The money will go toward construction, expansion and improvements in regions throughout the country. Google pushed back its return-to-office date several times,finally settlingon a hybrid launch for April 4. Meanwhile,Monday was Apple’s return-to-office deadlinefor corporate employees, whileMicrosoft offices reopened in February.

The fine stems from legal action the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission initiated back in 2019. See Also:Yes, it’s possible for you to Stop Google From Tracking You. Here’s How Google took steps in December 2018 to fix the information found to be misleading. On Friday, a spokesperson for Google said the company has worked to simplify the management of location data. They accused Google of using deceptive methods to stop people from protecting their privacy....

“We have been engaging constructively with the European Commission. For such a company, 10% would be in the tens of billions of dollars. In 2021, Alphabet brought in$257 billionin revenue. It’s part of the ongoing scrutiny that Big Tech is facing over potentially monopolistic practices.

Spyros said the company is performing a thorough review of the situation to identify pay discrepancies. The dustup comes as pay equity has come to the forefront in Silicon Valley.

As of Thursday, more than2 million refugeeshad escaped the country. Google last week added refugee resources for asylum seekers leaving Ukraine andadded an SOS Alert on Search. Google previouslysuspended its ad businessin Russia anddisabled live traffic datain Ukraine for safety.

Google declined to comment on this story. It can also pull data as far back as June 2015. It provides global data at a 10-meter resolution.

Camera tools have not historically taken people of color into account, the company said. The improved camera system will be launched onGoogle Pixelthis fall.

Over the past year, Google has added more languages to its translation tool, including in offline mode. Lens can translate text in images. Google said Wednesday that this redesign will roll out to Apple iOS users in the coming weeks too. The Lens app lets you search via what your phone’s camera sees.

But lawmakers have especially zeroed in on Google’s dominance in web search, and on digital advertising. The company processes around 90% of all online searches in the US. Google has also been criticized over how it displays search results. The company takes content from publishers and other websites, which has led to accusations it hurts competitors. On the How Search Works website, Google says its approach has “evolved” over the years....

The company said it’ll now offer more than 800 free TV channels to browse. The new offerings include built-in channels from Google TV, such as news channels from NBC. There will also be news channels from ABC, CBS and Fox. The new Live tab layout could help make it easier to browse. For more, check out CNET’sreview of Chromecast with Google TV HDandthe best TVs of 2023.

The Streamer also has Gemini-enhanced search capabilities, which can also curate recommended titles for watchlists. Gemini-enabled entertainment recommendations The Streamer is 4K HDR, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos-enabled. It’s more powerful than the most recent Chromecast withGoogle TVand offers more storage capacity at 32GB. It also runs Google TV. The Google TV Streamer is available for preorder online. It’ll be available in stores beginning Sept. 24.

Google is making improvements to itstravelplanning features. Price tracking is activated bysearching for flights on Google Flightsbetween two cities. At the bottom of the filters, there is a “track price” section. Google also released enhancements to Maps for those looking to reachdestinationsby car. TheExplore toollets youexplorelocations worldwide by budget and trip length.

The tech giant said it’s also going after reputable websites that host low-quality content from third parties. It’s led to a degradation in search, with some peoplelamenting the breakdown of Google results. Researchers warned that search results will only get worse as AI-generated spam proliferates. Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.