Tech
‘No better person’: Google’s Sundar Pichai named CEO at parent firm Alphabet
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai will assume the CEO role at parent firm Alphabet in a shakeup at the top of the Silicon Valley titan, the company said Tuesday.
Pichai will take over from Larry Page, a co-founder of the internet giant, at the holding firm which includes Google as well as units focusing on “other bets” in areas including self-driving cars and life sciences.
Page and Google co-founder Sergey Brin “will continue their involvement as co-founders, shareholders and members of Alphabet’s board of directors,” the company said.
In a letter to employees, Page and Brin wrote: “We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company.”
They added that Pichai “brings humility and a deep passion for technology to our users, partners and our employees every day” and that there is “no better person to lead Google and Alphabet into the future.”
Alphabet was formed in 2015, giving a separate identity to the original company Google and other projects such as autonomous car unit Waymo and smart cities group Sidewalk Labs.
The 47-year-old Pichai, born in India, takes the helm at a time when Page and Brin have been noticeably absent and the company faces a torrent of controversies relating to its dominant position in the tech world.
Pichai is likely to fill a void at the company as it faces antitrust investigations and controversies over privacy and data practices in the United States and elsewhere.
The company has also faced allegations of failing to adequately address sexual harassment in the workplace and of straying from the ideals espoused by the founders in the company’s early code of conduct which included the motto “don’t be evil.”
“He’s a technologist but he’s been a steady hand for the last few years and has proven his ability to conduit business at the highest level,” said Roger Kay, analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates.
Kay added the move “ratifies that the (Google) founders have stepped aside almost entirely.”
Pichai will have a new role as he faces up to claims from President Donald Trump of “bias” in internet search results, and the latest charge from Amnesty International that its business model leads to human rights violations by enabling surveillance of users.
Earlier this year, Pichai met with Trump and appeared to ease the US president’s concerns that Google was unwilling to help the US military but was boosting China and its military.
Trump tweeted after the March meeting that Pichai was “totally committed” to US security.
Last December, Pichai kept calm as he parried US lawmakers over complaints of political bias and intrusive data collection.
“We build our products in a neutral way,” Pichai said in one exchange with a lawmaker, and added later: “We approach our work without any political bias.”
Chennai to Silicon Valley
Born to humble beginnings in the southern city of Chennai, he studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur before heading to the United States to further his studies and career.
After leaving India, he attended Stanford University and later studied at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
In recent years, Alphabet has become one of the world’s most valuable companies, with a 2018 profit of some $30 billion on revenue of $110 billion.
The 2015 reorganization appeared aimed at installing the startup mentality for new ventures, described by Google as “moonshots.”
These ventures, including the life sciences group Verily and the biotech operation Calico, have been losing money.
Kay said the “other bets” have been struggling because even though they have the financial backing from Google’s profits “they don’t have the do-or-die element” of other startups.
In the midst of the enormous lockdown on contemptuous posts, sources said that the hostile substance actioned related to the counterfeit video of a cupboard instructions, an enlivened phony video showing viciousness against the Prime Minister, and disparaging posts focusing on Hindu ladies transferred via web-based media handles.
The public authority has hindered a few web-based media handles that were coursing “counterfeit and affecting” content on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, Minister of State for IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Saturday.
Proprietors of these records are being recognized for activity under the law, he added.
“Taskforce on Safe and Trusted Internet at @GoI_MeitY at work. Handles that attempted to push counterfeit/inducing content on twitter, youtube, fb, insta have been impeded,” Chandrasekhar Tweeted on Saturday.
The pastor said proprietors of such records are being distinguished for activity under the law, and declared that stages will be investigated on their due steadiness.
On Friday evening, the pastor had reacted to a tweet that encouraged him to make a move against the “makers of an exceptionally fierce video that includes the PM”, which “has been in the public area since December 2020”.
Walmart-owned digital payments app PhonePe will now charge processing fees for every transaction. This means that you will no longer be able to transfer money or recharge your phone without shelling out a little extra money for every transaction. The company has said that it would charge fees in the range of Re 1 to Rs 2 per transaction for mobile recharges for value above Rs 50. PhonePe is the first payments’ app to have started charging for UPI-based transactions
“On recharges, we are running a very small-scale experiment where a few users are paying for mobile recharges. Recharges below Rs 50 are not charged, recharges between Rs 50 and Rs 100 are charged Re 1 and above Rs 100 are charged Rs 2. Essentially, as a part of the experiment, a majority of users are either not paying anything or paying Re 1,” a PhonePe spokesperson told PTI.
PhonePe s charging processing fees for UPI-based transactions for value above Rs 50. If you don’t spend upto Rs 50, you will not be charged any amount by the digital app. Like other payments apps, PhonePe will also begin charging processing fees for payments made through credit cards. PhonePe is one of the most popular, widely-used payments app in India along with Paytm and Google Pay. It has recorded over 165-crore UPI transactions on its platform in September, clocking over 40 per cent share among the app segment, the PTI report stated.
“We are not the only player or payment platform charging a fee. Charging a small fee on bill payments is now a standard industry practice and is done by other biller websites and payment platforms also. We charge a processing fee (called a convenience fee on other platforms) on payments with credit cards only,” the spokesperson added.
For the unversed, just like Paytm and Google Pay, PhonePe can be used to transfer money with BHIM UPI, manage multiple bank accounts, check account balance, save beneficiaries across multiple bank accounts like SBI, HDFC, ICICI & 140+ banks. Recharge prepaid mobile numbers like Jio, Vodafone, Idea, Airtel etc, recharge DTH like Tata Sky, Airtel Direct, Sun Direct, Videocon etc, pay various bills and more. You can also buy or renew insurance policies using PhonePe.
Source : IndiaToday
Cryptocurrency prices were mixed on Friday with Bitcoin and Ether witnessing gains while Stellar and Dogecoin were trading weaker. Check the latest cryptocurrency prices and trends.
Cryptocurrency prices were mixed on Friday with Bitcoin and Ether witnessing gains while Stellar and Dogecoin were trading weaker.
Bitcoin hit a six-month high on October 15, as it rose nearly 3 per cent and was trading at $59,694.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency is approaching April’s record high of $64,895.
The most popular altcoin, Ether, was trading at $3,827 or more than 5 per cent higher.
The global cryptocurrency market cap is $2.43 trillion, a 1.93 per cent increase in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $102.5 billion, a decline of 11.63 per cent.
Here are the latest prices and trends of popular cryptocurrencies:
| Cryptocurrency | Price (US Dollar) | 24-hour change | Market cap | Volume (24 Hours) |
| Bitcoin | 59,694.90 | 3.44% | $1.12 trillion | $1.56 billion |
| Ether | 3,827.94 | 5.51% | $449.38 billion | $1.28 billion |
| Dogecoin | 0.232463 | -1.44% | $30.58 billion | $1.22 billion |
| Litecoin | 183.76 | 2.37% | $12.63 billion | $118.28 million |
| XRP | 1.14 | 0.57% | $114.17 billion | $4.77 billion |
| Cardano | 2.19 | 0.67% | $71.17 billion | $190.15 million |
DISCLAIMER: The cryptocurrency prices have been updated as of 12:30 pm and will change as the day progresses. The list is intended to give a rough idea about popular cryptocurrency trends and will be updated daily.
Source : IndiaToday
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