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RoadshowNewsCar IndustryMichigan could soon legalize fully driverless carsEnlarge ImageGoogle and other companies have a number of autonomous vehicles on public roads already, but by law, they must include a driver ready to take control. Google Without a national framework, some states like Califoia and Michigan have taken the lead and drafted up regulations for testing autonomous vehicles on public roads, albeit with drivers standing by in the front seat. But Michigan's about to take it one step further and address a bill that could allow cars without drivers on public roads.The state Senate's Economic Develo...

Uber has hired Target's chief marketing officer to help the ride-hailing company boost its global brand.Jeff Jones is jumping ship from Target to Uber. Target Jeff Jones will joining the San Francisco-based startup as president of ridesharing, making him responsible for Uber's operations, marketing and customer support globally, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in a company blog post Tuesday. Jones succeeds Ryan Graves, Uber's first employee and first CEO, who will remain with the company as its "resident entrepreneur." Jones' focus at Uber will be to "fuse" its marketing efforts with its global operations, Ka...

Enlarge ImageGoogle Crowdsource lets you help the company with language translation, handwriting recognition and map translation accuracy. Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET Google has a formidable artificial intelligence team working on everything from photo recognition to email spam filtering. But for some tasks, it's looking for the human touch -- yours, specifically.The online giant on Monday released a new Android app called Crowdsource that lets you contribute your own suggestions to language translation, handwriting recognition and street sign transcription. "Each microtask takes no more than five to ...

Alphabet executive David Drummond has left Uber's board over conflict of interest conces. Alphabet The race to put autonomous vehicles on the road has apparently cost one Alphabet executive his seat on Uber's board of directors.David Drummond, Alphabet's senior vice president of corporate development, resigned from the ride-hailing startup's board several weeks ago amid rising conces over conflict of interests. Drummond, who had been on Uber's board since 2013, helped oversee Google's $250 million venture-capital investment in Uber that same year.Drummond confirmed his departure from Uber's board in an stateme...

Attendees at next month's Google Play Indie Games Festival will have a chance to play more than two dozen new games, some of which are not yet widely available.Google on Monday unveiled the 30 Android games selected from more than 200 submissions vying for a chance to be exhibited at the conference. Fifteen of the games showcased are on a very limited beta, so this is the best opportunity many will have to play them.Fans will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite games at the festival. A complete list of the games chosen for exhibition can be found here.Google also aounced that it has opened up registration of the event, which will be held in San Francisco on September 24. The even...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.Enlarge ImageWhere on the dashboard is its moral compass? KAREN BLEIER/AFP/GettyImages I think of morality as a feather that shifts in the wind and occasionally brushes your face delightfully as it falls to earth.I'm still perturbed, however, whether technology has a fine grasp of it. Or whether it can.I'm moved by the news that Uber has launched its driverless vehicles in Pittsburgh. It crossed my mind whether these cars have already been programmed whom to kill if they face a moral dilemma.For example, the car is abo...

RoadshowNewsSelf-driving taxis hit SingaporeMove over Uber, the newest transport disruptor is here. On a trial basis, at least. Starting on Thursday, some residents of Singapore will be able to take taxi rides in self-driving cars. It's brought to the Asian nation by US-based nuTonomy. The Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-Miev taxis will be hailed using an invite-only app. Perhaps to help give peace of mind to all customers, a nuTonomy engineer will be in each car to make sure the ride is smooth and to take manual control if need be. It's a limited trial, though. These autonomous taxis, while free, will only commute through Singapore's one-north business district.The startup, which in May recei...

On this date in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the National Park Service Organic Act, which mandated the creation of the National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife" found inside the United States and make them available for public enjoyment. To celebrate the centeial of the service, Google has created an animated doodle that takes viewers on a virtual coast-to-coast tour of some of the sites and sounds that can be found on the 84 million acres of land designated as protected since the agency's creation. Starting with a collection of iron-on souvenir park patches, Google shows us the various wildlife that can fou...

Enlarge ImageThe two Koreas. Google South Korea has delayed its reply to Google's request for mapping data, a Reuters report said Wednesday. The Alphabet property first reached out to South Korea in June, requesting access to govement-held mapping information for distribution to outside servers. This would allow Google to offer complete Google Maps services there. South Korean officials had previously agreed to reach a decision by Wednesday but have now pushed their decision to November 23. According to Reuters, the information would improve South Korea's maps, but officials want to take more time to weigh sec...

Enlarge Image Google 2016 was a big year for VR, and it's about to get bigger. Google will be launching its Daydream VR platform in a matter of weeks, Bloomberg reports. Alphabet, Google's parent company, is said to be investing big money on content for the platform. Much of this is going toward development of video games and apps, licensing sports leagues and shooting 360-degree videos, many of which include YouTube stars, according to the publication. Daydream is being built into the Android 7.0 Nougat operating system, which launched this week. It said back in May that Samsung, HTC, ZTE, Huawei, Xiaomi, Alc...

Enlarge Image Google Who doesn't enjoy a good pop-up ad? Everyone, that's who. Now Google is trying to be the ultimate bro, aouncing on Tuesday that it'll soon be punishing mobile sites with obstructive advertisements. "Pages that show intrusive interstitials provide a poorer experience to users than other pages where content is immediately accessible," product manager Doantam Phan wrote in a blog post. "This can be problematic on mobile devices where screens are often smaller. "To improve the mobile search experience, after January 10, 2017, pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the trans...

RoadshowNewsRoborace unveils self-driving Formula E race car prototype [embedded content] The perils of the high-speed racing circuit may one day no longer apply to human drivers, at least if Roborace and electric car inteational racing series Formula E has anything to say about it. Roborace has been working on a self-driving motorsport vehicle, aounced in November of last year, and now it's unveiled the prototype.Called the DevBot, it will be used to test and demonstrate the technology. "The primary purpose of the DevBot is to allow teams to develop their software and experience the hardware that will be used on the 'Robocar'," Roborace wrote on ...

Google is sunsetting Chrome Apps for non-Chrome operating systems. Sarah Tew/CNET Google has touted its Chrome browser as all you need for desktop computing on any operating system. But the search giant said in a blog post Friday that it will gradually be phasing out the browser's apps for Windows, Mac and Linux machines. The apps range from photo-editing program Pixlr Touch Up to games like a now-discontinued version of Angry Birds. You download them from the Chrome Web Store, launch them from the Chrome browser and they open in a separate window, as if they were a program installed on your hard drive. ...

The high-tech hub is a production facility for the UK's top YouTubers....

Close Uber to start using self-driving cars this month, says report Drag First reported by Bloomberg, Uber will be testing out self-driving cars in downtown Pittsburgh, Pesylvania. Uber riders will be assigned autonomous Volvos XC90 SUVs at random. Don't fear -- an Uber engineer will be present at the wheel along with a pass...

Enlarge ImageParents can keep an eye on their child's workload. Google Sigh. Yes, the break is over and school awaits. But with a little luck you might be able to ditch class and go to the moon instead. With the new school year upon us, Google has souped up its Expeditions and Classroom apps for teachers and students. The Expeditions app, which lets students take virtual-reality field trips with the help of a phone and Google's Cardboard VR headset, now features more places to "go," the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. New Expeditions include a walk on the moon, a visit to the White House kitch...

RoadshowNewsCar IndustryOne is the loneliest number: Hyundai looking to buddy up with GoogleIt's dangerous to go alone! Take this! [hands Hyundai a map to Google's HQ] Mark Renders/Getty Images These days, automotive industry collaborations are commonplace. Ridesharing and tech companies are popular partnerships right now, as the industry moves toward self-driving vehicles and a new sharing economy. It's hard to go it alone, and it appears Hyundai is finally realizing this.The automaker is reportedly in talks with Google to discuss new partnership options, according to Bloomberg. Jeong Jin Haeng, Hyundai Moto...

Close Google's Hangouts on Air heading to YouTube Drag Hangouts on Air is a pretty good live-streaming app within Google's social network, Google Plus. However, Google is pulling the feature from Google Plus and a new version will head to YouTube Live. In mid-September, Hangouts on Air will no longer function on Google Plus. ...

Apple's Tim Cook tells The Washington Post about the "lonely" job of CEO. The Washingont Post/Screenshot by CNET For those of you who hold onto every word Tim Cook says, The Washington Post has about 10,000 to offer.Apple's CEO sat down with the Post for what it termed two "sprawling and highly self-reflective interviews" published Saturday that hit on topics ranging from losing and succeeding the late Steve Jobs, the company's recent fight with the FBI and who he tus to for advice.The Post prefaces the interview with a nice summary of what it covers. But we've also put together a few highlights:Mistakes: Aft...

Google's update to its productivity suite allows users to edit a document or spreadsheet while ruing a browser or another app on the other side of the screen. Ian Sherr/CNET iPad users will finally get split-screen multitasking on iOS versions of Docs, Sheets and Slides, thanks to an update Google released Wednesday.The update allows users of recent models of the iPad Pro and the iPad Air 2 ruing iOS 9 to edit a document or spreadsheet while ruing another app at the same time on the other side on the tablet's screen. The update comes nearly a year after Apple released iOS 9, which included the long-sought add...