Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google in, Google out

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 135 posts

Re: Google in, Google out

#31

Post by rahoulb »

megablast wrote: post #27
mirekrusin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On somehow related note uber's location tracking when app is not used without an opt out option is the biggest wtf so far for me :( Why as an user I don't have ability to narrow it down to "when app is used only" is beyond me. It gives this weird feeling that you're just a bundle of a product and a consumer glued together to make few at the top rich. It's funny because I believe that people would not mind sharing thi…

> On somehow related note uber's location tracking when app is not used without an opt out option is the biggest wtf so far for me This is not true, at least for the iPhone.

Uber's location settings on iPhone are "Never" (and the app stops working) or "Always".

They removed the "when app is in use" option a few months ago because ... not really sure.

Re: Google in, Google out

#32

Post by glandium »

huhtenberg wrote: post #12
pacala wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Always on cameras, always on mics, that's a new low even for Google. Technically they are not yet uploading everything into the cloud, but who in his right mind is trusting Google on privacy anymore? From Google Maps the other day "New! share your location with your friends for an hour". Oh, by the way, give Google Maps permission to always track your location, forever. Wtf. Camera and microphone on the mobile phone…

> the car is not connected to the Internet Except, of course, that they are. For example, OnStar has been around for ~20 years and there are documented cases of FBI using it to eavesdrop on their suspects.

That's also true for baby cams. Worse than that, a lot are actually sending the video over the internet and watching it "locally" actually goes through the cloud.

Re: Google in, Google out

#34

Post by majewsky »

jaflo wrote: post #18
paradite wrote: post #14

On the topic of Google Lens, I don't really understand the hype around it. People are talking about how it is able scan a bar code of SSID and password to connect to router. Isn't that ancient technology? And for other uses like overlay maps info, aren't those just running standard CV/ML algorithms on their mega-servers plus simple integration with other apps in their ecosystem?

I think it is that simple integration that makes or breaks the product. Because Google controls the OS, it allows for a more seamless experience: you wouldn't download an app just to scan and connect to Wi-Fi networks, but because it's a feature built into your phone you are much more likely to use it.

Anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. Plenty of visitors download a Barcode Scanner app to log onto my home WiFi because they don't like to punch in a 30-letter code by hand.

Re: Google in, Google out

#35

Post by cf »

jankey wrote: post #16
pawadu wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Technically they are not yet uploading everything into the cloud Don't they upload every "Hey, Google!" command to their cloud? I assume they would upload some background sound to train their algorithms against background noise.

Sure, you can review and delete everything here: https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity?restrict=vaa&utm_so... (I work for Google)

Sure, but is it actually deleted? Or is this still stored somewhere in Google ready to be retrieved if needed?

Re: Google in, Google out

#36

Post by robotmay »

buro9 wrote: post #11

> They don’t just want to remake the world in their image. They want to remake our individual lives. Each Stack — bar Facebook, for now — offers the same awkward bargain: commit wholly & wholeheartedly to our ecosystem, and we will better your life. And it just might work, if any of the newer Google experiences worked on all Google accounts. My experience as a Google Apps / G Suite user, is that few to none of the ne…

It took me bloody ages to find the toggle that allows Google Now to be used on an Android device tied to a G Suite account. We don't even manage our devices.

Turns out it's something to do with enabling support for the activity log or something. That was a fun few hours.

I also love how no matter what Google site I'm using, it's signed into the wrong account. It's almost comical.

Re: Google in, Google out

#37

Post by m12k »

buro9 wrote: post #11

> They don’t just want to remake the world in their image. They want to remake our individual lives. Each Stack — bar Facebook, for now — offers the same awkward bargain: commit wholly & wholeheartedly to our ecosystem, and we will better your life. And it just might work, if any of the newer Google experiences worked on all Google accounts. My experience as a Google Apps / G Suite user, is that few to none of the ne…

I'm developing a web app that can be installed via the G Suite Marketplace. They also have an 'Integrate with Google' button that we can put on our website so users can just install/grant permissions from there - sounds great - in principle. Except the users don't have any way of choosing which account it uses. So if they happened to log into their personal Gmail account before their work G Suite account, well, then they're just shit out of luck and can't install. I asked about a fix (e.g. a 'select account' box like you get when logging in) on StackOverflow and filed a report on their developer support site - of course, this being Google, there's been no answer more than a month later, and I doubt there ever will be...

Anyways, in the meantime, the only thing we can do is pretend that button doesn't exist and instead direct users to the marketplace to install. Except, since our app is only installable by G Suite admins, if you happened to log into your personal Gmail account first, our listing is not even visible...

Google's whole account situation is a dumpster fire - and don't even get me started on the APIs they have on G Suite, that seem to have grown organically out of an 'admins would like to script a bit with the data'-use case and only added 3rd party apps as an afterthought. I wonder if the G Suite team is just chronically understaffed and underfunded or if they just don't realize how broken the whole thing is.

Re: Google in, Google out

#38

Post by wordupmaking »

JoshMnem wrote: post #13
a_imho wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The value proposition is just poor. Not that people love the idea they can be monitored, tracked and recorded anywhere, they just tolerate that, because it is pretty hard to have phone conversation without a mic. Putting an always on telescreen into your home that offers nothing really is a whole different game.

Consumers tolerate it partially because they don't understand technology. They would not tolerate it if they really knew how it worked and had knowledge on how to fix the problem.

And then there's people who do understand but have friends who don't. As everybody should. I can self-host my email all I want, if I communicate with anyone in a corporate silo, the silo records it.

Re: Google in, Google out

#39

Post by dzhiurgis »

jpalomaki wrote: post #30
paradite wrote: post #14

On the topic of Google Lens, I don't really understand the hype around it. People are talking about how it is able scan a bar code of SSID and password to connect to router. Isn't that ancient technology? And for other uses like overlay maps info, aren't those just running standard CV/ML algorithms on their mega-servers plus simple integration with other apps in their ecosystem?

If they open this to developers, it could be quite powerful and interesting feature. Point your phone to something, Google recognizes what's in the picture and makes this information available on platform. Applications can then be activated based on context and they can additional information to screen. Of course things like this already exist, but my phone does not feel particularly "smart" when I need to be making…

Having 7nth way to pay for something is cute, but not exciting.

The real bother is fragmentation. The amount of time wasted integrating to each vendor speech, vision, backend API's is just going to be enormous.

> Maybe one reason for introducing it already now is to start collecting data

With Google, this is always the reason. This is sort of cleverness I admire about them.

Re: Google in, Google out

#40

Post by wordupmaking »

Loic wrote: post #4
Mathnerd314 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more of a general Luddite / anti-tech paradigm. Historically, strange things were dangerous and/or poisonous. Tech people probably recognize these devices from science fiction books / movies / stories, so they don't get scared, but the rest of the world has no context to place them in and hence treats them like unexploded ordnance.

By framing this as "luddite/anti-tech" you do not address the fundamental question: Do you really want your life to have such high dependency on a single corporation? I am in no ways anti-tech, but the history has shown that putting your life in the hands of a single corporation is not a sane decision.

Exactly because I like tech I don't like how the persons it's shaped by and the reasons they shape it for. (particular things I dislike are symptoms of that). Consider the thoughts of Konrad Zuse or Joseph Weizenbaum with just about anyone who ever worked at Microsoft, Apple, Google or Facebook in any sort of leading role.

Technology can empower, it can give people room, and it can "capture the imagination" and "change the way we think about trivial thing X or Y". Or take the constant "we want to help people do X"... I'm really tired of the sleaze, the pretend-awedness and how we accepted filler language and filler personalities, more than I have a problem with the size of success of any single corporation per se. Maybe these things go hand in hand, maybe mass societies can't be human societies, but I'm not convinced, IMHO we're not even really trying so far, we just pretend being kind of dorks is "the future" and "modern".

Post reply on HN