🌤️ Hey there! We’re getting fleeting glimpses of spring this week, with the temperature reaching 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius) yesterday. I say “fleeting,” because the temperature is set to drop to around 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius) this weekend.
Google cancels plenty of Area 120 projects
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
Google’s Area 120 division has been around for years now, dating back to early 2016. The division was created so employees could work on side projects in a full-time capacity, but it seems like even this unit isn’t immune to budget cuts.
More like Area 60
- TechCrunch reported that Google has drastically cut back the number of projects in the division.
- More specifically, Area 120 has gone from hosting 14 projects to just seven.
- Affected employees were apparently told they’d need to find other jobs at Google by the end of January 2023 or face termination.
- Google confirmed the change to the outlet, adding that Area 120 will now focus on AI-based projects.
- Canceled projects reportedly include an accounting project for Google Sheets, analytics for AR/VR, and three climate-related projects.
The right move for Google?
- I can’t help but feel like this is a boring move, for lack of a better term.
- Sure, AI is a broad field and it impacts plenty of areas, so there are plenty of possibilities here.
- But Area 120 was founded as a way to focus on so-called 20% projects (“100% of the time”).
- Google originally allowed employees to spend 20% of their time on side projects, spawning Gmail, Google News, and more.
- 20% time was reportedly killed off in 2013, so Area 120 seems like the last vestiges of this concept at Google.
- Area 120 hasn’t seen the same level of hits, but we have seen successful endeavors like Orion Wi-Fi (now a Google Fi feature), Tables (now part of Google Cloud), and Byteboard (now a standalone company).
- So it’s hard to shake the feeling that Google might be missing out on the next Gmail or AdSense if it’s focused solely on AI.
- It’s also interesting to see the company cancel these research projects due to budget concerns, as tech firms like to boast about their R&D expenditure.
- After all, R&D is a foundation for the future of any tech company.
- Of course, this is just part of a larger swathe of budget cuts at Google and across the tech industry at large. Even the next Pixelbook and Pixelbook team were affected by this — although there are plenty of other quality Chromebooks out there.
Thursday Thing
We all know that fossils are a thing, but fossilized footprints and fossilized poop (called coprolites) are a thing too. However, researchers have now discovered 150 million-year-old fossilized vomit.
Researchers recently published a study on the vomit in the Palaios journal (h/t: CNET with image via Brian Engh), revealing that it contained frog bones and salamander bits. Scientists did some further investigation and found that it didn’t actually belong to a dinosaur but likely came from an ancient bowfin fish. Still beats dealing with fresh vomit, I guess.
Have a great day!
Hadlee Simons, Editor
