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After a Pennsylvania court ruled that Google has to hand over emails stored overseas in response to an FBI warrant, Apple, Amazon, Cisco, and Microsoft are supporting the Mountain View-based company.

Google, Facebook, and other Silicon Valley giants backed Apple’s decision not to create an iPhone backdoor that would compromise the security of iOS. Now Apple is returning the favor by standing alongside Google in its fight against an FBI search warrant.
Apple knows all too well what it’s like to battle with the FBI. Under CEO Tim Cook, Apple has also taken a broader pro-privacy stance, most famously refusing to code a backdoor into iOS so the FBI could access the iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook and became embroiled in a legal battle with the bureau that went on for months.

After many months of rumors, YouTube has officially announced its entry into streaming live TV. YouTube TV will let you access live and recorded content from major networks, both the big broadcast players as well as some options typically found on cable.
"Half the cost of cable with zero commitments" said the announcement. For $35 a month, YouTube TV will include live streaming of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN and about 30 of the biggest cable TV channels.

Google and Jigsaw have launched a new tool that uses artificial intelligence to filter ‘toxic’ comments online. The tool, known as Perspective, has been designed to crack down on online harassment by letting creators and readers identify abusive comments or comments that are likely to make ‘someone leave a conversation’.

Google’s freely available software is being tested by a range of news organisations, including The New York Times, The Guardian and The Economist, as a way to help simplify the jobs of humans reviewing comments on their stories.”News organizations want to encourage engagement and discussion around their content but find that sorting through millions of comments to find those that are trolling or abusive takes a lot of money, labor, and time. As a result, many sites have shut down comments altogether. But they tell us that isn’t the solution they want. We think technology can help.” said Jared Cohen, president of Jigsaw, the Google social incubator that built the tool.

Honda is in talks with Google to install the tech company’s self-driving technology in Honda vehicles.

Honda will have to provide Waymo with vehicles that are specially modified to accommodate the self-driving technology, while Waymo would lend Honda its insight into self-driving technology, a field every automaker is interested in these days.

The automaker says that if a deal is reached, it will provide vehicles to Waymo that are modified to handle the technology. The Hondas would join Waymo’s fleet that includes Lexus SUVs and Chrysler Pacifica minivans.

Google is setting up its self-driving car unit as its own separate entity called Waymo under the Alphabet umbrella, the company announced today. The name is derived from its mission of finding “a new way forward in mobility.”

"We’ll continue to have access of infrastructure and resources Alphabet provides, but we also have this feeling of being a venture-backed startup," said John Krafcik, formerly CEO of Google Cars and now leader of Waymo, said at an event here Tuesday.

There were no details provided on Waymo’s business plan, although the mission is to bring the company’s technology to market and monetize it via a partnership with an automotive company.

Google and the Cuban government have struck a deal giving Cubans faster access to the Internet giant’s content, two people familiar with the agreement said on Friday, as AP reported today.

Google is installing multiple servers in Cuba that will host much of the company’s most popular content, the person said on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been made public. The agreement was being announced by Google chairman Eric Schmidt Monday morning in Havana.

Google, Facebook and telecom and undersea infrastructure developer TE SubCom and PLDC (Pacific Light Data Communication Co. Ltd.) are teaming up to build a 120 Terabits per second (Tbps) submarine cable that will connect Los Angeles with Hong Kong.

The new 12,800 km cable, called the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN), will be the highest-capacity trans-Pacific cable yet. The companies did not say how much they will invest in the new ultra high-speed link.