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Google Now

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Re: Google Now

#111

Post by hackinthebochs »

Artistry121 wrote: post #53
tomp wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is much less of a privacy issue for me than is when Google reads my email, for example. Here, I'm aware of the fact that my data (location, appointments, flight plans) is read, because I couldn't get the recommendations/information otherwise. So, it's much more of a consensual act. If they use this data for other purposes (ads/paid recommendations/geotracking), that is a separate issue, and I would be very mad.

Google doesn't "read" your emails. The information completely secured from human eyes. A computer looks for words and phrases and tries to match ads to email content. Sometimes this is helpful, but the advertisers only receive anonymous data and no humans at Google or anywhere else read your data. Source: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...

>Google doesn't "read" your emails.

For now. But what happens when data mining technology increases to the point where they can deduce real facts about you as a person from all this data they're collecting. I think this is what people mean when they say Google "reads" your email.

Re: Google Now

#112

Post by cookiecaper »

Artistry121 wrote: post #53
tomp wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is much less of a privacy issue for me than is when Google reads my email, for example. Here, I'm aware of the fact that my data (location, appointments, flight plans) is read, because I couldn't get the recommendations/information otherwise. So, it's much more of a consensual act. If they use this data for other purposes (ads/paid recommendations/geotracking), that is a separate issue, and I would be very mad.

Google doesn't "read" your emails. The information completely secured from human eyes. A computer looks for words and phrases and tries to match ads to email content. Sometimes this is helpful, but the advertisers only receive anonymous data and no humans at Google or anywhere else read your data. Source: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...

This still counts as "reading" your mails. Google analyzes my email and comes up with a categorization, stored somewhere on their servers, attached to my account, that says something like "Show this guy ads about computer stuff". If that information is subpoenaed, it will be revealed that computers, programming, and other technical things are among my most frequently discussed topics.

By itself this information is innocuous, but in the right context and with just a pinch of the heartlessness of a giant computer system, the wrong set of categorizations could cause a really big problem.

Re: Google Now

#114

Post by haldean »

Johnyma22 wrote: post #22

Hey Joe pubilc. Give us all your personal info, we provide you pretty UI. Oh and how about this recommended cafe to visit with your friend? If you go here is a 10% voucher.. Just saying..

This attitude annoys me. Everything you do is about tradeoffs, and being online is no exception. You're trading privacy for convenience, and if you don't want to, then don't. People aren't wrong for being okay with that trade; they just have different priorities than you.

Re: Google Now

#115

Post by mikk0j »

LOL. The closed captioning in the beginning of that demo video reads like a haiku from an emo kid:

"Tear out your day / all that information is rainy days / actually needed."

Not sure if it makes me trust Google's efforts to bring me "just the right information at just the right time."

Re: Google Now

#116

Post by rryan »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #59

"...Cards appear throughout the day..." Yay, just what I wanted: yet another software service to interrupt me thoughout the day. Snarkiness aside, I'm sure the information is relevant and good. But if I forget that my favorite team is playing while I'm working on a design, do I really need to be reminded? People are not machines. I do not subscribe to and process an information feed in the same way that an email clie…

Most of these are passive notifications -- i.e. they don't ping you they're just there in your notification bar (or if you swipe up to start the Google Now app).

In some cases, it makes sense for some of these to be notifications that ping you. I want my phone to remind me if I need to leave right now to make my next meeting.

Finally, you can configure each individual card provider to be on or off so if you don't like a particular type of card, just don't use it.

I'm excited to see if they will provide an API for this. I would love to write custom card providers so that I can get ambient notifications of things happening in my world (e.g. the build is broken on an OSS project I run, a motion sensor in my house was triggered, etc.)

Re: Google Now

#117

Post by Spearchucker »

methodin wrote: post #91
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #59

"...Cards appear throughout the day..." Yay, just what I wanted: yet another software service to interrupt me thoughout the day. Snarkiness aside, I'm sure the information is relevant and good. But if I forget that my favorite team is playing while I'm working on a design, do I really need to be reminded? People are not machines. I do not subscribe to and process an information feed in the same way that an email clie…

We've never gotten there so it's an intriguing experiment regardless if you agree with it or not. 12 years ago I imagine most people thought it would be ludicrous that people would be walking around consumed in a mobile device - but that came to fruition just as stuff like this will.

I got my first PDA (a Nokia 9000 Communicator) in 1997. It was first released in '96 (that'd be 16 years ago).

Re: Google Now

#118

Post by cookiecaper »

pwny wrote: post #27
drharris wrote: post #8

I'm thinking this is a definite value-add to Glass.

I'm pretty sure Glass is the reason they do this. It really seems like it's a perfect fit for something you'd be wearing on your face constantly.

And a bad fit for something that's almost always in your pocket. When you pull your phone out because you want to call someone, how annoying is it going to be to dismiss the updates that pop up every time the score changes in a game your team is playing, or every time Google thinks you care about coupons to the restaurant around the corner?

I don't know that this will really make a big difference in phone-user interaction. I hope it stays on Glass where the use case is actually semi-relevant.

Re: Google Now

#119

Post by thomasbachem »

splatzone wrote: post #60
pyre wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Names can't be copyrighted, but they can be trademarked. 2. Google is using their name in the branding. E.g. Apple calls the iPhone just the iPhone, not the "Apple iPhone." On the other hand, Google prepends their name to all of their product names (e.g. "Google Play" "Google Now" "Google Plus" "Google Glass"), with Gmail being the only major exception that I can come up with (off the top of my head).

Feedburner, YouTube, Orkut, Picasa, Blogger? Good points though.

Those were all acquired, not built by Google.

Re: Google Now

#120

Post by gms7777 »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #59

"...Cards appear throughout the day..." Yay, just what I wanted: yet another software service to interrupt me thoughout the day. Snarkiness aside, I'm sure the information is relevant and good. But if I forget that my favorite team is playing while I'm working on a design, do I really need to be reminded? People are not machines. I do not subscribe to and process an information feed in the same way that an email clie…

I feel like it's intended to be more the information that you look up throughout the day, just all combined in one location. I mean, I get up in the morning, I check the weather, I check the traffic, etc. If the problem is about how much data we're processing, we're already there and we were long before this. This just removes some of the padding in between, perhaps making it a bit more obvious.
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