AI funding are part of the same agreement, Wicks’ office said the AI accelerator will “complement the work of the Journalism Fund by creating new tools to help journalists access and analyze public information.”

Google recently testified against pending legislation submitted by Wicks, known as the California Journalism Preservation Act. Google said the bill would “break the foundational principles of the open Internet, forcing platforms to pay publishers for sending valuable free traffic to them, which they choose to receive.” Google has called the bill a “link tax.”

Alphabet Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker praised the deal yesterday as “a collaborative framework to accelerate AI innovation and support local and national businesses and non-profit organizations.”

State funding faces opposition in Senate

Democratic State Senator Steve Glazer, who proposed a different bill aiming to fund local journalism, issued a statement criticizing the deal. “Google’s offer is completely inadequate and massively short of matching their settlement agreement in Canada in supporting on-the-ground local news reporting,” he said.

Glazer questioned why only Google was involved in the deal announcement, and not other tech companies. “There is a stark absence in this announcement of any support for journalism from Meta and Amazon,” Glazer said. “These platforms have captured the intimate data from Californians without paying for it. Their use of that data in advertising is the harm to news outlets that this agreement should mitigate.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire “questioned legislative support for the state’s share of the deal,” The New York Times wrote.

“We have concerns that this proposal lacks sufficient funding for newspapers and local media, and doesn’t fully address the inequities facing the industry,” McGuire, a Democrat, was quoted as saying. McGuire said the state Senate is “pursuing a global solution that would hold all of these companies accountable.”

News organizations have reported declines in Google referrals, a trend that may be worsened by how Google’s AI Overview feature displays search results.

Wicks’ announcement of the deal quoted several supporters in the publishing industry. “This is a first step toward what we hope will become a comprehensive program to sustain local news in the long term, and we will push to see it grow in future years,” the California News Publishers Association said.

There was also a supportive quote from OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon: “A strong press is a key pillar of democracy, and we’re proud to be part of this partnership to utilize AI in support of local journalism across California. This initiative builds on our longstanding work to help newsrooms and journalists around the world leverage AI to improve workflows, better connect users to quality content, and help news organizations shape the future of this emerging technology.”

OpenAI is contributing technology to the agreement, but not any money, the summary from Wicks’ office said.

Google avoids “link tax” bill with deal to fund California journalism and AI Read More »

Google can’t defend shady Chrome data hoarding as “browser agnostic,” court says

chrome browser, data privacy, Google, google chrome, Online Privacy, Policy / Kelly Newman / August 21, 2024

Chrome users who declined to sync their Google accounts with their browsing data secured a big privacy win this week after previously losing a proposed class action claiming that Google secretly collected personal data without consent from over 100 million Chrome users who opted out of syncing.

On Tuesday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the prior court’s finding that Google had properly gained consent for the contested data collection.

The appeals court said that the US district court had erred in ruling that Google’s general privacy policies secured consent for the data collection. The district court failed to consider conflicts with Google’s Chrome Privacy Notice (CPN), which said that users’ “choice not to sync Chrome with their Google accounts meant that certain personal information would not be collected and used by Google,” the appeals court ruled.

Rather than analyzing the CPN, it appears that the US district court completely bought into Google’s argument that the CPN didn’t apply because the data collection at issue was “browser agnostic” and occurred whether a user was browsing with Chrome or not. But the appeals court—by a 3–0 vote—did not.

In his opinion, Circuit Judge Milan Smith wrote that the “district court should have reviewed the terms of Google’s various disclosures and decided whether a reasonable user reading them would think that he or she was consenting to the data collection.”

“By focusing on ‘browser agnosticism’ instead of conducting the reasonable person inquiry, the district court failed to apply the correct standard,” Smith wrote. “Viewed in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, browser agnosticism is irrelevant because nothing in Google’s disclosures is tied to what other browsers do.”

Smith seemed to suggest that the US district court wasted time holding a “7.5-hour evidentiary hearing which included expert testimony about ‘whether the data collection at issue'” was “browser-agnostic.”

“Rather than trying to determine how a reasonable user would understand Google’s various privacy policies,” the district court improperly “made the case turn on a technical distinction unfamiliar to most ‘reasonable'” users, Smith wrote.

Now, the case has been remanded to the district court where Google will face a trial over the alleged failure to get consent for the data collection. If the class action is certified, Google risks owing currently unknown damages to any Chrome users who opted out of syncing between 2016 and 2024.

According to Smith, the key focus of the trial will be weighing the CPN terms and determining “what a ‘reasonable user’ of a service would understand they were consenting to, not what a technical expert would.”

The same privacy policy last year triggered a Google settlement with Chrome users whose data was collected despite using “Incognito” mode.

Matthew Wessler, a lawyer for Chrome users suing, told Ars that “we are pleased with the Ninth Circuit’s decision” and “look forward to taking this case on behalf of Chrome users to trial.”

A Google spokesperson, José Castañeda, told Ars that Google disputes the decision.

“We disagree with this ruling and are confident the facts of the case are on our side,” Castañeda told Ars. “Chrome Sync helps people use Chrome seamlessly across their different devices and has clear privacy controls.”

Google can’t defend shady Chrome data hoarding as “browser agnostic,” court says Read More »

Pixel 9 phones: The Gemini AI stuff, reviewed

Google, Google Pixel, google pixel 9, google pixel 9 pro, google pixel 9 pro xl, pixel 9, pixel 9 pro, pixel 9 pro xl, Reviews, Tech / Shannon Garcia / August 21, 2024

We can put phones on the moon, but we can’t set an alarm (yet) —

A newcomer dives into AI with the Pixel 9 Pro.

Kevin Purdy – Updated Aug 21, 2024 5: 18 pm UTC

Three Pixel 9 phones, but with the background set to an AI-generated moonscape, with another moon visible in the background. — Enlarge / I asked Gemini to “reimagine” the background of this Pixel 9 group shot (originally on beige paper) as “science fiction moonscape,” and then used “Auto frame” to expand the initially tight shot. Maybe that explains why this moon surface has another moon visible?

Kevin Purdy / Gemini AI

Google made its AI assistant, Gemini, central to its pitch to reviewers and the public—it’s what makes Pixel phones different from any other Android phone, the company says. In fact, you have to go 24 minutes into Google’s keynote presentation, and cringe through a couple of live AI demo failures, before Pixel hardware details are even mentioned.

I’ve been using a Pixel 9 Pro as my daily phone for about a week. There is almost nothing new about the Pixel 9 that is not linked to Gemini in some way, minus the physical design of the thing. So this review will look at how Gemini performs on the Pixel 9, which is Google’s premier platform for Gemini at the moment. While some of the Pixel 9’s AI-powered features may make it to other Android-powered phones in future Android releases, that’s not a certainty. AI—as a free trial, as a custom Google-designed chip, and as an OS integration—is something Google is using to set Pixels apart.

I wrote a separate review of the three main Pixel 9 devices. But considering the Pixel 9 as a hardware-only product is strange. The short version is that the phones themselves are capable evolutions of the Pixel series and probably the best versions Google has made yet, and they’re sold at prices that reflect that. If you love Pixel phones, are eager to upgrade, and plan to ignore Gemini specifically and AI features generally, that might be all you need to know.

But if you buy a Pixel 9 Pro, Pro XL, or Pro Fold (coming later), starting at $1,000 for the Pro, you get access to a free year of Gemini Advanced ($240 per year after that), and you’ll see Gemini suggested in every Google-made corner of the device. So let’s talk about Gemini as a phone task assistant, image editor, and screenshot librarian. I used Gemini as much as felt reasonable during my week with a Pixel 9 Pro.

I’m very new to general-purpose AI chatbots and prompt-based image generation and had never used an “advanced” model like Gemini Live before. Those with more experience or pre-existing enthusiasm will likely get more out of Google’s Gemini tools than I did. I’ll also leave discussions of Google’s approach to on-device AI and its energy impacts for other articles.

Gemini, generally: Like a very fast blogger working for you

Testing the Pixel 9 Pro, I’ve had access to the most advanced versions of Gemini, both the “Advanced” model itself (a free one-year trial given to every Pixel 9 buyer) and its advanced speech dialogue, “Gemini Live.” Has it been helpful?

It has been like I hired a blogger to be available to me at all times, working much faster and with far fewer complaints than its human counterparts, at the push of a button. This blogger is a capable if unstylish writer, one who can look things up quickly and cobble together some facts and advice. But the blogger is also easily distracted and not somebody you’d inherently trust with key decisions without further research, perhaps into the very sources they’re citing.

I should know—I used to be that kind of fast-writing, six-posts-a-day blogger when I worked at Lifehacker. In the late 2000s, I was in my mid-to-late 20s, and I certainly didn’t have all the knowledge and experience needed to write confidently about every possible subject under the broad topics of “technology,” “productivity,” and “little things that might improve your life if you think about them for a bit.”

But I could certainly search, read, and triangulate the advice of a few sites and blogs and come up with reasonable summaries and suggestions. Depending on how you looked at it, I was an agile general assignment writer, a talented bullshitter, or some combination thereof.

Pixel 9 phones: The Gemini AI stuff, reviewed Read More »

Google denies reports that it’s discontinuing Fitbit products

fitbit, Google, smartwatch, Tech / DJ Henderson / August 19, 2024

Fitbit lives on … for now —

Claims that there will be no new Versas or Senses is incorrect, rep says.

Scharon Harding – Aug 19, 2024 4: 30 pm UTC

Google is denying a recent report that it is no longer making Fitbit smartwatches. A company spokesperson told Ars Technica today that Google has no current plans to discontinue the Fitbit Sense or Fitbit Versa product lines.

On Sunday, TechRadar published an article titled “RIP Fitbit smartwatches—an end we could see coming a mile away.” The article noted last week’s announcement of the new Google Pixel Watch 3. Notably, the watch from Google, which acquired Fitbit in 2019, gives users free access to the Daily Readiness Score, a feature that previously required a Fitbit Premium subscription (Pixel Watch 3 owners also get six free months of Fitbit Premium). The publication said that Fitbit has been “consigned to wearable history” and reported:

Google quietly confirmed that there would never be another Fitbit Sense or Versa model produced. From now on, Fitbit-branded devices will be relegated to Google’s best fitness trackers: the Fitbit Inspire, Luxe, and Charge ranges. The smartwatch form factor would be exclusively reserved for the Pixel Watch line.

The story followed a report from Engadget last week, when the puiblication said that “moving forward everything from Fitbit would focus on the more minimalistic, long-lasting trackers the brand has become synonymous with,” citing a conversation with the senior director of product management for Pixel Wearables, Sandeep Waraich. “Pixel Watches are our next iteration of smartwatch for Fitbit,” he reportedly said.

When reached for comment, however, a Google spokesperson told me that the TechRadar story is “not correct” and shared the following statement:

We are very committed to Fitbit, and even more importantly to the customers that use and depend on those products and technology. It’s also worth noting that many of the health and fitness features we launched in Pixel Watch 3 were because of Fitbit’s innovation and ground-breaking fitness advancements. In addition, we just launched Fitbit Ace LTE, [a smartwatch for kids released on June 5], and you’ll continue to see new products and innovation from Fitbit.

While the company rep told me that they could not confirm a specific upcoming Sense or Versa model or any other specifics about Google’s product road map, they claimed that Google hasn’t discontinued the lines.

Fitbit fears

TechRadar’s concerns about Fitbit smartwatches dying also stem from the Sense 2 and Versa 4 lacking some features of its predecessors, including ways to control music or access music apps. The Pixel Watch, meanwhile, has music app support, like YouTube, Spotify, and Pandora. “Once Google completed its acquisition in January 2021 and debuted its first Pixel Watch in 2022, the Versa and the Sense watches were holdovers of a bygone era,” TechRadar wrote.

Google also has more than its fair share of dead products, prompting Fitbit fans to be wary about the future of the smartwatch brand.

However, Google’s spokesperson noted that “part of everything that we just launched from Pixel Watch is based on Fitbit technology, so it is not going anywhere.”

While Fitbit tech and perhaps its name may live on, it’s reasonable to question the brand’s longevity. Concerns about Google discontinuing Fitbit smartwatches have been fueled by Google taking Fitbit features and incorporating them into Google-branded watches. Google has also discontinued various beloved Fitbit features, including the Fitbit.com online dashboard, social features, and the ability to sync with computers. Google also previously announced that it’s closing all Fitbit accounts (forcing users onto Google accounts) next year and also shut down the Fitbit SDK for app development. Google’s Fitbit reputation has been further damaged by widely reported battery problems that some Charge 5 users have experienced. Google denied that the quick-dying battery issue stemmed from a firmware update but never publicly confirmed what it believes the problem is. This Google-fication of Fitbit has led long-term customers to publicly complain about Google allegedly reducing customer support and care for Fitbit users.

At this time, Google isn’t announcing the end of any Fitbit product lines. But it remains possible that if future devices arrive, they may lack the features of previous Fitbits or Pixel Watches. The Fitbit brand isn’t dead, but Fitbit, as people knew it before Google’s acquisition, is no more.

This article was updated with information from Engadget.

Google denies reports that it’s discontinuing Fitbit products Read More »

Google’s threat team confirms Iran targeting Trump, Biden, and Harris campaigns

APT42, Biz & IT, Donald Trump, Gmail, Google, google tag, Iran, Kamala Harris, phishing, President Biden, Roger Stone, Security, spearphishing, threat analysis group / Kelly Newman / August 15, 2024

It is only August —

Another Big Tech firm seems to confirm Trump adviser Roger Stone was hacked.

Kevin Purdy – Aug 15, 2024 6: 26 pm UTC

Roger Stone, former adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, center, during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee on July 17, 2024. — Enlarge / Roger Stone, former adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, center, during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee on July 17, 2024.

Getty Images

Google’s Threat Analysis Group confirmed Wednesday that they observed a threat actor backed by the Iranian government targeting Google accounts associated with US presidential campaigns, in addition to stepped-up attacks on Israeli targets.

APT42, associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, “consistently targets high-profile users in Israel and the US,” the Threat Analysis Group (TAG) writes. The Iranian group uses hosted malware, phishing pages, malicious redirects, and other tactics to gain access to Google, Dropbox, OneDrive, and other cloud-based accounts. Google’s TAG writes that it reset accounts, sent warnings to users, and blacklisted domains associated with APT42’s phishing attempts.

Among APT42’s tools were Google Sites pages that appeared to be a petition from legitimate Jewish activists, calling on Israel to mediate its ongoing conflict with Hamas. The page was fashioned from image files, not HTML, and an ngrok redirect sent users to phishing pages when they moved to sign the petition.

A petition purporting to be from The Jewish Agency for Israel, seeking support for mediation measures—but signatures quietly redirect to phishing sites, according to Google.

Google

In the US, Google’s TAG notes that, as with the 2020 elections, APT42 is actively targeting the personal emails of “roughly a dozen individuals affiliated with President Biden and former President Trump.” TAG confirms that APT42 “successfully gained access to the personal Gmail account of a high-profile political consultant,” which may be longtime Republican operative Roger Stone, as reported by The Guardian, CNN, and The Washington Post, among others. Microsoft separately noted last week that a “former senior advisor” to the Trump campaign had his Microsoft account compromised, which Stone also confirmed.

“Today, TAG continues to observe unsuccessful attempts from APT42 to compromise the personal accounts of individuals affiliated with President Biden, Vice President Harris and former President Trump, including current and former government officials and individuals associated with the campaigns,” Google’s TAG writes.

PDFs and phishing kits target both sides

Google’s post details the ways in which APT42 targets operatives in both parties. The broad strategy is to get the target off their email and into channels like Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp, or possibly a personal email address that may not have two-factor authentication and threat monitoring set up. By establishing trust through sending legitimate PDFs, or luring them to video meetings, APT42 can then push links that use phishing kits with “a seamless flow” to harvest credentials from Google, Hotmail, and Yahoo.

After gaining a foothold, APT42 will often work to preserve its access by generating application-specific passwords inside the account, which typically bypass multifactor tools. Google notes that its Advanced Protection Program, intended for individuals at high risk of attack, disables such measures.

Publications, including Politico, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, have reported being offered documents from the Trump campaign, potentially stemming from Iran’s phishing efforts, in an echo of Russia’s 2016 targeting of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. None of them have moved to publish stories related to the documents.

John Hultquist, with Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant, told Wired’s Andy Greenberg that what looks initially like spying or political interference by Iran can easily escalate to sabotage and that both parties are equal targets. He also said that current thinking about threat vectors may need to expand.

“It’s not just a Russia problem anymore. It’s broader than that,” Hultquist said. “There are multiple teams in play. And we have to keep an eye out for all of them.”

Google’s threat team confirms Iran targeting Trump, Biden, and Harris campaigns Read More »

Google’s Pixel Watch 3 has a bigger screen, and Pixel Buds Pro 2 are smaller

Google, google pixel buds pro 2, google pixel watch 3, pixel buds pro 2, pixel recorder, pixel watch 3, Tech / Shannon Garcia / August 13, 2024

Pixelcessories —

Pixel Recorder on the Watch 3 is the weird little feature we might just love.

Kevin Purdy – Aug 13, 2024 5: 04 pm UTC

Pixel Watch 3 laid out at center, with band options and colors to either side of it. — Google

In addition to a whole bunch of Pixel 9 phones, Google launched the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2 at its Made by Google event today. Here’s the lowdown on what’s new, what’s interesting, and what Google has to say about the products beyond their AI connection.

Pixel Watch 3

There are many fitness, smart home, and AI features on the new Pixel Watch 3, but let’s get to the important new stuff: Pixel Recorder. That means, in situations where you aren’t being creepy, using your watch to record a note to self, a conversation, a bit of a song, or whatever else on your watch. You can then play the recording back and get the transcription on your Pixel phone.

The other feature that isn’t about running a marathon or asking a language model for help is UWB (ultra wideband) phone unlocking with the Pixel Watch 3. That should mean relatively responsive unlocks on your phone, but not if you’re a measurably far distance from it.

As for the actual watch, it now comes in 41 mm and 45 mm sizes, with 16 percent smaller bezels and 40 percent more actively usable space on the 45mm watch. It will pick up Nest Cam and Doorbell notifications and let you talk through them (pending various lag/connection realities). The Watch 3 can access Google Maps while offline. It promises 24 hours of always-on battery life, or 36 in Battery Saver mode.

If you’re actively using the Pixel Watch 3 for fitness and run tracking, there are more features than fit here. For starters, you get six months of Fitbit Premium. Run tracking now also watches your cadence and stride length and does other motion sensing. The Watch 3 does “cardio load tracking” and balances it against recovery needs, sleep, and heart rate metrics.

Pixel Buds Pro 2

As with every other device Google is launching, the marquee pitch for the Pixel Buds Pro 2 is that they’re Gemini-ready and Gemini-friendly. There’s a good deal more about them that’s notable, however.

That same “Tensor AI” chip that makes them ready to convey your desires to your phone (or Google’s servers) supposedly let Google shrink these Buds 27 percent, making them lighter and improving their battery life to a purported 8 hours of active noise canceling (ANC). That noise canceling should also be better than on previous models, with a “Silent Seal 2.0” fit that cancels “twice as much noise as before” and “a wider range of noises,” including higher frequencies.

How do they actually sound? Better than Pixel Buds Pro, Google says. They have 11 mm drivers, and the Tensor chip “adds an additional path for music,” which “allows it to bypass the Silent Seal processing chain,” the company says. Sure! Phone calls should definitely get better, as the Clear Calling feature now sorts noise on both sides of a call. And Conversation Detection will automatically pause your audio when you start talking to somebody and will resume automatically after you stop talking (something AirPods Pro notably do not do).

When and how much

Google’s smaller Pixel fall products are available next month at these prices and on these dates:

Pixel Watch 3 ($349 at 41 mm, $399 for 45 mm, $100 extra for LTE): September 10
Pixel Buds Pro 2 ($299): September 26

Google’s Pixel Watch 3 has a bigger screen, and Pixel Buds Pro 2 are smaller Read More »

The Pixel 9 phones are big cameras and screens soldered onto Gemini AI ambitions

Gemini Advanced, gemini ai, gemini live, Google, Google Pixel, pixel 9, pixel 9 pro, pixel 9 pro fold, pixel 9 pro xl, Tech / Mike M. / August 13, 2024

A Google Pixel 9 Fold and Pixel 9 Pro XL, side by side on white background, with Fold open and 9 Pro XL front and back shown on separate models. — Google / Aurich Lawson

Google announced its fall lineup of Pixel phones today: three standard phones and a second tablet-esque folding model. There are new chips, new cameras, Satellite SOS, and some notable promises, like the 9 phones being “twice as durable” as their Pixel 8 equivalents and getting seven years of updates. But as you might expect this year, they’re primarily showcases for all the things Google’s Gemini AI promises to do for you.

Here’s what’s new, what’s coming, and when you can ask your phone to make a shopping list for taco night for a family of six.

Gemini is in the power button, the screenshots, and a free premium subscription

It’s not just you—Google really is “infusing AI into everything we do,” as noted on its Keyword blog today. Here’s a short list of what Google says Android phone owners can do with Gemini:

Speak to Gemini “naturally the way you would with another person”
Bring up an overlay (holding power button) over other apps to ask about things on-screen
Generate images from that overlay and drop them into apps, like Gmail or Messages
Use “Gemini Live,” a “mobile conversational experience” in which you could, for example, “brainstorm potential jobs well-suited for your skillset or degree”

Gemini Live is launching today for Gemini Advanced subscribers on Android, with iOS coming soon. New extensions to Gemini, and contextual overlay for non-Pixel devices, should arrive “in the coming weeks.”

You might think you won’t use Google’s Gemini as much as Google thinks you will, but Google aims to change your mind with one free year of the Google One AI Premium Plan (i.e., “Gemini Advanced“), which is bundled into a Pixel 9 Pro or Pro XL purchase. That also grants you access to what Google is doing with Gemini in Gmail, Docs, and maybe search, along with a 2TB storage plan.

Holding the power button on an AI-enabled Pixel 9 Pro will bring up a dashboard that allows for writing, asking, or searching through interconnected Google apps for information. Like Google Lens, you can ask Gemini about what’s on your screen or ask it about something in a photo you snap. It’s a little unclear which features may eventually get backported to the Pixel 9 or other Android phones generally. That’s probably the idea: if you’re excited about this stuff, Google strongly suggests paying $200 more.

The Pixel 9 phones are big cameras and screens soldered onto Gemini AI ambitions Read More »

Google abruptly shuts down AdSense in Russia as tensions with Kremlin escalate

ad manager, ad monetization, AdSense, censorship, content monetization, Google, kremlin, online advertising, Policy, russia, Russian invasion of Ukraine, youtube / Shannon Garcia / August 12, 2024

“Kind of strange” —

Russia-based YouTubers, in particular, will likely lose significant revenues.

Ashley Belanger – Aug 12, 2024 8: 36 pm UTC

Google announced Monday that it’s shutting down all AdSense accounts in Russia due to “ongoing developments in Russia.”

This effectively ends Russian content creators’ ability to monetize their posts, including YouTube videos. The change impacts accounts monetizing content through AdSense, AdMob, and Ad Manager, the support page said.

While Google has declined requests to provide details on what prompted the change, it’s the latest escalation of Google’s ongoing battle with Russian officials working to control the narrative on Russia’s war with Ukraine.

In February 2022, Google paused monetization of all state-funded media in Russia, then temporarily paused all ads in the country the very next month. That March, Google paused the creation of new Russia-based AdSense accounts and blocked ads globally that originated from Russia. In March 2022, Google also paused monetization of any content exploiting, condoning, or dismissing Russia’s war with Ukraine. Seemingly as retaliation, Russia seized Google’s bank account, causing Google Russia to shut down in May 2022.

Since then, Google has “blocked more than 1,000 YouTube channels, including state-sponsored news, and over 5.5 million videos,” Reuters reported.

For Russian creators who have still found ways to monetize their content amid the chaos, Google’s decision to abruptly shut down AdSense accounts comes as “a serious blow to their income,” Bleeping Computer reported. Russia is second only to the US in terms of YouTube web traffic, Similarweb data shows, making it likely that Russia-based YouTubers earned “significant” revenues that will now be suddenly lost, Bleeping Computer reported.

Russia-based creators—including YouTubers, as well as bloggers and website owners—will receive their final payout this month, according to a message from Google to users reviewed by Reuters.

“Assuming you have no active payment holds and meet the minimum payment thresholds,” payments will be disbursed between August 21 and 26, Google’s message said.

Google’s spokesperson offered little clarification to Reuters and Bleeping Computer, saying only that “we will no longer be able to make payments to Russia-based AdSense accounts that have been able to continue monetizing traffic outside of Russia. As a result, we will be deactivating these accounts effective August 2024.”

It seems likely, though, that Russia passing a law in March—banning advertising on websites, blogs, social networks, or any other online sources published by a “foreign agent,” as Reuters reported in February—perhaps influenced Google’s update. The law also prohibited foreign agents from placing ads on sites, and under the law, foreign agents could include anti-Kremlin politicians, activists, and media. With new authority, Russia may have further retaliated against Google, potentially forcing Google to give up the last bit of monetization available to Russia-based creators increasingly censored online.

State assembly member and Putin ally Vyacheslav Volodin said that the law was needed to stop financing “scoundrels” allegedly “killing our soldiers, officers, and civilians,” Reuters reported.

One Russian YouTuber with 11.4 million subscribers, Valentin Petukhov, suggested on Telegram that Google shut down AdSense because people had managed to “bypass payment blocks imposed by Western sanctions on Russian banks,” Bleeping Computer reported.

According to Petukhov, the wording in Google’s message to users was “kind of strange,” making it unclear what account holders should do next.

“Even though the income from monetization has fallen tenfold, it hasn’t disappeared completely,” Petukhov said.

YouTube still spotty in Russia

Google’s decision to end AdSense in Russia follows reports of a mass YouTube outage that Russian Internet monitoring service Sboi.rf reported is still impacting users today.

Officials in Russia claim that YouTube has been operating at slower speeds because Google stopped updating its equipment in the region after the invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.

This outage and the slower speeds led “subscribers of over 135 regional communication operators in Russia” to terminate “agreements with companies due to problems with the operation of YouTube and other Google services,” the Russian tech blog Habr reported.

As Google has tried to resist pressure from Russian lawmakers to censor content that officials deem illegal, such as content supporting Ukraine or condemning Russia, YouTube had become one of the last bastions of online free speech, Reuters reported. It’s unclear how ending monetization in the region will impact access to anti-Kremlin reporting on YouTube or more broadly online in Russia. Last February, a popular journalist with 1.64 million subscribers on YouTube, Katerina Gordeeva, wrote on Telegram that “she was suspending her work due to the law,” Reuters reported.

“We will no longer be able to work as before,” Gordeeva said. “Of course, we will look for a way out.”

Google abruptly shuts down AdSense in Russia as tensions with Kremlin escalate Read More »