Google’s Pichai to staff: ‘time to sprint’; Linus Torvalds shows latest Linux on Apple silicon

Google is launching a new initiative called “Simplicity Sprint” to improve efficiency and focus as the global economic slowdown grinds on, after reporting back-to-back quarters of weaker-than-expected earnings. Linus Torvalds, the Finnish software developer who created Linux, yesterday, used an Apple MacBook running on an M1 chip to release the latest version of the open-source software. Notes: Google is launching an initiative called “Simplicity Sprint” to improve efficiency and focus within the company, as the global economic slowdown grinds on, after reporting back-to-back quarters of weaker-than-expected earnings, CNBC reported yesterday. The internet giant, with 174,000 employees, had its regular all-hands last Wednesday, and CEO Sunder Pichai told staff that the company’s productivity isn’t where it needs to be even with the headcount it has, according to CNBC. “There are real concerns that our productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the headcount we have,” he said, according to CNBC. Sprint is a term often used by software teams and startups to talk about short pushes towards common goals, CNBC explains. Simplicity Sprint is an effort to crowdsource ideas from staff on how to do better overall as a company, according to CNBC, which has seen an internal Google survey being conducted as part of the exercise. Based on some of the questions in the survey, there could be cutbacks in some areas, according to CNBC. While not looking at paring overall headcount, the company’s HR boss, who fielded a question on layoffs during the townhall, didn’t rule it out, according to CNBC. Linux fans who also want the best hardware that lasts could be a step closer to using the open-source software on Apple silicon. Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, yesterday released the next version of the Linux kernel, called version 5.19, using an Apple MacBook laptop running on the M1 chip. “On a personal note, the most interesting part here is that I did the release (and am writing this) on an arm64 laptop. It's something I've been waiting for for a _loong (sic)_ time, and it's finally a reality, thanks to the Asahi team,” Torvalds wrote in a post, announcing the new release. Asahi Linux is a project among Linux developers to get the software running on Apple hardware. “We've had arm64 hardware around running Linux for a long time, but none of it has really been usable as a development platform until now,” Torvalds wrote. Indonesia has blocked search engine website Yahoo, payments company PayPal and several gaming websites for not complying with the country’s licensing rules, Reuters reported over the weekend, citing a government official. The ban sparked a backlash on social media, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, India extended its ban of China-backed apps and games to include Battlegrounds Mobile India from Krafton, which counts China’s Tencent as a major investor, TechCrunch reports. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds