Google, not Alphabet, is keeping some of its most ambitious projects

Google's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division, which is behind ambitious projects like modular phones and "smart fabric," will remain with Google in the wake of the company's reorganization as a subsidiary of a new company, Alphabet, the company has confirmed.

In addition, Google is keeping Project Fi, its effort to become a wireless carrier (technically a "virtual" wireless carrier) which just launched in the spring.

The holdovers are a little surprising since ATAP is often compared to Google X, which seeks out technological breakthroughs to solve big problems. ATAP has similar ambitions with devices, looking to make major — not incremental — improvements to existing technologies and, in the words of ATAP Vice President Regina Dugan, "do some epic shit." Read more...