Why it matters: The changes come as Google, along with other tech giants including Facebook, is under pressure to give people more control over what personal information online platforms collect and store.
During its first quarter earnings, Lyft announced a partnership through which Waymo — Alphabet's autonomous driving unit — will deploy 10 vehicles on the ride-hailing company's service in Phoenix, where Waymo is already testing its cars.
Why it matters: Alphabet is an investor in both Lyft and Uber, and the latter is set to finally go public at the end of the week.
In its very first quarterly earnings as a public company, Lyft beat analyst's revenue expectations, but that was overshadowed by the large loss it reported.
Why it matters: Lyft beat Uber to the IPO but its stock price has plummeted since debuting on the public market at the end of March.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off the company's I/O developer conference by touting new search features and a renewed focus on privacy. Google also used today's conference to unveil a mix of new features for its Assistant, a lower-cost version of its Pixel phone and more details on Android Q, the next version of its mobile operating system.
Why it matters: It's the heart of spring developer conference season, as each of the major tech platforms details its roadmap for the year. Google's event comes a week after Facebook's F8, the same week as Microsoft's Build and a couple weeks before Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference.
The battle against ad fraud is actually improving, according to the White Ops/Association of National Advertisers semi-annual Bot Baseline report. The study projects that ad fraud losses will reach $5.8 billion globally in 2019, down from $6.5 billion for 2017.
Why it matters: The report notes that the 11% decline in two years is particularly impressive considering that digital ad spending increased by 25.4% between 2017 and 2019.
When Amazon announced its retreat from Queens amid a backlash from local activists, Long Island City seemed to have lost 25,000 new jobs and billions of dollars in investment.
Instead, two months later, the neighborhood is experiencing a boom: Other companies have grabbed much of the 1.5-million-square-foot, all-glass building that was to be the beachhead of Amazon's Queens expansion, and interest has surged in nearby commercial real estate.
Microsoft announced 2 new elections tools Monday, including a free, open source system allowing voters to be sure their votes were accurately counted.
Why it matters: "This will allow citizens and officials to be confident the votes have not been hacked," said Tom Burt, corporate vice president for security and trust at Microsoft.
At Uber and Lyft, sky-high Wall Street debuts are set against deep driver dissatisfaction — and the latter is threatening the former.
Driving the news: On Wednesday, ride-hailing drivers in several U.S. cities plan to strike to protest low wages, among other things. The significance: It's 2 days before Uber goes public, and its investors get to cash in on one of the biggest IPOs in history.
At dueling conferences this week, Microsoft and Google will vie for developers' attention, with Microsoft emphasizing new offerings for its growing Azure cloud and Google pressing forward with new features for Android and its voice-based Assistant.
Why it matters: These developer conferences serve multiple roles, allowing companies to position themselves strategically, generate developer enthusiasm, introduce new products, and grab media attention.
The Federal Trade Commission could vote on a settlement with Facebook over the social giant's alleged privacy failures as soon as this week, according to the NYT.
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