A mysterious planetary project backed by a high-profile group of individuals—director James Cameron, Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and politician Ross Perot's son, among others—will be revealed on April 24th, in a conference-call unveiling of space exploration company Planetary Resources. More »

A mysterious planetary project backed by a high-profile group of individuals—director James Cameron, Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and politician Ross Perot's son, among others—will be revealed on April 24th, in a conference-call unveiling of space exploration company Planetary Resources. More »

According to Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page, the Android mobile operating system is an important asset for Google, but it is not critical. Page made the claim during courtroom testimony as he took the stand for a second day in the company’s legal dispute with Oracle. The CEO’s testimony is rather puzzling — Page has previously claimed the company’s Android platform was “on fireâ€� and a “tremendous example of the power of partnership” that “gets better with each version.” During an earnings call in October, Page said the company was “seeing a huge positive revenue impact from mobile, which has grown 2.5 times in the last 12 months to a run rate of over $2.5 billion.â€� Furthermore, Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility was meant to protect Android and further its mobile dominance according to statements the CEO made when the deal was announced.

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Google named official social platform of 2012 Republican National Convention originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google CEO Larry Page stated in a blog post on Thursday that the company’s Android platform is “on fire.” The CEO boasted that there are now more than 850,000 Android devices activated each day through a network of 55 manufacturers and more than 300 carriers. Page called Android a “tremendous example of the power of partnership, and it just gets better with each version.” He went on to explain his excitement for the Motorola acquisition and “the opportunities to build great devices capitalizing on the tremendous success and growth of Android.” The CEO then reiterated the benefits surrounding Android’s open ecosystem, maintaining that “we have no plans to change that.” The Mountain View-based company in February stated that Android activations were up 250% year-over-year. Google also previously announced that the Android Market is home to more than 450,000 apps.

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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.

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Keep Google Weird originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Glassdoor on Friday revealed its latest list of the “Top 25 Highest Rated CEOs of 2012.” Apple’s Tim Cook took the top spot with a 97% approval rating, leading Ernst & Young’s Jim Turley, Qualcomm’s Paul Jacobs and Google’s Larry Page. “I think leadership is doing an amazing job,” said one Apple employee. “We have the best management team anywhere.â€� When Steve Jobs stepped down in August 2011, the late Apple co-founder garnered a cumulative approval rating of 97%, however Cook leads Jobs’s rating of 95% from March 2010 to March 2011. While it has been a tough year for Hewlett-Packard, the company’s new CEO Meg Whitman also made the list with an 80% approval rating, placing her in the  No. 24 spot. Glassdoor bases the list entirely on feedback from anonymous employees who were asked one question — do they approve of the way their CEO is leading the company?

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Former Engineering Director at Google and current Partner Development Manager at Microsoft James Whittaker on Tuesday published a lengthy piece explaining why he chose to leave the Mountain View-based company after having been such a vocal Google evangelist for nearly three years. His post on Microsoft’s MSDN blogs reiterates a number of opinions that have been hot topics in the media of late, but he also offers several insights from a unique point of view that only an insider can offer. In short, Whittaker feels that Google co-founder and current CEO Larry Page completely ruined the company for him. Read on for more.

Whittaker’s main issue is what, in his opinion, was a core value shift that took place when former chief executive Eric Schmidt stepped down and Larry Page took over at the helm. The former Director acknowledges that advertising has always been Google’s main business, but until Larry Page took over at CEO, advertising was treated as a means to an end, providing the funding that allowed Google employees to build innovative products.

Once Page became Google’s top executive, Whittaker says, the opposite was true. Google’s products became a means to an end, providing the tools Google needs to collect as much personal information as possible about its users, thus better equipping the company to woo advertisers.

“Under Eric Schmidt ads were always in the background,” Whittaker wrote. ”Google was run like an innovation factory, empowering employees to be entrepreneurial through founder’s awards, peer bonuses and 20% time. Our advertising revenue gave us the headroom to think, innovate and create.” He continued, “But that was then, as the saying goes, and this is now.”

Whittaker says that Page became infatuated with Facebook, which is able to gather a massive amount of personal data about its users because of all the information they share using the service. Google needed a way to break into the social sharing space following failed attempts like Wave and Buzz, and advertising was the sole reason for this renewed focus on social networks.

“Larry Page himself assumed command to right this wrong,” Whittaker says in his post. “Social became state-owned, a corporate mandate called Google+. It was an ominous name invoking the feeling that Google alone wasn’t enough. Search had to be social. Android had to be social. You Tube, once joyous in their independence, had to be … well, you get the point. Even worse was that innovation had to be social. Ideas that failed to put Google+ at the center of the universe were a distraction.”

Whittaker concludes, “The old Google was a great place to work. The new one?

“-1″

Regulators with the European Union have asked Google to stop rolling out new privacy changes that the company originally introduced earlier this month. “Given the wide range of services you offer, and the popularity of these services, changes in your privacy policy may affect many citizens in most or all of the EU member states,” the European wrote in a letter to Google’s CEO Larry Page. “We wish to check the possible consequences for the protection of the personal data of these citizens in a coordinated way. In light of the above, we call for a pause in the interests of ensuring that there can be no misunderstanding about Google’s commitments to information rights of their users and EU citizens, until we have completed our analysis.” Google said it was introducing the new privacy changes, which go into effect on March 1, to provide a “more intuitive Google experience” for its users, but several groups, including the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, have accused Google of collecting more data than ever before. Google told BGR in a statement that it is “not collecting any new or additional data about users.”

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Given the spate of closures, abandonments and wound-up projects, we can't help but suspect Google's mantra switching from "don't be evil" to "sic transit gloria mundi." Mountain View's winding up online-image editing site Picnik in preparation for integration with Google+, joining Wave, Knol, Friend Connect, Gears, Health, Powermeter and at least ten other services that have been shuttered as part of Larry Page's "spring clean." In a statement on the site, the guys are moving over to the Google+ team to "focus on even awesomer things," so expect to see live-editing of your photos appear there before the end of summer. In the meantime, you can enjoy Picnik's premium service until the doors close on April 19th and those who previously stumped up (with, you know, cash) for the added features will receive a full refund.

[Thanks, Henry]

Another one bites the dust as Google closes Picnik originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Mobility will spend $31 million as it lays off 800 employees ahead of its planned acquisition by Google, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Motorola said in a regulatory filing that it would spend $27 million in employee severance and an additional $4 million closing a number of existing facilities. “Motorola Mobility continues to focus on improving its financial performance by taking actions to manage the company’s costs,” company spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch-Erickson told Bloomberg. Google announced its intentions to purchase Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion on August 15th. Google CEO Larry Page said the acquisition would provide Google with patents that will help the company defend its Android partners in lawsuits with Microsoft, Apple and others.

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Google Co-founder and CEO Larry Page spoke candidly about the future of Google during the company's recent earnings conference call. Page wants to make Google's products more social and the best way to do that is through Google +. More »

The United States Justice Department has issued a request for more information from Google and Motorola Mobility concerning the search giant’s planned $12.5 billion acquisition of the phone maker. Google senior vice president Dennis Woodside explained that his company is still confident the deal will be approved. “We believe very strongly this is a pro-competitive transaction that is good for Motorola Mobility, good for consumers, and good for our partners,” he said, noting the “second request” form the DOJ was routine. “While this means we won’t be closing right away, we’re confident that the DOJ will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile ecosystem will remain highly competitive after this deal closes. We’ll be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review.” Google announced in August that it intends to purchase Motorola Mobility and, shortly after, CEO Larry Page noted that Motorola’s patent portfolio will help Google’s Android partners against competitors. Despite public statements in support of the acquisition from HTC, Samsung and other Android heavy hitters, BGR has argued the purchase could potentially spell trouble for Motorola’s competitors.

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Google Executive Chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt on Thursday reiterated that the company’s proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility is about more than just patents. When Google announced the deal, CEO Larry Page said in a statement, ”Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.â€� He also noted, however, that Motorola’s extensive patent portfolio would greatly assist Google and its Android partners in defending Android against patent complaints from the likes of Apple and Microsoft. Read on for more.

Several experts have since weighed in on the acquisition, and many believe Motorola’s portfolio of 25,000 issued and pending patents will do less to protect Android than initially believed. One patent expert went so far as to call the deal “an immense mistake.” On stage at the Salesforce.com Dreamforce conference, Schmidt made certain to communicate that the benefits of the Motorola buy extend beyond patents. “We did it for more than just patents. We actually believe that the Motorola team has some amazing products coming,” Schmidt told Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on stage at the conference. “We’re excited to have the product line, to use the Motorola brand, the product architecture, the engineers. These guys invested the RAZR. We know them well because they’re Google Apps users.” He continued, “[We enjoy] having at least one area where we can do integrated hardware and software.”

Schmidt continued, noting that the current U.S. patent system has created a hostile environment that is in serious need of an overhaul. His only idea for a proposed solution, however — to crowd-source patent applications and let the general public comment on possible prior art — is not legal under the current system.

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Speaking during a seminar in Helsinki, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop gave a gloomy response to Google’s planned $12.5 billion takeover of Motorola Mobility. “If I happened to be someone who was an Android manufacturer or an operator, or anyone with a stake in that environment, I would be picking up my phone and calling certain executives at Google and say ‘I see signs of danger ahead,’” Elop said. “The very first reaction I had was very clearly the importance of the third ecosystem and the importance of the partnership that we announced on February 11, it is more clear than ever,” Elop added, noting Nokia’s recent agreement to launch smartphones running Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system. HTC, Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson all voiced support for the merger, which Google’s CEO Larry Page said will help it in its patent battles against Microsoft and Apple.

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Google and Motorola Mobility have announced an agreement whereby Google will acquire Motorola for $12.5 billion. The acquisition price equates to $40 per share of Motorola stock, or a premium of 63% over Friday’s closing price. The move is considered in part to be an effort that will better-align Google to compete with Apple’s iPhone, which owned two-thirds of profits among the world’s top-8 smartphone vendors in the second quarter. A Google-owned hardware arm give the company complete control over device hardware, software and services, resulting in an end-to-end user experience that is completely under Google’s command. Perhaps just as important in this day and age, the deal will also give Google control of Motorola’s extensive patent portfolio. “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies,” Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement. “Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.” It is unclear how this might affect Google’s relationship with other Android partners. The deal is subject to regulatory approval, of course, and it is expected to close in late 2011 or early 2012. The full press release follows below.

Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

Combination will Supercharge Android, Enhance Competition, and Offer Wonderful User Experiences

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

“Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.�

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.�

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, “This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.�

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, “We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices.�

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals in the US, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and the approval of Motorola Mobility’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.

Continue reading Google acquiring Motorola Mobility

Google acquiring Motorola Mobility originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Aug 2011 07:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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