Eric Schmidt
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Former Google CEO says AI poses an 'existential risk' that puts lives in danger
Former Google chief Eric Schmidt is worried misused AI could get people 'harmed or killed.'
Eric Schmidt reportedly left Google in February
Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt is said to have left the company in February, ending a 19-year involvement with the tech giant.
Former Google chief Eric Schmidt steps down from Alphabet's board
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is not seeking reelection to the board of directors of Alphabet, Google's parent company. Schmidt will step down from the board after his current term expires on June 19th, 2019, Alphabet announced on Tuesday. Schmidt will continue to serve the board in an advisory role.
Eric Schmidt posts guide on switching from iPhone to Android
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has posted an iPhone-to-Android switcher's guide on his Google+ page. The guide seems to be written at the most basic level of smartphone comprehension and contains some rather dubious doozies, like the suggestion that Android phones "...have a much more intuitive interface" and "you will switch from iPhone to Android and never switch back." Eric's Guide: Converting to Android from iPhone Many of my iPhone friends are converting to Android. The latest high-end phones from Samsung (Galaxy S4), Motorola (Verizon Droid Ultra) and the Nexus 5 (for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) have better screens, are faster, and have a much more intuitive interface. They are a great Christmas present to an iPhone user! Here are the steps I recommend to make this switch. Like the people who moved from PCs to Macs and never switched back, you will switch from iPhone to Android and never switch back as everything will be in the cloud, backed up, and there are so many choices for you. 80% of the world, in the latest surveys, agrees on Android. While Schmidt's post is worth a read for the laughs, even better are some of the replies in the comments that pick his switching guide apart.
Eric Schmidt calls Android more secure than the iPhone, elicits laughter from crowd of CIOs and IT execs
There's no denying that Eric Schmidt is an incredibly intelligent guy, but the former Google CEO certainly has a penchant for making rather bold and arguably laughable claims. Recall that, in late 2011, he confidently predicted that mobile developers, in just six months' time mind you, would begin developing apps for Android before shifting their attention to iOS. Outdoing himself, Schmidt also predicted that "by the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded." In his latest verbal fumble, Schmidt told a packed house at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo that Android is more secure than the iPhone. While the phrase "hilarity ensues" is often bandied about in jest, Schmidt's remark literally did elicit laughter from a crowd comprised of CIOs and senior IT executives. ZDNet reports: Gartner analyst David Willis, who is chief of research for mobility and communications and who runs Gartner's Senior Research Board, said to Schmidt: "If you polled many people in this audience, they would say Google Android is not their principal platform [...] When you say Android, people say, wait a minute, Android is not secure." Schmidt didn't miss a beat, replying, "Not secure? It's more secure than the iPhone." Schmidt's answer, the report claims, "drew laughter from a packed-house audience." Not surprisingly, the report also relays that Schmidt didn't attempt to explain his answer, but rather "danced around" by trotting out the fact that Android has over a billion users and that it "therefore goes through rigorous real-world security testing." As for the prevalence of malware across mobile platforms, here are some statistics Schmidt might want to consider. The US Department of Homeland Security, along with the US Department of Justice, issued a memo last August highlighting that 44 percent of Android users were using vulnerable versions of the Android OS that were originally released in 2011. It also found that 79 percent of mobile malware posed a threat to Android, whereas just 0.7 percent of mobile malware posed a threat to iOS devices. In another report, this one released by Juniper Networks in June of 2013, it was revealed that 92 percent of all mobile malware was designed to target Android devices. The Juniper Networks report does point out that while 77 percent of Android-based malware threats could be eliminated if all Android users were using the most recent Android release, only 4 percent of users were found to be using the most recent version of Android. This of course stands in stark contrast to iOS where users have adopted iOS 7 in record numbers.
The Daily Roundup for 07.12.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Unannounced Motorola Moto X likely spotted in the hands of Google's Eric Schmidt
During the winter, Sun Valley is known for its skiing. This time of the year, however, it's quickly becoming a tech hotspot as some of the industry's top execs gather together at the annual Allen and Co media conference. Among the attendees is Google's Eric Schmidt, who brought along a mystery Motorola phone and couldn't resist showing it off. While Schmidt couldn't "comment on the nature of this phone," according to Variety's Rachel Abrams, it certainly didn't stop him from giving everyone a sneak peek. Multiple images of the device, which appears to feature a carbon fiber-like back and sleek curves, popped up on Twitter from the likes of Gary He and Taylor Wimberly. As it doesn't match the leaked pictures of the upcoming Droid Ultra or Maxx -- but carries an uncanny resemblance to the leaks and FCC diagrams we've seen of the X already -- we're guessing this is the legendary smartphone in the flesh; and judging by Schmidt's willingness to flaunt it, it's quite likely that we won't have to wait much longer before we see even more of it. There's one more shot of the device from the top past the break.
Eric Schmidt: Relationship with Apple has improved
It's funny how quickly things can change in the world of tech. One second, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is on stage with Steve Jobs during the iPhone introduction, and the next, Jobs is threatening to destroy Android and go "thermonuclear" against Google for "slavishly copying" the look and feel of Apple's crown jewel -- iOS. You might also recall that Jobs, during an Apple town hall meeting in 2010, didn't mince words when asked a question about Google. We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake: they want to kill the iPhone. We won't let them [...] This don't be evil mantra? It's bullshit. All that said, it hardly comes as a surprise that Apple over the past few years has removed every Google property from the iOS home screen. You may have also noticed that Bing is now the search engine that powers Siri's web search results in iOS 7. Suffice it to say, Google and Apple are full-on competitors and have been for quite some time. Indeed, it almost seems like eons ago when Schmidt actually held a seat on Apple's board of directors. But the vitriol between the two companies, as evidenced by Jobs' statements above, appears to have died down a bit -- at least if you're inclined to believe Schmidt. Speaking to reporters on Thursday at the Allen and Co media conference, Schmidt said that relations between Apple and Google have improved and that the two companies are having "lots and lots of meetings." Reuters reports: He noted that Google Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora, who joined him at the press briefing, was leading many of the discussions. The two companies are in "constant business discussions on a long list of issues," Schmidt said. That's all well and good if it's in fact true, but it's easy to be skeptical when Google and Schmidt have always played it coy when it comes to publicly characterizing their relationship with Apple.
NY State attorney general asks smartphone manufacturers to help combat theft
Smartphone thefts are running rampant -- especially in New York City -- so much that the practice of grabbing the expensive phones is being referred to as "Apple picking." Bloomberg announced yesterday that New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has sent letters to executives at Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung asking for information and cooperation on measures to diminish theft. In his letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Schneiderman said, "I seek to understand why companies that can develop sophisticated handheld electronics, such as the products manufactured by Apple, cannot also create technology to render stolen devices inoperable and thereby eliminate the expanding black market on which they are sold." Schneiderman has concerns that the manufacturers have benefited from sales of replacement devices. In his letter to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, he chided the search engine company by saying, "Foreign trafficking of stolen devices has proliferated, and an abundance of domestic black market resellers, including right here in New York, means as a practical matter that phones do not, contrary to your website's assertion, become unusable." It's not as if the industry is just sitting back and watching this go on, contrary to Schneiderman's assertions. Apple has been working closely with the New York Police Department to track down stolen devices, and the entire wireless industry is cooperating with the Federal Communications Commission to form a central database of stolen devices to prevent them from being reused. That database, which Engadget notes is up and running, should allow for individual devices to be rendered unusable by carriers after being reported as stolen.
Liveblog: Google's Eric Schmidt at Dive Into Mobile 2013
Fresh off of a trip to North Korea, Google's executive chairman has found himself on stage here in New York City. Eric Schmidt is kicking off the second day of D: Dive Into Mobile 2013 here in the Big Apple, and we're just a few feet away -- you know, so we can liveblog every last word of it. And, to ogle his fashionable sneakers. For those looking for a glimpse into yesteryear, you can relive our liveblog from Schmidt's D9 keynote in 2011 right here. Head on past the break for today's interview!
Anti-poaching lawsuit against Google, Apple and others denied class action status
In 2010, several high-profile tech companies -- including Apple, Google, Adobe, Intuit, Lucasfilm, Intel and Pixar -- settled a suit with the US Justice Department regarding anti-poaching agreements. The suit alleged that the aformentioned companies, from 2005 to 2009, agreed not to recruit employees from one another. One year later, five software engineers filed a class action lawsuit against those same companies alleging that the anti-poaching agreements lessened their employment opportunities and ultimately affected their negotiation power, resulting in lower salaries. Originally covered by Reuters, US District Judge Lucy Koh this past Friday ruled that the case can't proceed as a class action. At least not yet. While Koh decided against class action certification for the time being, that may change once the plaintiffs address Koh's concern that the proposed class group as defined by the plaintiffs is too broad. "Plaintiffs' examples, though compelling," Koh writes in her ruling, "may not be sufficient to show that all or nearly all class members were affected by the anti-solicitation agreements without additional documentary support or empirical analysis." Bloomberg later specified that the proposed class group put forth by the plaintiffs encompasses more than 160,000 employees. The chronology of the anti-poaching agreements, along with who partnered up with whom, can be gleaned from the graphic below. Regardless of whether or not the case proceeds as a class action, the plaintiffs appear to have a strong case as Koh has found the evidence introduced thus far to be both persuasive and damning. Koh's ruling reads in part: Indeed, the sustained personal efforts by the corporations' own chief executives, including but not limited to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Pixar President Ed Catmull, Intuit Chairman Bill Campbell and Intel CEO Paul Otellini, to monitor and enforce these agreements indicate that the agreements may have had broad effects on defendants' employees. Koh specifically cited a 2007 email sent from former Pixar president Ed Catmull to the head of Disney Studios wherein Catmull alludes to practices geared towards keeping salaries down. "We have avoided wars up in Norther[n] California because all of the companies up here -- Pixar, Dreamworks and couple of smaller places -- have conscientiously avoided raiding each other," the email reads. One example involving Apple was first brought to light during the initial 2010 investigation. There, it was was revealed that Google in 2007 was recruiting an Apple engineer. Upon getting wind of this, Steve Jobs fired off an email to then Google CEO Eric Schmidt which read, "I would be very pleased if your recruiting department would stop doing this." Schmidt reportedly forwarded the message along and implored employees to "get this stopped." Another example involving Jobs transpired when the Apple co-founder emailed former Palm CEO Ed Colligan and threatened legal action if Palm continued to recruit and hire Apple employees. Colligan indicated that Palm wasn't intimidated by Apple's threats and fired off the following email response to Jobs: Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual's desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal. [...] Palm doesn't target other companies -- we look for the best people we can find. l'd hope the same could be said about Apple's practices. However, during the last year or so, as Apple geared up to compete with Palm in the phone space, Apple hired at least 2 percent of Palm's workforce. To put it in perspective, had Palm done the same, we'd have hired 300 folks from Apple. Instead, to my knowledge, we've hired just three. It'll certainly be interesting to see what other types of evidence, if any, come to the surface as the case proceeds. In the meantime, Apple expectedly had no comment on the matter while a spokesperson for Google stated that the company has "always and aggressively recruited top talent."
Eric Schmidt: Apple is a 'tremendous technology innovator'
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt talked candidly about Apple as a competitor during Google's Big Tent event in India this week. Schmidt praised Apple for its innovation, but couldn't resist promoting the benefits of the Nexus 10 over the iPad. Schmidt addressed competing companies including Apple and said, "Apple will continue to be a tremendous technology innovator and build beautiful products, regardless of the market share of the products, and that's a great strength -- they will continue to be the innovator." When asked about the iPad and the iPad mini, Schmidt deflected the question by responding with a statement about the Nexus 10. "Frankly, if you take a look at the Samsung 10-inch tablet, called the Nexus 10? More apps, more scalable, more secure," he said. Google and Apple were once friendly rivals competing in different spaces, with Google focused on search and Apple on software and hardware. They were so amicable that Eric Schmidt, then Google CEO, sat on Apple's Board of Directors. This cordial relationship went sour when Google joined the mobile race with the introduction of Android a few months after the release of the iPhone. [Via The Verge]
Google Now isn't awaiting approval
Perhaps you're an iPhone user who has been wistfully looking at the features of Google Now on a number of Android phones and hoping that someday, your phone would be able to perform many of the same functions. According to a comment made by Google CEO Eric Schmidt today at the Google Big Tent Summit in India, Google Now may be making it to your iPhone and iPad sooner than you think. Although Jim Dalrymple and John Paczkowski throw cold water on this notion, noting that the Google Now app hasn't been submitted. When asked by a moderator when Google Now would work with his iPhone, Schmidt responded by saying "You'll need to discuss that with Apple. Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted into its store, and some of them they approve and some of them they don't." As TechCrunch's Darrell Etherington notes, that's "similar to the kind of messaging that came out of Google and its execs when rumors were swirling about releasing Maps as a standalone app." Engadget received a supposed leaked video (below) last week showing how Google Now would work on iPhone and iPad, and demonstrating how the service is available from within the Google Search app with a simple swipe up on the screen.
Google Giving helps bring 15,000 Raspberry Pi units to UK school children
It's not every day your class gets a visit from a tech bigwig like Eric Schmidt. Google's executive chairman paid a visit to a UK school, alongside Raspberry Pi co-founder Eben Upton. The duo were there to talk code, an appearance that coincided with the announcement that a grant from Google Giving will be bringing 15,000 Raspberry Pi Model Bs to kids in that country. The companies will be working alongside six educational partners to decide precisely whose hands those little computers will end up in. More info on the program can be found in the source link.
Google boss suggests North Korean government should embrace the internet
Speaking to reporters in Beijing airport after his trip to Pyongyang, Google's Eric Schmidt has expressed bewilderment at the fact that North Korean citizens still aren't hooked up to the web. He pointed out that the government could retool its 3G mobile network to provide access to the outside world and said "it would be very easy for them to turn that on." Then he flew home.
Bill Richardson's office confirms North Korea humanitarian trip with Google's Eric Schmidt
The office of Bill Richardson confirmed the former New Mexico governor's planned trip to North Korea with Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt today via press release. The trip, planned for next week, is being billed as a humanitarian initiative. The duo's team also includes Google employee Jared Cohen, the director of the software giant's Google Ideas initiative, a think tank tasked with "tackling some of the toughest human challenges." Ideas' mission statement also highlights the program's search for "challenges that affect multiple regions and demographics, so that the technological developments our insights fuel will scale to help as many people as possible."
Google's Eric Schmidt: Android is winning
While Google CEO Larry Page was reserved in his recent comments regarding the tech giant's relationship with Apple, Google's Eric Schmidt is more direct. Speaking with Bloomberg, the Google chairman and former CEO made it clear that the company believes it's winning the war against Cupertino. "This is a huge platform change; this is of the scale of 20 years ago -- Microsoft versus Apple. We're winning that war pretty clearly now," he said, referring to the market-share battle between Android and iOS. According to a recent report by the International Data Corporation, Apple holds roughly 19 percent of the smartphone landscape, while Android controls more than 68 percent.
Google's Eric Schmidt focused on growing Android's share, admits it won't be 'perfectly controlled'
During a wide-ranging Bloomberg interview with Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, the executive focused for a bit on the current status of Android, while also making a few interesting comments about its future. "This is a huge platform change; this is of the scale of 20 years ago -- Microsoft versus Apple," he said. Following that, he stated that Google was "winning that war pretty clearly now," referencing the 72 percent market share figure that was tallied up by Gartner at the end of Q3 2012. And with some 1.3 million Android devices being activated each day, it's hard to argue with the sheer momentum of the thing. Beyond all that -- phrases that have been said before by bigwigs at the company in roundabout ways -- things got particularly interesting when he pivoted to talking about his plans for the operating system's future: "The core strategy is to make a bigger pie. We will end up with a not perfectly controlled and not perfectly managed bigger pie by virtue of open systems." In many ways, this touches directly on the fragmentation issue that's becoming more and more prevalent with each passing Android release. The longer the platform lives, the more people are being left behind on older builds. Without trying to read too closely betwixt the lines, it sure sounds as if Google's top priority is to get Android to as many people as possible, while letting the details -- things like percentage of Android users able to update to its latest version -- fall as they may. It's obviously a very different tactic from that taken in Cupertino, but then again, thinking differently sure hasn't hurt either of the two.
Eric Schmidt talks Apple to WSJ, sort of...
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt sat down with the Wall Street Journal's Jessica Lessin last week for an interview. He talked about recent rumors that he might be in line for a Cabinet post (Schmidt says he has "no interest in working for the federal government"), an antitrust lawsuit that might be brewing and Google's relationship with Apple. Many of Schmidt's answers to questions about Apple seemed to be quite evasive. Regarding the Google / Apple relationship, Schmidt pointed out that "Obviously, we would have preferred them to use our maps. They threw YouTube off the home screen [of iPhones and iPads]. I'm not quite sure why they did that." When it comes to the possibility of a patent-related settlement, Schmidt noted that the two companies are constantly having conversations about legal strategies. He did find it "curious that Apple has chosen to sue Google's partners and not Google itself." When confronted with the fact that developers earn more with iOS apps than Android apps, Schmidt seemed to provide a non sequitur as an answer, saying "Google Play and the monetization just started working well in the last year, maybe the last six months. The volume is indisputable and with the volume comes the opportunity and the luxury of time." One other question was about Apple's Siri virtual assistant, to which Schmidt replied "Well, it's competition." Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Eric.
Eric Schmidt: 'it's extremely curious' that Apple hasn't yet sued Google
Google's roving uncle, Eric Schmidt, has sat down with the Wall Street Journal to talk about life and times at Mountain View. When asked about the ongoing saga between Apple and Android manufacturers, Schmidt said "it's extremely curious that Apple has chosen to sue Google's partners and not Google itself." However, rather than an invitation to a back-alley knife-fight, it seems the company chairman is hoping for a peaceful solution to the pair's enmity. He also talks about the real loser in this global patent conflict -- anyone looking to set up their own device company to follow in the footsteps of Android's daddy, Andy Rubin.
