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We Need To Talk, Google

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Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#181

Post by piyush_soni »

bambax wrote: post #153
VikingCoder wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word "I" showed up in both of those sentences. To most users, unifying all of their data adds a lot of value. Google reads my GMails from major airlines, and shows me when my next flight is when I Google Search for "when is my next flight". The flight also just pops up on Google Now on my Android phone. It also knows where I am, and where the airport is, so it tells me how long it will take to drive there. When I…

> I find value in these things Well then good for you, and you should be able to merge all your accounts with Google into one; but why should this be almost compulsory? What's more, if there's so much value into this, why does Google have to force its users to do it?

Well, it's not. YouTube asked me exactly once if I want to use my Google+ name and pic on YouTube. I said no. It said Ok. Didn't ask since then.

Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#182

Post by frenger »

k3n wrote: post #44
AJ007 wrote: post #11

This is a good example of a "forced" or "assisted" conversion. The user really doesn't want to do it, they just want to view the damn YouTube video. Google is employing these same optimization techniques elsewhere. I've noticed very subtle, and consequently expensive, things that have been done with Adwords. There is a simple solution to this, which unfortunately castrates Google's entire platform. Its the same reaso…

FYI, you can replace "watch?v=12345" to "/v/12345" to view videos without logging in (works for age-restricted content as well). As a bonus, the video fills the browser screen, and removes all the annoying "related" content, comments, etc.

That's one hell of a goddamn tip. As someone who recently closed their Google account, this will come in handy. Thanks.

Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#183

Post by foley »

bfwork wrote: post #177
VikingCoder wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, the only reasonable interpretation of my position is to carry it to the ridiculous extreme? Or do you acknowledge that there's clearly a balance of benefit and pain, and Google is merely slightly to the wrong side of where you'd want them to be?

How is that a ridiculous extreme? People have different persona and personal facets in real life that the prefer to keep separate for various reason. That can be as simple as "Work" and "Home" to political views, lifestyle choices etc. The simplest solution online is to use multiple accounts, Google (and others) desperately want you to use only one and do their best to force it. Yes, this way they can provide/extract…

I wouldn't say Google desperately wants you to have one. I use three separate Google accounts and switch between them with ease. YouTube is the only one that hassles me to merge, but given the quality of YouTube comments I can understand them wanting to tie your account to your real name.

Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#184

Post by colanderman »

k3n wrote: post #44
AJ007 wrote: post #11

This is a good example of a "forced" or "assisted" conversion. The user really doesn't want to do it, they just want to view the damn YouTube video. Google is employing these same optimization techniques elsewhere. I've noticed very subtle, and consequently expensive, things that have been done with Adwords. There is a simple solution to this, which unfortunately castrates Google's entire platform. Its the same reaso…

FYI, you can replace "watch?v=12345" to "/v/12345" to view videos without logging in (works for age-restricted content as well). As a bonus, the video fills the browser screen, and removes all the annoying "related" content, comments, etc.

Or if you're on Linux, you can use youtube-dl + mplayer to get a high-quality hardware-accelerated glitch-free viewing experience, instead of the RealPlayer-esque experience Flash provides.

Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#185

Post by PhantomGremlin »

sirkneeland wrote: post #40
noir_lord wrote: post #27

Google used to be the wunderkind, I remember when absolutely everything they touched was gold...and now they seem to have so much stuff that is broken across so many products. Alot of it is just dumb stuff and the rest is stuff that should have been caught. This is the last week.. Google Apps Admin Interface - It's an unnavigable mess, I use it so seldom that it's not familiarity or the lack of that makes me hate the…

As someone who agrees, I confess I'm actually happy that Google is no longer perfect, because that is a necessary precondition for new challengers to emerge and for the cycle of innovation and progress to begin anew. I don't know what those new companies will be, but I'm excited to find out.

Very insightful comment.

What you are predicting will certainly occur. However it will take time. Lots of time. Years. Perhaps decades.

In the long run, we are all dead.

Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#186

Post by mattmcknight »

bambax wrote: post #153
VikingCoder wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word "I" showed up in both of those sentences. To most users, unifying all of their data adds a lot of value. Google reads my GMails from major airlines, and shows me when my next flight is when I Google Search for "when is my next flight". The flight also just pops up on Google Now on my Android phone. It also knows where I am, and where the airport is, so it tells me how long it will take to drive there. When I…

> I find value in these things Well then good for you, and you should be able to merge all your accounts with Google into one; but why should this be almost compulsory? What's more, if there's so much value into this, why does Google have to force its users to do it?

Well, if you really didn't want to, you could always create separate Google accounts for each service.

Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#187

Post by mattmcknight »

v13inc wrote: post #104
VikingCoder wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a very short memory. Google has NOT always integrated sign-ons between those services, and there was an uproar when it happened.

You are right -- I don't really remember when I had to login with different credentials for Youtube, et al. Just to clarify, I am making a distinction between being able to sign into a Youtube profile with a Google account and forcing the same profile across all Google properties. Judging from my preferences, and based on my (limited) anecdotes, it seems that users appreciate the convenience of single-signin solution…

If you seriously don't want to, just create two Google accounts...I'm using multiple sign-in across many of their web properties with my personal account and my corporate Google Apps account.

Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#188

Post by yuhong »

ballard wrote: post #180
yuhong wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, but there is something wrong if people have to use it all the time.

The world is the world. Because there are so many other people out there that might be up to no good, so many laws (US commercial code, anyone) that an individual will create so much digital dirt over their lifetime, it becomes very easy to attack anyone that does not just keep most things private as a best practice. It's nearly impossible to know which digital bits will be at some point in the future X years taken o…

Of course, how much that matters depends and if you limit to a subset it becomes much easier, but I definitely agree that people should have the right to be anonymous. I just don't like it when people have to do so, and do want to fix the problems if possible.

Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#189

Post by deskglass »

mattmcknight wrote: post #186
bambax wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find value in these things Well then good for you, and you should be able to merge all your accounts with Google into one; but why should this be almost compulsory? What's more, if there's so much value into this, why does Google have to force its users to do it?

Well, if you really didn't want to, you could always create separate Google accounts for each service.

I think that at least Youtube accounts now require a phone number when registering. I don't know for sure, but I doubt you can give the same number for multiple accounts.

Re: We Need To Talk, Google

#190

Post by typon »

darkchasma wrote: post #46

Felt like extortion? To freely post your video to their free hosting service, which allows you free distribution and marketing of your brand to the entire world. For free. And this felt like extortion?

If you're not being sold anything and the company is making money, then you're the product. Nothing is free.
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