Google's Area 120 division has been severely affected by the layoffs happening across Alphabet, according to Bloomberg and TechCrunch, which said the unit now has fewer than 100 employees after the most recent round of cuts. Area 120 is known as Google's in-house incubator, which works on experimental apps and products. Those include GameSnacks, an HTML5-based platform that enables users to load and play games quickly even on poor connections and basic smartphones. Sundar Pichai established the division in 2016 to "provide a purpose-built home for bottom-up innovation at Google." The division's website reads: "Area 120 teams work on new products, experiences, and services every day."

A team at Google is today launching a new product for mobile app developers called Checks which leverages A.I. technology to identify possible privacy and compliance issues within apps, amid a rapidly changing regulatory and policy landscape. The freemium solution will be offered to both Android and iOS app developers of all sizes, who will be able to have their apps analyzed then receive a report with actionable insights about how to address the problems that are found. Checks was co-founded by Fergus Hurley (GM) and Nia Castelly (Legal Lead), who developed the project over the past two years as a part of Google's in-house incubator, Area 120. The Checks team had previously built tools like Android Vitals to address developers' technical challenges, and had the idea to use A.I. to now address privacy compliance challenges, as well. Today's app developers have to keep up with a number of newer regulations and policies, from Europe's GDPR requirements to new rules implemented by the app stores themselves.

Out of Google's Area 120, which is an incubator for ideas, apps, and services, there's a new app called Stack available to those with an Android device. With it, you can scan any sort of document with your phone's camera, then the app can automatically sort and organize (or Stack) said document for you. Since its still early days, you can expect some errors. As Google details, "It's early days -- our algorithms still get things wrong, but we're improving them every day." However, should everything be working smoothly, you can scan a receipt, with the app automatically recognizing that it is indeed a receipt and filing it away as such for access later on.

Google's Area 120 incubator today launched Tables, a work-tracking tool with IFTTT-like automation features and support for Google products, including Google Groups, Google Sheets, and more. Currently in beta in the U.S., Tables automates actions like collating data, checking multiple sources of data, and pasting data into other docs for handoff. "Tracking work with existing tech solutions meant building a custom in-house solution or purchasing an off-the-shelf product, but these options are time-consuming, inflexible, and expensive," Tables general manager Tim Gleason explained in a blog post. "Tables helps teams track work and automate tasks to save time and supercharge collaboration -- without any coding required." Using Tables, teams can program bots to schedule recurring email reminders when tasks are overdue, message a Slack or Google Chat room when new form submissions are received, or move a task to someone else's work queue when the status changes.

The technological world is getting smarter! And, with the advent of the robot named Sophia who recently got the citizenship of Saudi Arabia, the technology stepped a foot forward. However, it does not stop here as now Google is testing a smart reply robot, which is able to chat with your friends on your behalf and get yourself free. Google uses an AI-based auto-reply system that suggests smart replies and unbinds you from tapping on your smartphone keyboard to keep up with your friends. While Amazon came up with the Amazon Lex for voice recognition lately, the tech giant, Google is working on something more of the robots talking to robots kind of a thing.

With its new Reply system the firm is taking the art of conversion one step forwards – or should that be backwards? Wed 14 Feb 2018 05.38 EST Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 05.43 EST Are you tired of the constant need to tap on that glass keyboard just to keep up with your friends? Do you wish a robot could free you of your constant communication obligations via WhatsApp, Facebook or text messages? Google is working on an AI-based auto-reply system to do just that. Google's experimental product lab called Area 120 is currently testing a new system simply called Reply that will work with Google's Hangouts and Allo, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Android Messages, Skype, Twitter direct messages and Slack.

At Google I/O this year, Google quietly introduced a new chatbot analytics platform called Chatbase, a project developed within the company's internal R&D incubator, Area 120. Today, that platform is being publicly launched to all, after testing with hundreds of early adopters including Ticketmaster, HBO, Keller Williams, Viber, and others. The idea behind Chatbase's cloud service is to offer tools to more easily analyze and optimize chatbots. This includes giving bot builders the ability to understand what works to increase customer conversions, improve the bot's accuracy, and create a better user experience. This data is available through an analytics dashboard, where developers can track specific metrics like active users, sessions, and user retention.

These "20 percent time" efforts have resulted in Google News, Gmail and AdSense, but it can be difficult for Googlers to find spare time for such projects. Meanwhile, successful examples of Google employees who have parted ways with the company include Pinterest co-founder Ben Silbermann and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom. Area 120 reportedly will have a space inside one of the tech giant's San Francisco offices, and teams at Google can apply to join it full time for several months by pitching a business plan. These employees will then have a chance to establish a new company with Google as an investor. Google also has increased its focus on entrepreneurial efforts by splitting its core search engine business away from its new parent entity Alphabet, which nurtures moonshot projects like the Google self-driving car and acquisitions like smart thermostat maker Nest. Alphabet also houses startup funding efforts Google Ventures and Google Capital.