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Google Now

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Re: Google Now

#181

Post by Artistry121 »

cookiecaper wrote: post #112
Artistry121 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 in…

I see your point, cookiecaper.

However there are really three usage cases where I see this potentially becoming a problem:

1. Google sells data to advertisers directly, without anonymity. 2. Google is rendered insecure and the encryption they use is cracked. 3. Government forces Google to hand over data about individuals or large swaths of individuals.

The most likely scenario is number three, which already happens, and this can happen to any information stored anywhere (bank accounts, post office and online).

Google would face strong public backlash for selling data to advertisers (#1)directly and would have to change their user policies.

Google spends untold amount of money on #2. That's not to say they are completely safe or trustworthy, but it is to say they work very hard at protecting that data (for your and their sake). This situation could just as likely happen to any web provider, linkedin being a recent example.

My biggest fear is what happens if the government gets the power to subpoena individuals based on "categorizations" or "keywords". Then I think privacy becomes a serious issue for Google.

Re: Google Now

#182

Post by polynomial »

planetguy wrote: post #148
icebraining wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The half bottom of the page is only examples of "Google Now cards". The phone image shows how these cards are displayed. Seems very obvious to me. What would you call them?

Dunno, a message? A notification? "Card" isn't intuitive because this isn't the way people use cards in real life. The only analogy for using cards as a notification I can think of is in an old novel where a visitor comes to your door, your butler shows them into the parlour, and brings you their calling card so you can decide whether you want to see 'em. This nowadays lies outside most folks' field of experience.

What are the odds Google did user testing on this before launching? On one hand, cards seems like a strightforward label for an atomic collection of data on a digital device. On the other hand users may bring with them all sorts of connotative baggage, or it just might not resonate with them.

In any case it's likely whether or not it will catch on as a term-of-art will heavily depend on whether people want to use the service.

Google doesn't have a great track record when it comes to designing new products / interfaces so will be interesting to see whether this takes off or not.

Re: Google Now

#184

Post by [deleted] »

bmelton wrote: post #79

I think this is a direct competitor to the recently re-launched Cue, but with perhaps better integration with things like Glass. I'm eager to see how the Cue/Greplin team aim to address this shot across the bow, and having never used either, if there's something distinctly different about them that migh encourage me to use both (or Cue vs Now). Interesting to see two such complete implementations of 'day-planning' hi…

[deleted]

Re: Google Now

#187

Post by waterlesscloud »

icebraining wrote: post #147
mitjak wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, what the hell is a card ? After reading the word "card" for the 5th time, even after reading the few paragraphs below the main image, I still have no clue what on earth a card is. Like an app in webOS? Or is it a game of some kind? Apps and websites that invent their own names for existing concepts and seem to assume that you're silly for not having inborn knowledge of what they mean are frustrating.

The half bottom of the page is only examples of "Google Now cards". The phone image shows how these cards are displayed. Seems very obvious to me. What would you call them?

Hypercards!

Re: Google Now

#188

Post by pjscott »

freshfunk wrote: post #162

This is the killer app for Google Glasses. Get relevant information in your HUD throughout the day. Awesome.

I'm not sure. There's a big psychological difference between push and pull -- if you check your phone, then you'll pulling the information at your convenience, but if it gets pushed to you on a HUD, then that's potentially intrusive and distracting. I think the only way they could really make that work is to have a good way of telling when it's reasonable to push information to a Glass-wearer, and that's tricky. Definitely cool if they can figure it out, though.

Re: Google Now

#190

Post by bmelton »

[deleted] wrote: post #184
bmelton wrote: post #79

I think this is a direct competitor to the recently re-launched Cue, but with perhaps better integration with things like Glass. I'm eager to see how the Cue/Greplin team aim to address this shot across the bow, and having never used either, if there's something distinctly different about them that migh encourage me to use both (or Cue vs Now). Interesting to see two such complete implementations of 'day-planning' hi…

[deleted]

I certainly appreciate the response, and hope for the best for you guys.

If anything should embolden you, it's that while Google does tend to do a great job unveiling new products (like "Now"), they often fall behind on iterating, at least as compared to smaller, nimbler teams are able to. Also, they aren't at all very likely to integrate with non-Google services, so there's that.

Of course, this is a new 'flagship' type of thing for JellyBean users, so they'll likely be focused on making it really good.

Again, good luck. I can relate to established giants announcing competitors before you've had a good while to get traction, so I know it can be disheartening, but it also validates the hell out of the market, and there's no saying that Apple will ever be able to approve their iphone client as it likely competes with Siri a good deal.

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