Internal emails: Google sets rules for hosting HQ guest speakers, like making a business case and considering company goals, after row over an Indian historian (Paresh Dave/Reuters)

The Verge:
Sources: Google canceled the next version of its Pixelbook laptop slated for 2023 and dissolved the team building it, as part of recent cost-cutting measures  —  Google is getting out of the laptop game  —  Google has canceled the next version of its Pixelbook laptop and dissolved the team responsible for building it.

Paresh Dave / Reuters:
A court filing from Epic’s lawsuit shows Google allegedly agreed to pay ~$360M over three years to keep Activision Blizzard from launching its own app store  —  Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google has struck at least 24 deals with big app developers to stop them from competing with its Play Store …

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
India’s Enforcement Directorate searched the offices of Paytm, Razorpay, and Cashfree on Friday as part of an investigation into fraudulent Chinese loan apps  —  India’s financial crime fighting agency searched the offices of fintech unicorns Paytm and Razorpay as well as Cashfree on Friday …

AJ McDougall / The Daily Beast:
Sources: Twitter has disabled badge access and shut down its offices until November 21, after a large number of employees chose to resign on Thursday  —  The temporary closure of the company’s offices comes as the billionaire is reportedly “terrified employees are going to sabotage the company.”

Kali Hays / Insider:
Sources: Twitter is leaving at least 12 international offices due to closures or not paying rent, including in Hong Kong, Mexico, Ghana, Australia, and India  —  – Twitter is leaving at least a dozen international offices due to closures or not paying rent.  — Hubs in Europe and even Twitter’s headquarters in Asia are shuttered.

Davey Alba / Bloomberg:
Alphabet’s Verily raised $1B led by Alphabet; founder and CEO Andy Conrad will become executive chairman as President Stephen Gillett becomes CEO in January  —  Verily, the Alphabet Inc. life sciences unit that’s previously experimented with diabetes-detecting contact lenses …