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Start building Actions on Google

developers.googleblog.com

61–66 of 66 posts

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#61
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Now is about 95% of the way there on the sports thing (it is always showing me information about a couple of teams it knows I am interested in, including game status).

I'm finding the opposite -- it's always showing me information for teams I'm not interested in. I'm interested in games that are significant cultural events -- my city's team making the playoffs, the cubs winning the World Series, etc. Outside of those times, I have no interest. Yet despite ignoring stories, I get frequent updates about players, teams, and events I have zero interest in. Also, despite searching regul…

There's an option you can select in Google Now to specifically disregard these teams, either through the action menu on the card, or in the preferences section of the Google Now app. Merely ignoring or swiping away the cards doesn't change Google's estimation of your preference of the teams.

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#62
post #6

I was looking at the page earlier today, wondering when it's being launched. Great timing as my days at work are over for the rest of the year. I'm working on a public-transport chatbot in South Africa, planning on making it available on Twitter, Facebook, and Allo (though less users here). Going to be a fun December and January!

Why not add South Africa to https://github.com/schildbach/public-transport-enabler ? That way, the eventual voice/chatbot support could support other networks too.

I already made an IRC chatbot for this API: https://github.com/ysangkok/console-transit-trip-planner

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#63
post #2

Hmm, the lack of installation on the skill is interesting and an obvious contrast to Alexa/Echo. Should we be expecting an arms race here for sensible invocation names?

Great question - we are under NDA, but I can share that Google is going to make priority 1 -> 10 the consumer experience, and priority 11 how to improve visibility through SEO. Think SEO to get the lion share of traffic.

Will be interesting to see how that pans out. If google makes a different search ordering solution for me its ok because i get to choose on the results page, whereas with this its like pressing I'm feeling lucky every time.

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#64
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with protocol activation is that there are a million different endpoints and you either * Keep a list of every single one that apps can opt into. This is how you end up with "midsized_sedan_carwashing" in an enum list. It's a developer drain for Google/Microsoft/Amazon and creates "wait for the next release for 'largetruck_carwashing' so you can release your app". * Let apps run wild and claim any protoco…

Yup! we are thinking along these lines. Please see the baby step on discovery that you can use today called "Deep Link Discovery" https://developers.google.com/actions/distribute/invocation-...

Cool, thanks! What are you doing for conflict resolution? In Windows we would just show a list of apps that registered for png or jpg, for instance, but over a low-bandwidth signal like speech that's kinda hard.

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#65
post #17

API.AI is really great but I really don't like this UX. From using and developing for the Amazon Echo for the last year or so this "Conversational" setup just sounds super unnatural. You want bus times: Amazon: "Alexa, ask [nextbus] [for the next bus]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [nextbus] when is the next bus?" Perfect: "[keyword], when is the next bus?" (context set in advance for the specific bus you care…

I think that, over time, both paradigms are required. For the quick lookup/command, "ask" is best. For longer interactions, like driving directions, or cooking instructions, etc... a "conversation" makes more sense. Given that we're at the early stages of conversational UIs, I think the 'ask' case is more helpful, but I'm more excited to see what will evolve through conversations.

This is being made a platform for external developers, unlike Google search for instance. So what makes more sense for users is only important on large averages and to the extent users don't get mad enough to abandon it.

What matters for action developers ?

Having people buy shit

Keeping people occupied longer (for commercials)

(for companies that do other things) Preventing people from trying to communicate with a real person

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#66
post #40
post #7

Why won't they release Assistant for all Android phones? Nobody uses Allo, and Pixel is a small minority of the market.

So what's the difference between google now, the google voice search thing at the top of my android galaxy s5, the pixel assistant, and the allo assistant? Because they are all different, to my eyes. They all have different commands they can do. It's just obscene.

There is/was no such thing as an assistant called "Google Now". That was an illusion/poor branding.

There's "Voice Search", typing into the Google search box with your voice.

VS Assistant, a Google's chatbot interface.

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