Google and Its Management: More Excitement
January 7, 2022
In western countries, the technology industry is predominantly white and male. This has led to AI algorithms are accidentally programmed with “racial bias.” These awkward and humorous incidents include a “racist” soap dispenser that could not sense dark pigmented skin and photo recognition software identifying black people as gorillas. AI algorithms can easily be fixed when they are fed more diverse data, however, it is harder to fix human habits. Google is once again under fire for its treatment of minority employees, specifically, “Google Facing Probe For How It Treats Black Female Workers,” says Daiji World.
Google’s recent diversity report stated that only 1.8% of its work force consists of black women. The tech giant explains that it wants to be a viewed as a welcoming environment for black people. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has questioned Google employees about harassment and discrimination in response to complaints. Google has a known history of harassment and discrimination:
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) researcher Timnit Gebru, who was fired from Google after sending an email of concern to her Ethical AI team, has now set up her own research institute that will be an independent, community-rooted institute set to counter Big Tech’s pervasive influence on the research, development and deployment of AI.
Gebru was the technical co-lead of Google’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence team. She was fired over an email where she expressed her doubts about Google’s commitment to inclusion and diversity. Two Google engineers, including one of Indian-origin, quit Google over the abrupt firing of Gebru.
While engineering director David Baker said that Gebru’s dismissal “extinguished” his will to work at the company, software engineer Vinesh Kannan announced that he was quitting because Gebru and April Christina Curley, a diversity recruiter, were “wronged”.”
All industries should be merit-based, but allowances must be given for sex and ethnicity as these factors heavily weigh on society. All ethnicities and sexes want acceptance, respect, and inclusion in the workplace. This means racist, sexist, discriminatory, and harassing behaviors are taboo. If they do occur, the perpetrator should be punished, not the victim.
Here is a big secret about women in the workplace: they want to work. Here is a big secret about ethnic minorities in the workplace: they want to work too. Why is it so hard to curb rude behavior and treat women and ethnic minorities like everyone else?
The tech industry is like a huge good old boys club. When the male club members are confronted with change, they do not want to relinquish their power. Toxic male behaviors are not the only problem. As a whole, society still pushes women towards more traditional female roles. These roles stem away from science, math, and technology.
Things are better, but they can and will improve. The biggest holdups are old predilections that will face as older generations pass. Once Generation Z reaches adult hood, society will have improved. The biggest downside is the present.
Whitney Grace, January 7, 2022
Perhaps Someone Wants to Work at Google?
January 7, 2022
I read another quantum supremacy rah rah story. What’s quantum supremacy? IBM and others want it whatever it may be. “Google’s Time Crystals Could Be the Greatest Scientific Achievement of Our Lifetimes” slithers away from the genome thing, whatever the Nobel committee found interesting, and dark horses like the NSO Group’s innovation for seizing an iPhone user’s mobile device just by sending the target a message.
None of these is in the running. What we have it, according to The Next Web, is what may be:
the world’s first time crystal inside a quantum computer.
Now the quantum computer is definitely a Gartner go-to technology magnet. Google is happy with DeepMind’s modest financial burn rate to reign supreme. The Next Web outfit is doing its part. Two questions?
What’s a quantum computer? A demo, something that DARPA finds worthy of supporting, or a financial opportunity for clever physicists and assorted engineers eager to become the Seymour Crays of 2022.
What’s a time crystal? Frankly I have no clue. Like some hip phrases — synaptic plasticity, phubbing, and vibrating carbon nanohorns, for instance — time crystal is definitely evocative. The write up says:
Time crystals don’t give a damn what Newton or anyone else thinks. They’re lawbreakers and heart takers. They can, theoretically, maintain entropy even when they’re used in a process.
The write up includes a number of disclaimers, but the purpose of the time crystal strikes me as part of the Google big PR picture. Whether time crystals are a thing like yeeting alphabet boys or hyperedge replacement graph grammars, the intriguing linkage of Google, quantum computing, and zippy time crystals further cements the idea that Google is a hot bed of scientific research, development, and innovation.
My thought is that Google is better at getting article writers to make their desire to work at Google evident. Google has not quite mastered the Timnit Gebru problem, however.
And are the Google results reproducible? Yeah, sure.
Stephen E Arnold, January 7, 2022
France Punches Its Googzilla-Type Pez Dispenser Again
January 6, 2022
Some government have figured out how to generate some cash. Target Facebook and Google. Fine them. Collect the money. This is a new spin on the Pez dispenser. Punch a lever and get a snack.
We could not locate an official Googzilla Pez dispenser. However, we spotted this creature from the Black Lagoon on the Antiques Navigator Web site here. The idea is to push a button and get a healthful, nutricious sugar pellet. The digital version requires a legal document finding the target guilty of an infraction. After some legal fancy dancing, the target pays the nation state. Efficient and fun. More EU states and Russia are fascinated with the digital Pez method.
The write up “Google, Facebook Face Big Private Fines in France” explains:
French data regulator the CNIL is set to fine Google €150 million and Facebook €60 million for violating EU privacy rules…. The CNIL will fine Google’s United States and Irish operations €90 million and €60,
France is not particularly worried about the opinion of nation states like Ireland.
But the point is that the approach yields cash, bad publicity for certain US technology outfits, and fees for lawyers. Yes, lawyers.
Punch that button? Sounds like a plan.
Stephen E Arnold, January 6, 2022
Is Waymo a Proxy for Alphabet Google in China?
January 4, 2022
Remember 2006. Google launched its China search engine. In 2010, Google caught a flight back to SFO. The issues revolved around control, and the Google was not about to be controlled by a mere nation state. The Google was the new big thing. For some color on this remarkable example of techno hubris, check out How Google Took on China and Lost.” (Note: You may have to pay to read this okay write up from the outfit which found the humanist Jeffrey Epstein A-OK.)
Flash forward to “Future Autonomous Waymo EV Will Be Custom Built for Ride-Hailing with No Steering Wheel.” Tucked into this write up is an item of information I find quite suggestive about China, the Google, and the adage “time heals all wounds.” Well, that’s the adage’s point of view.
The write up’s interesting item is expressed this way:
Waymo today announced an OEM collaboration with Geely, a Chinese automotive company that has several subsidiary brands like Volvo, Lotus, and Smart.
Presumably both the Chinese government sensitive Geely and the money sensitive Google are going to go on these outfits’ version of a Match.com date.
And the misunderstanding of 2006 and Dragonfly, the aborted Chinese centric search engine project (allegedly just a distant memory), is just a another Google project without wood behind it.
What online service will provide maps to the nifty new auto? Who will have access to the data the helpful vehicles will generate? What is one of these slick vehicles routes toward a facility in the US which is covertly owned by a China-affiliated entity or picks up one of those Harvard type academics who is on China’s payroll?
So many questions with what may be obvious answers.
Stephen E Arnold, January 4, 2022
Google: Who Us? Oh, We Are Sorry
January 4, 2022
One sign of a decent human being is when they admit their mistakes and accept their responsibilities. When people accept their mistakes, the situation blows over quicker. Google leaders, however, are reluctant to accept the consequences of their poor actions and it is not generating good PR. The lo shares the story in: “Google CEO Blames Employee Leaks To The Press For Reduced ‘Trust and Candor’ At The Company.”
During a recent end-of-the year meeting, Google employees could submit questions via the internal company system Dory. They then can vote on the questions they wish management to answer. The following questioned received 673 votes:
“The question was: ‘It seems like responses to Dory have gotten increasingly more lawyer-like with canned phrases or platitudes, which seem to ignore the questions being ask [sic]. Are we planning on bringing candor, honesty, humility and frankness back to Dory answers or continuing down a bureaucratic path?’”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai was exasperated and he blamed employees leaking information to the media for the inflated, artificial answers. He said the following:
“‘Sometimes, I do think that people are unforgiving for small mistakes. I do think people realize that answers can be quoted anywhere, including outside the company. I think that makes people very careful,’ he said. ‘Trust and candor has to go both ways,’ Pichai added.”
Pichai also explained that the poor relationship between employees and the top brass is a direct result of Google’s large size and the pandemic. Google employees were upset with their leaders prior the the COVID-19 pandemic. They stated they were frustrated with how Google handled sexual harassment complaints, lack of diversity issues, and sexism. Google employees formed their first union in January 2020.
Pichai would do better to admit Google has problems and actively work on fixing them. It would make him and the company appear positive in the media, not to mention better relationships with his employees.
Whitney Grace, January 4, 2022
How about That Smart Software?
January 3, 2022
In the short cut world of training smart software, minor glitches are to be expected. When an OCR program delivers 95 percent accuracy, that works out to five mistakes in every 100 words. When Alexa tells a child to put a metal object into a home electrical outlet, what do you expert? This is close enough for horse shoes.
Now what about the Google Maps of today, a maps solution which I find almost unusable. “Google Maps May Have Led Tahoe Travelers Astray During Snowstorm” quoted a Tweet from a person who is obviously unaware of the role probabilities play in the magical world of Google. Here’s the Tweet:
This is an abject failure. You are sending people up a poorly maintained forest road to their death in a severe blizzard. Hire people who can address winter storms in your code (or maybe get some of your engineers who are stuck in Tahoe right now on it).
Big deal? Of course not, Amazon and Google are focused on the efficiencies of machine-centric methods for identifying relevant, on point information. The probability is that most of the Amazon and Google outputs will be on the money. Google Maps rarely misses on pizza or the location of March Madness basketball games.
Severely injured children? Well, that probably won’t happen. Individuals lost in a snow storm? Well, that probably won’t happen.
The flaw in these giant firms’ methods are correct from these companies’ point of view in the majority of cases. A terminated humanoid or a driver wondering if a friendly forest ranger will come along the logging road? Not a big deal.
What happens when these smart systems output decisions which have ever larger consequences? Autonomous weapons, anyone?
Stephen E Arnold, January 3, 2021
Russia Says Happy Holidays to Google
December 24, 2021
I think I have figured this out. Each month the Russia legal system fines Google some money. Think of this as a tax levied on being allowed to operate in a country not fond of certain Ukrainian officials. Come to think of it. Russia does not exactly love the Google. The first hint was the go nowhere deal for Sergey Brin to fly into space, a goal that has remained out of reach. A failure for a ride must have been as painful as the failure of the Google Glass thing.
“Russian Court Fines Google Nearly $100M Over Content” delivers the holiday news to the well managed outfit in Mountain View. What was Google’s transgression? (I know it is difficult to pick from the cornucopia of alleged missteps.) Here’s what the write up reports:
A Moscow court has fined Google nearly $100 million over its failure to delete content banned by local law.
Will Google pay? Sure, eventually.
I am interested to see what “fine” emerges in January. Won’t Russia enforcement officials pull Googzilla’s tail to collect another financial output? Apple has made clear that US companies will cut deals to do business in certain nation states. Russia’s approach is more direct: Find the Google guilty. Collect money.
Perhaps Mr. Putin will propose a more predictable approach? Is an Apply type of deal on the to do list for 2022?
What a nice way for the Russian bear to wish GOOG “Happy Holidays”!
Stephen E Arnold, December 24, 2021
Mother Google Wants Tidy Cubbies
December 24, 2021
Google is going to save us from our disorganized selves, whether we like it or not. TechRadar reports, “Google Drive Update Will Force You to Clean Up Your Mess of Files and Folders.” It is for our own good, really. To force users into tidying up, Drive will automatically migrate multi-location files to shortcuts, a system launched in August of last year. With the pandemic-prompted shift in remote work, use of cloud-based systems like Drive had suddenly boomed. Writer Joel Khalili tells us:
“This [shift] caused an influx in the number of documents, spreadsheets, presentations and other assets hosted in Google Drive, creating various file management and navigation issues. With the upcoming update, Google will hope to impose some measure of order on the chaos, which is only exacerbated by the opportunity for files to exist in multiple locations. According to the blog post, administrators will be notified via email a number of weeks before the migration to shortcuts takes place. Before the process begins, admins will be able to specify whether shortcuts are introduced in all possible scenarios, or only for content shared within the company’s own domain. Google Workspace users, meanwhile, will be served a banner warning of the changes, but will be required to take no further action. All existing file permissions will be preserved after the migration takes place, says Google.”
We suppose that is one way for Google to save on data storage costs. If the company can position it as a boon for users, all the better. Will it also seek a way to make us eat our vegetables? Will mom root through the data in order to make a definitive parental decision? What if some data are in violation of the Google’s terms of service? What’s the punishment? Google jail, a fine, a trial? We don’t know.
Cynthia Murrell, December 24, 2021
Verizon and Google Are Love Birds? Their Call Is 5G 5G 5G
December 22, 2021
The folks involved with electronic equipment for air planes are expressing some concerns about 5G. Why? Potential issues related to interference. See the FAA and others care about passengers and air freight. Now Verizon and Google care about each other and are moving forward with more 5G goodness. (Please, turn off those 5G mobiles.)
Verizon is regarded as the top mobile provider in the United States. Verizon earns that title, because the company is always innovating. Tech Radar has the story on one of Verizon’s newest innovations: “Verizon Partners With Google Cloud On 5G Edge.” Google Cloud and Verizon will pool their resources to offer 5G mobile edge with guaranteed performance for enterprise customers.
Verizon is promising its 5G networks will have lower latency with faster speeds, reliable connections, and greater capacity. The mobile provider will deliver on its 5G and lower latency promise by decentralizing infrastructures and virtualizing networks, so they are closer to customers. Edge computing means data is processed closer to its collection point. This will enable more advanced technology to take root: smart city applications, telemedicine, and virtual reality.
Google Cloud’s storage and compute capabilities are what Verizon needs to deliver 5G:
“The partnership will initially combine Verizon’s private on-site 5G and its private 5G edge services with Google Distributed Cloud Edge, but the two companies have said they plan to develop capabilities for public networks that will allow enterprises to deploy applications across the US.”
Verizon’s new Google partnership makes it the first mobile provider to offer edge services with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
The advancement of 5G will transform developed countries into automated science-fiction dreams. Verizon 5G edge sounds like it requires the use of more user data in order for it to be processed closer to the collection point. Is this why Verizon has been capturing more of late? Will 5G networks require more private user data to function?
One of my colleagues at Beyond Search had the silly idea that the Verizon Google discussions contributed to Verizon’s keen interest in capturing more customer data. Will the cooing of 5G 5G 5G soothe those worried about having a 757 visit the apartments adjacent O’Hare Airport? Of course not. Verizon and Google are incapable of making technical missteps.
Whitney Grace, December 22, 2021
Who Blinked? Googzilla or Dopey
December 20, 2021
I read “YouTube TV Drops Disney Owned Channels Including ESPN, Disney Channel, & ABC.” The Google, fresh from its negotiations with the super giant Roku, faced a more formidable negotiating team representing Disney capture team of Goofy and friends. Rumors that Darth Vader and Spiderman would participate in the discussions proved false. Dopey was not moved by Alphabet’s spelling out the realities of working with the online advertising behemoth. The write up reports one of Dopey’s assistants as saying:
We’ve been in ongoing negotiations with Google’s YouTube TV and unfortunately, they have declined to reach a fair deal with us based on market terms and conditions.
The online advertising giant’s representative, a former high school science club member, allegedly said:
We’ve held good faith negotiations with Disney for several months. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we’ve been unable to reach an equitable agreement before our existing one expired, and their channels are no longer available on YouTube TV….We know this is frustrating news for our customers, and not what we wanted. We will continue conversations with Disney to advocate on your behalf in hopes of restoring their content on YouTube TV.
We have heard that Dopey rejected the Alphabet request for special access to the Lightning Lane and VIP parking.
Dopey was not available for comment. The write up includes this statement:
In September, YouTube TV had a similar dispute with NBCUniversal over carriage of their local affiliates and cable channels, but were able to reach a deal without the channels going dark. They were also recently in a carriage dispute with Roku, which prevented new subscribers from downloading the YouTube TV App. The two sides reached a deal last week that saw the app return to the platform. However, YouTube TV has dropped channels in the past. Most notably, in October 2020 they dropped Bally Sports (which were Fox Sports RSNs at the time), along with Sinclair-owned Tennis Channel and Boston-based RSN NESN.
Then Googzilla and Dopey, after listening to complaints of five-year-olds saw the light saber. “YouTube TV reaches deal with Disney to restore channels including ABC, ESPN” reported that despite the gap between Googzilla and Dopey:
CNET’s David Katzmaier notes, though, that while relatively brief, the two-day blackout was an inconvenience to YouTube TV customers who wanted to watch college football (bowl season starts this weekend), the NFL or the NBA on ESPN or ABC, or a Christmas special on the Disney Channel. Katzmaier has his own take on YouTube TV alternatives for bummed-out Disney and sports fans.
Googzilla and Dopey are planning a visit to Disney World over the holidays. Separate rooms, please.
Stephen E Arnold, December 20, 2021
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
