PepsiCo’s Tony West is now Uber’s chief legal officer

Lonnie Tague/United States Department of Justice

Uber’s newest hire has a lot of work to do. The ride-sharing company just hired Tony West as its new chief legal officer. West has served as PepsiCo’s general counsel and was the former assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice under former President Barack Obama. He comes in at a time when Uber is facing a series of investigations by the US government (including the DOJ) and a major lawsuit with Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car unit. West replaces Salle Yoo, who has been Uber’s chief legal officer since 2012. He officially becomes the company’s top lawyer next month.

Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced the hire in an email to staff on Friday. He wrote, “As a former federal prosecutor and senior Department of Justice official in the Obama Administration, [West is] well equipped to handle the investigations into our past practices. And at Pepsi, he has emphasized diversity on his team and across the company. But perhaps most importantly, Pepsi has been named one of the world’s most ethical companies 10 years in a row,” he continued. “Under Tony’s leadership, I’m confident that we will one day join this list.”

Source: Recode

Apple starts hiring staff for the Apple Park Visitor Center

Apple's original plans for the Visitor Center also feature underground parking and a rooftop terrace overlooking the main campus

Apple is busy getting its new campus ready for its official launch. Gearing up for the big day, Apple has begun hiring staff for the Apple Park Visitor Center. They’ve started off with the looking for a supervisor and manager for the “Visitor Center Caffè,” which will be the first on-campus restaurant to open. The Visitor Center Caffè isn’t exactly part of the main campus but is located at 10700 N. Tantau Ave., which is right across the street. According to Apple’s original plans, the building housing the restaurant will also have the Apple Store.

Source: 9to5Mac

Google hires veteran Apple mobile chip designer

Google Pixel XL review

There has been rumours going around that Google is looking to design its own processors for its Pixel smartphone line and there might be some truth behind it with its recent hire. The company has brought on Manu Gulati, a veteran chip architect at Apple. Gulati, who has worked for Apple for the past eight years, is now the lead system-on-chip architect at Google. According to MacRumors, Gulati has been “instrumental” for the Apple’s development of its custom chips for the Apple TV, iPad, and iPhone. It’s expected that his expertise in the field will help Google create its own custom chips. Job listings from Google have also been spotted online for a “mobile SoC CPU architect” and other similar roles.

Dropcam co-founder and Nest executive Greg Duffy joins Apple

Photo by Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch

Apple has confirmed the news that Greg Duffy the co-founder and former CEO of security company Dropcam will be joining its team. He co-founded Dropcam back in 2009 and led the company until it was purchased by Google’s Nest in mid-2014. Duffy spent a few months working for Nest but left in January 2015. Rumour has it there was a culture clash between him and Nest founder Tony Fadell. Apple won’t say what Duffy’s role in the company will be but the tech company is known to have special projects constantly in the works.

Source: MacRumors