Google Maps tries to chart out the globe for more than a billion users around the world. But it’s not so simple when those people disagree on where the lines should be drawn. So the search giant displays political borders differently depending on where a viewer is, according to a report Friday by The Washington …

Essential Products, the mobile-hardware startup founded by Android creator Andy Rubin, is ceasing operations and shutting down, the company said Wednesday.  The startup debuted to much fanfare in 2017, when Rubin announced the Essential Phone. The hardware company was seen as the former Google executive’s follow-up act to Android in the mobile-device market. The company was once valued at $1 …

This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon. Google is everywhere at CES 2020. With the world’s largest consumer electronics showcase under way here in Las Vegas, the search giant has dispatched an army of people clad in white uniforms to spread the gospel about the Google Assistant, the …

Google is launching Duplex on the Web, a booking service that’s basically autofill on steroids. The tool is designed to let people more easily buy movie tickets online, the company said Thursday. The service is available on Android phones. To use it, you’d ask the Assistant — Google’s digital helper software akin to Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri — to look …

Texting on Android phones is about to get a lot better, Google said Thursday. The maker of the widely used operating system is launching a major update to its Messages app in the US that will modernize texting on Android phones. The update will include several features that iPhone users have long enjoyed in iMessages, including read receipts and exiting …

Google‘s search engine will now better understand your confusing search queries, the company said Friday. Google said it’s updating the tool to improve analysis of natural language. The idea is to let people type in queries that reflect how they speak in real life, instead of entering a string of keywords they think the software is more likely to understand.  …

Earlier this week, Google unveiled its flagship Pixel 4 phone (along with the larger Pixel 4 XL). It’s a premium device with a high-end camera, radar chip for motion controls and facial recognition software (here’s how the Pixel 4’s face unlock compared to the iPhone 11’s Face ID when we tested both in four typical scenarios). It also came with a price …

Google on Tuesday unveiled a spate of highly anticipated new devices, including its flagship Pixel 4 phone, Pixel Buds to compete with Apple’s Airpods, and a new version of the Google Home Mini speaker, renamed the Nest Mini. But if you really want to understand Google’s goals when it comes to consumer hardware, one of the company’s less-celebrated products, a …

Amid a steady stream of leaks related to its upcoming Pixel 4 phone, Google released a “leak” of its own in July. The search giant posted a 22-second YouTube video of a woman in front of the new phone, waving her hands in the air to control the device from a few inches away. The video was accompanied by a …

Google targeted people of color — including homeless people and college students — to help improve its facial recognition software, according to a report Wednesday by the New York Daily News. In exchange for face scans, the company gave volunteers $5 gift cards.  The project was reportedly an effort to improve biometric features on Google’s devices like facial unlock features …