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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."
Waymo will add 62,000 Chrysler hybrid minivans to its fleet
We heard in January that Waymo was expanding its agreement with Chrylser for 'thousands' of additional hybrid minivans, which would start being delivered in late 2018. Apparently, that was an understatement. Today, news emerged that the automaker will supply the autonomous car company with 62,000 its family vehicles.
Facebook wants its new campus to be a mini neighborhood
It's been four years since Facebook got the ok to build a new Frank Gehry-designed headquarters in Menlo Park, California, and two years since the company moved into the space. Now the company is looking to expand again. Unlike Apple's isolated spaceship campus, however, Facebook's new "Willow Campus" seems to take a cue from Google in offering more public access. The new Menlo Park campus is designed to connect to other people, providing housing, retail and transportation to both the company and its neighbors. The official filing of the plan is set to occur later this month.
Google gives up on 'Hands Free' wireless mobile payments
Google has ended its "Hands Free" payment scheme, which let you live the retail dream of paying wirelessly with no need to pull out a card or phone. The program, which ran only in San Francisco's South Bay area, first detects if you're in a participating store using your smartphone's location services. If you say you're "paying with Google," it then completes the transaction over Bluetooth LE or WiFi, with the cashier verifying the purchase using your photo ID.
Book your next workout right from a Google search
Google's been transforming Search for a bit, making it easier to find TV listings, restaurant menus and plan a vacation. Next up the internet juggernaut is making it easier to book a sweat session -- and maybe more than that in the future. For now though, Reserve With Google handles yoga and fitness classes in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area and New York City. And, you guessed it, the feature will come to Maps and Search in short order.
Peter Thiel's tech wealth made him a First Amendment gatekeeper
Peter Thiel built his fortune in Silicon Valley as a founder of PayPal, an early backer of Facebook and a venture capitalist focused on the technology industry. He's living proof of the Bay Area's ability to make billionaires of mortal men. Using a fraction of his tech billions, Thiel bankrolled Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media earlier this year, which eventually led to the company declaring bankruptcy and shutting down Gawker.com. Thiel had held a grudge against the site for years, after he claimed it outed him as gay in 2007. Since the Gawker ruling, Thiel has fielded questions about the ethics of a billionaire effectively using his money to shut down a news organization that he didn't like, a move that some argue violate the site's First Amendment rights. He's responded by calling his $10 million support of Hulk Hogan's lawsuit "one of [the] greater philanthropic things" that he's ever done. Thiel has also said he's backing other, similar lawsuits. During a Q&A session at the National Press Club today, Thiel explained three key things about the Gawker lawsuit:
Lyft suspends its Bay Area carpooling service
Lyft has learned a valuable lesson from one of its most recent ventures: the carpooling biz is tough to get into. The company is "pausing" the carpooling service it launched for the Bay Area just a few months ago, and according to Forbes, it's all because it wasn't able to entice enough drivers to sign up for it. Lyft presented the program as a way to earn between $4 and $10 per ride just by picking up people going the same way. Unfortunately, things didn't work out, and the company reportedly told the team behind the offering that they'll be transferred to other divisions.
Zuckerberg foundation aims to help with SF's housing crisis
The influx of engineers, employees and entrepreneurs into Silicon Valley has caused area housing prices to skyrocket, pushing out locals and earning the industry some deserved ill-will. Now the nascent Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has turned its attention to the problem, spending the last few weeks meeting with experts. But the endeavor is still heavily in the research phase, so don't expect it to find a solution to the complex housing crisis soon.
Lyft has a new carpooling service for the Bay Area
If you're in the Bay Area, you can add Lyft's upcoming carpooling service to the list of ridesharing options you can use to get around. The company has joined forces with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and SF Bay's 511 Rideshare program to launch a new carpooling service separate from its other products. Based on the info available on its website, it'll work just like any other similar offering: simply tell the app your route, and it will match you with people going the same way. You save money, and so will they.
Amazon's one-hour deliveries expand to San Francisco, San Antonio
Amazon continues to expand its Prime Now one-hour deliveries. The online retailer has announced that the service is now available in San Jose, San Francisco and other places around the Bay Area, including Mountain View and Cupertino -- Google and Apple's home, respectively. Prime Now's also hitting San Antonio, which joins Austin, Dallas and, most recently, Houston as the Texan cities where Amazon's ultra-fast delivery offering is live. In case you're not familiar with Now, it lets Prime members receive select orders in less than 60 minutes for a $7.99 fee, with an app that's available for iOS, Android and Kindle devices. Or, if you're not in a rush to get the items, they can be at your doorstep in about two hours free of charge.
Google Shopping Express intros new mobile app, expands Bay Area service
Google began testing its new same-day delivery service, Shopping Express, with a limited trial for San Francisco customers back in March, and it's apparently proven successful enough for an expansion. Starting today, residents of the greater Bay Area -- from San Francisco to San Jose -- can streamline their to-do list by having local stores deliver straight to their doors. Included on the list of participating retailers are national giants like Target, Toys R Us, Walgreens, Staples and Whole Foods (just to name a few), though some smaller businesses will also take part. The service is also expanding to mobile phones, as Google is launching a new Shopping Express app for both Android and iOS devices; with it, you can search for items, browse different stores and place orders from your phone. For more information, check out the source link below.
T-Mobile's 4G LTE goes live in Phoenix, San Jose
T-Mobile has started to roll out 4G services in the Phoenix and San Jose ahead of a press gathering today, according to our tipsters. Screen grabs show the service alive and kicking out speeds in the 20-30Mbps range, though we've yet to verify it for ourselves. The company already outed its "UnCarrier" plans on its site earlier featuring non-subsidized smartphones -- including LTE models -- along with unlimited voice, text and basic data plans. We should be able to color in the rest of the details later this morning. [Thanks Nick, Dustin]
Google X lab is full of smart people with crazy dreams and frozen yogurt machines, probably
A Google lab so secret that even some of the company's own employees don't know of its existence? That's Google X -- or it was, before The New York Times ran a profile on the lab's super secret goings-on at an undisclosed location somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. Naturally, the paper doesn't have a ton of information about the lab, which some claim is "run like the CIA," though it paints a picture populated by robots who are are learning menial work tasks and how to take photos for Google Maps. There are around 100 concepts in all from the lab that helped give rise to those driverless cars, including social networking dinner plates and internet-connected refrigerators. No word on the lab's production of an adamantium-laced super soldier for the Canadian government, but we're sure it's around there somewhere.
Better Place's electric taxis coming to SF Bay Area, thanks to $7 million grant
San Francisco, San Jose and Palo Alto, California were all too happy to endorse Better Place's electric vehicle infrastructure two years ago, but now the powers that be have invested some cash to get this show on the road. The Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission has dropped $6.9 million to purchase and build 61 electric taxis and four robotic battery swap stations to put freshly juiced cells in place -- just like Better Place has been doing with Tokyo taxis since April 26th. Yellow Cab Cooperative and Yellow Checker Cab will operate the zero-emission vehicles, though CNET reports that they've yet to choose a particular type -- perhaps we'll finally see Mitsubishi's i MiEV with a steering wheel on the left-hand side? PR after the break.
San Francisco considers displaying phone radiation levels next to price tag
If the San Francisco Department of the Environment gets its way, starting as soon as next month Bay Area residents might start noticing the radiation levels of cellphones displayed prominently next to their respective price at retail outlets. This is, of course, despite no definitive research that the handsets cause harm and the FCC's insistence that the devices sold to consumers are safe. The proposal is being endorsed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who as it's noted is not about to stop using his iPhone anytime soon. Not to worry, Maine, you'll still keep the top spot for most ridiculous cellphone warning label.
Video: Better Place's automated electric vehicle battery switch station is faster than Melvin Dummar
It's massive, costs $500,000, and is just a prototype; but you're looking at a possible solution for swapping out heavy car batteries from future electric vehicles. Kind of important if you're hoping to take your EV on a trip a bit further than the supermarket or city center without having to stop for a lengthy recharge. This switch station, unveiled in Japan by Better Place, can swap out a spent battery in less time than it takes to refuel the tank in that baby-killer of a car you hold so precious. These battery swap stations are just part of the enormous infrastructure required to support Better Place's subscription approach to electric vehicles -- infrastructure easily estimated to cost $250 million or so for countries like Israel or Denmark on up to the $1 Billion already pledged by San Francisco Bay Area mayors. Better Place admits that the swap technology is a work in progress but hopes to have 150,000 charging stations and about 100 battery swap stations deployed in Israel by 2011. Check the video after the break.
Better Place's $1 billion electric vehicle grid headed to Bay Area
Need another reason to live in America's other bastion of social liberalism and homelessness? How about a $1 billion electric vehicle re-charging infrastructure in the Bay Area? Palo Alto's Better Place is finally bringing its ambitious, city-wide electrical grid and battery exchange service home after staking plans to do the same in Israel, Denmark, and Australia. The plan just endorsed by the San Jose, Oakland, and San Francisco Mayors (without coughing up any money), is expected to result in 250,000 charging ports (for topping off charges), 200 battery-swap stations (for trips over 100 miles), and a driver service center by 2012 -- network planing and permitting will begin in 2009 with infrastructure deployment set to kickoff in 2010. Here's how it works, customers will receive a discounted price on electric vehicles when they subscribe to drive a certain number of miles -- Better Place will own the batteries. Besides clearing the way of government bureaucracy, the mayors have agreed to offer incentives for companies that install the plug-in stations. Now get this, Better Place expects to lure electric vehicles from the usual suspects like Toyota, Renault-Nissan, and GM in addition to, get this, Tesla Motors. Oh yes. Almost makes us want to hug an Upper Haight, teenage, poser hippie. Almost.Update: Coincidentally, Tesla is considering a small, swappable battery for its Model S sport sedan that, according to Elon Musk, could be changed "faster than you can fill a car with gasoline." Ah, synergy.[Via San Jose Mercury News, Thanks KKH]
AT&T gets official with U-verse Total Home DVR
No surprises here, but AT&T is doing the right thing by getting official with its Total Home DVR -- which we've been expecting for like, ever. A number of loyal U-verse users received word of the change last week, but now the provider is rolling the software out to the Bay Area at no additional charge; as for everyone else, expect to receive it before 2009 dawns. So, what's so fresh about Total Home? Oh, just the ability to watch five HD programs simultaneously throughout the home, among other nice extras listed in bulleted fashion after the jump.
Comcast launches six new HD channels in San Francisco Bay area
Stressing out over taxes? Sure, a new half dozen HD channels on your EPG isn't apt to solve your problems, but at least you'll have something to look forward to when you're done fighting the lines at the post office, right? Comcast has announced that six newcomers are headed to the San Francisco Bay area today: Sci-Fi HD, Food Network HD, Animal Planet HD, The Learning Channel (TLC) HD, CNN HD and AMC HD. Users in the region will also have access to over 400 high-definition on-demand choices, but the release does note that certain parts of Santa Rosa, Hayward, San Leandro, Sunnyvale, Los Gatos and Saratoga will sadly be left out of the upgrade. Here's to hoping The Man isn't holding you down, eh?
FSN Bay Area re-launching as Comcast SportsNet Bay Area
While FSN New York became MSG Plus over on the east coast, it looks as if the Bay Area flavor of FSN will be keeping the balance in tact here on the left coast. Effective March 31st, FSN Bay Area will be known as Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, and in celebration, a special pre-game ceremony will be aired on said channel to showcase the new outfield signs at McAfee Coliseum on April 1st. The Pregame Live show will commence just 30 minutes prior to the first of 70 Oakland A's games that will be aired on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, and for those not up to speed on schedules, it'll be a home opener against the 2007 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. For more details on specials slated to hit the network, check out the read link below.
