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Apple hires former Google AI scientist who left after ethics turmoil
Apple has hired former Google Brain research manager Samy Bengio, who left the company after its firings of two female AI researchers.
Google to shut down its job application service in 2020
The list of products Google has put to rest grows ever longer. Over the past few months, the tech giant has killed Google+, Inbox, Allo, Jump VR platform and Daydream VR's Play Movies & TV app. Now, it's also shutting down its job listings app Hire, which used to be touted as a fledgling LinkedIn competitor. Google launched Hire merely two years ago, in an effort to make the hiring process easier for small to mid-sized businesses. On the support page announcing its shutdown, Google said Hire "has been successful," but it's now "focusing [its] resources on other products in the Google Cloud portfolio."
Facebook hires former Vine head for its New Product Experimentation Team
Former Vine boss Jason Toff announced he'll be joining Facebook next. In a Twitter post, Toff shared that he'll be leading Facebook's New Product Experimentation (NPE) Team. Revealed last week, the NPE Team will focus on "entirely new experiences for building community," and the high-profile hire could be promising.
Apple bolsters its TV unit with more top Sony talent
Seasoned execs from the world of network television are dotted all around video services. Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon have all made big hires from TV land to help boost original programming. And, it seems Apple has been taking notes. Keen to launch its own competitive line-up of exclusive shows, the tech giant is adding yet more execs to its TV unit. The same unit that has $1 billion to play around with for new content. And, that may one day shoot its productions on its very own Hollywood studio lot. You can't accuse Apple of being shy about its ambitions.
Google job listings app Hire now available in the US
Google might be able to help a lot of Americans find their next jobs. Mountain View has officially launched its job listings app and LinkedIn competitor Hire, a few months after its website was first spotted. The company designed Hire to integrate seamlessly with G Suite apps in order to make the hiring process easier for small to mid-sized businesses. It's not exactly something you'll use as an applicant, but it has features that can prevent recruiters from dropping off the face of the Earth because they lost your emails or info.
Google quietly takes on LinkedIn with its own job listings site
Google has a new job listings portal coming online soon, adding yet another site you'll need to upload your resume to. You can even visit the Google Hire site now, though it won't let you sign in, yet. According to Axios, Hire will enable companies to post job listings and individuals to search for and find their next job.
Apple reportedly hires former Tesla engineering VP
Apple and Tesla have been known to swap employees on the regular, especially with development for Project Titan ramping up in Cupertino. It seems Tim Cook & Co. are it again, this time reportedly nabbing former Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Chris Porritt to work on "special projects." It's pretty easy to connect the dots between hiring an auto engineer an Apple's own car aspirations. Electrek reports that Porritt is the latest former Tesla employee to make the leap to Apple, filling a senior position with someone who has experience with EVs and served as Aston Martin's chief engineer.
DVLA extends licence code lifespan to help Brits hire cars abroad
It's not often that a government department takes on feedback and quickly makes a change to its processes, but fair play to the DVLA, it's just done exactly that. After the agency phased out paper driving licences and asked British holidaymakers to present online codes to car hire companies instead, travellers complained that the allocated three-day window was too small. It's only been a month, but the DVLA has revised its ruling and expanded the window to three weeks.
Nintendo hired a guy named Bowser as its new VP of sales
You could say he's been a company man all his life.
HTC hires marketing exec who led Samsung to smartphone dominance
It's no secret, HTC has an image problem. Despite consistently creating some of our favorite phones, it's failed to reach the heights of popularity of manufacturers like Samsung. That could soon change. In what is almost certainly not a coincidence, HTC has hired Samsung's former Chief Marketing Officer, Paul Golden. The Verge confirmed the rumor, first picked up by Bloomberg, earlier this afternoon. Golden, who "created and launched the highly successful Galaxy brand for Samsung," according to his LinkedIn profile, was reportedly hired on as a consultant to Chairwoman Cher Wang.
State of Decay developer hires MMO veteran Patrick Wyatt
En Masse Entertainment and NCsoft West alumnus Patrick Wyatt has joined up with State of Decay developer Undead Labs to assist the team with upcoming projects. Previously, Wyatt oversaw design and development of TERA's game publishing platform, helping to launch En Masse's MMORPG in 2012. Wyatt additionally developed core server and network platform technology for Guild Wars during his time with ArenaNet, a studio he co-founded before it was purchased by NCsoft West in 2002. Wyatt's role within Undead Labs has not been disclosed, but he may assist in developing Class4, an MMO project that stalled last year during the studio's negotiations with Microsoft. Undead Labs later signed a multi-year contract with Microsoft Studios, suggesting the project may be back on track.
Tesla hires former Segway, Apple hardware engineering lead to develop new cars
So what's next for Tesla? Company founder and CEO Elon Musk has publicly stated his desire to make a more affordable EV plus cars that (mostly) drive themselves, and new hire Doug Field is in position to lead that charge. Joining Tesla as the Vice President of Vehicle Programs, he will be "responsible for driving development of new vehicles." We'll have to wait and see what those new Teslas look like, but his resume immediately shows why Musk is interested in someone with his experience. Field began his career as an engineer at Ford and later served as the CTO of Segway before moving over to Apple in 2008, where he's been the VP of Mac Hardware Engineering leading development on the Macbook Air, Macbook Pro and iMac.
Apple hires former CableLabs exec, sets TV rumor alert level to mauve
Until Apple actually produces a new TV related device, rumors about what it might be working on will continue to flow, with no end in sight. While we still don't know what's next out of Cupertino, Multichannel News reports the company has hired a former CableLabs executive for the job of engineering director. Jean-François Mulé served as senior VP of technology development at CableLabs for the last two years, and MCN indicates that before that he worked on a number of IP-based projects like DOCSIS 3.0 and second screen technology. It's still hard to say what Apple may want to build for the living room, but apparently this is the kind of person needed to fill out that "vision of the future," especially if that means working with existing cable and satellite TV services.
Do you live in San Francisco? Do you want to write for Engadget?
Oh sure, you love gadgets -- but do you have the chops to write about them? We'd love to know if you think you do, because we're looking to actually pay people to do this stuff. Professional writing experience, particularly in our industry, is greatly preferred. That said, what we really care about is that you can write skillfully about gadgets with wit, concision, authority and blinding speed, even if you haven't cut your teeth in the tech sector just yet. Oh, and being obsessed with Engadget is good, too. We're looking for a freelance editor in the San Francisco area. Want to apply? Read on!
Graphics chip designer Raja Koduri heads back to AMD after four-year stint at Apple
Well, it looks like AMD had a bit of news up its sleeve that it chose not to drop during its earnings call yesterday. The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that famed graphics chip designer Raja Koduri is heading back to the company, which he left in 2009 to take on the graphics CTO role at Apple. Presumably, Koduri will again be performing some similar duties at AMD, but the company isn't offering any further details just yet apart from saying that it's "very pleased" about the move. Update 4/22: AMD has now issued a press release confirming that Koduri's new role at the company is Corporate Vice President, Visual Computing, which sees him reporting to another former Apple exec, Mark Papermaster.
Go Daddy hires former Microsoft and Yahoo exec Blake Irving as next CEO
Just in time to stand behind what will undoubtedly be the most grotesque Super Bowl ad of the 2013 contest, Blake Irving is taking the top seat over at Go Daddy. The infamous, flip-flopping domain registrar has confirmed that Irving will begin duties as CEO starting January 7th of next year, succeeding interim CEO Scott Wagner. Prior to this, Irving spent a grand total of 15 years in various hallways at Microsoft, most recently as Corporate Vice President of the Windows Live Platform. He also served as the Chief Product Officer at Yahoo, while he presently serves on the Board of GolfLogix. Mum's the word on whether or not his introductory video will be too risque for American television.
Apple snags Amazon's A9 head to lead Siri team
Companies poach each other's employees and execs all the time. But, Apple's latest score, William Stasior, is a pretty substantial one. For the last six years he has served as president and CEO of A9, Amazon's search and ad subsidiary. Before that he held other search-related roles at Amazon and worked at AltaVista, departing around the time of the Yahoo! acquisition. In his new role at Cupertino, Stasior will be leading the Siri team. The MIT Ph.D will be taking the helm of the voice-powered virtual assistant, which has led some to speculate that Apple could be stepping up search and advertising game. Considering the on-going drama between Mountain View and the purveyors of all-things-i, we wouldn't be entirely surprised to see the two go head to head on Google's home turf. But we'd say such a move would be a long term goal, at best.
Low-power chip guru quits Samsung for Apple, with heavily implied implications
The iPhone 5 already proved Apple's desire to move away from existing processor designs and exert more control over these fundamental components. Is it too crazy to imagine that Cupertino would like the same sense of freedom with its laptops? Perhaps not, especially since the biggest company in the world just hired a guy called Jim Mergard, who helped to pioneer AMD's low-power Brazos netbook chips and who had only recently moved to Samsung. A former colleague of Mergard's, Patrick Moorhead, told the WSJ that he would be "very capable of pulling together internal and external resources to do a PC processor for Apple" -- possibly based on a mobile-style SoC (system-on-chip) rather than a traditional PC approach. That's pure speculation of course, but funnily enough it's where Intel seems to be headed too.
Fisker lands former GM exec and Chevy Volt guru Tony Posawatz as CEO
Fisker hasn't had what you'd call the best year so far, but it may have found the ticket to turning its hybrid vehicle business around. Meet Tony Posawatz, Fisker's new CEO -- and, until just weeks ago, GM's Vehicle Line Director. Despite being the second new chief executive at Fisker since Tom LaSorda arrived in February, Posawatz needs little explanation for his sudden rise to power. He's an original member of the Chevy Volt leadership structure and could very well know a thing or two about developing a hybrid car from start to finish. His influence might only be keenly felt when the Atlantic wheels its way towards driveways in 2014, but there's no doubt he's onboard to right the good ship Karma and improve Fisker's reputation in the short term. We wouldn't want to be in GM's shoes as it watches one of its EV-friendly veterans so publicly jump ship, however.
AMD poaches Apple's platform architecture lead to head up CPU team
We suppose after a reasonably high-profile defection of one of AMD's own to Apple, the Sunnyvale company had to exact revenge. That payback was announced today in the form of Jim Keller, the now former platform architecture head in Cupertino, who will be joining AMD as corporate vice president and chief architect of its microprocessor unit. In a statement, the company said that Keller will be leveraging his "low-power design expertise," possibly as part of its oft-rumored ARM plans. Keller previously worked as VP of design at P.A. Semi before being brought into the Apple fold where he played an important role in the development of the processors inside the iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. With AMD struggling to keep pace with Intel in both the desktop and laptop space, a move into low-powered mobile chips could be a plan to stave off more dire days. Check out the PR after the break.
