Larry Page
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Larry Page’s Kitty Hawk air taxi startup is shutting down
After more than a decade of trying to make flying cars a reality, Kittyhawk is shutting down.
Larry Page's air taxi startup loses one of its key designers
The Larry Page-backed air taxi startup Kitty Hawk has dropped a key designer after fights over the company's strategy.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin give Sundar Pichai control of Alphabet and Google
Google's co-founders are taking a backseat. Alphabet has announced that Larry Page and Sergey Brin are stepping down as the respective CEO and President of the company, with Google CEO Sundar Pichai taking the lead at both companies effective immediately. Page and Brin will still be involved as co-founders, board members and shareholders, but they're relinquishing their leadership roles for the first time in a long while.
Kitty Hawk's 'Heaviside' is an ultra-quiet electric flying machine
As the field of players in "urban air mobility" (read: flying cars) get more crowded every day, the Larry Page-backed effort Kitty Hawk is trying a different approach with its latest vehicle: it's very quiet. Dubbed Project Heaviside, it's all-electric, flies like a plane but is capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) like a helicopter, while being as much as 100 times quieter than a helicopter.
Lawsuit accuses Google of hefty payouts to execs accused of misconduct
Google's handling of sexual misconduct by executives is coming under more scrutiny thanks to new details emerging from a shareholder lawsuit. Investors have claimed Google chief Larry Page granted Android creator Andy Rubin a $150 million stock grant without seeking approval of the board first, even though Rubin was under an investigation at the time. Page instead got "rubber stamp" approval eight days after the fact, according to the suit. It's not certain if he was aware of the investigation.
Google to 'pause' its Fiber rollout
Google announced on Tuesday that it plans to "pause" the planned expansion of its Fiber high-speed internet service in the 10 cities it had been looking into and will eliminate a number of positions in those cities -- 9 percent of the division's total number of employees, according to Ars Technica.
Sundar Pichai takes control of Google's crucial products
Well, we guess congratulations are in order. According to Re/code, Sundar Pichai, the senior vice president at Google who used to just be in charge of the Chrome, Android, and web apps teams now basically has control of almost every other Google product division of note. Search? Google+? Ads? Even the company's infrastructure? All of that has been apparently moved off of CEO Larry Page's plate and onto Pichai's -- not a huge surprise considering his heightened prominence within Mountain View over the past months. Pichai, a nine year Google veteran, was even rumored to be one of the leading choices for Microsoft's new CEO, though the role eventually went to longtime company insider Satya Nadella.
Google chief believes he can save '100,000 lives' a year with access to medical records
If you think that Google has got enough of your personal data, think again. In an interview with the New York Times, Larry Page has said that he wants access to your medical records, but don't worry, it's all for your own good. In describing how Google's services frequently outrage privacy advocates before their potential (and usefulness) is known, the company chief said that regulations surrounding patient data is harming people. In fact, Page makes the bold claim that if Google was given the right to mine healthcare data, it'd "probably save 100,000 lives next year." It's a bold claim, but isn't it the same line that the NSA has taken over the last few months?
Apparently Apple isn't 'thriving' enough for some people
Yesterday, Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page let investors know that he wouldn't be able to attend every single earnings call as he has made a habit of in the past. Some speculated that it's because of an increasingly difficult medical condition that makes it hard for Page to speak. Regardless, none of this would normally make me raise an eyebrow until I saw this headline on Wired. Note: The original title of the Wired article linked above was "Google Without Larry Page Would Still Thrive - Unlike Apple Without Steve Jobs" but it has since been changed (without explanation) to "Google Without Larry Page Would Not Be Like Apple Without Steve Jobs" The premise of the article is that since Google's stock rose in the wake of Page's announcement, the company is better suited to life without its longtime CEO than Apple was (or "is," I suppose). The author assumes a lot here, using "likely" and "even if" to push his arguments into a fictional world where they're automatically correct. My biggest issue with the article as a whole is the fact that we're comparing apples and oranges -- and that's just when it comes to Jobs and Page. If we add their corresponding companies, we're comparing caramel-covered apples and vodka-infused oranges. Jobs stepping down from his post as the most visible person in the company and then dying is not equal to Larry Page -- who, as the article notes, is more of a behind-the-scenes CEO -- telling investors he can't make every earnings call from now on. Acting as though the two events are even in the same ballpark in terms of relevancy is irresponsible. Then there's the general tone that permeates the rest of the piece regarding Apple's supposed downfall, and in particular the insinuation in the title that Apple without Jobs is not thriving. Here's a quick list of things that have happened since Jobs left Apple for the last time: The third-gen iPad became the fastest-selling iPad The iPhone 5 became the fastest-selling iPhone The fourth-gen iPad and iPad mini combined to sell 3 million units in three days, another new record iTunes sold its 25 billionth song The 50 billionth app was downloaded from the App Store Apple has been named the most valuable brand in the world, dethroning Coca-Cola for the first time in 13 years The iPhone 5s and 5c combined to sell 9 million units in three days, another record The iPhone 5s took the title of the fastest-selling iPhone from the iPhone 5 But hey, Wall Street is wringing its hands over whether or not Tim Cook can run a successful company (which, at this point, isn't even a question), so of course Apple must be doomed. What's that? You mean Apple's stock right now is higher than it ever was under Jobs? Huh. I guess some people have a different definition of "thriving" than the rest of us. We'll ignore the fact that investors have been wrong about Apple so many times, it's pointless even bringing them into the discussion, because that blows the original argument out of the water. Wired's piece isn't an isolated incident, and there have been "Apple isn't what it used to be" opinion pieces popping up for the past two years now. I realize that taking the time to write this rebuttal probably won't change much (or, let's be honest, anything), but the beauty of all of this is that it doesn't matter. As I've said before, Apple's been "doomed" for a while, but that's never stopped them from selling their products in record numbers and embarrassing the competition at nearly every turn. [Image credit: GDS-Productions]
Google CEO discusses relationship with Apple
Apple and Google are clearly competitors on a number of levels, but being two of the largest tech companies on the planet means having to work together at times. In a recent interview with Fortune, Google CEO Larry Page dishes the dirt -- or lack thereof -- on the relationship between the two companies. Unsurprisingly, Page chooses his words carefully regarding one of his company's primary competitors. "I think it would be nice if everybody would get along better and the users didn't suffer as a result of other people's activities," Page responds, when asked about the state of Google's interactions with Apple on the distribution front. "I try to model that. We try pretty hard to make our products be available as widely as we can. That's our philosophy. I think sometimes we're allowed to do that. Sometimes we're not." There's no denying that a constant push and pull exists between the two companies, and it's a chess match that neither side is likely to win anytime soon. Page's responses to the Apple-based queries aren't exactly shocking, but it's an interesting read nonetheless. [Via: The Verge]
Daily Update for August 30, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Google and Apple may be talking about patents
Reuters is reporting that Apple CEO Tim Cook and his counterpart at Google, Larry Page, have been meeting to discuss the ongoing patent issues between the two companies. The two CEOs apparently had a phone conversation as late as last week, and are expected to talk again soon. A source told Reuters that a meeting was scheduled for August 31, but has been delayed for unknown reasons. It's also unknown if Cook and Page are working on a possible settlement of the many patent disputes between the two companies or are focused on just a subset of issues. Reuters noted that the two chief executives might be considering a "truce" over disputes concerning some basic features of Google's Android mobile OS. That would be a decidedly more peaceful course of action than Steve Jobs' plan to "go thermonuclear" on Google over Android. Apple is pulling away from other Google products. In the upcoming release of iOS 6, for example, Apple has chosen to use its own mapping solution instead of Google Maps and Google's YouTube is nowhere to be found in the pre-installed software.
Tim Cook and Larry Page reportedly chat about patent war
According to Reuters, Tim Cook and Larry Page have been having behind the scenes chats over the last week or so, most notably about the ongoing patent proxy war between the two companies. According to sources, the Apple and Google CEOs spoke last week over the phone and are planning a meeting where, hopefully, they can hash out some of their differences. Discussions are also apparently taking place at lower levels, which could indicate this is a concerted effort to put to rest the tiresome battles over intellectual property. Unfortunately, details about what exactly the two talked about, and how broad those conversations were are unknown. But, it's definitely a good sign that the two sides are talking. Perhaps the relatively new corporate heads can avoid going completely "thermonuclear," as Cook's predecessor infamously threatened. Update: All Things D has gotten confirmation from its own sources, and points out that Google is "wearing several hats here," including one as the owner of Motorola Mobility, which is currently suing Apple. However, we're still holding out hope that the licensing deal struck between those two companies is a sign of better days to come.
Google asks car makers 'Ullo John, wanna self-driving motor?'
Larry Page's tenure as Googler-in-chief has heralded the death of many ambitious experiments, but even he refuses to kill the self-driving car. His project head, Anthony Levandowski, has now asked the car makers of Detroit to sign up with Mountain View for hardware testing, saying that if driverless cars are not ready by the next decade, then it's "shame on us as engineers." There's still some way to go before the tech is road-worthy, but Google is already working with insurers to work out how your car is going to handle making that call to Geico when things go wrong.
James Cameron-backed Planetary Resources to search the universe for Unobtainium
Planetary Resources will reportedly announce later today that it's developing and selling low-cost spacecraft to mine asteroids close to the Earth. The space exploration and natural resources venture is led by X-Prize creator Peter Diamandis, Eric Anderson and NASA's former Mars chief, Chris Lewicki -- with cash backing from James Cameron, Eric Schmidt and Larry Page amongst others. Within a decade, the company hopes to kickstart a 21st century gold rush by selling orbiting observation platforms to prospectors with significant rewards -- a 30-meter long asteroid could hold as much as $50 billion worth of platinum at today's prices. The company's own teaser materials promised that the project would add "trillions of dollars" to the world's GDP, which sounds like a film we saw recently.
Keep Google Weird
There's a sign that hangs in the windows of shops in downtown Santa Cruz, California. "Keep Santa Cruz Weird." It's not unique to that town, of course -- the best known implementation of the slogan is the one seen all over Austin, Texas. Localized versions have also been spotted on t-shirts and bumper stickers in places like Portland and Boulder -- any area where the undercurrent of independent thinking does daily battle with the threat of homogenized commerce. The Santa Cruz example sticks in my mind in particular, of course, due to the five years I spent in that town, whose weirdness never fully recovered from the '89 earthquake, a natural disaster that both wreaked havoc on the landscape and caused a shift in the local zeitgeist, opening crumbled and abandoned storefronts up for Starbucks and Taco Bells -- chain stores devoid of the character that makes the town so unique. So weird.There are, naturally, growing pains with any company -- particularly one that has had so meteoric a rise as Google has experienced over the past decade and a half. Evil claims aside for the moment, the transformation from a dorm-based project to an international corporation nearly always risks the loss of the character and principles on which the project was initially founded. After taking the helm as CEO last April, co-founder Larry Page stressed the need for focusing the company's countless product lines, announcing during an earnings call that, "We've [...] done substantial internal work simplifying and streamlining our product lines."It's easy to appreciate the sentiment. As Google grows at a tremendous rate, it risks losing focus, following in the footsteps of companies like Yahoo, which never did all that great a job subscribing to its own "Peanut Butter Manifesto," by pruning away its ever-growing list of redundancy. Surely no one can fault Google for opting to pump more resources into successful properties like Android -- brands with large user bases that require, arguably, even more attention than the company has been able to allot thus far.
Developer does the math: only 3.4 million Honeycomb tablets in the wild?
Google's rolling in the dough in no small part due to Android's success in the smartphone market. When it comes to tablets? Eh, not so much. Intrepid developer Al Sutton figures that only 3.4 million Honeycomb devices are currently in use, which pales in comparison to the number of slates sold by the competition in Cupertino. He arrived at the figure using Google's data -- Larry Page said that there are 190 million Android devices out there on yesterday's earnings call, and the Android Developers website shows that only 1.8 percent of 'droids accessing the Android Market during a recent two week period were running Google's tablet OS. Do the math, and that's just 3.42 million tablets running Android 3.x. It's hardly an official figure, but it does indicate that Android's got its work cut out for it the tablet space. That Ice Cream Sandwich better be mighty tasty if the bots from Mountain View are going to grab a bigger chunk of the market.
Page: growth on Google+ has been great, over one billion items shared
Wondering why Google+ ran out of disk space? Looks like it might be a casualty of growth: in today's earnings call, Google CEO Larry Page revealed that since its launch, more than ten million people have joined Google+, sharing some one billion items every day. Those numbers not big enough for you? Then chew on this: that little +1 button? It gets clicked 2.3 billion times per day in its own right. It's still a far cry from the 750 million users actively addicted to Facebook, but still, that's a heck of a start.
Google announces Q2 earnings: $9.02 billion in revenue, $2.51 billion in net income
It's everybody's favorite time of year. Yup, the Q2 earnings results are coming in, and Google's leading the pack, reporting $9.02 billion in gross revenue for the second quarter of 2011: a 32 percent increase over the same period in 2010. CEO Larry Page notes, that's a "record breaking over $9 billion of revenue," with net income reaching $2.51 billion, up from $1.84 billion in Q2 2010. Google's various sites apparently made up 69 percent of the $9.02 billion in revenue, generating $6.23 billion -- 2010 numbers were $4.50 billion. Operating expenses saw a notable increase over 2010, cutting into profits by $2.97 billion, up from $1.99 billion. Larry Page has just announced some Android usage numbers, pointing out that 550,000 devices, rocking the little green robot, are being activated per day. That's up from the 500,000 announced late last month. Android Market numbers are also up, with six billion total downloads.
Google announces Q1 earnings: $8.58 billion gross revenue, $2.3 billion net income
Well, it looks like Larry Page had a bit of good news and some bad news to deal with on his first quarterly earnings call as CEO of Google. The company has just reported $8.58 billion in gross revenue for the first quarter of 2011, which represents a 27 percent increase over the first quarter of last year, but is actually a bit less than analysts were expecting. That figure also doesn't include the company's so-called traffic acquisition costs, however, which totaled $2.04 billion for the quarter and bring the company's actual revenue down to "just" $6.54 billion. Net income for the quarter was $2.3 billion, which represents a more modest gain from $1.96 billion in the first quarter of 2010. Also cutting into profits quite a bit was Google's operating expenses, which were up a hefty 33 percent to $2.8 billion -- a sizable chunk of which went to the nearly 2,000 new employees the company hired during the quarter. Interestingly, Google also revealed a few Android stats during its earnings call, saying that app downloads are up a full fifty percent from the fourth quarter of 2010, and that there's a total of three billion Android apps installed worldwide. As for Android devices, there's apparently 350,000 of those being activated every day. Head on past the break for company's full earnings report.
