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Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

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Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#501

Post by coda_ »

redog wrote: post #429
buro9 wrote: post #357

Does not seem to work with Google Apps account. Which makes the list: * Allo * Google Fi * Google Play Music Family Plan * Google Play Store Family Sharing * Google Spaces * Google Trips * YouTube Red * YouTube Music It's a growing list. I'm always amused by the "One account. All of Google" header on the login pages. Google Apps accounts do not grant access to all of Google as the products do not work for it (it's no…

Works for mine.

But, within Allo, can you ask the assistant "What's on my schedule?" and get an answer?

I know that's not what you were saying, just curious if that part works for you.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#502

Post by saint_fiasco »

nanny wrote: post #334
headmelted wrote: post #96

Boo. All the shiny bells-and-whistles in the world aren't going to cover the fact that this should be end-to-end by default. I suspect at least some of the folks working on it feel this way too, so I imagine it's really shitty for some of them to have it work this way. If WhatsApp is already end-to-end by default there's no reason at all that a new app trying to enter that already saturated space shouldn't be. Sincer…

If it were end-to-end encrypted by default, how would Google Assistant work?

Maybe you could invite @google to the conversation just like you can invite a friend to a conversation in Hangouts.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#503

Post by headmelted »

nanny wrote: post #334
headmelted wrote: post #96

Boo. All the shiny bells-and-whistles in the world aren't going to cover the fact that this should be end-to-end by default. I suspect at least some of the folks working on it feel this way too, so I imagine it's really shitty for some of them to have it work this way. If WhatsApp is already end-to-end by default there's no reason at all that a new app trying to enter that already saturated space shouldn't be. Sincer…

If it were end-to-end encrypted by default, how would Google Assistant work?

Oh it definitely wouldn't.

I'd be fine with this though as, admittedly cynically, I suspect that Assistant's main reason for existing is to provide a justification for the lack of encryption.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#504

Post by nzp »

tjl wrote: post #223
Guzba wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Google Assistant integration is arguably the killer feature of the app. End-to-end encryption would delete it, thus it is not the default.

But, they could have it encrypted except when you explicitly message the assistant. They can also get the full text of the conversation on-device and do the machine learning on it. After all, Apple is doing it for photos, so text should be easier.

I wouldn't know, but from what one can hear from prominent Apple pundits and podcasters, Apple is not doing great at all in this regard, to put it mildly, compared to Google (and other data vacuumers). Examples: Google Photos is running circles around Photos, and Alexa around Siri. People who love and live Apple admit Apple is pathetic in this space. I doubt it's because Apple is incompetent. These problems require huge amounts of data and processing power. You can't do that locally on a mobile device (or even a PC class computer).

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#505

Post by whizzkid »

vocatus_gate wrote: post #477
whizzkid wrote: post #417

As long as they(Google) don't study why WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app, I don't think they will ever dominate this market. Here are the most important 2 things in my opinion that made whatsapp #1 messaging app. - WhatsApp tried to reach everyone from the beginning. Founders knew that not everyone in world has enough money to buy a shiny phone every year. - WhatsApp uses minimal bytes possible to send your…

That's literally the reason I even heard of or installed WhatsApp a few years ago. I was spending time doing work with my church in el Salvador and a bunch of the locals there used WhatsApp because it avoided the insane SMS fees the telco charged. I installed it just to chat with them internationally. Now almost all my friends are on it and it's great. I love the cross-platform ease of use, E2E encryption, and easy w…

I think Google lately spending too much time in the Silicon Valley bubble and less time in the real world. Solutions they are coming up with have so little value outside the small bubble. WhatsApp solved a real world problem without being fancy or trying to do too much.

It kept it simple, efficient and treated everyone equal in its ecosystem.

I don't think Facebook will try to change WhatsApp. They are mostly interested in WhatsApp's user base. But even if they ruin it, success stories will not change. The next big thing will come from people that have similar mindsets like the ones created WhatsApp.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#506

Post by buro9 »

Sargos wrote: post #451
buro9 wrote: post #357

Does not seem to work with Google Apps account. Which makes the list: * Allo * Google Fi * Google Play Music Family Plan * Google Play Store Family Sharing * Google Spaces * Google Trips * YouTube Red * YouTube Music It's a growing list. I'm always amused by the "One account. All of Google" header on the login pages. Google Apps accounts do not grant access to all of Google as the products do not work for it (it's no…

All of those things are consumer services and not really marketed at businesses or education. It makes sense that they aren't available. There are a lot of edge cases and high level decisions that go into enabling a service for enterprise access. Enabling Google Fi on Cloud: Suddenly Project Fi needs a dashboard to track all of the Fi accounts for the organization. It needs mass canceling and modification tools. It n…

Probably worth pointing out that Google Apps at one point was called Google for Family.

Maybe also view this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwqDlvJyGI8 that's Google's apps team telling people as recently as yesterday how to turn your Gmail account into a business account.

Imagine you're a small business owner, and that's your only email... you're just about to lose a hell of a lot of things you may take for granted.

Also... https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/play/86WVa8b_... that's a lot of people complaining about this. That topic grows daily.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#507

Post by Pxtl »

aji wrote: post #492
croddin wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what Google Labs was. If they had kept Google Labs and released some of these products under that brand, people might not be as worried about them killing the full-fledged Google projects when experiments are ended.

eh, Google Labs is still very obviously Google though. the idea would be, for each new product, to create an entirely new brand with no obvious connection to Google, that Google could later bring on full time if they decide they're ready to commit for example, "Google Allo" could have just been released as "Allo", separate website and everything, and if Google feels it's working out and is the future of their messagi…

Use the Nexus brand for them. It's not like they're using that anymore.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#509

Post by nzp »

headmelted wrote: post #131
0xmohit wrote: post #86

Open Whisper Systems partners with Google on end-to-end encryption for Allo. https://whispersystems.org/blog/allo/

Dare I say that I'm actually a little disappointed by this? I get where Moxie is coming from, and that he doesn't have the PR machinery that Facebook and Google do to really push Signal to the mainstream, but these are advertising companies. When OWS takes this work on they're giving a tacit Moxie stamp of approval to the implementation, that could well change after OWS has moved on to other things. tldr; History tel…

> When OWS takes this work on they're giving a tacit Moxie stamp of approval to the implementation

Which is completely irrelevant for any mainstream messaging app OWS has collaborated with. No “normal” person on this planet that uses these apps knows or cares about who Moxie is.

> tldr; History tells me not to trust these companies motives in the long term, and I don't see why Moxie should either.

I doubt he does, but his goal with all this is to end passive mass surveillance, and he obviously thinks this is the best shot. I mean, Signal the app is certainly not going to become a significant player in this space, so we can debate if he's doing the right thing but I can totally see the how he can justify it even if he doesn't really trust them.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#510

Post by rspeer »

tdkl wrote: post #212
rspeer wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it work with MMS, like Hangouts usually doesn't?

Nope. It's more or less glorified invite message over a service, that also receives replies from SMS. But since it doesn't show as sent from your mobile number, the receiver will have a separate thread in their SMS application. http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/09/20/allo-weird-sms-expla...

...so if I used Google Allo, I would still need to also use Google Messenger for MMS conversations and Facebook Messenger for conversations with less-nerdy people.

The only thing Allo seems to have going for it is that it's not another blue speech bubble icon labeled "Messenger".

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