Technology

Google’s head of diversity, Nancy Lee, is retiring from Google after several years of leading the company’s global diversity and inclusion team, TechCrunch has learned. Lee, who originally joined Google’s legal team back in 2006, has been working on diversity at Google for the last few years. She started her diversity …

Improbable, the London startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz that has been developing a platform for third parties to build virtual and simulated worlds, is today launching the alpha of its first product, SpatialOS. And with it, Improbable is also announcing a strategic partnership with Google, the first part of which will see Google providing …

Google has reportedly shelved its long-standing plan to develop its own autonomous vehicle in favor of pursuing partnerships with existing car makers. The Information reports that Google’s self-driving car unit — known internally as Chauffeur — is working with established automotive names to develop cars that will include some self-driving features, …

Google has acquired the company and team behind CoWatch‘s software, an Android-based smartwatch OS that differed from most in that it also offered Amazon Alexa access on your wrist. Cronologics announced on its site that it will be joining Google, working on Android Wear, after having developed its Android-based OS …

Google dropped a single National Security Letter into its most recent transparency report without much fanfare, but today the company published eight more NSLs in an attempt to shed more light on government surveillance of Google users. The eight letters published today were sent to Google from FBI offices across …

Facebook’s standalone Events app that launched in October on iOS is launching on Android today. The Facebook Events app helps you browse nearby happenings, see the dates of your upcoming Facebook Events as well as imported calendars and aggregates wall posts and alerts from Events to declutter your main app’s …

In a blog post today, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe announced that he will be stepping down as CEO of the Facebook-owned virtual reality company. Looking ahead and thinking about where I’m most passionate, I’ve decided to lead the PC VR group—pushing the state of VR forward with Rift, research and …

Facebook, the social networking app used by 1.8 billion people globally, does not provide figures for how much of that audience is comprised of minors — that is, people under the age of 18 (and theoretically over the age of 13). But chances are that these days it’s a significant number, when you consider …

Apple knew it was going to take something big to help cushion the blow of its decision to drop the headphone jack from the new iPhone. For the company, the answer arrived in the form of AirPods, wireless Bluetooth versions of its EarPods built around the new W1 chip. At the …

Apple today is rolling out an update to macOS Sierra that addresses several issues with MacBook Pro computers, including the graphics problems on late 2016 MacBook Pro computers. Plus, in response to reported battery life concerns on these devices, Apple will now remove the “time remaining” display from the menu bar …