Google Releasing Air Quality Data for Scientists

While the full data set is not available to the public, scientists have been asked to request access through a form

June 7, 2019

Google, Main One, russia — A Google logo is displayed at the entrance to the internet based company's offices in Toronto. VOA

As part of a larger effort to track pollution, Google is releasing air quality data for scientists that it collected from California’s Bay Area and Central Valley with its Street View cars under Project Air View.

The data was captured over the last three years and includes measurements that were taken after wildfires in the Wine Country region and from the agricultural areas of the Central Valley, Engadget reported on Wednesday.

Google first began equipping its Street View cars with air pollution sensors in Oakland in 2012 after a proposal by the Environmental Defence Fund.

The company already has similar projects underway in Houston, Salt Lake City, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and London.

Pollution, pollutants, India, air pollution, WHO, diwali — Delhi air quality continues to be ‘very poor’. VOA

By the end of 2019, the search engine giant plans to expand Project Air View to other continents including Asia, Africa and South America.

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In addition, the company is also planning to equip 50 more Street View cars with air quality sensors by the end of the year, the report added.

While the full data set is not available to the public, scientists have been asked to request access through a form. (IANS)

‘My Greatest Mistake’: Bill Gates Regrets Microsoft Losing on Android

Gates stepped down as the CEO in 2000 and as Chief Software Architect in 2008. Satya Nadella took over as the company's CEO in 2014

NewsGram Desk

June 25, 2019

27A468B0-75DF-4114-B51C-10AA8D0CF6D9_w987_r1_s — Businessman Bill Gates exits through the lobby at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York City, Dec. 13, 2016. (VOA)

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has said that his “greatest mistake ever” was the company losing on the Android opportunity, which has costed Microsoft nearly $400 billion and made Google the real winner.

In an interview during an event hosted by venture capital firm Village Global, Gates revealed that the mistake was to allow Google to develop Android and not creating a profitable model themselves, reports TechCrunch.

“In the software world, particularly for platforms, these are winner-take-all markets. So the greatest mistake ever is whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is. That is, Android is the standard non-Apple phone platform. That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win,” Gates told Eventbrite cofounder and CEO Julia Hartz.

“If you’re there with half as many apps or 90 per cent as many apps, you’re on your way to complete doom. There’s room for exactly one non-Apple operating system and what’s that worth? $400 billion that would be transferred from company G (Google) to company M (Microsoft),” he emphasised.

microsoft, foldable surface — FILE – A sign for Microsoft is seen on a building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 18, 2017. VOA

Google acquired Android for just $50 million in 2005. The original iPhone came out in 2007 and the first Android device was released in 2008.

Android today has 85 per cent of the smartphone OS market and Microsoft Windows OS-based devices are nowhere to be seen.

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Microsoft has asked its users to switch to an Android or iOS device as it announced the end of support for Windows 10 Mobile.

The company told users that Windows 10 Mobile will stop receiving new security updates after December 10.

Gates stepped down as the CEO in 2000 and as Chief Software Architect in 2008. Satya Nadella took over as the company’s CEO in 2014. (IANS)

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