Venture Beat
Google has made a tool that it uses to test iOS apps open-source. The company said Wednesday that EarlGrey, a piece of software that developers can use to more easily build and run user interface tests on source code for iOS apps, is now available on GitHub under an open-source Apache license.
Re/code
Google’s internal think tank and policy organization will henceforth be known to the world as Jigsaw. Formerly named Google Ideas, Jigsaw becomes the tenth unit inside of Google’s holding company, Alphabet. “Jared Cohen, the guy who ran Google Ideas, will serve as president of Jigsaw,” Re/code reports.
The Information
Between the first week of December 2014 and the same period in 2015, daily active users going to Yahoo’s home page have fell 16.5%, The Information reports. During the same period, DAUs going to Yahoo Mail dropped by 11.5%, while those going to Yahoo Search declined 8.8%. “In each case, time spent by users dropped by an even greater proportion, suggesting Yahoo is losing some of its more-engaged users,” reports The Information.
Re/code
Search requires Internet access, which many parts of the world do not have. This year, Google will begin testing Project Loon. Astro Teller, head of Alphabet’s X unit, showed off some designs of the balloon to a crowd at the annual TED conference, which kicked off Monday in Vancouver, reports re/code. The balloons can now deliver 15 megabit-per-second Internet access, enough to deliver video like the live broadcast of his TED talk. Teller did mention that Alphabet is in talks with carriers around the world and, because of the efforts, another five billion people will have Internet access within five to 10 years. …
The Motley Fool
It could be one of Alphabet's boldest moonshots yet, writes The Motley Fool. The article talks about the big investment in SpaceX. Along with Fidelity, Alphabet invested $1 billion into SpaceX for 10% ownership of the private U.S. space company. Executives at the tech company could be more interested in space exploration than the company lets on.
Google
Google plans to roll out an updated version of its AdWords automated biding tool with new names on existing tools and adjustments to its workflow.
Google Research
Google is inviting university researchers to participate in the Internet of Things (IoT) Technology Research Award Pilot. The pilot provides select researchers with Google IoT-related technologies such as beacon platform, Physical Web, Brillo and Weave, among others, with a goal to foster collaboration. The experiments should run between four and eight weeks.
Wall Street Journal
Google is reportedly developing an all-in-one virtual-reality headset that doesn’t rely on a smartphone, computer or game console. “That would be a first in the rapidly evolving field,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “Google also plans to release later this year a more advanced version of its $20 cardboard virtual-reality viewer that uses a smartphone as a screen.”
The Guardian
In the UK, Streetmap just lost a High Court action accusing Google of abusing its search dominance to promote Google Maps over itself and other rivals. “Streetmap, which launched in 1997 as one of the first online mapping services, had claimed Google was engaging in ‘anticompetitive conduct’ contrary to provisions of the Competition Act 1998,” The Guardian reports.
The New York Times
Google is reportedly preparing to block access to certain disputed links from Google.com and its other domains when people in Europe use its online search engine. “The links to be blocked or removed are those that people have successfully petitioned Google or a national regulator to have blocked because of European privacy concerns,” The New York Times reports, citing sources.