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Amazon HQ employees can work from home until 'at least' October
Amazon's battle against COVID-19 includes letting HQ employees work from home until the fall.
HQ Trivia's fourth season starts at 9 PM ET
About a year and a half after it first popped up on our mobile screens, HQ Trivia is launching "season four" tonight at 9 PM ET with several gameplay tweaks and a refreshed cast of hosts. The trivia game streams live to player's phones and offers real cash prizes, however now you don't have to get all the way to the end to cash in. Instead players can choose to bank a smaller amount like $50 -- or keep playing for the big prize.
HQ Trivia host Scott Rogowsky leaves for a sports show
HQ Trivia has been broadcasting its live game show to mobile devices for about a year and a half now, and usually the events were hosted by "quiz daddy" Scott Rogowsky. He hasn't been on the air for the last few weeks, and as TMZ first reported today, that's because he's parted ways with HQ after taking a new job hosting a baseball show on sports streaming network DAZN. Apparently Rogowsky wanted to continue hosting HQ part-time, however the company declined to keep him on for weekend games. Former guest host Matt Richards is now the regular primetime host, and in a series of tweets Rogowsky called ChangeUp "a dream opportunity that I simply couldn't pass up." A statement provided to TechCrunch said: "We continue to build an incredible company at HQ Trivia, from drawing hundreds of thousands of players to the platform daily, to increasing the size of the prize, to attracting strong talent. We've come a long way since Scott Rogowsky's first trivia game and we're grateful for everything he's done for the platform...e're just getting started at HQ Trivia, and as he makes his next move, wanted to take a minute to thank him for being part of our journey."
The sequel to HQ Trivia is a Wheel of Fortune-style word game
HQ Trivia hit our phone screens around a year ago, promising us sweet cash money in exchange for our general knowledge skills. Since then it's kept up momentum, partnering with big name franchises and leveraging a social network-like model, in a bid to prove it's not just a passing fad. Now it's expanding further with the launch of a new game, HQ Words.
You can see your friends' HQ Trivia answers, but only on Fridays
Now that hit mobile game HQ has become more social, the company is reportedly planning to let you see your friends' answers on Fridays. TechCrunch says the feature has been in testing for a while, now, and will roll out to all HQ players this week.
Amazon picks 20 finalist cities for its next major HQ
After poring through 238 applications in the US, Canada and Mexico, Amazon has narrowed the list of cities for its next major headquarters to 20 candidates. Most of the centers picked by the Seattle-based company for its "HQ2," like Boston, New York City and Austin already have strong tech sectors. However, there were a few dark horse picks, including Columbus, OH, Raleigh, NC and Toronto, Canada.
Trivia hit HQ arrives on Android in time for New Year's Eve event
Intermedia Labs' live trivia game HQ has launched a little earlier than expected -- and just in time to mark the end of the year, too. Anyone willing and able to download an early access app can see whether or not the formerly iOS-only title lives up to its reputation. You won't have long to wait before you can give it a shot. HQ is holding a special New Year's Eve game at 11PM Eastern, and there's a chance to win as much as $18,000 if your knowledge is up to snuff.
Live trivia hit HQ comes to Android on January 1st
Intermedia Labs is making good on its promise to deliver HQ for Android by the holidays, if only just. The company has revealed that it's planning to make its previously iOS-only live trivia show available to "all" Android users by January 1st. The app arrived in limited beta on Christmas, and Intermedia is "working quickly" to expand availability over the following week. In short, just wait until the new year if you can't jump in right away.
HQ's live trivia is coming to Android in time for the holidays
Since launching in August the HQ app has been attracting hundreds of thousands of players to its twice-daily live trivia games, but so far they're all playing on iPhones. Now, a tweet indicates that Android users will be able to get in on the action soon, since "HQ has a nice little stocking stuffer coming your way." The game came from two Vine co-founders and has seen as many as 400,000 people logging on at 3 and 9 PM ET to try and win cash prizes of up to a few thousand dollars by answering trivia questions. We've seen some attempts at this before, including NBC's short-lived Million Second Quiz game show/app and the Xbox Live game 1 vs. 100. There are other games like Trivia Crack and Quiz Up, but they don't have the same live event hook, while Family Feud Live features tournaments for cash prizes but also contains subscription fees and pushes in-app purchases heavily.
The creators of Vine built a trivia show app called HQ
The Vine guys are back, but this time it's with a gameshow app called HQ. However, this app isn't like you're typical trivia game where you can play whenever you want. With HQ, gameplay is live and takes place twice a day. "It's a way to give people a chance to have fun, maybe win, maybe learn something new," Vine cofounder Rus Yusupov told TechCrunch.
Google's 'innovative' new London HQ features giant moving blinds
They've been a long time coming, but Google has finally laid out its plans for its new "innovative" £1 billion London headquarters located in Kings Cross. This week, the company submitted a detailed planning application to Camden Council, outlining its desire to build an slightly sloped 11-storey building that will sit on a "plinth" of shops and offices, and feature a three-lane 25 metre pool, multi-use games area (hosting basketball, five-a-side football or badminton), a gym and a huge landscaped roof garden.
A tour of Xiaomi's headquarters and Mi Home store
Xiaomi was quite a different company when I first visited its headquarters back in August 2011: It only occupied three floors in a small building, the cubicles were tight, security was loose (I literally just walked in almost every time) and people were working crazy long hours almost seven days a week. That was right after the company launched its first device, the original Xiaomi Phone, which set a new bar for affordable flagship smartphones in China. Fast forward to today and you'll find yourself looking at a global brand that has gone well beyond mobile and online, while its latest smartphones -- namely the Mi Note 2 and Mi MIX -- are looking better than ever. To see for yourself, check out our photo tour around Xiaomi's latest headquarters and a strangely familiar-looking Mi Home store nearby.
Apple's reportedly getting a second 'Spaceship' campus
Apple's new 2.8 million square foot California HQ hasn't even been built yet, but already the "spaceship" campus has achieved iconic status. Tim Cook and 12,000 other employees hope to move in late next year, but that won't be the end of the company's expansion in the area. BizJournals reports that Apple has signed a new deal for Landbank Investments LLC's planned Central & Wolfe campus in Sunnyvale, which is roughly a five-mile drive from its current Cupertino home.
A look at Amazon's new East London HQ
Earlier this week, Amazon announced that it's going to open a brand new HQ in the trendiest part of East London. Located in Shoreditch, the new 15-storey Principal Place offices will allow the company to almost triple its workforce from 1,700 to 5,000 employees when they open in 2017. Like it's futuristic new Seattle HQ, Principal Place will try to introduce a little nature back into the urban jungle. There's tennis and basketball courts hidden among a roof garden, while floor-to-ceiling office windows will welcome in the sun. Unlike Google, which is currently working out exactly what it wants from its new Kings Cross HQ, Amazon's plans are already set in stone, and thanks to renders from property developer Brookfield Property Partners, we can take a virtual tour what Amazon employees will enjoy in a couple of years.
Sony to reportedly offload its old Tokyo HQ for some quick cash
It appears Sony isn't quite done selling off assets in a bid to reverse its financial losses. Just weeks after it sold its VAIO PC business, the company is reportedly in talks to offload another one of its properties: its former headquarters in central Tokyo. The deal could net Sony more than 15 billion yen ($146.5 million), adding to the $2.3 billion it recouped from the sale of its New York and Osaka buildings last year. Locals have blasted the potential move, however, arguing that the company's "birthplace," where founders Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka worked on the Walkman and Trinitron TV, should be exempt from its restructuring efforts. The proceeds could be used to cushion the $1.1 billion loss Sony expects to make in its current financial year, putting no pressure whatsoever on the new Xperia Z2 family to sell well when it hits stores in April.
Google scraps London HQ design in favor of something 'even better'
Just when it looked like Google was ready to break ground on its new UK headquarters in London, the company has decided it wants to start all over again. According to Building Design, Google has told the building's architects to go back to the drawing board and called for a new design to be drawn up within its original floor plan. Previous council-approved designs for the £650 million Kings Cross HQ incorporated a roof-top running track, swimming pool and connected cycling ramps, but the development apparently wasn't ambitious enough. Google says it has a "great plan for the building" but wants "to challenge ourselves to do something even better" -- perhaps borrowing inspiration from its mysterious floating barges.
Sony unloads 'Sony City Osaki' building for $1.2 billion, will remain as lessee
In a bid to bolster its bottom line, Sony's been selling properties like a desperate monopoly player, and the latest space on the board to go is the Sony City Osaki building for 111.1 billion yen ($1.2 billion). That follows the sale of its NY headquarters for a similar sum, and the move of its mobile HQ from Sweden to Tokyo. The Osaki building has been purchased by a Japanese holding company who will lease the building back to Sony for a period of at least five years, which seems to be the trend for electronics companies lately. The Japanese conglomerate said all the property deals are being made to "transform its business portfolio and reorganize its assets." Translation? Sony needs the cash, natch.
Google's future 42-acre 'Bayview' home gets its own Vanity Fair profile
Usually when we get a peek at Google's Mountain View home it's to gawk at the latest Android-related statue but a Vanity Fair article posted today showed the company's future HQ plans. After initiating plans for a new structure next to the existing Googleplex and then abandoning them last year, it's opting for a new facility designed by Seattle firm NBBJ (which also created offices for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) in another area of the city. Planned to open as soon as 2015 -- potentially ahead of Apple's halo-shaped new digs -- it's called Bay View and consists of nine buildings connected by bridges over 42 acres. According to Google it's designed for many workers to operate just on natural light, and avail themselves of the many cafes and green roofs. Quoted in the article is civil engineer David Radcliffe, who claims that employees will never be more than a two and a half minute walk away from each other, which, along with the bent floorplan of each building, is intended to create opportunities for innovation through "casual collisions". These are just some of the tidbits included in the article waiting beyond the source link, but we're still trying to figure out where they hid parking spots for all the self-driving cars. [Image credit: NBBJ]
NVIDIA plans construction of a new, very polygonal HQ
Well, someone had to offer a counterpart to the giant donut. NVIDIA has decided that its ongoing success in 3D graphics and mobile processors merits a suitably geometric new headquarters, so it's upping the stakes among oddly-shaped offices: it's planning to construct a triangular pair of buildings a stone's throw away from its existing Santa Clara campus. Like its upcoming parallel at the Fruit Company, the NVIDIA facility will focus on both eco-friendly design and wide open spaces that, officially, are meant to reflect the company's loves of art, collaboration and science. Of course, the Tegra creator is quick to admit that it really needs the buildings to accommodate its growing staff count -- and we imagine that "make it look cool" was also part of the proposal. NVIDIA hasn't said just when the new headquarters will be ready, although it will have to make up for lost time if it wants to have Silicon Valley's star attraction.
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]
