AOL CEO Tim Armstrong just announced internally that there will be layoffs across AOL’s global workforce (AOL is TechCrunch’s parent company). The company will focus on mobile, video and data across two business units — media and platforms. While the company doesn’t say exactly how many people will be affected …

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No major surprises here: Earlier this month, Google announced that the Android 7.1 Nougat Developer Preview and its SDK tools would roll out to developers sometime later this month — and now that we have passed the middle of the month, the preview is indeed rolling out to those who have signed up for …

Google today announced it’s rolling out a new detection and filtering system on the Play Store to crack down on those developers who use illegitimate means to boost their apps’ rankings in the store’s top charts. This will affect apps that use methods like fraudulent installs, fake reviews, and incentivized …

Google has now formally responded to two antitrust charges brought against it by Europe’s Competition Commission, rebutting charges of exploiting the popularity of its search engine to boost its price comparison service, Google Shopping, and its ad placement service, AdSense. The company has yet to respond to a third EU antitrust complaint …

Indus OS, the startup developing a localized version of Android for India, is now going after international OEMs after it clinched a deal that will local giant Intex sell smartphones powered by its operating system. Intex has around 10 percent of sales in India, according to data from Counterpoint Research, so landing the firm …

As promised earlier this year, Google is bringing RCS – Rich Communications Service, an upgrade to the SMS standard – to Android devices. Its first carrier partner on the initiative is Sprint, which is rolling out RCS messaging to its customers with Android devices, starting today. Once enabled, RCS will offer …

Opera has rolled out a set of privacy features to its data-saving proxy for Android, Opera Max. It’s now billing it as a “data management and privacy app”. The company previewed the new privacy mode last month, saying it would be starting a gradual rollout — with the feature first available in Samsung’s S Secure mode on the Samsung Galaxy J5 …

Moxie Marlinspike, founder of Open Whisper Systems (OWS), the not-for-profit software group behind the respected Signal Protocol crypto (and the eponymous Signal secure messaging app) has responded to criticism of how the group is developing its projects by calling for more contributions from the community to broaden implementations of the protocol. “I …

Earlier this year, Google announced its plans to bring Android Auto, its phone-centric in-car infotainment platform, “to every car” by launching it as a stand-alone Android app, too. It’s taken a while, but the company today launched an update to the Android Auto app for — well — Android that …