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Google steals star engineer away from Microsoft

Published Dec 16th, 2013 10:30PM EST

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Google may be increasing its focus on robots, but it looks like the company still has use for humans as well (even if it only needs them to help develop smarter robots). The New York Times on Sunday evening reported that Blaise Agüera y Arcas has left Microsoft to join Google. The report describes Agüera y Arcas as a “star” engineer and software designer who was well-respected at Microsoft. He was involved with developing Bing Maps according to the report, and he most recently oversaw the creation of a new version of Microsoft’s 3D panorama stitcher app Photosynth. NYT says that Agüera y Arcas will work on machine learning at Google, which has obviously been an area of focus for the company for quite some time now as it looks to constantly improve its advertising products. Agüera y Arcas wouldn’t discuss his role at Google but he did confirm to The Times that he has left Microsoft to join the Mountain View-based company.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 15 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.