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Google reveals plans to build 20,000 Bay Area homes
Google says it'll invest in thousands of new homes in the Bay Area over the next decade, in the hopes of helping many of its employees and other residents find an affordable place to live in one of the planet's most expensive regions. CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post that Google plans to repurpose at least $750 million worth of land it owns for residential housing. Through this, the company hopes to "support the development of at least 15,000 new homes at all income levels in the Bay Area, including housing options for middle and low-income families."
Amazon's cashierless Go stores may come to an airport near you
Airport shopping is mostly about perfumes, booze and overpriced electronics, but that could soon change. Amazon has reportedly inquired about installing its cashierless Go stores at several US airports, according to Reuters. Emails from a public records request revealed that Amazon asked for meetings with managers at San Jose and Los Angeles international airports and received a positive response. "I am looking forward to moving forward with the Amazon Go technology at the airport," wrote one airport IT manager.
Daimler and Bosch pick San Jose for autonomous taxi trial
Mercedes' parent company Daimler and automotive supplier Bosch announced back in 2017 their plans to get autonomous vehicles on the road "by the beginning of the next decade." Now, the partnership is getting ready to roll out testing, and has earmarked San Jose for a pilot trial in the second half of 2019.
AT&T expands its 5G network to North Carolina and Oklahoma City (updated)
AT&T's mobile 5G network will expand to three new cities this year. Folks in two of North Carolina's biggest population centers -- Charlotte (above) and Raleigh -- and those in Oklahoma City will have access to the faster wireless signal. Previously, it announced Atlanta, and Dallas and Waco in Texas. "We're deliberately launching with a mix of big and mid-sized cities," AT&T said in a press release. "All Americans should have access to next-gen connectivity to avoid a new digital divide."
TwitchCon 2018 tickets are now on sale, starting at $89
This year's TwitchCon is moving north from Long Beach, California, to the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, and if you're planning to make the trip to the annual gathering of Twitch creators and fans this October, you can now snap up your tickets. Saturday and Sunday single-day tickets cost $89 ($99 on site, if there are any still available), Friday tickets are $99 ($109), and three-day passes are $179 ($189). Friday perhaps costs a little more because that's when the keynote and party take place.
Airbnb lets hosts offer their homes for future emergencies
Airbnb hosts have long had the opportunity to offer free housing during emergencies. What about making yourself available ahead of time? If you live in the right area, you're set. The home rental service is launching a pilot program that will let San Jose residents put themselves on a standby list before there's even a hint of a crisis. The move should speed up the community's response in the event of a crisis, ensuring that stranded people don't have to wait for shelters over their heads.
How to watch Apple's WWDC keynote
It's already that time of year again: WWDC, Apple's annual developer conference. You can peep it live, as it happens, right here from wherever you are at 1PM Eastern/10AM Pacific. New this year? You'll be able to watch the keynote in Chrome and Firefox in addition to Safari and Microsoft Edge. It's like the future! Now, Apple says that for the "best" experience you should use one of its own devices (or Microsoft Edge). Of course, you can still watch on your Apple TV if you feel so inclined.
Facebook patents tech to determine social class
We've got great news this week for nation-state employees tasked with using social media to spark a class war in previously stable democracies! Facebook is patenting technology to decide if its users are upper, middle or working class -- without even using the usual marker for social class: an individual's income (the patent considers this a benefit).
Google gets closer to building its own city in San Jose
Google has been making major development moves in downtown San Jose and yesterday the City Council agreed to negotiate a sale of 16 parcels of land owned by the city. The deal has been strongly supported by San Jose's mayor and vice mayor but the city's residents have been a bit more hesitant.
Google considering $82 million general aviation facility at San Jose International Airport
It's no secret that Google has an interest in the automotive industry, but over the years the popular search giant has also managed to amass quite the collection of aircraft. So many, in fact, that the company is in the process of inking an $82 million construction deal that would bring its fleet to San Jose International Airport. Pending city council approval, the privately funded facility would generate an annual $2.6 million in rent and around $400,000 in fuel revenues, while also creating some 236 jobs. If agreed upon, the 29-acre Googleport will take up to two years to build and will include an executive terminal along with hangars to house the company's fleet. Google currently parks its jets at Moffett Federal Airfield, where the company has offered to renovate NASA Ames' Hangar One in exchange for two-thirds of its facility space. There's no word if either deal will affect the other, but as it stands San Jose's city council is expected to vote on its proposal sometime in April. Update: Initially, we incorrectly reported that Google owns a fleet or 747 aircraft. We have corrected the error.
Samsung expands Silicon Valley crib with 1.1 million square foot R&D center
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the most extravagant flashy lifestyle, the deluxe villa, the fly palace of Samsung Semiconductor Inc. It only exists as a pile of architects' drawings right now, and probably looks nothing like the Minecraft wonderment shown above, but when it's finished the 10-story San Jose structure will boast the following: A new sales and R&D center, built in the stead of some existing Samsung offices, with floor space totaling 1.1 million square feet. A layout that seeks to "encourage interaction among staff" and "foster connections with the community," while ultimately improving Sammy's "soft capabilities" A parking garage and an "amenity pavilion" (whatever that is, we just know we can't afford one) So, that's pretty much it in terms of detail. But to put all this into perspective, we're talking about an HQ that will be slightly bigger than Apple's recent 3,600-worker expansion in Austin, Texas -- or around a third the size of an infinite loop. [Image credit: MinecraftModsDL.com]
Apple v. Samsung jury finds Apple's patents valid, awards it nearly $1.05 billion in damages
The federal court jury in the patent infringement lawsuit between Apple and Samsung has presented its verdict after deliberating for just 21 hours and 37 minutes following the three week trial. This particular case started with Apple's lawsuit last April and now the jury's decision is that Samsung did infringe on Apple's '381 bounceback patent with all 21 of its products in question. For the '915 patent on pinch-and-zoom, the jury ruled all but three of the devices listed infringed, and more damningly, found that Samsung executives either knew or should have known their products infringed on the listed patents. The jury has also found against Samsung when it comes to Apple's contours on the back of the iPhone and its home screen GUI. The Galaxy Tab, was found not to have infringed upon Apple's iPad design patents. The bad news for Samsung continued however, as the jury decided that not only did it willfully infringe on five of the seven Apple patents, but also upheld their validity when it came to utility, design and trade dress. The amount of the damages against Samsung is in: $1,051,855,000.00 (see below). That's less than half of the $2.5 billion it was seeking, but still more than enough to put an exclamation point on this victory for the team from Cupertino. The final number is $1,049,343,540, after the judge found an issue with how the jury applied damages for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE and Intercept. The jury also ruled that Apple did not infringe upon Samsung's patents with the iPhone 3G and 3GS, and has awarded it zero dollars in damage. We'll have more information for you as it become available. Update: Both companies have released statements on the matter, with Apple stating via the New York Times the ruling sends a loud and clear message that "stealing isn't right." Samsung has its own viewpoint calling this "a loss for the American consumer" that will lead to fewer choices, less innovation and high prices. You can see both in their entirety after the break.
Google Maps adds live traffic for over 130 cities, boosts existing coverage
Google has expanded its Maps traffic coverage before, but rarely on a grand scale. The search giant isn't standing on tradition this time: it just flipped on live traffic data for at least the major roads in over 130 cities. Most of the coverage centers around smaller cities in the US, although Google is tipping its hat to Latin America with first-time support for Bogota, San Jose (in Costa Rica) and Panama City. Coverage has also been improved in a dozen other countries worldwide. While the widened reach still won't ease the burden of anyone already caught in a traffic jam, any democratization of smarter driving directions is good in our book.
Samsung drops Apple countersuit -- Apple's still got a bone to pick
Back in April, Samsung slapped back at Apple's claims of patent infringement with a healthy helping of ten claims of its own. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung quietly dropped its countersuit against the Cupertino-based company on June 30th, in an attempt "to streamline the legal proceedings." Of course that doesn't mean the saga is over: Apple's smartphone infringement accusations stand, as do legal battles in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the UK. Samsung says it will also continue to fight Apple's accusations in the US in the form of a counter-claim. One down, one to go?Update: To clarify, this does not mean that Samsung has abandoned its own infringement claims against Apple. Those claims have been rolled into counter-claims in the original suit.
Steve Jobs conceived of "statement HQ" for Apple in 1983
The mothership campus Steve Jobs envisions for Cupertino is not the first statement headquarters he has pursued. Back in 1983, Jobs eyed Coyote Valley, San Jose for a world-class campus. Former San Jose mayor Tom McEnery tells the story of a meeting he had with a young Steve Jobs. Jobs saw the Coyote Valley location from a helicopter and selected the grassy property for Apple's next home. Soon the property belonged to Apple, and a rough draft of the plans was sketched on a piece of paper. Jobs hired well-known architect I.M. Pei to build the campus and preserve the pastoral quality of the land. Unfortunately, politics and the economy hindered Jobs' dream. This location was one of San Jose's last undeveloped parcels of land, and its repurposing was the topic of hot debate. At the same time, the economy went belly up and Jobs was removed from the company. McEnery tried to re-kindle interest in the Apple campus with CEO John Sculley, but the idea fizzled and Apple eventually sold the property. [Via MacObserver]
Record number of aircraft 'laser events' gives us one more reason to hate LA
Are you that kid aiming his father's laser pointer at people walking along city sidewalks? Yeah, well stop it -- now. What you might consider a harmless prank can have serious repercussions when aimed at the cockpit of an approaching jetliner. What seems like good fun at the time can temporarily blind a pilot attempting to land nearly a million pounds of life, metal, and fuel. According to the numbers just released by the FAA, 2010 saw a record number of reports of lasers pointed at aircraft -- "almost double" the number of reports from 2009. Of the 2,800 incidents reported nationwide, the Los Angeles area reported the most with 201 incidents, followed by Chicago (98), Phoenix (80, half of which were probably UFO related), and San Jose (80 -- nerds!). Top 20 list after the break.
AT&T's fridge even more rotten than its 3G streaming limits
Look we're all guilty of generating a little fridge-fuzz now and again. A practice that's disgusting at home turns downright antisocial at the office. Or near-fatal if you work at AT&T's San Jose office where a dirty fridge sent 7 people to the hospital yesterday. The incident started when an office refrigerator was found unplugged and stuffed with moldy food. While cleaning the fridge, the combination of chemical solvents with neatly labeled cups of rotting yoghurt and pork-roast parfaits created a cloud of toxic fumes that prompted a 911 call and the dispatch of a hazmat team. 28 people in total were treated for nausea and vomiting. AT&T: More SARS in more places.
Space Observer to innocently watch you at San Jose's airport
It's every child's dream to one day walk through a trio of space robot legs as entering Silicon Valley, and if a proposed art project goes through, said dream will become a reality for budding tech superstars who land in Mineta San Jose International Airport. The $300,000 initiative would see a so-called Space Observer built and showcased prominently in the venue, allowing patrons to walk underneath its two-story-tall body and emit all sorts of "oohs" and "ahhs." The monolithic space robot would sport three legs and propeller-tipped kinetic camera arms, the latter of which would collect live video to be displayed on embedded monitors within its body. San Jose Public Art Director Barbara Goldstein has already stated that "it won't follow you anywhere," but it's not like she really has the power to control what this obviously sentient creature does / doesn't do.
Vandals take down Internet, emergency, and voice services in California
Feeling vulnerable? Maybe you should. Apparently, taking down the Internet, ATMs, and landline and wireless phone services is as easy as crawling down a few strategically located manholes and hacking through some fiber optic cables. Police in California suspect exactly that after "vandals" cut a total of 10 fiber optic cables (each containing between 48 and 360 fibers) at 4 locations on Thursday morning. The AT&T and Sprint cables knocked "tens of thousands" of San Francisco, Bay Area residents off the grid including an additional 52,000 Verizon landline and wireless customers. San Jose spokesman, Sgt. Ronnie Lopez, says that Vandals somehow managed to thwart the safeguards securing this important element of the US infrastructure. "The manhole covers are heavy," he said, "and would take quite an effort to lift, perhaps even requiring a tool." Amazing. There's been plenty of speculation that disgruntled members of the Communication Workers of America union are to blame after its contract with AT&T expired amid "strike-threatened contract negotiations" over the weekend -- something CWA officials adamantly deny. And they should... everyone knows that kidnapping corporate bosses is the hot new trend for curing the gruntles. AT&T is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the vandals.[Via SFGate]Update: Seems that reward is now up to $250,000. Tempting, no?
Tesla Motors to build new HQ, factory in San Jose
It's no surprise to see Tesla Motors giving even more attention to California -- after all, Los Angeles is home to its very first dealership -- and as soon as the requisite approvals go through, San Jose will become the site of its new headquarters and factory. Both facilities will be located on around 90 acres of land near Highway 237 in North San Jose, and early reports peg the city giving Tesla a 40-year lease with the first decade being "rent-free." The Golden State is also stepping in to provide a sweet tax-free rent-to-buy deal on the factory equipment, and in the end, the two projects could generate around 1,000 direct or indirect jobs. One question, Tesla: how's the employee discount?
