SERGEI BRIN

The U.S. government is taking aim at what has been an indomitable empire: Google’s ubiquitous search engine.

Apple appears poised to unveil a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world.

A longtime Google executive who played a key role in the company’s creation is stepping down as YouTube’s CEO.

Flying cars and self-driving vehicles always get attention at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas, but this year the boats are making bigger waves.

Apple’s and Google’s cooperation with the Russian government’s efforts to suppress an app opposed to the ruling regime is escalating concerns about whether Big Tech’s pursuit of ever-higher profits has trampled their commitment to protecting civil rights.

This photo provided by Google shows Fiona Cicconi, right, who is leaving the biotech firm AstraZeneca to become the head of Google's people operations, effective Jan. 5, 2021. (Courtesy of Google via AP)Google has hired a top executive from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to oversee its personnel policies amid ongoing tensions with many employees who are upset with the company's policies. The hiring of Fiona Cicconi also comes while Google sets up plans to allow people to continue to work from home for at least eight more months. The rift incensed hundreds of Google employees who have signed a public letter of protest. Pichahi last week told employees that Google is beginning a thorough review into Gebru's exit, a process that now seems likely to involve Cicconi.

That pledge is now a distant memory as Google confronts an existential threat similar to what Microsoft once faced. They focused on creating a database of everything on the internet through a search engine that almost instantaneously listed a pecking order of websites most likely to have what anyone wanted. Google's promotion of Chrome on its search engine helped the browser supplant Explorer as the market leader. Google began reining in its spending and even created a new holding company, Alphabet, to oversee some of its unprofitable projects, such as internet=beaming balloons and self-driving cars. —-Liedtke first interviewed Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 2000 when he began covering Google for the AP.