Google plans to scrap third-party cookies by 2022 — here’s why it’s problematic Cookies to cohorts The traditional web tracking and targeting method uses so-calledcookies: small files stored by web browsers such as Chrome. Their original purpose was to retain information – such as the items you’ve added to online shopping carts, for example – between browsing sessions. This was seen as useful for consumers. Nowadays, cookies mostly serve advertising interests....

Google Play Store ratings can be a helpful indicator when you’re comparing similar apps while deciding which one to download. But reviews and ratings of an app from all over the world might not be useful for you. So Google is changing things up. Starting November, it will display local ratings of an app on Android. Notably, local would mean the country your device and account are registered in. This move actually makes a whole lot of sense....

Economists based in Google have predicted that an Internet boom in the UK could open as many as 365,000 jobs within the next five years, with the Internet accounting for a fifth of the regions GDP growth,The Telegraph reports. Google’s European Vice-President and chief of search operations Philipp Schindler believes that despite European businesses fighting to remain afloat during a period of economic uncertainty, Internet-based or Internet-related companies that use the web successfully were still growing strongly....

Google profits from spreading fake news — here’s how How search results go wrong When you click on a search result, the search algorithm learns that the link you clicked is relevant for your search query. This is calledrelevance feedback. This feedback helps the search engine give higher weight to that link for that query in the future. If enough people click on that link enough times, thus giving strong relevance feedback, that website starts coming up higher in search results for that and related queries....

Newsbrokeyesterday that the FTC was looking to launch an antitrust investigation into Google. The company has just publiclyrespondedto the FTC on its blog, stating: “Yesterday, we received formal notification from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that it has begun a review of our business. We respect the FTC’s process and will be working with them (as we have with other agencies) over the coming months to answer questions about Google and our services....