Google pay discrimination lawsuit is moving forward
A class-action lawsuit alleging pay discrimination at Google based on gender is moving forward, California Superior Court Judge Mary E. Wiss recently ordered. The original suit was dismissed in December due to the fact that plaintiffs defined the class of affected workers too broadly. In January, the plaintiffs filed a revised lawsuit, which added Heidi Lamar, a former teacher at Google’s Children Center in Palo Alto.(TechCrunch)
Google is launching an Android chat service to replace SMS
Google is rolling out a new chat service to replace standard texting, a move that analysts say will offer Android users advanced features already found in popular chat services such as Apple's iMessage and Facebook's WhatsApp. But the unveiling also represents a strategic retreat for the tech giant, experts say, which has struggled to prop up a dedicated chat app of its own. (Washington Post)
Google beats expectations again with $31.15B in revenue
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported another pretty solid beat Monday for its first quarter as it more or less has continued to keep its business growing substantially – and is growing even faster than it was a year ago. Google said its revenue grew 26 percent year-over-year to $31.16 billion in the first quarter this year. In the first quarter last year, Google said its revenue had grown 22 percent between Q1 of 2016 and Q1 of 2017. (TechCrunch)
At Google parent Alphabet, median pay nears $200K
Google parent Alphabet Inc. said its workers earned a median pay package of more than $197,000 last year, the fourth-highest pay among the hundreds of companies in the S&P 500 index that have disclosed those figures. Alphabet’s median pay was about 18 percent lower than at rival internet giant Facebook Inc., where employees earned a median salary of $240,000. (Wall Street Journal)
That's because, after two years of very boring updates, Google's making major changes to its Android operating system, and one in particular may take a lot of getting used to: switching between apps. (Mashable)
A dozen Google employees have reportedly resigned in protest over the company's decision to provide AI technology to the Pentagon, to help it identify images of people and objects from drone footage. "Over the last couple of months, I've been less and less impressed with the response and the way people's concerns are being treated and listened to," said one employee who resigned over the Project Maven contract. Gizmodo
The company said in a blog post on Wednesday that it's going after three companies including PointBreak Media, which the Federal Trade Commission accused last week of fraudulently threatening to remove businesses from Google search results and charging them for free services. (CNBC)
Alphabet Inc's shareholders, including top executives, voted down several proposals on Wednesday, defeating campaigns to tie pay to diversity goals and to get the Google parent to provide more data about efforts to moderate user-generated content. (Reuters)
