That is Android Central’s Information Weekly, your go-to supply for a concise roundup of the week’s most important tech tales. That is the place we delve into the highest headlines that give you the newest tendencies and inventions contributing to the virtual panorama.Â
This week, we get into the large income Alphabet introduced for its ultimate quarter, Amazon giving up the Irobot deal, Google introducing Gen AI in maps, Google Bard ranges up with Imagen 2, and the brand new Android 14 beta replace to be had best to at least one particular telephone.
Alphabet remodeled $300 billion in 2023 Â
Google’s dad or mum corporate, Alphabet, launched its income file for This fall and financial yr 2023 on January 30. Alphabet’s This fall income file displays that the corporate made $83.3 billion in This fall on my own.Â
Its full-year earnings was once $307 billion, a 9% build up from 2022. In step with the file, Seek and YouTube subscriptions had been primary participants to This fall expansion.Â
Then again, Google additionally spent $2.1 billion in worker severance after shedding over 12,000 staff in 2023. At the income name, Leader Funding Officer Ruth Porat hinted at extra layoffs and a slower hiring tempo within the close to long term as they proceed to concentrate on “disposing of layers to simplify execution and pressure pace.” Google’s generative AI remained the focal point of the This fall income name, with Pichai calling it the ‘Gemini Generation.’
In the meantime, different firms like Meta, Amazon, and Qualcomm additionally launched income this week, talking about the most recent tendencies of their services and products and the incorporation of AI of their programs.
Gemini Professional goes world as Bard selections up new talents
Talking of the Gemini Generation, Google introduced Gemini Professional ultimate yr. Beginning February 1, Gemini Professional will energy Google Bard international as it’s to be had in additional than 40 languages and over 230 international locations and territories.Â
With Gemini Professional, Bard will get a brand new software referred to as “double-check,” which cross-checks Bard’s solution in opposition to equivalent web effects to test for accuracy and information, bettering customers’ agree with in Bard.
Every other cool characteristic that was once offered was once Imagen 2, the text-to-image fashion. With this software, customers can generate pictures which can be upper in high quality and accuracy when in comparison to different such AI picture turbines. Google claims that they have got in particular labored on spaces the place some picture turbines battle with such things as textual content, faces, and fingers.Â
The Imagen 2 fashion is provided to generate pictures in Google Advertisements, Duet AI in Google Workspace, and the Seek Generative Revel in. Imagen 2  powers ImageFX, a picture technology software these days to be had in Labs. Â
Amazon gave up a $1.9 Billion take care of iRobot
Previous this week, Amazon introduced that it has come to a “mutual” settlement with iRobot to terminate its earlier $1.4 billion deal to procure the Roomba maker. Leaving the deal will unravel “all remarkable issues” along the termination price each firms agreed upon prior.
Amazon must pay iRobot $94 million because of the termination of the purchase. On Monday (January 29), EU antitrust leader Margrethe Vestager stated that “the purchase of iRobot would have enabled Amazon to foreclose iRobot’s competitors via limiting or degrading get right of entry to to Amazon retail outlets.”
Then again, consistent with Reuters, Amazon and iRobot agreeing to section tactics turns out to correlate to the resistance it confronted within the EU.
The deal’s termination has brought about important demanding situations, with iRobot’s now-former Chairman and CEO, Colin Perspective, resigning and 35% of the corporate’s group of workers being laid off.Â
Just one Pixel telephone will get the brand new Android 14 beta replace
Google issued a new Android 14 replace on Thursday (February 1). Then again, this replace best involves the Google Pixel 5a house owners.
In step with Google’s beta free up notes (by way of the Android Beta Reddit), QPR2 Beta 3.2 (construct AP11.231215.010) addresses 15 problems that an previous replace to the telephone could have brought about. The replace is rolling out now, and Pixel 5a house owners will have to obtain it throughout the subsequent 5 days.
You probably have a Pixel 5a, you’ll be able to replace your telephone via navigating to Settings > Gadget > Gadget replace.
In the meantime, we are nonetheless ready at the strong model of QPR2 to roll out to Pixel telephones, which we predict may just occur in February or March (when the following characteristic drop is predicted).
Google Maps can now mean you can plan your outside actions
With Gen AI, Google is making an attempt to give a boost to the Maps enjoy via taking it a step additional. Customers within the U.S. will quickly in finding the way to write a question or make a choice from a choice of pre-made ones on Google Maps.Â
As an example, whilst you sort in”puts with a antique vibe in SF,” Google says Maps’ AI will listing out companies and puts round you that have compatibility the outline of the urged. It’ll additionally pull up opinions, pictures, and scores of the places shut via. Those effects also are labeled via sort/job, i.e., clothes retail outlets, vinyl stores, flea markets, and so forth.
Symbol 1 of 2
As of now, this selection is best rolling out to “native guides” within the U.S. People who pass out and evaluate puts to look/ eating places within the space.
The ones are one of the greatest tales from this week. In the meantime, listed below are another tales from this week which can be value catching up on:
