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Pixel Watch.

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Google on Thursday announced the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro phones and its first watch, the Pixel Watch. The devices were first teased during Google’s developer event in May, but the company used an event in New York City to provide more detail about each new product, such as what’s new, how much they’ll cost and when you can buy them.

The Pixel is gaining momentum, but it still has just a fraction of the phone market. During Alphabet’s earnings call for the first quarter, CEO Sundar Pichai said the Pixel Series 6 is the “fastest-selling Pixel ever” and said the company set an all-time quarterly sales record. The company hopes that it can carry that momentum with the new Pixel 7.

Pixel 7 Pro.

Google

Google makes most of its money from advertising and doesn’t report revenue directly from its hardware products. The company reports an “other” revenue segment, which includes hardware, Play Store, and non-advertising YouTube revenue. In the second quarter of this year, the company said it brought in “other” revenue of $6.55 billion for the quarter, down slightly from $6.62 billion the prior year. Conversely, Apple made $50.5 billion in iPhone revenue during its second quarter.

The Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel Watch launch Oct. 13.

Here’s what you need to know about them.

The Pixel Watch has Fitbit built in

Pixel Watch.

Google

The Pixel Watch will embed health tracking features from Fitbit, which Google acquired for about $2.1 billion.

You can use Fitbit on the watch to track workouts, how well you slept, steps taken and more. If you’ve already used a Fitbit, it will sync right up with the existing app you already have on your phone. The Pixel Watch also comes with a six-month Fitbit premium membership. The service includes access to more than 200 workouts, offers information on how sleep and heart rate trends have changed over time and more.

But, like the Apple Watch, it has smartwatch features, too. It runs the company’s Wear OS software, which allows you to download apps from the Google Play Store. And it ties seamlessly into Google’s products such as Wallet, Gmail, Calendar and Google Home. The Pixel Watch only works with Android phones.

Google says the Pixel Watch can last up to 24 hours on a single charge, which is six hours longer than the Apple Watch Series 8.

The Pixel Watch starts at $349.99 for Bluetooth and WiFi and $399.99 for 4G LTE. Like Apple’s Series 8, it has Emergency SOS. The company says it will add fall detection later this year.

Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro

Pixel 7 all colors.

Google

The $599 Pixel 7 and $899 Pixel 7 Pro are the first phones to run on Google’s new Tensor G2 chip. It shows Google is continuing to build its own chips instead of using a chip from Qualcomm, which it ditched last year when it launched the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The Tensor processor helps enable features that Google said it couldn’t provide otherwise, such as increased camera functions, on-device translation and more.

Google said the Pixel 7 has a 6.3-inch screen that’s 25% brighter than last year’s model for improved visibility outdoors. It’ll be offered with 128GB and 256GB of storage, which is plenty for most people, though folks who need more space to save big files such as videos should consider the Pixel 7 Pro, which ships with up to 512GB of storage.

Google’s Pixels have been known to have some of the best cameras on the market in past years. We don’t know how the Pixel 7 will match up just yet, but Google says it’s made improvements.

Google bumped the resolution of the back camera up to 50 megapixels, which should offer sharper images than last year’s phones. And, despite the cheaper price, the Pixel 7 has the same front-facing, main and ultrawide sensors as the more expensive model, but doesn’t have the added zoom lens on the back.

Pixel 7 Pro colors.

Google

The Pixel 7 Pro has a few other high-end trimmings. It has more memory, which should make apps and multitasking feel faster, and has a better display with a sharper resolution and higher peak brightness outdoors. It also has a higher refresh rate, just like the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which means scrolling through websites or playing games will look smoother.

You can order the new phones and watch beginning Thursday ahead of their Oct. 13 release.

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman denies sexual abuse allegations made by his sister in lawsuit

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman denies sexual abuse allegations made by his sister in lawsuit

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visits “Making Money With Charles Payne” at Fox Business Network Studios in New York on Dec. 4, 2024.

Mike Coppola | Getty Images

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s sister, Ann Altman, filed a lawsuit on Monday, alleging that her brother sexually abused her regularly between the years of 1997 and 2006.

The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri, alleges that the abuse took place at the family’s home in Clayton, Missouri, and began when Ann, who goes by Annie, was three and Sam was 12. The filing claims that the abusive activities took place “several times per week,” beginning with oral sex and later involving penetration.

The lawsuit claims that “as a direct and proximate result of the foregoing acts of sexual assault,” the plaintiff has experienced “severe emotional distress, mental anguish, and depression, which is expected to continue into the future.”

The younger Altman has publicly made similar sexual assault allegations against her brother in the past on platforms like X, but this is the first time she’s taken him to court. She’s being represented by Ryan Mahoney, whose Illinois-based firm specializes in matters including sexual assault and harassment.

The lawsuit requests a jury trial and damages in excess of $75,000.

In a joint statement on X with his mother, Connie, and his brothers Jack and Max, Sam Altman denied the allegations.

“Annie has made deeply hurtful and entirely untrue claims about our family, and especially Sam,” the statement said. “We’ve chosen not to respond publicly, out of respect for her privacy and our own. However, she has now taken legal action against Sam, and we feel we have no choice but to address this.”

Their response says “all of these claims are utterly untrue,” adding that “this situation causes immense pain to our entire family.” They said that Ann Altman faces “mental health challenges” and “refuses conventional treatment and lashes out at family members who are genuinely trying to help.”

Sam Altman has gained international prominence since OpenAI’s debut of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022. Backed by Microsoft, the company was most recently valued at $157 billion, with funding coming from Thrive Capital, chipmaker Nvidia, SoftBank and others.

Altman was briefly ousted from the CEO role by OpenAI’s board in November 2023, but was quickly reinstated due to pressure from investors and employees.

This isn’t the only lawsuit the tech exec faces.

In March, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sued OpenAI and co-founders Altman and Greg Brockman, alleging breach of contract and fiduciary duty. Musk, who now runs a competing AI startup, xAI, was a co-founder of OpenAI when it began as a nonprofit in 2015. Musk left the board in 2018 and has publicly criticized OpenAI for allegedly abandoning its original mission.

Musk is suing to keep OpenAI from turning into a for-profit company. In June, Musk withdrew the original complaint filed in a San Francisco state court and later refiled in federal court. 

Last month, OpenAI clapped back against Musk, claiming in a blog post that in 2017 Musk “not only wanted, but actually created, a for-profit” to serve as the company’s proposed new structure.

WATCH: OpenAI unveils for-profit plans

OpenAI unveils for-profit plans

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Meta employees criticize Zuckerberg decisions to end fact-checking, add Dana White to board

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Meta employees criticize Zuckerberg decisions to end fact-checking, add Dana White to board

This photo illustration created on January 7, 2025, in Washington, DC, shows an image of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and an image of the Meta logo. 

Drew Angerer | Afp | Getty Images

Meta employees took to their internal forum on Tuesday, criticizing the company’s decision to end third-party fact-checking on its services two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Company employees voiced their concern after Joel Kaplan, Meta’s new chief global affairs officer and former White House deputy chief of staff under former President George W. Bush, announced the content policy changes on Workplace, the in-house communications tool. 

“We’re optimistic that these changes help us return to that fundamental commitment to free expression,” Kaplan wrote in the post, which was reviewed by CNBC. 

The content policy announcement follows a string of decisions that appear targeted to appease the incoming administration. On Monday, Meta added new members to its board, including UFC CEO Dana White, a longtime friend of Trump, and the company confirmed last month that it was contributing $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

Among the latest changes, Kaplan announced that Meta will scrap its fact-checking program and shift to a user-generated system like X’s Community Notes. Kaplan, who took over his new role last week, also said that Meta will lift restrictions on certain topics and focus its enforcement on illegal and high-severity violations while giving users “a more personalized approach to political content.”

One worker wrote they were “extremely concerned” about the decision, saying it appears Meta is “sending a bigger, stronger message to people that facts no longer matter, and conflating that with a victory for free speech.”

Another employee commented that by “simply absolving ourselves from the duty to at least try to create a safe and respective platform is a really sad direction to take.” Other comments expressed concern about the impact the policy change could have on the discourse around topics like immigration, gender identity and gender, which, according to one employee, could result in an “influx of racist and transphobic content.”

A separate employee said they were scared that “we’re entering into really dangerous territory by paving the way for the further spread of misinformation.”

The changes weren’t universally criticized, as some Meta workers congratulated the company’s decision to end third-party fact checking. One wrote that X’s Community Notes feature has “proven to be a much better representation of the ground truth.” 

Another employee commented that the company should “provide an accounting of the worst outcomes of the early years” that necessitated the creation of a third-party fact-checking program and whether the new policies would prevent the same type of fall out from happening again.

As part of the company’s massive layoffs in 2023, Meta also scrapped an internal fact-checking project, CNBC reported. That project would have let third-party fact checkers like the Associated Press and Reuters, in addition to credible experts, comment on flagged articles in order to verify the content.

Although Meta announced the end of its fact-checking program on Tuesday, the company had already been pulling it back. In September, a spokesperson for the AP told CNBC that the news agency’s “fact-checking agreement with Meta ended back in January” 2024. 

Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship gestures as he speaks during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, in New York, U.S., Oct. 27, 2024.

Andrew Kelly | Reuters

After the announcement of White’s addition to the board on Monday, employees also posted criticism, questions and jokes on Workplace, according to posts reviewed by CNBC.

White, who has led UFC since 2001, became embroiled in controversy in 2023 after a video published by TMZ showed him slapping his wife at a New Year’s Eve party in Mexico. White issued a public apology, and his wife, Anne White, issued a statement to TMZ, calling it an isolated incident.

Commenters on Workplace made jokes asking whether performance reviews would now involve mixed martial arts style fights.

In addition to White, John Elkann, the CEO of Italian auto holding company Exor, was named to Meta’s board.

Some employees asked what value autos and entertainment executives could bring to Meta, and whether White’s addition reflects the company’s values. One post suggested the new board appointments would help with political alliances that could be valuable but could also change the company culture in unintended or unwanted ways.

Comments in Workplace alluding to White’s personal history were flagged and removed from the discussion, according to posts from the internal app read by CNBC.

An employee who said he was with Meta’s Internal Community Relations team, posted a reminder to Workplace about the company’s “community engagement expectations” policy, or CEE, for using the platform.

“Multiple comments have been flagged by the community for review,” the employee posted. “It’s important that we maintain a respectful work environment where people can do their best work.” 

The internal community relations team member added that “insulting, criticizing, or antagonizing our colleagues or Board members is not aligned with the CEE.”

Several workers responded to that note saying that even respectful posts, if critical, had been removed, amounting to a corporate form of censorship.

One worker said that because critical comments were being removed, the person wanted to voice support for “women and all voices.”

Meta declined to comment.

— CNBC’s Salvador Rodriguez contributed to this report.

WATCH: Meta adds Dana White, John Elkann, and Charlie Songhurst to board of directors.

Meta adds Dana White, John Elkann, and Charlie Songhurst to board of directors

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Bitcoin drops below $98,000 as Treasury yields pressure risk assets

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Bitcoin drops below ,000 as Treasury yields pressure risk assets

Nicolas Economou | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Bitcoin slumped on Tuesday as a spike in Treasury yields weighed on risk assets broadly.

The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last lower by 4.8% at $97,183.80, according to Coin Metrics. The broader market of cryptocurrencies, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 index, dropped more than 5%.

Crypto stocks Coinbase and MicroStrategy fell more than 7% and 9%, respectively. Bitcoin miners Mara Holdings and Core Scientific were down about 5% each.

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Bitcoin drops below $98,000

The moves followed a sudden increase in the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield after data released by the Institute for Supply Management reflected faster-than-expected growth in the U.S. services sector in December, adding to concerns about stickier inflation. Rising yields tend to pressure growth oriented risk assets.

Bitcoin traded above $102,000 on Monday and is widely expected to about double this year from that level. Investors are hopeful that clearer regulation will support digital asset prices and in turn benefit stocks like Coinbase and Robinhood.

However, uncertainty about the path of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts could put bumps in the road for crypto prices. In December, the central bank signaled that although it was cutting rates a third time, it may do fewer rate cuts in 2025 than investors had anticipated. Historically, rate cuts have had a positive effect on bitcoin price while hikes have had a negative impact.

Bitcoin is up more than 3% since the start of the year. It posted a 120% gain for 2024.

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC Pro:

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