You know, Google, the web already had this feature • Hacker News Board

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#391

Post by jlillyreed » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 7:17 PM UTC

throwawayG9 wrote: post #337

blhack wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Google has overstayed the web's welcome. Then stop using their products. Switch to bing, switch to Internet Explorer, get an iPhone and shut up about it. No, google has not "overstayed the web's welcome", google has overstayed the welcome of a few entitled silicon valley golddiggers who will continue feeling wronged for the next 10 minutes until they realize what wonderful things google has created in the world for…

I stopped using all of their products about a year and a half, thank you very much. And I never looked back, I feel safer than ever, I'm not being tracked all the time, I own my data, and I will never have to fear again being banned for no reason or having a service shut down overnight and losing all of my data. I can do whatever I want.

If you think Google is the only one tracking you on the web, gooooood luck!

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#392

Post by gbtxg » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 7:26 PM UTC

bionsuba wrote: post #200

BenoitEssiambre wrote: post #84

I have always been somewhat of a Google fanboy except for a few misgivings about their worrisome breadth of infiltration into people's live and things like the iGoogle shutdown but the Reader situation has been a huge slap in the face that made me lose a lot of faith in them. There is a huge war between Facebook and Google for global control of the most popular social graph and as much as I like Zuckerberg as a perso…

>I think there should be a third option in the form of a decentralized social protocol I haven't looked at it in a while but take a gander at tent: http://tent.io

Have you used tent? What has been your experience with it?

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#393

Post by pekk » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 7:31 PM UTC

rimantas wrote: post #288

krichman wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello. I don't have any strong pro-Google feelings. I used to really like Apple. iOS is only good for people that want something which works and which they don't need to spend any effort on maintaining. It is a complete joke for people that want a powerful mobile computing device. I use an iPhone now but my next phone will be an Android. To be honest I'll probably continue to buy iPod Touches as long as they can be j…

Yes iOS is for people who want to do something on their devices, android is for people who want to do something to their devices. Like a car owner who knows how to drive, but is not a mechanic and car owner who is a mechanic and spends days in the garage tweaking the engine instead of driving. Guess which one drives more. Maybe that explains disparity between the market share and web usage stats for iOS and Android.

What garbage. People buy phones to use them, period. Apple consumers are not special and more productive than other consumers.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#394

Post by sinkasapa » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 7:32 PM UTC

lettergram wrote: post #332

silverbax88 wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something that has happened to me over the past month that I never thought would happen - I'm actively looking to use Bing and DuckDuckGo over Google. Bing, something I laughed at just a few months ago. Google's results are starting to waver and the Google+ requirement is a cancer eating their products from the inside.

>Google's results are starting to waver I'll be honest I don't know for sure, but I highly doubt Google would intentionally hurt themselves by ruining their search results. Also, >Google+ requirement is a cancer eating their products from the inside. I do agree it's B.S. but using 4 different computers on a regular basis and being a student I find it more useful to use their products than not. Especially, the syncing…

> I highly doubt Google would intentionally hurt themselves by ruining their search results.

Arguably bubbling is ruining the search results. Sometimes such a thing can be advantageous but I do go to https://startpage.com/do/search sometimes to break out and it can be quite productive when trying to find a new result. The only difference is that one is tracking me and bubbling results and the other is not.

Since Google has recorded my IP, I have a hard time breaking the bubble when using Google from at home, whether I am logged in or not. I know this be cause I once decided to set my locale on Google to Spanish. Now I have cleared my cookies, etc. and I am not logged in but it assumes from -- I can only imagine -- my static IP that I want all my search results in Spanish.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#395

Post by moogleii » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 8:25 PM UTC

solistice wrote: post #353

moogleii wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, the vocal, diehard android fan is akin to the Fast and the Furious crowd so proud that they can modify their cheaper Hondas/Scions/Dodges to be as [insert adjective of choice] as a more expensive German luxury car. When really, nobody else cares. Neither the people who want a cheap reliable car nor the people in the luxury segment. Personally, I drive a Honda. I like it. I work on it, and I could modify it, bu…

I will have to rethink my life plans of outfitting a Tesla Sports car with functioning Tesla Coils. Noone outside of me will care about it, and if it's not external respect, it ain't no respect at all. Having some fun (with dangerously high voltages)? Don't make me laugh. I mean yes, if you don't enjoy the smell of coronal discharge and smoldering tank capacitors (They're both toxic smells by the way), and you just b…

>and if it's not external respect, it ain't no respect at all.

To be clear, that's your claim, not mine. Ultimately, people do what they like to do.

>Noone outside of me will care about it

This I could agree with, but sure, there'll be like-minded folks that will be interested. However, that's different from being smug and superior about your hobby.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#396

Post by throwawayG9 » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 8:31 PM UTC

jlillyreed wrote: post #391

throwawayG9 wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped using all of their products about a year and a half, thank you very much. And I never looked back, I feel safer than ever, I'm not being tracked all the time, I own my data, and I will never have to fear again being banned for no reason or having a service shut down overnight and losing all of my data. I can do whatever I want.

If you think Google is the only one tracking you on the web, gooooood luck!

I haven't said that. I'm sure there is a fallacy that matches what you said.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#397

Post by api » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 8:37 PM UTC

It's not Google's problem, or Facebook's or Microsoft's or anyone else's. The problem is architectural. With NAT and firewalls we have created a net that does not permit easy lateral communication. As a result, all communication must go through something in the "cloud" -- some third party. This is inherently favorable to monopolies for several reasons.

IPv6 and killing the in-network firewall would change things immensely.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#398

Post by moogleii » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 8:46 PM UTC

jeremyjh wrote: post #338

white_devil wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> iOS is only good for people that want something which works I believe that already disqualifies it from being a "complete joke", and the definition of a "powerful mobile computing device" might involve something else besides "being able to install whatever software you want to".

I spent two hours with my wife's iPhone trying to figure out which app was burning all her juice. On my android it takes just a few seconds since I can run a task manager that actually reports CPU utilization. From what I can tell, that is completely forbidden on iOS. Still, her phone does not "just work".

Mine seems to. Shrug There's always a counter-anecdote somewhere, I guess.

Back when the iPhone 4 was new, my friend had some kind of HTC Android, and he would beam about how he could run a tool that would help him micromanage battery power so that he could shut off this app versus that app (which he had to do quite often). I simply never had to. As Anandtech can back up, the iPhone 4 had amazing battery life compared to its contemporaries. Though more anecdotal evidence seems to show that newer iOS devices consume more power.

Anyway, for reference, Settings > Privacy > Location Services. You can see what is actively using GPS. As part of its low-power design efforts, other than music, there really isn't much else that the OS will allow to run in the background. All other closed apps are frozen in a saved state. Also, Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services, at the bottom, Status Bar Icon.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#399

Post by jholman » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 9:03 PM UTC

criley wrote: post #359

criley wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google+ is a blight. I have multiple Google Accounts (I don't need my real name attached to my main gmail account!) and it's utter horror trying to use Google products. You either give up on having an anonymous email because they WILL FORCE YOUR real name to be attached to your email, or you give up on Google integration features because you simply CANNOT use Google features without a real name anymore. Trying to swi…

Reply to myself: If you're an Android dev, sorry I've never rated your apps, left comments or gotten ahold of you! The Play Store REQUIRES a fully activated real-name Google+ Account to rate apps and leave feedback, so I've been wholly unable to communicate with the dozens and dozens of apps that request feedback. Sorry friends. Blame Google!

Hmn. This is a genuine problem. And you can support the real-names-for-public-reviews-to-avoid-spam policy (I'm mildly against, myself), while still believing this is a genuine problem.

Do the developers give you no alternate avenues for communication? No email contact or anything?

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#400

Post by bnr » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 9:12 PM UTC

tomkarlo wrote: post #386

jacquesm wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with receiving valuable information without being able to ascertain who sent it to you?

Information you can't trust because the source is suspect is significantly less valuable. See: spamming on Yelp and Amazon reviews.

How much more can you trust a profile pic and a real-ish name than "someguy443"?