Twenty-three industry groups across Europe have urged EU tech chief Henna Virkkunnen to adopt a draft cybersecurity certification scheme (EUCS) for cloud services that was tweaked last year in favour of Amazon , Alphabet's Google and Microsoft .

Industry groups urge quick adoption of EU cybersecurity label that favours Big Tech | Reuters

Dr. Marc Manzano, General Manager of Cybersecurity at SandboxAQ, a spinoff from Alphabet, commented on AWS's announcement with a focus on the implications for cybersecurity. "Amazon's Ocelot is yet another proof point that the quantum computing era is approaching.

AWS unveils Ocelot chip claiming 90% cost reduction

Alphabet’s (GOOGL) (GOOG) Google has laid off workers in its cloud unit, though it is not yet known how many staff are affected. Bloomberg’s Julia Love, Gillian Tan...

Google cuts staff in cloud business, Bloomberg reports - TipRanks.com

Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) are two leaders in the lucrative cloud computing business.

Alphabet's Cloud Segment Is Quickly Catching Amazon's Cloud Business | Nasdaq

(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.’s Google on Wednesday cut staffers in its cloud division, according to people familiar with the matter.Most Read from BloombergCuts to Section 8 Housing Assistance Loom Amid HUD UncertaintyThe Trump Administration Takes Aim at Transportation ResearchShelters Await ...

Alphabet’s Google Cuts Employees in Cloud Division

Google Cloud has reportedly fired some staff from its unit.

Alphabet’s Google cuts some cloud division staff: Report - The Hindu

The retrenchment comes in the wake of slower growth from Google's cloud business, as well as massive spending aimed at supporting the tech giant's ambitions in AI

Alphabet's Google cuts less than 100 employees in its cloud division | Tech News - Business Standard

Alphabet's Google cut employees in its cloud division, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The size of the layoffs or how many workers have been affected was undetermined, Bloomberg said, adding that the round of cuts impacted only a few teams.

Alphabet's Google cuts some cloud division staff, Bloomberg reports

Alphabet

alphabet

Google's parent company  Alphabet Inc., on Thursday. They were not an exception to the effect of the current market downturn affecting the world, as they saw revenue slum and growth slowed when compared to Refinitiv projections. For Q4, consolidated revenues were $76 billion, a 1% gain over Q4 in 2021. released its fourth and fiscal year 2022 results In the conference call, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai described the growth run during the pandemic as a period of significant acceleration in digital spending, which has made the current macroeconomic ecosystem challenging as the world returns to normality. As communities and business owners embrace artificial intelligence, the search and android giant is aligning itself to be a . The call was centered mainly on three things: the impact of AI, how to unlock its potential across its products, and how to focus investment to make necessary decisions as a company to get there. key player in the field “First, the AI opportunity ahead. AI is the most profound technology we are working on today. Our talented researchers, infrastructure, and technology make us extremely well-positioned as AI reaches an inflection point. More than six years ago, I first spoke about Google being an AI-first company.” Pichai said. According to , Google management had several meetings around its company AI strategy amidst the soaring popularity of OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT and the partnership of its search engine competitor Microsoft. During the call, Pichai talked about the company’s plans to release large language models (LLMs) like LaMDA and PaLM to the public in the coming weeks and months. a New York Times report LaMDA will be the first to go public as they will await feedback from people to improve. He described this model to be particularly amazing for composing, constructing and summarizing. The company will be incorporating these LLMs in companionship with search, as it will become more useful as they provide up-to-date factual information. The company also plans to introduce LLMs into two of its products — Gmail and Docs. Pichai said there are plans in motion to incorporate generative capabilities into its design segment. He further stated the company would provide tools and APIs for developers and creators to enable them to create their applications and explore the possibilities of AI on the platform. Google ads business is its biggest revenue source despite going down by 2% in the last quarter, coming in at $42.6 billion. According to senior vice president and Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler, the company was able to outsize growth in advertising revenues during the pandemic, which saw advertising revenue of 2022 to be $90 billion higher than that in 2019. He reiterated the company's focus on generating revenue through AI-driven innovations, highlighting the progress made by smart bidding, which uses AI to predict future ad conversions and their value which help business to stay agile and responsive to a rapid shift in demand. The uses of AI advances boosted the bidding performance in the last year, which allowed advertiser outcomes down the funnel to drive ROI and use budgets more efficiently. “In 2022, AI advances boosted bidding performance, allowing us to move advertiser outcomes down the funnel to drive better ROI and use budgets more efficiently. In search query matching, large language models like MUM matched advertiser offices to user quarries. This understanding of human intent of language, combined with advances in bidding prediction, is why businesses can see an average of 35% more conversions when they upgrade exact match keywords to broad match in campaigns that use a target CPA. Google AI also underlies our creative products like tech suggestions in Google ads and creative optimization and responsive search ads.” Schindler said. Alphabet is throwing a strong signal to the AI industry after the company announced that they changing the financial report as it relates to its DeepMind AI in Q1. CFO Ruth Porat said this is due to increasing collaboration between DeepMind and Google products, and it will no longer be reported in other Bets and will now be reported as part of Alphabet’s corporate costs. Despite announcing a plan to and taking a severance charge of $1.9 to $2.9 billion, the company will be incurring an approximate sum of $500 million of costs related to exiting leases to align offices spaces with the adjusted headcount. Porat said the company would continue to hire in priority areas like artificial intelligence. She also said the company has a longer-term plan to re-engineer the cost base by incorporating AI to improve productivity across Alphabet for operational tasks. layoff 12,000 people in late January

Alphabet Doubles Up Efforts on AI as Tech Industry Races to Get a Foothold in the Sector

অ্যালফাবেট এআই-এর প্রচেষ্টাকে দ্বিগুণ করে কারণ টেক ইন্ডাস্ট্রি সেক্টরে পা রাখার জন্য রেস করছে

Alphabet verdoppelt seine Bemühungen im Bereich KI, während die Technologiebranche darum kämpft, in diesem Sektor Fuß zu fassen

Alphabet duplica los esfuerzos en IA a medida que la industria tecnológica se apresura a afianzarse en el sector

Alphabet redouble d'efforts sur l'IA alors que l'industrie technologique se précipite pour prendre pied dans le secteur

टेक उद्योग क्षेत्र में पैर जमाने के लिए अल्फाबेट ने एआई पर प्रयासों को दोगुना कर दिया

Alphabet が AI への取り組みを倍増

기술 산업이 해당 분야에서 발판을 마련하기 위해 경쟁함에 따라 Alphabet, AI에 대한 노력을 두 배로 늘림

Alphabet dobra esforços em IA enquanto a indústria de tecnologia corre para se firmar no setor

Teknoloji Sektörü Sektörde Yer Almak İçin Yarışırken Alphabet Yapay Zekaya Yönelik Çabaları İkiye Katlıyor

Bảng chữ cái tăng gấp đôi nỗ lực về AI khi ngành công nghiệp công nghệ chạy đua để có chỗ đứng trong lĩnh vực này

随着科技行业竞相在该领域站稳脚跟，Alphabet 加倍努力开发人工智能

There are situations, when during the development of an application, there is a need to create a sequence of data, such as a sequence of numbers that can serve as identifiers. Some programming languages have special built-in functions that can generate such data, but JavaScript does not. range In this article, we will look at how to implement a similar function in JavaScript and how to use it in different situations. The function in JavaScript can be useful in cases where you need to generate a sequence of integers or other data types with a certain amount of spacing between values. Also, as an example, you can give a sequence of dates, with an interval of a day, a week, or a month. range However, let’s begin with an easier example and use the function to generate a sequence of numbers from 1 to 10 like this: range range(1, 10); // [1, 2, 3, ..., 10] Below you can see one of the implementations of the range function to generate a sequence of numbers: function range(start, end) {
  const seq = [];

  for (let i = start; i <= end; i++) {
    seq.push(i);
  }

  return seq;
} In this example above, the function creates a new array and fills it with integers using a loop. After the array is filled, the function returns it. range seq for You can change the step between elements of a sequence by adding a third argument to the function: function range(start, end, step) {
  const seq = [];

  for (let i = start; i <= end; i += step) {
    seq.push(i);
  }

  return seq;
}

range(1, 10, 2); // [1, 3, 5, 7, 9] Here, the function returns an array of odd numbers from 1 to 10 since the initial value is set to 1 and the step is set to 2. You can also change the direction of the sequence generation by specifying a negative step like this: range function range(start, end, step) {
  const seq = [];

  for (let i = start; i >= end; i += step) {
    seq.push(i);
  }

  return seq;
}

range(10, 1, -2); // [10, 8, 6, 4, 2] Note that the function only works with integers. If you need to generate a sequence of fractional numbers, then you need to write an appropriate function or use other ways to generate a sequence with fractional numbers. range The function can be used to create a sequence of strings, such as a sequence of letters from the alphabet: range function range(start, end, step = 1) {
  const start = start.charCodeAt(0);
  const end = end.charCodeAt(0);

  const seq = [];
  for (let i = start; i <= end; i += step) {
    seq.push(String.fromCharCode(i));
  }

  return seq;
}

range('a', 'z'); // ['a', 'b', 'c', ..., 'z'] In this example, we initiate the method on the start and end value of the sequence. The method returns the numeric value for the character at the specified index. charCodeAt charCodeAt Next, using the loop, iterate over the elements of the sequence and set the values using the method. The static method returns a string created from the specified character code. After the array is filled, the function returns it. for String.fromCharCode() String.fromCharCode() In the previous examples, the function generates either a sequence of integers or strings from start to end values with a given step. However, you can also create a function with more complex logic that will work on different data types at the same time. range range To summarize, we have analyzed the function in JavaScript, which allows you to generate a sequence of numbers and strings with a certain step. range We learned how to implement such a function with a loop and how to use it in various situations. Use the function to simplify your code and speed up development. for range

Function Range in JavaScript: Generating a Sequence of Data

The Markup obtained internal documents that coach new employees to avoid creating “very real legal risks” in using words like “market” and “networkeffects” As Google faces at least four major antitrust investigations on two continents, internal documents obtained by The Markup show its parent company, Alphabet, has been preparing for this moment for years, telling employees across the massive enterprise that certain language is off limits in all written communications, no matter how casual. The taboo words include “market,” “barriers to entry,” and “network effects,” which is when products such as social networks become more valuable as more people use them. “Words matter. Especially in antitrust law,” reads one document titled “ .” Five Rules of Thumb for Written Communications “Alphabet gets sued a lot, and we have our fair share of regulatory investigations,” reads another. “Assume every document will become public.” The internal documents appear to be part of a self-guided training session for a wide range of the company’s more than 100,000 employees, from engineers to salespeople. One document, titled “Global Competition Policy,” says it applies not only to interns and employees but also to temps, vendors, and contractors. The documents explain the basics of antitrust law and caution against loose talk that could have implications for government regulators or private lawsuits. "Words matter. Especially in antitrust law." Alphabet internal training document In one of the documents, which appear to be written by the legal team, employees are advised to choose their words carefully and use only third-party data when referencing Google’s “position in search” in sales pitches. They are further cautioned never to print or hand out their slides. “We use the term ‘User Preference for Google Search’ and never the term market share,” says. that document Google Search is the company’s most profitable product and, as such, a large target for antitrust regulation. It’s that nine in 10 web searches in the U.S. are completed on Google. estimated To take action against a company, antitrust regulators must establish that it has a dominant share in a market. The more broadly a market is defined, the easier it is for the company to argue that it has real competition. In the slides, employees are cautioned that defining a market is hard and best avoided. “These are completely standard competition law compliance trainings that most large companies provide to their employees,” Google spokesperson Julie Tarallo McAlister said in an email. “We instruct employees to compete fairly and build great products, rather than focus or opine on competitors. We’ve had these trainings in place for well over a decade.” Bad Words One part of the presentation, subtitled “ ,” advises employees on which terms are “Bad” and “Good.” Communicating Safely Instead of “market,” employees may say “industry,” “space,” “area,” or simply cite the region, according to the presentation. Instead of “network effects,” the presentation suggests “valuable to users.” And instead of “barriers to entry,” substitute “challenges.” Alphabet internal training document An excerpt from Alphabet internal training documents. Re-created by The Markup to protect sources. Alphabet is under investigation by 50 attorneys general and the Department of Justice for potentially abusing its dominance to undermine competition. Its acquisitions, along with those of other major U.S. tech giants, are being reviewed for anticompetitive effects by the Federal Trade Commission. The European Commission an “in-depth” investigation of Google’s acquisition of fitness tracker Fitbit and is probing possible antitrust violations regarding Google for Jobs. announced McAlister said Google representatives “continue to engage with ongoing investigations” and pointed to a where the company said its deal with Fitbit “will increase choice.” blog post She also said the company “vigorously” denies claims by Sonos in its patent infringement suit, which alleges that Google first partnered with the company and then copied its technology. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence in a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in January that Google uses its dominance to shut down competition. Google countersued in June, alleging that Sonos infringed on its patents. testified Last week, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai faced a grueling 61 questions from lawmakers referencing the company’s dominance in online video, advertising, search, and other areas at a before the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee. hearing During the hearing, the chair of the subcommittee, Rep. David Cicilline, mentioned an by The Markup that showed Google Search presented its own results and products above competitors’. He held it up as evidence that Google has turned search into a “walled garden.” investigation According to a CSPAN transcript of the hearing, Pichai did not say the words “network effects” or “dominant” once and steered clear of defining any particular market. “Google operates in highly competitive and dynamic global markets, in which prices are free or falling, and products are constantly improving,” he said. Why "Network Effects" Matter Respected Silicon Valley antitrust lawyers Doug Melamed of Stanford University and Gary Reback of Carr & Ferrell both said it’s not unusual for a giant company such as Alphabet to coach employees to avoid talking about dominance. “It’s not just trying to hide the truth, it’s really trying to avoid the use of inflammatory language,” said Melamed, a former acting assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice. “The use of the word ‘market’ could be very innocent, but it could be misleading and provocative to an antitrust enforcer. Antitrust enforcers really get exercised when they think someone dominates a market.” Alphabet’s emphasis in training documents on avoiding the term “network effects” is a new one, both lawyers said, and goes to one of the main issues in tech antitrust. It was one of the concepts the U.S. government and attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia used to prosecute Microsoft for antitrust violations in 1998. They claimed the company broke the law, in part by using its dominance in the PC market to restrict competition by bundling Internet Explorer and other Microsoft products with the Windows operating system. “The barriers that exist to the entry of new competitors or the expansion of smaller existing competitors, including network effects, mean that dominance once achieved cannot readily be reversed,” the DOJ wrote in its complaint. “Once you admit strong network effects,” said Reback, who has represented competitors in antitrust cases against Google, “then it becomes easier for someone like me to say, ‘You’ve gotten this dominant share through exploitation of network effects, it’s clear there are high barriers to entry, we’re going to need to break you up or do something strong to stop you from abusing your position.’ ” "We are not out to ‘crush,’ ‘kill,’ ‘hurt,’ ‘block,’ or do anything else that might be perceived as evil or unfair." Alphabet training slide Reback represented Netscape early on in the Microsoft case and was the co-author of a about Microsoft that argued that network effects made tech companies gain market share faster than in other industries, and therefore antitrust regulators must be more aggressive. 222-page white paper Alphabet’s training documents lay out the basic concepts of antitrust law: “Competition laws, aka antitrust laws, are those that govern the conduct of businesses in order to protect fair competition, and, as a result, protect consumers.” No Crushing The slides also remind employees to keep the focus on how whatever they’re talking about benefits the public, which is a strong defense in antitrust matters: “Pro-tip: when drafting slides, always include at least one that shows how your business decisions will benefit consumers, partners, etc.” “We are not out to ‘crush,’ ‘kill,’ ‘hurt,’ ‘block,’ or do anything else that might be perceived as evil or unfair,” reads one portion. “Microsoft famously got into trouble when one of their employees threatened to ‘cut off Netscape’s air supply.’ ” Employees are given “Five Rules of Thumb for Written Communications,” according to the documents: We’re out to help users, not hurt competitors. Our users should always be free to switch, and we don’t lock anyone in. We’ve got lots of competitors, so don’t assume we control or dominate any market. Don’t try and define a market or estimate our market share. Assume every document you generate, including email, will be seen by regulators. Alphabet internal training document s. An excerpt from Alphabet internal training documents. Re-created by The Markup to protect source “If they can get their employees to comply with those guidelines, good for them,” said Melamed, the former DOJ antitrust official, who was one of the prosecutors on the Microsoft case. “But most companies’ documents are still filled with all sorts of stuff like this.” European regulators have already used internal emails against Alphabet. In an earlier investigation, they found emails that indicated that its shopping product’s web traffic doubled in 2008, mostly because it was featured in search listings. The European Commission concluded that the company had abused its dominance and in 2017 €2.42 billion, a record at the time. “Those emails were quoted selectively and out of context,” McAlister said. fined the company Reback, the antitrust lawyer, said there is a limit to how internal communications can be used, especially when they’re written by lower-level employees. In general, anticompetitive intent is not part of the legal argument, he said. Rather, lawyers for the plaintiff or the government must establish an anticompetitive effect. "I didn’t mean to imply that we’d be buying them to prevent them from competing with us in any way.…" Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Internal communications from higher-level executives that show apparent anticompetitive intent may have more weight—or at least, generate more publicity. The House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, which held last week’s hearing, collected text messages in which a Facebook executive suggested that CEO Mark Zuckerberg would go into “destroy mode” if Instagram turned down an acquisition offer. The committee also released an email Zuckerberg wrote musing that “there are network effects around social products” and buying companies like Instagram “will give us a year or more to integrate their dynamics before anyone can get close to their scale again.” He sent another email less than an hour later that, “I didn’t mean to imply that we’d be buying them to prevent them from competing with us in any way.… I’m mostly excited about what the companies could do together if we worked to build what they’ve invented into more people’s experiences.” clarifying During its 2012 antitrust investigation into Google, the FTC also collected emails, some of which Alphabet’s legal team would have frowned at. In one, Google’s top economist, Hal Varian, celebrated that market research firm Comscore had undervalued Google’s market share. “From an antitrust perspective,” Varian wrote, “I’m happy to see them underestimate our share.” The FTC ultimately overrode staff recommendations to take legal action against Google and closed the investigation without filing charges. Credits Originally published as " " with the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. To Head Off Regulators, Google Makes Certain Words Taboo

Can You Speak The Google Language, Please? 

Comment comes as part of big tech CEO grilling by antitrustcommittee In a historic hearing questioning the heads of four of the nation’s five largest technology companies, the chair of Congress’s antitrust subcommittee, David N. Cicilline, on Wednesday directed sharp criticism at Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet, pointing to The Markup’s findings that Google Search places the company’s products and results above competitors’. “An investigative report published just yesterday found that 63 percent of searches that start on Google also end on Google’s own websites,” Cicilline said, referring to our findings about results on the coveted first screen. “And to me that is evidence that Google is increasingly a walled garden which keeps users on Google’s sites, even if Google doesn’t have the most relevant information. And it’s economically catastrophic for other companies online.” Cicilline mentioned the report after asking, “Increasingly what Google shows is what is most profitable for Google. Isn’t there a fundamental conflict of interest?” Pichai responded, “In a vast majority of queries on Google, we don’t show ads at all.” The hearing was the sixth in a year-long series titled Online Platforms and Market Power, which has included testimony from experts, competitors, and lower-level executives from the four tech giants, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon. It was the first time all four had been questioned together, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s first appearance before Congress. They were asked about their respective market dominance and treatment of competitors. And some members of the committee asked the CEOs about their treatment of conservative media and causes. The hearing came one day after a months-long, painstaking investigation into Google Search that for the first time quantified how much the company highlights its own products and serves “answers” on the results page, many of which take information from other websites and are meant to satisfy queries without the need to leave the Google universe of products. The Markup published Our of more than 15,000 U.S. trending queries found that Google gave 41 percent of the first search results page to itself and dominated the coveted first screen. sophisticated analysis Google spokesperson Lara Levin called The Markup’s “flawed and misleading.” She criticized it for being “based on a non-representative sample of searches” and said using trending searches makes it more likely that results would include Google “knowledge panels”—information summaries curated from various sources—than a random sample would. As we wrote earlier, Google has not publicly released a random sample of searches. methodology Among the competitors who told The Markup that Google’s decision to highlight its own products in search is hurting other businesses is Chris Cummings, CEO of Curiosity Media, which owns SpanishDict.com. Cummings said that when Google serves SpanishDict as the top result, the site gets 80 percent of clicks—but when Google Translate appears above it, that figure drops to 2 percent. Google’s decisions have limited the company’s growth, he said: “We only exist because there are still some queries where they don’t put their stuff at the top.” Travel websites large and small said boosting Google Flights and Google Hotels on Google’s search results page has taken away business, even though some pay Google billions for ads. To determine the amount of space Google dedicates to itself, we built a custom scraper to gather U.S. Google Trends for two months, starting in November 2019. We built another scraper to run the searches as they would appear on mobile devices, where the majority of searches now occur. We wrote more than 1,000 lines of code to parse and analyze the resulting dataset, which contained more than one million rows. Members of Congress questioned Pichai, Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a hearing that started more than an hour late and was ongoing as this story was published. During Rep. Greg Steube’s time for questions, he accused Google company Gmail of censoring Republican email. The Markup that Gmail was putting advocacy and political email from across the spectrum in its marketing tab rather than delivering it in the main inbox. (We found no political bias.) reported in February Pichai replied to Steube that the company is doing what users want: segregating bulk emails from messages from friends and family. Credits Originally published as " Congressman Says The Markup Investigation Proves Google Has Created a “Walled Garden” " with the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

The Markup Investigation: Congressman Says that Google engineered a “Walled Garden”

This story was originally published by . ProPublica’s Craig Silverman The internet giant may have provided Sberbank-owned RuTarget with unique mobile phone IDs, IP addresses, location information and details about users’ interests and online activity. The day after Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman sent a to Google warning it to be on alert for “exploitation of your platform by Russia and Russian-linked entities,” and calling on the company to audit its advertising business’s compliance with economic sanctions. Mark Warner letter But as recently as June 23, Google was sharing potentially sensitive user data with a sanctioned Russian ad tech company owned by Russia’s largest state bank, according to a new report provided to ProPublica. Google allowed RuTarget, a Russian company that helps brands and agencies buy digital ads, to access and store data about people browsing websites and apps in Ukraine and other parts of the world, . Adalytics identified close to 700 examples of RuTarget receiving user data from Google after the company was added to a U.S. Treasury list of sanctioned entities on Feb. 24. The data sharing between Google and RuTarget stopped four months later on June 23, the day ProPublica contacted Google about the activity. according to research from digital ad analysis firm Adalytics RuTarget, which also operates under the name Segmento, is owned by Sberbank, a Russian state bank that the Treasury described as “uniquely important” to the country’s economy when it hit the lender with initial sanctions. RuTarget was later listed in an that imposed full blocking sanctions on Sberbank and other Russian entities and people. The sanctions mean U.S. individuals and entities are not supposed to conduct business with RuTarget or Sberbank. April 6 Treasury announcement Of particular concern, the analysis showed that Google shared data with RuTarget about users browsing websites based in Ukraine. This means Google may have turned over such critical information as unique mobile phone IDs, IP addresses, location information and details about users’ interests and online activity, data that U.S. senators and experts say could be used by Russian military and intelligence services to track people or zero in on locations of interest. Last April, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators sent to Google and other major ad technology companies warning of the national security implications of data shared as part of the digital ad buying process. They said this user data “would be a goldmine for foreign intelligence services that could exploit it to inform and supercharge hacking, blackmail, and influence campaigns.” a letter Google spokesperson Michael Aciman said that the company blocked RuTarget from using its ad products in March, and that RuTarget has not purchased ads directly via Google since then. He acknowledged the Russian company was still receiving user and ad buying data from Google before being alerted by ProPublica and Adalytics. “Google is committed to complying with all applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws,” Aciman said. “We’ve reviewed the entities in question and have taken appropriate enforcement action beyond the measures we took earlier this year to block them from directly using Google advertising products.” Aciman said this action includes not only preventing RuTarget from further accessing user data, but from purchasing ads through third parties in Russia that may not be sanctioned. He declined to say whether RuTarget had purchased ads via Google systems using such third parties, and he did not comment on whether data about Ukrainians had been shared with RuTarget. Krzysztof Franaszek, who runs Adalytics and authored the report, said RuTarget’s ability to access and store user data from Google could open the door to serious potential abuse. “For all we know they are taking that data and combining it with 20 other data sources they got from God knows where,” he said. “If RuTarget’s other data partners included the Russian government or intelligence or cybercriminals, there is a huge danger.” In a statement to ProPublica, Warner, a Virginia Democrat, called Google’s failure to sever its relationship with RuTarget alarming. “All companies have a responsibility to ensure that they are not helping to fund or even inadvertently support Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Hearing that an American company may be sharing user data with a Russian company — owned by a sanctioned, state-owned bank no less — is incredibly alarming and frankly disappointing,” he said. “I urge all companies to examine their business operations from top to bottom to ensure that they are not supporting Putin’s war in any way.” Google’s initial failure to fully enforce sanctions on RuTarget highlights how money and data can flow through its market-leading digital advertising systems with little oversight or accountability. showed that Google had continued serving ads on Russian websites that had been on the Treasury sanctions list for years. In June, that Google helped place, and earned money from, more than 100 million gun ads, despite the company’s strong public stance against accepting such ads. An April report from Adalytics ProPublica reported The findings about RuTarget also come as Google and other tech companies face intense scrutiny from legislators about their handling of personal data. , who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized Google for its failure last year to provide him and his colleagues with a list of the foreign-owned companies it shares ad data with. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. “Google has refused to disclose [to senators] whether its ad network makes Americans’ data available to foreign companies in Russia, China and other high-risk countries,” he said in a statement to ProPublica. “It is time for Congress to act and pass my bipartisan bill, the Protecting Americans’ Data From Foreign Surveillance Act, which would force Google and other networks to radically change how they do business and ensure unfriendly foreign governments don’t have unfettered access to Americans’ sensitive information.” Wyden and his colleagues introduced the bipartisan bill last week to prevent sensitive data about Americans from being sold or transferred to “high-risk foreign countries.” Wyden and a different group of Senate colleagues also sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan last week asking her to investigate Google and Apple for enabling mobile advertising IDs in cellphones. These unique IDs can be combined with other data to personally identify users. Wyden’s letter cited mobile IDs as one way that Google and Apple transformed “online advertising into an intense system of surveillance that incentivizes and facilitates the unrestrained collection and constant sale of Americans’ personal data.” Aciman of Google said that the mobile advertising ID was created to give users control and privacy, and that Google does not allow the sale of user data. “The advertising ID was created to give users more control and provide developers with a more private way to effectively monetize their app,” he said. “Additionally, Google Play has in place that prohibit using this data for purposes other than advertising and user analytics. Any claims that advertising ID was created to facilitate data sales are simply false.” policies Bidstream Data Under Scrutiny At the heart of both the senators’ concerns and the Adalytics report is the data collected on global internet users that gets passed between companies as part of the digital ad buying process. This treasure trove of information can include a person’s unique mobile ID, IP address, location information and browsing habits. When passed between companies to facilitate ad buying, the trove is called bidstream data. And it’s essential to the roughly digital ad industry that is dominated by Google. half a trillion dollar Many digital ads are placed as a result of a real-time auction in which the seller of ad space, such as a website, is connected with potential buyers, like brands and agencies. An auction starts when a user visits a website or app. Within milliseconds, data collected about this user is shared with potential ad buyers to help them decide whether to bid to show an ad to the user. Regardless of whether they bid or not, ad buying platforms like RuTarget receive and store this bidstream data, helping them automate the amassing of rich repositories of data over time. The auction process is run by ad exchanges. They connect buyers and sellers and facilitate the sharing of bidstream data between them in conjunction with a process called cookie syncing. Google operates the world’s largest ad exchange, and RuTarget is one of many companies it shares bidstream data with. The more RuTarget connects with ad exchanges like Google, the more information it can gather and combine with data collected from other online and offline sources. Justin Sherman, a fellow at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy who runs a project focused on data brokers, said bidstream data is largely unregulated and can be highly sensitive, even if it does not include personal information such as names or emails. “There’s growing attention to the ways in which our data ecosystem and our ecosystem of data brokers and advertisers gives away or sends or sells highly sensitive information on Americans to foreign entities,” he said. “There is also concern about foreign entities illicitly accessing that information.” Google Failed to Disclose Bidstream Data Partners Fears over the ill-usage of the information led Warner, Wyden and four colleagues to ask Google and six other ad exchanges in April 2021 to list the domestic and foreign partners they shared bidstream data with in the past three years. They warned that this data could have serious implications for U.S. national security. “Few Americans realize that some auction participants are siphoning off and storing ‘bidstream’ data to compile exhaustive dossiers about them. In turn, these dossiers are being openly sold to anyone with a credit card, including to hedge funds, political campaigns, and even to governments,” they wrote in letters to AT&T, Index Exchange, Google, Magnite, OpenX, PubMatic, Twitter and Verizon. Google a few weeks later but refused to list the companies it shares bidstream data with, citing “non-disclosure obligations.” responded reveals concerns about the accuracy of Google’s response. He identified eight pages on Google’s support website that list hundreds of foreign and domestic companies that are eligible to receive bidstream data from it. One list contains over 300 companies, of which 19 are Chinese owned or headquartered and 16 are based in Russia, including RuTarget. Franaszek’s research Franaszek also found that some of these companies publicly disclosed their relationship with Google. And, , some of Google’s competitors disclosed to the senators the foreign partners they share data with. as reported by Vice This raises questions as to what Google was referring to when it said nondisclosure obligations prevent it from naming its partners, according to Franaszek. “Google was publicizing, on its own website, lists of foreign [partners] months before they told the senators that,” he said. Google’s Aciman said the lists on Google’s website do not disclose the nature of its relationship with the companies, and he reiterated that it has nondisclosure obligations with companies who act as bidders. One of the on Google’s site (“Ad Manager Certified External Vendors”) includes a column that describes what each Google vendor does. At least 13 of the companies are publicly identified as “RTB bidders,” meaning they act as bidders in Google’s real-time ad auction process. lists Publishers Sharing Data With RuTarget The user data shared by Google with RuTarget and other potential bidders is drawn from millions of websites and apps that rely on the Silicon Valley giant to help them earn money from ads. And many would likely be surprised to learn that a sanctioned Russian ad company was until two weeks ago able to harvest information about their visitors. Because of its relationship with Google, RuTarget is publicly listed as a recipient of user data by major publishers including Reuters and ESPN. This means RuTarget can receive data from these companies about the millions of people who visit their online properties each month. Like other publishers, ESPN and Reuters list RuTarget as a recipient of user data in cookie consent popups shown to users browsing their sites from the EU and other jurisdictions with data privacy laws requiring such disclosures. A spokesperson for Reuters said the companies shown in its consent popup, including RuTarget, come from a list of vendors provided by Google. “This list of vendors is managed by Google, and Reuters uses Google’s list of vendors on our website. We understand that Google suspended buyers and bidders based in Russia, and we have no record of any transactions with RuTarget since April 6,” Heather Carpenter of Reuters said. ESPN did not respond to a request for comment. As a Google partner, it’s possible that data about users browsing ProPublica’s website has at some point been shared with RuTarget. The opaque and technical nature of digital advertising makes it difficult to know for sure. Jason Kint, head of the digital publisher trade group Digital Content Next, said Google’s market power leaves publishers with little choice except to work with the company. “Premium publishers have to trust Google for a significant number of services that they depend on,” he said. “This is another example of misplaced trust. I’m just incredibly disappointed in Google.”

Sberbank-Owned RuTarget Harvested User Data for Months via Google 

In the on-demand market, ride-hailing is one of the key services that account for a higher percentage of total revenue. Uber is the first ride-hailing app that entered the market and following that many taxi services launched their business in the market. Many taxi apps became successful and are still sustaining in the market. There is so much competition in the taxi service industry. Many small scale taxi services are competing with each other to become the key players in the market. Followed by the ride-hailing service, the robot-taxi service set its foot in the on-demand market. is the first and the only company to date that has launched the robot-taxi service. The main concept behind this business is to provide completely self-driving car services to the customers. Many people welcomed this idea, but Waymo’s service was limited to Pheonix, Arizona. It was launched on December 5, 2018. Waymo It has been one year since the company was founded, and it has completed over 100,000 rides to date. Currently, more than 1500 customers are using the service in a month. The cars used for this service are built based on sensor technology. These cars were being developed in Google's secret lab since the year 2009. It started testing a few years back and drove millions of miles to check if the self-driving feature is working properly. It was mostly tested on the roads of US cities. Why self-driven cars? The main motive in building cars with self-driving technology is to avoid accidents and for the safety of the people. A few stats about road accidents in the US are given below: More than 1.2 million people lose their lives in the roadways due to major accidents. Collisions that occur during traffic kills more than 35,000 people in a year.It is also found that more than 94% of these accidents occur because of human errors. So, Waymo was launched with safety of the people as the prime agenda. When it comes to self-driven cars, there will be no human intervention, and thereby, the accidents will lower drastically. What are the cars that Waymo is testing? Waymo has built Lexus Suvs and other custom-built prototypes. Recently, it has built Chrysler Pacifica minivan. It collaborated with Fiat company in their facility in Michigan. It tested all its prototypes on the roads of California, Texas, Washington, and Arizona with a test driver in each of the cars. They have completed over 200 hours of test driving in extreme weather conditions and rough roads. Right now, the cars of Waymo has around 300 years of driving experience. What is the technology employed in self-driven cars? The self-driven cars built by Waymo have a set of sensors and software incorporated in it. It also has a custom computer and telematics. These were tested with the SUVs before they were employed in the minivan for testing. Its sensors detect objects and vehicles in a few seconds. It looks out on all the four sides of a car and then drives accordingly. For instance, if a cyclist or a pedestrian is going to cross the road, then he/she will wave their hand before they cross. The sensors employed in the car will detect the motion of the hand and also predict the direction in which the cyclist or the pedestrian will move. Based on this analysis, the car will plan its next step. It can also scan the colour of the signal that is displayed. It stops when the colour is red, gets ready to move forward when the colour is yellow, and then starts driving once the colour changes to green. It plans each of its moves only after completely analyzing everything around the car. So, it is highly safe to travel in these self-driving cars. It will navigate safely in traffic and you do not have to put any effort into driving. What are their future plans? Their latest advancement is that they have launched an app for iOS device users. The app was previously available only on the Play Store. To mark its one year anniversary, Waymo starting developing a ride-hailing app and released the iOS app in the App Store. Upcoming entrepreneurs can by understating the demands of market. launch a ride-hailing app like Waymo Currently, they are planning to launch an Early Rider Program as a beta tester. People can enroll in this program and sign nondisclosure agreements with Waymo. They will then be put on the waitlist, and after a few days, they will be provided full access to driverless rides. They are planning to expand their service to all the cities in the US. They also have plans to cater to the needs of the trucking and delivery services. Their main goal is to avoid accidents and provide a safe journey to the customers. In the near future, they want to extend this service globally. Once the testing process is completely over, it will be available for use by the people. After a successful launch, it will be the first robot-ride hailing taxi app in the world.

Insights From Waymo: Self-Driving Taxis Are The Future of Ride-Hailing

Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Preliminaries 3 Temporal Hierarchies 4 Rating Maps 5 Optimal Imprints for TL(AT) 6 Conclusion and References Appendix A. Appendix to Section 2 & Appendix B. Appendix to Section 3 Appendix C. Appendix to Section 4 & Appendix D. Appendix to Section 5 2. Preliminaries Remark 1. The only infinite monoids that we consider are of the form A∗ . From now on, we implicitly assume that every other monoid M, N, . . . appearing in the paper is finite. We shall also consider the class LT of locally testable languages [6, 44]. It consists of all finite Boolean combinations of languages A∗wA∗ , wA∗ and A∗w where w ∈ A∗ is a word. Decision problems. These problems depend on a parameter class C. We use them as tools for analyzing C: intuitively, proving their decidability requires a solid understanding of C. The simplest one is C-membership. Its input is a regular language L. It asks whether L ∈ C. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors:
(1) Thomas Place;
(2) Marc Zaitoun. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Preliminaries 2 Preliminaries 3 Temporal Hierarchies 3 Temporal Hierarchies 4 Rating Maps 4 Rating Maps 5 Optimal Imprints for TL(AT) 5 Optimal Imprints for TL(AT) 6 Conclusion and References 6 Conclusion and References Appendix A. Appendix to Section 2 & Appendix B. Appendix to Section 3 Appendix A. Appendix to Section 2 & Appendix B. Appendix to Section 3 Appendix C. Appendix to Section 4 & Appendix D. Appendix to Section 5 Appendix C. Appendix to Section 4 & Appendix D. Appendix to Section 5 2. Preliminaries Remark 1. The only infinite monoids that we consider are of the form A∗ . From now on, we implicitly assume that every other monoid M, N, . . . appearing in the paper is finite. Remark 1. The only infinite monoids that we consider are of the form A∗ . From now on, we implicitly assume that every other monoid M, N, . . . appearing in the paper is finite. We shall also consider the class LT of locally testable languages [6, 44]. It consists of all finite Boolean combinations of languages A∗wA∗ , wA∗ and A∗w where w ∈ A∗ is a word. Decision problems. These problems depend on a parameter class C. We use them as tools for analyzing C: intuitively, proving their decidability requires a solid understanding of C. The simplest one is C-membership. Its input is a regular language L. It asks whether L ∈ C. Decision problems. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv Authors: (1) Thomas Place; (2) Marc Zaitoun. Authors: Authors: (1) Thomas Place; (2) Marc Zaitoun.

The Preliminaries We Used to Classify Languages: Fixing a Finite Alphabet

Mark Twain's Speeches by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . THE ALPHABET AND SIMPLIFIED SPELLING here THE ALPHABET AND SIMPLIFIED SPELLING ADDRESS AT THE DINNER GIVEN TO MR. CARNEGIE AT THE DEDICATION
          OF THE NEW YORK ENGINEERS’ CLUB, DECEMBER 9, 1907

          Mr. Clemens was introduced by the president of the club, who,
          quoting from the Mark Twain autobiography, recalled the day
          when the distinguished writer came to New York with $3 in small
          change in his pockets and a $10 bill sewed in his clothes. It seems to me that I was around here in the neighborhood of the Public Library about fifty or sixty years ago. I don’t deny the circumstance, although I don’t see how you got it out of my autobiography, which was not to be printed until I am dead, unless I’m dead now. I had that $3 in change, and I remember well the $10 which was sewed in my coat. I have prospered since. Now I have plenty of money and a disposition to squander it, but I can’t. One of those trust companies is taking care of it. Now, as this is probably the last time that I shall be out after nightfall this winter, I must say that I have come here with a mission, and I would make my errand of value. Many compliments have been paid to Mr. Carnegie to-night. I was expecting them. They are very gratifying to me. I have been a guest of honor myself, and I know what Mr. Carnegie is experiencing now. It is embarrassing to get compliments and compliments and only compliments, particularly when he knows as well as the rest of us that on the other side of him there are all sorts of things worthy of our condemnation. Just look at Mr. Carnegie’s face. It is fairly scintillating with fictitious innocence. You would think, looking at him, that he had never committed a crime in his life. But no—look at his pestiferious simplified spelling. You can’t any of you imagine what a crime that has been. Torquemada was nothing to Mr. Carnegie. That old fellow shed some blood in the Inquisition, but Mr. Carnegie has brought destruction to the entire race. I know he didn’t mean it to be a crime, but it was, just the same. He’s got us all so we can’t spell anything. The trouble with him is that he attacked orthography at the wrong end. He meant well, but he attacked the symptoms and not the cause of the disease. He ought to have gone to work on the alphabet. There’s not a vowel in it with a definite value, and not a consonant that you can hitch anything to. Look at the “h’s” distributed all around. There’s “gherkin.” What are you going to do with the “h” in that? What the devil’s the use of “h” in gherkin, I’d like to know. It’s one thing I admire the English for: they just don’t mind anything about them at all. But look at the “pneumatics” and the “pneumonias” and the rest of them. A real reform would settle them once and for all, and wind up by giving us an alphabet that we wouldn’t have to spell with at all, instead of this present silly alphabet, which I fancy was invented by a drunken thief. Why, there isn’t a man who doesn’t have to throw out about fifteen hundred words a day when he writes his letters because he can’t spell them! It’s like trying to do a St. Vitus’s dance with wooden legs. Now I’ll bet there isn’t a man here who can spell “pterodactyl,” not even the prisoner at the bar. I’d like to hear him try once—but not in public, for it’s too near Sunday, when all extravagant histrionic entertainments are barred. I’d like to hear him try in private, and when he got through trying to spell “pterodactyl” you wouldn’t know whether it was a fish or a beast or a bird, and whether it flew on its legs or walked with its wings. The chances are that he would give it tusks and make it lay eggs. Let’s get Mr. Carnegie to reform the alphabet, and we’ll pray for him—if he’ll take the risk. If we had adequate, competent vowels, with a system of accents, giving to each vowel its own soul and value, so every shade of that vowel would be shown in its accent, there is not a word in any tongue that we could not spell accurately. That would be competent, adequate, simplified spelling, in contrast to the clipping, the hair punching, the carbuncles, and the cancers which go by the name of simplified spelling. If I ask you what b-o-w spells you can’t tell me unless you know which b-o-w I mean, and it is the same with r-o-w, b-o-r-e, and the whole family of words which were born out of lawful wedlock and don’t know their own origin. Now, if we had an alphabet that was adequate and competent, instead of inadequate and incompetent, things would be different. Spelling reform has only made it bald-headed and unsightly. There is the whole tribe of them, “row” and “read” and “lead”—a whole family who don’t know who they are. I ask you to pronounce s-o-w, and you ask me what kind of a one. If we had a sane, determinate alphabet, instead of a hospital of comminuted eunuchs, you would know whether one referred to the act of a man casting the seed over the ploughed land or whether one wished to recall the lady hog and the future ham. It’s a rotten alphabet. I appoint Mr. Carnegie to get after it, and leave simplified spelling alone. Simplified spelling brought about sun-spots, the San Francisco earthquake, and the recent business depression, which we would never have had if spelling had been left all alone. Now, I hope I have soothed Mr. Carnegie and made him more comfortable than he would have been had he received only compliment after compliment, and I wish to say to him that simplified spelling is all right, but, like chastity, you can carry it too far. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Mark Twain (2004). Mark Twain's Speeches. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3188/pg3188-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

THE ALPHABET AND SIMPLIFIED SPELLING

What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . A SIMPLIFIED ALPHABET here A SIMPLIFIED ALPHABET (This article, written during the autumn of 1899, was about the last writing done by Mark Twain on any impersonal subject.) I have had a kindly feeling, a friendly feeling, a cousinly feeling toward Simplified Spelling, from the beginning of the movement three years ago, but nothing more inflamed than that. It seemed to me to merely propose to substitute one inadequacy for another; a sort of patching and plugging poor old dental relics with cement and gold and porcelain paste; what was really wanted was a new set of teeth. That is to say, a new . alphabet The heart of our trouble is with our foolish alphabet. It doesn’t know how to spell, and can’t be taught. In this it is like all other alphabets except one—the phonographic. That is the only competent alphabet in the world. It can spell and correctly pronounce any word in our language. That admirable alphabet, that brilliant alphabet, that inspired alphabet, can be learned in an hour or two. In a week the student can learn to write it with some little facility, and to read it with considerable ease. I know, for I saw it tried in a public school in Nevada forty-five years ago, and was so impressed by the incident that it has remained in my memory ever since. I wish we could adopt it in place of our present written (and printed) character. I mean the alphabet; simply the consonants and the vowels—I don’t mean any or abbreviations of them, such as the shorthand writer uses in order to get compression and speed. No, I would simply reductions spell every word out. I will insert the alphabet here as I find it in Burnz’s Phonic Shorthand. (Figure 1) It is arranged on the basis of Isaac Pitman’s . Isaac Pitman was the originator and father of scientific phonography. It is used throughout the globe. It was a memorable invention. He made it public seventy-three years ago. The firm of Isaac Pitman & Sons, New York, still exists, and they continue the master’s work. Phonography What should we gain? First of all, we could spell —and correctly—any word you please, just by the of it. We can’t do that with our present alphabet. For instance, take a simple, every-day word . If we tried to spell it by the sound of it, we should make it TYSIS, and be laughed at by every educated person. definitely sound phthisis Secondly, we should gain in in writing. reduction of labor Simplified Spelling makes valuable reductions in the case of several hundred words, but the new spelling must be . You can’t spell them by the sound; you must get them out of the book. learned But even if we knew the simplified form for every word in the language, the phonographic alphabet would still beat the Simplified Speller “hands down” in the important matter of economy of labor. I will illustrate: PRESENT FORM: through, laugh, highland. SIMPLIFIED FORM: thru, laff, hyland. PHONOGRAPHIC FORM: (Figure 2) To write the word “through,” the pen has to make twenty-one strokes. To write the word “thru,” the pen has to make twelve strokes—a good saving. To write that same word with the phonographic alphabet, the pen has to make only strokes. three To write the word “laugh,” the pen has to make strokes. fourteen To write “laff,” the pen has to make the of strokes—no labor is saved to the penman. same number To write the same word with the phonographic alphabet, the pen has to make only strokes. three To write the word “highland,” the pen has to make twenty-two strokes. To write “hyland,” the pen has to make eighteen strokes. To write that word with the phonographic alphabet, the pen has to make only FIVE strokes. (Figure 3) To write the words “phonographic alphabet,” the pen has to make fifty-three strokes. To write “fonografic alfabet,” the pen has to make fifty strokes. To the penman, the saving in labor is insignificant. To write that word (with vowels) with the phonographic alphabet, the pen has to make only strokes. seventeen Without the vowels, only strokes. (Figure 4) The vowels are hardly necessary, this time. thirteen We make five pen-strokes in writing an m. Thus: (Figure 5) a stroke down; a stroke up; a second stroke down; a second stroke up; a final stroke down. Total, five. The phonographic alphabet accomplishes the m with a single stroke—a curve, like a parenthesis that has come home drunk and has fallen face down right at the front door where everybody that goes along will see him and say, Alas! When our written m is not the end of a word, but is otherwise located, it has to be connected with the next letter, and that requires another pen-stroke, making six in all, before you get rid of that m. But never mind about the connecting strokes—let them go. Without counting them, the twenty-six letters of our alphabet consumed about eighty pen-strokes for their construction—about three pen-strokes per letter. It is required by the phonographic alphabet. It requires but stroke for each letter. three times the number one My writing-gait is—well, I don’t know what it is, but I will time myself and see. Result: it is twenty-four words per minute. I don’t mean composing; I mean . There isn’t any definite composing-gait. copying Very well, my copying-gait is 1,440 words per hour—say 1,500. If I could use the phonographic character with facility I could do the 1,500 in twenty minutes. I could do nine hours’ copying in three hours; I could do three years’ copying in one year. Also, if I had a typewriting machine with the phonographic alphabet on it—oh, the miracles I could do! I am not pretending to write that character well. I have never had a lesson, and I am copying the letters from the book. But I can accomplish my desire, at any rate, which is, to make the reader get a good and clear idea of the advantage it would be to us if we could discard our present alphabet and put this better one in its place—using it in books, newspapers, with the typewriter, and with the pen. (Figure 6)— . I think it is graceful and would look comely in print. And consider—once more, I beg—what a labor-saver it is! Ten pen-strokes with the one system to convey those three words above, and thirty-three by the other! (Figure 7) I mean, in SOME ways, not in all. I suppose I might go so far as to say in most ways, and be within the facts, but never mind; let it go at . One of the ways in which it exercises this birthright is—as I think—continuing to use our laughable alphabet these seventy-three years while there was a rational one at hand, to be had for the taking. Man Dog Horse some It has taken five hundred years to simplify some of Chaucer’s rotten spelling—if I may be allowed to use so frank a term as that—and it will take five hundred more to get our exasperating new Simplified Corruptions accepted and running smoothly. And we sha’n’t be any better off then than we are now; for in that day we shall still have the privilege the Simplifiers are exercising now: can change the spelling that wants to. anybody It will always follow the SOUND. If you want to change the spelling, you have to change the sound first. But you can’t change the phonographic spelling; there isn’t any way. Mind, I myself am a Simplified Speller; I belong to that unhappy guild that is patiently and hopefully trying to reform our drunken old alphabet by reducing his whiskey. Well, it will improve him. When they get through and have reformed him all they can by their system he will be only HALF drunk. Above that condition their system can never lift him. There is no competent, and lasting, and real reform for him but to take away his whiskey entirely, and fill up his jug with Pitman’s wholesome and undiseased alphabet. One great drawback to Simplified Spelling is, that in print a simplified word looks so like the very nation! and when you bunch a whole squadron of the Simplified together the spectacle is very nearly unendurable. The da ma ov koars kum when the publik ma be expektd to get rekonsyled to the bezair asspekt of the Simplified Kombynashuns, but—if I may be allowed the expression—is it worth the wasted time? (Figure 8) To see our letters put together in ways to which we are not accustomed offends the eye, and also takes the out of the words. expression La on, Makduf, and damd be he hoo furst krys hold, enuf! It doesn’t thrill you as it used to do. The simplifications have sucked the thrill all out of it. But a written character with which we are does not offend us—Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Arabic, and the others—they have an interesting look, and we see beauty in them, too. And this is true of hieroglyphics, as well. There is something pleasant and engaging about the mathematical signs when we do not understand them. The mystery hidden in these things has a fascination for us: we can’t come across a printed page of shorthand without being impressed by it and wishing we could read it. not acquainted Very well, what I am offering for acceptance and adoption is not shorthand, but longhand, written with the . You can write three times as many words in a minute with it as you can write with our alphabet. And so, in a way, it properly a shorthand. It has a pleasant look, too; a beguiling look, an inviting look. I will write something in it, in my rude and untaught way: (Figure 9) Shorthand Alphabet Unreduced is Even when do it it comes out prettier than it does in Simplified Spelling. Yes, and in the Simplified it costs one hundred and twenty-three pen-strokes to write it, whereas in the phonographic it costs only twenty-nine. I (Figure 9) is probably (Figure 10). Let us hope so, anyway. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Mark Twain (2004). What Is Man? and Other Essays. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70/pg70-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

A SIMPLIFIED ALPHABET

If you haven't realized it yet, this is a crazy market! However, beyond short-term volatility driven by liquidity and macroeconomic trends. There are a few interesting takes from the latest financial releases of Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Let's see some of them! Google’s parent company, Alphabet, released its end-of-year financials. Looking at its financials is important for various reasons and some of them are: Assessing the digital advertising landscape. Understanding how Google’s advertising machine works at scale. How consumers’ behavior is shifting in this new digital landscape. Let’s dive into them. Google’s profitability Google’s profitability has slightly improved in 2021, thanks to the fact it managed to increase its faster than it increased its operational costs, as traffic on its platforms increased substantially during 2020-2021. We’ll see in this in-depth why that’s the case. revenue analysis First of all, for the first time in its history, Google generated over $257 billion in revenues. And the company almost reached a two trillion market capitalization. For some context, when Google IPOed in 2004, it recorded almost a billion in revenues, and it was worth about $23 billion, as it popped at its IPO date to $85 per share (On February 2nd, 2022, a Google stock is worth $2,958.22). At the time, in 2004, Google had just managed to scale its advertising machine comprised mainly of Google AdWords (today Google Ads) and Google AdSense. At the time the advertising machine was primarily based on Internet traffic from desktop devices. That was a completely different world. As we’ll see throughout this , today most traffic comes from mobile. And Google ’s mobile ads platforms (Google AdMob) play a key role. So let’s dive a bit into the main segments of . analysis financial Google Google’s main segments in 2021 In 2021, the Google advertising machine, generated over $209 billion in revenues. This represented an over 42% , year over year! This is a massive improvement for a company worth almost two trillion. In a market landscape that is not anymore in favor of advertising. How did Google pull this off? growth digital We’ll see this shortly. But for now, let’s emphasize a few key points. Today the Google advertising machine is comprised of three main products: : This represents the set of products that Google owns, from the search engines to all the other vertical platforms that the company operates (Google Discover, Google News, Google Travel, and more). In 2021, this segment generated over $148 billion! Google Search/Properties : This is of course one of the most successful acquisitions ever done. It was acquired by Google for $1.65 billion in 2006. It’s important to notice that Google was able to integrate YouTube and scale it up. A feat that not every other company would have been able to achieve. At the time YouTube was getting sued for various copyright infringements (the is comprised of user-generated content, often posting copyrighted materials) that would have most probably bankrupted it if it had stayed a startup without Google’s backing. By 2021, YouTube has become an advertising machine generating over $28 billion (this doesn’t count the YouTube memberships, which are reported separately). YouTube business platform this is the set of publishers that decide to opt into Google’s advertising network (either AdSense for desktop, or AdMob for in-app advertising). Here Google shows advertising on the network members’ properties, thus splitting the revenues with them. In 2021, Google’s network members generated over $31 billion of revenues. And Google Network Members’ properties: As we’ll see understanding the difference among these segments helps us understand how Google manages its cost structure for each segment. What determines the rowth of each segment? g In fact, since the pandemic hit, more and more users started to use Google’s products. This trend has continued. However, most of it was driven by mobile users’ rowth . This is an important aspect, as it shows that Google’s main driver of rowth is based on mobile traffic. This changes the way the company to prioritize its developments efforts, its ad formats served to users, and also how it experiments. Google’s search advertising has been driven by g rowth in search queries. g g needs product This means that Alphabet (as it’s evident to anyone going on YouTube) has ramped up the advertising operations on YouTube. In short, on YouTube now there are way more ads than before. This “improved ad formats” is the result of YouTube’s extreme stickiness with users, which enables Alphabet to play with its ad formats. YouTube g rowth was driven primarily by improved ad formats. In short, the mobile advertising platform, powered up by Android devices through the Google Play store, was the main driver of in 2021. This shows how Google has shifted also its focus on the mobile advertising platform. Google’s network members’ properties were primarily driven by AdMob. revenue growth Let’s see how, a little bit more in detail, ad monetization changed for Google. In 2021, two main factors determined the improvement in ad monetization by Google. First, Google recorded an increase in paid clicks (driven by an increase in user adoption and search queries primarily on mobile devices). Second, this also drove more paid clicks in AdMob through the Google Play store. Third, as we saw Google is testing various ad formats (we can argue it’s showing more ads) both on Google’s products and YouTube, which slightly improved monetization. Among the other revenues, instead, Google Cloud also recorded an important thanks to the Google Cloud Platform. growth Let’s look now at the other side, the cost structure. Google’s cost structure When it comes to Google its cost structure is pretty straightforward. In order to keep its operations profitable, it needs to be able to generate traffic at much lower costs, than it can monetize it. In 2021, Google traffic acquisition costs (the spending needed to run the servers, for its main products, and the deals in place to enable the for its main products) were over $45 billion. distribution In respect to advertising revenues, its traffic acquisition costs were 22% of its advertising revenues in 2020. In 2021, instead, the traffic acquisition costs decreased to 21.7% compared to its revenues. This might seem a little difference. Yet, Google managed to lower its traffic acquisition costs, nonetheless its much wider users’ adoption. This shows that a lot of that adoption was organic, and based on strong deals the company has in place. The other cost of revenues instead was mainly driven by improved content acquisition costs and costs in data centers. In terms of profitability, it’s interesting to notice, how, at a wider scale, Google Services has huge margins. That’s because as we saw in the previous paragraph, Google managed to improve monetization for users, it saw mobile users’ growth, while it managed to lower its traffic acquisition costs! This combination led to an improved marginality. However, it’s also interesting to notice how the Google Advertising machine is the only one running at positive margins. Where instead, both the Google Cloud platform and the other Google Bets run at negative margins. Important to distinguish here. The Google Cloud platform is critical for the future success of the Google AI platform. When it comes to the other bets those instead are breakthroughs that Alphabet is pursuing with a long-term perspective. Those are money-losing bets for now but might turn into something interesting in the coming decade. Back in the early 2000s, the company had started to build its advertising machine. This journey culminated in 2004 when the company had managed to put together the various pieces (Google AdWords and Google AdSense) of its advertising machine, thus scaling up its revenues on top of a growing search platform. Indeed, in 2004 Google generated almost a billion dollars in revenues, and it was worth about $23 billion as it IPOed. In 2021, the company passed the $257 billion mark! Google’s Alphabet has become a two trillion-dollar company in 2021. This trend continues across 2020-2021. The increased search query traffic was primarily due to mobile users. Therefore, Google had to push more experimentations through its mobile platforms. Among the biggest drivers of its revenues were the increased adoptions from users as the pandemic hit. Alphabet here pushed through more ad formats, and more advertising to monetize it further. Thus, taking advantage of the increased mobile traffic as a consequence of the pandemic. YouTube, driven by mobile traffic growth saw also an important growth. And yet its ability to keep monetizing the traffic through increased ad spending, but also by serving more ads on its platforms. The above led to increased profitability, given the ability of Alphabet to reduce/or keep its costs stable as traffic increased. Google ads platform remains the strongest segment of the company, with massive profitability. However, both play a critical role in the future (Google Cloud Platform in the next five years, while the other bets in the coming ten-fifteen years). Google has negative margins on its Cloud Platform and its further bets. Facebook How much will Facebook (now Meta) lose as a consequence of Apple's policy change? At least $10 billion in 2022! This is for Facebook alone. For some context, Apple now requires apps to explicitly ask users if they want to be tracked, while before the consent was given by default. As Facebook highlighted in its latest financials: And they further explained: And finally, they put a number on it: "with Apple's iOS changes and new regulation in Europe, there's a clear trend where less data is available to deliver personalized ads... ...Like others in our industry, we faced headwinds as a result of Apple iOS changes... ...Apple created two challenges for advertisers: one is that the accuracy of our ads targeting decreased, which increased the cost of driving outcomes; the other is that measuring those outcomes became more difficult. These challenges are complex and interrelated. We're working to try and improve things..." "For example, by making progress in closing the underreporting gap for iOS web conversions and by introducing tools like our aggregated event measurement solutions to deliver better insights for advertisers..." "And, you know, we believe the impact of iOS overall as a headwind on our business in 2022 is on the order of $10 billion, so it's a pretty significant headwind for our business. And, you know, we're seeing that impact, you know, in a number of verticals..." Summing things up for the digital advertising landscape: Some key highlights from the latest financials of Google (Alphabet) and Facebook (Meta) also show some of the changes in the digital advertising landscape. This, in turn, is affecting millions of small businesses across the world: In reality, it was the pandemic that accelerated the trend. For both Google and Facebook, mobile traffic is the only growth driver. The pandemic determined a mobile transition: while companies like Google and Facebook have been investing in mobile-first for years. An interesting note here: Google (thanks to its vertical integration) managed to monetize its increased adoption. Facebook, on the contrary, hasn’t, and this was definitely due to Apple’s privacy change. The supply chain of data: it’s crucial to understand how Google and Facebook are entirely different in terms of structure. Where . While this played out well for Facebook so far. As soon as Apple tied up the distribution pipeline, it threatened the whole business! Google is vertically integrated (Hardware/Android > Chrome/Play Store > Search Engine/Search Ads), Facebook primarily relies on its strong brands who benefit from stickiness (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Oculus) for the first time users stalled in various regions across the world. This is because there is too much pressure from new social media platforms (TikTok is killing it). Stalled user growth of Facebook: where Google’s growth potential has not been affected so far (it might come in the future), Facebook’s growth has already been affected. Thus, the move to the Metaverse for Facebook is not just a strategic bet; it’s a survival anchor! This means Facebook has to rush into it! Blitzscale the adoption of VR devices, which might turn into enormous mistakes. The move into the Metaverse becomes a survival anchor for Facebook: Who might benefit? Let’s draw some key points: Facebook has to push into VR (Oculus is a first step there). But the vision of Facebook of VR is way more pervading than any other company as its survival depends on that. Accelerating VR adoption for Facebook: all tech giants are rushing into VR with different philosophies. Apple believes in augmented reality, Google believes in mixed reality. Facebook wants to bring us into the Matrix. Therefore, we’ll see the first VR headsets probably in 2022 as the first exploration toward AR. VR/AR wars coming in 2022: digital platforms that go back to contextual advertising rather than aggressive targeting might benefit in this phase (Reddit over Facebook). Contextual advertising might win over targeted ads based on tracking: companies whose business model has privacy built-in will keep their growth trajectory. Thus, search engines like DuckDuckGo might skyrocket, and social media platforms like MeWe might thrive. Rise of privacy first search engines and social media: What about Amazon? Some interesting takes from Amazon's financials as it closed the year. No wonder Jeff Bezos picked up Andy Jessy (the current CEO) as his successor. Andy Jessy has led AWS since its inception in 2003! In Q4, Amazon online stores stalled compared to the previous year (hint: the pandemic contributed to the 2020 boost). The fastest-growing segments were AWS and Amazon advertising. Amazon's advertising machine passed $30 billion in revenues in 2021. For some context, YouTube ads generated over $28 billion in 2021. Amazon AWS showed incredible growth. A 40% growth year over year. Amazon AWS is a $71 billion revenue run rate business! And it has wide margins (so far) and incredible profitability, which connects to the next point. Of Amazon's over $33 billion in profits, over $18 billion were contributed by AWS! This means that more than 50% of Amazon's profitability depends on AWS. AWS is an enterprise powerhouse. Among its customers, there is also Meta! Meta, former Facebook Inc, relies on Amazon AWS for its AI development platform. Other huge brands built on top of Amazon AWS are Best Buy, Under Armour, Goldman Sachs, Pfizer, Roche, and many others. Can you guess what's next? Also Published Here

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