Tag: google

  • Google tracks your movements even if you don’t allow it to

    Associated Press reported that Google tracks your movements even if you turn of location services. An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used a privacy setting that says it will prevent Google from doing so. What’s the point of having an…

  • What’s stored in your school’s Google Drive account

    Missouri Education Watchdog reported that what Google Drive’s school account stores. The Elys claim that the SPS Google Drive, given to all SPS employees and students, automatically begins to store information from any device the drive is accessed on. This includes browser history, but also personal information such as files and passwords. They add that…

  • Google employees are organising to protest the company’s secret, censored search engine for China

    BuzzFeed News reported that Google employees are organising to protest the company’s secret, censored search engine for China. Google employees are demanding greater transparency from their employer and confronting management with their ethical concerns about a project named Dragonfly, a controversial censored search app for the Chinese market. Instead of looking at this from their…

  • Google Chrome on an idle Android phone sends nearly fifty times more requests per hour than iOS on Safari

    Digital Content Next reported that Google Chrome on an idle Android phone sends nearly fifty times more requests per hour than iOS on Safari. A dormant, stationary Android phone (with the Chrome browser active in the background) communicated location information to Google 340 times during a 24-hour period, or at an average of 14 data…

  • European Commission fines Google €4.34 billion for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices

    The European Commission released a statement on fining Google €4.34 billion for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices to strengthen dominance of Google’s search engine. The European Commission has fined Google €4.34 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules. Since 2011, Google has imposed illegal restrictions on Android device manufacturers and mobile network operators to cement…

  • Google launches its first WeChat mini program as its China experiments continue

    TechCrunch reported on Google launching its first WeChat mini program as its China experiments continue. WeChat has become the key distribution channel in China and that’s why Google is embracing it with its first mini program — 猜画小歌, a game that roughly translates to ‘Guess My Sketch.’ There’s no English announcement but the details can…

  • Google to pour $550m into JD.com in a strategic partnership

    Tech in Asia reported that Google is investing $550m into JD.com in a strategic partnership. Most of Google’s services are still banned in China, but the US tech behemoth is trickling into that market in various other ways. Today, it announced that it’s pouring US$550 million into ecommerce powerhouse JD.com as part of a “strategic…

  • Google collects Android users’ locations even when location services are disabled

    Quartz reported that Google collects Android users’ locations even when location services are disabled. Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that data back to Google. The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to…

  • What I learned about my iPhone after switching to the Google Pixel

    Khoi Vinh wrote about what he learned about my iPhone after switching to the Google Pixel. I also discovered something interesting about Google’s much vaunted strength in services: sometimes it’s no better than Apple’s. As an iTunes Match user, I’ve long bemoaned Apple’s inability to make automatic syncing of my music library between devices truly…

  • The Google Pixel phone is looking good

    If you’re an Android fan, willing to buy a premium phone, the Pixel is your answer. To repeat: it’s simply the best Android phone I’ve tested. If you’re an iPhone user thinking of switching, the Pixel will seem physically familiar, but you’ll have to overcome the sticky links you’ve developed with fellow iPhone users, things…