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On Monday, Google announced that it had flagged several apps made by a Chinese e-commerce giant as malware, alerting users who had them installed, and suspended the company’s official app. In the last couple of weeks, multiple Chinese security researchers accused Pinduoduo, a rising e-commerce giant that boasts almost 800 million active users, of making […]
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Update: Google tells TechCrunch that it remains committed to augmented reality, stating, “For years, we’ve been building AR into many Google products and we’ll continue to look at ways to bring new, innovative AR experiences across our product portfolio.” I know at least one TC staffer who is gutted by the inevitable second death of […]
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Google’s Android release cadence for Android has become a familiar annual ritual. A month ago, the company launched the first developer preview of Android 14 and now, a month later, here is the second developer preview. Like with the first release, this is very much a version that’s still meant for developers, with the more […]
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Google just revealed that its annual developer conference, I/O, will be returning to the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, on May 10. Like last year’s event, the in-person event is set to be fairly intimate, though the company will be streaming the keynotes for free. In pre-pandemic years, I/O was a large event with […]
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This morning Sonos announced a pair of speakers. The Era 100 is a $249 stereo system that replaces the popular One speaker in the company’s lineup. The $449 Era 300, on the other hand, is an entirely new entry, focused on bringing the emerging world of spatial audio to the product line. We had the […]
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Android was, predictably, everywhere at Mobile World Congress. At a show where Apple has no public-facing presence, Google’s mobile operating system is almost entirely ubiquitous. As in past years, the company also set up a sprawling outdoor booth between halls. This time, the focus was on interoperability and ecosystem. You’d be hard-pressed to find a […]
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Google has announced that its highly anticipated fall detection feature is rolling out to all Pixel Watch users today. Fall detection uses motion sensors and on-device machine learning to identify if a user has taken a hard fall and connect them with help if needed. The feature is similar to Apple’s fall detection feature, which […]
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Google has announced a slew of new features for Android, Chromebook and Wear OS that are designed to improve connectivity, productivity and accessibility. The announcement was timed to coincide with Mobile World Congress (MWC), which is kicking off in Barcelona today. Among the new features is upcoming Fast Pair support on Chromebook, Google Keep shortcuts […]
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Kaito, an AI-powered search engine for crypto, raised $5.3 million in a seed round led by Dragonfly Capital, the company exclusively shared with TechCrunch. “There’s constantly people fighting against information overload,” Yu Hu, founder and CEO of Kaito, said. “We are shortening the path to finding answers from 30 minutes or an hour into 10 […]
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Super Bowl ads make strange bedfellows. Half a week out from The Big Game™, Google just dropped their spot. This time out, the company’s Pixel 7 is in the spotlight — specifically the smartphone’s impressive AI imaging features. Legally, one can’t have a Super Bowl spot without enlisting celebrities, so the company hired musician Doja […]
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