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Google Cache is fully dead

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Re: Google Cache is fully dead

#121

Post by roenxi »

kibwen wrote: post #88
b112 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla via Firefox thought the same thing. They removed feature after feature, each feature only used by a tiny fraction of a percent. But all those features were what drew users, power users especially. And users each had their own featured reasons to love Firefox. Now look at them. Most used browser to nothing. There are other reasons too, but what Firefox did was remove what was special about them.

> Most used browser to nothing. Feel free to criticize Mozilla all you like, but this is a prime example of myopic tech-bubble thinking that is being decried elsewhere in this thread. Firefox market share declined first because Google used their market position to advertise Chrome for free on what was then the most valuable web real estate in the world (the Google home page), then because they paid software installer…

I do agree that perspective is more accurate; Chrome was always going to be huge with a combination of Google's development effort and advertising. However Mozilla's leadership have done an unimpressive job. They took a large amount of money from Google, decided that their vision of how the internet should work was identical to Google's, then converged Firefox to being an inferior Chrome clone. Brave does a better job of articulating a different vision of the web than Firefox and it is a Chrome fork; the situation is a bit ridiculous [0, 1]. And Brave's crypto scheme, while maybe it'll work and maybe it won't, is a radical re-imagination of how the web could be commercialised. So there is clearly room to imagine an internet other than the one Google wants where everyone has Google Ads.

So yes, Google was going to win the fight Mozilla picked, but Mozilla picked a losing strategy.

[0] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browsers/compare/chrom...

[1] https://brave.com/compare/chrome-vs-brave/

Re: Google Cache is fully dead

#122

Post by ssl-3 »

vel0city wrote: post #118
ssl-3 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When an IR remote starts putting notifications on any and every phone that happens to be on the network that let them very easily fuck up my streaming experience, then it may be possible to start drawing parallels. Until then, they're very different concepts. (And CEC is a curse for those with AV systems of even moderate complexity.)

Your roommate didn't even have to be on the same network to mess with the IR receiver. They just didn't think of it I guess. https://www.tvbgone.com/ I'd still say its 99% having a shitty roommate. I don't know why you'd excuse their shit behavior on having a button to do it. > And CEC is a curse for those with AV systems of even moderate complexity. Eh. I've had a few dozen AV setups of "moderate" complexity (multip…

Did the TV B Gone manifest itself from nothing and present that manifestation on my asshole roommate's personal pocket computer with zero action on their part?

No?

Then we're done here.

Re: Google Cache is fully dead

#123

Post by hattmall »

ssl-3 wrote: post #109
skybrian wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, casting from your phone still works. However, it requires a Google login to set up and automatically downloads a bunch of apps you probably don't want if all you care about is playing movies and YouTube videos from your phone. I suppose you could create an account just for this, but you really shouldn't need an account at all. It was a gift for a relative: a "Chromecast with Google TV." I didn't know what it rea…

The original concept was great for some things, sure. I bought an OG Chromecast over a decade ago. It was a one-trick pony: Push "cast" button on pocket computer, and whatever I was doing there would show up on the BFT. Which is great, you know, for a person who lives alone and never has visitors: One can select an item from the slick interface provided by the service they subscribe to on their amazing personal compu…

Mine worked great. Had Chromecasts in every room and a few Google Home minis. Anyone in the house could just say "Hey Google, play [WhatEverTheFuckTheyWant] from [AnyStreamingServiceIHave] on [TheTVOfTheirChoice]" it really was great, but for some reason it stopped working most of the time about 18 months and has continually degraded.

Re: Google Cache is fully dead

#124

Post by BatFastard »

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #103
naet wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It adds up over time. I used and liked Google domains for a bunch of websites, and was disappointed when that was axed and all my domains moved to squarespace (and have since transferred them all out). I used the Google podcast app on my phone, and that was killed and replaced by YouTube music which is a horrible replacement. I used to buy in heavily to the Google ecosystem and trust it as a pretty solid go to option…

It became apparent they are a zombie company once I realized I no longer put any brainspace into learning new functionality/tools Google offered. They are a corporation living off the corpse of who they have been. Total zombie company that doesn't realize it's dead yet. What was the last new Google anything you added to your daily life? Instead of adding Google Quickshare to share files from my PC to Android I use Mi…

I recently started with YouTubeTV, and its great. And Waymo is coming to my town soon. So I agree, lots of abandoned products, but still quite a few good ones.

Re: Google Cache is fully dead

#125

Post by bane »

wwweston wrote: post #38
jjbinx007 wrote: post #5

Is anyone at Google even aware how much this hurts their brand? I received an email from Google today with the subject line "Meet the new Google TV Streamer (4K)" The sender was Google Chromecast. Apparently it's some sort of streaming hardware they are selling for £99. I won't even consider buying one. How long until it's an obsolete brick? And when it's a brick, what are the chances I can wipe it and install my own…

The real question is why they'd have to be aware. It's entirely possible that those of us who pay attention to this are a vanishing minority compared to the cultural momentum of Google as the default search provider and a dominant provider of email/office SaaS. But even if dissatisfaction is growing, the institional momentum is just so huge that it's very likely Google simply doesn't have the capacity to sense any br…

It's a mistake that's made over and over again in tech. Back when Atari was printing money in the late 70s and early 80s the leadership and marketing people literally didn't know what to do that would help or hurt their business. Literally anything they did brought in more profits than they knew what to do with.

It caused them to make wild mistakes that jeopardized the long term viability of the company like milking their core product well after it had served its time in the market and neglecting, shutting down, or even warehousing everything else (sound familiar?).

It took some really forceful misunderstanding of their marketspace by clueless executives to finally bring Atari down and have it sold off for parts. And that's where Google's fate diverges from the historic lesson, Google won't die because its stuff its sales channels full of more hardware than they can sell (tying up every dollar in the company). Google will die because it's core product, ad placement, is become less valuable, causing the company to optimize trying to capture that main source of revenue -- which is realized in a total lack of strategy to build literally any other business.

Re: Google Cache is fully dead

#126

Post by skybrian »

ssl-3 wrote: post #109
skybrian wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, casting from your phone still works. However, it requires a Google login to set up and automatically downloads a bunch of apps you probably don't want if all you care about is playing movies and YouTube videos from your phone. I suppose you could create an account just for this, but you really shouldn't need an account at all. It was a gift for a relative: a "Chromecast with Google TV." I didn't know what it rea…

The original concept was great for some things, sure. I bought an OG Chromecast over a decade ago. It was a one-trick pony: Push "cast" button on pocket computer, and whatever I was doing there would show up on the BFT. Which is great, you know, for a person who lives alone and never has visitors: One can select an item from the slick interface provided by the service they subscribe to on their amazing personal compu…

I can see how that works for you, but it’s a lot simpler for us. If I picked the movie then I pause it when someone asks. If my wife picked the movie then she pauses it.

Re: Google Cache is fully dead

#127

Post by kimixa »

0134340 wrote: post #104
skybrian wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an original Chromecast and it still works, though pairing it with a new TV is a bit of a pain. The new Google TV is more like a smart TV without the TV. It has apps you install. It's much more complex and not the same thing at all. I was disappointed. But then again every company discontinues products. I don't see that as a breach of trust. It's making up a promise they never made and criticizing them for it.

I've not been so lucky. Google went into partnership with Asus years ago and released the Nexus player, which I had. An expensive streaming player that within a year bricked itself due to Google's update. Many people were upset and when asked for support on the official forums, Google said it was in Asus' hands and of course Asus said the same of Google. I checked for updates at least a year thereafter but there was…

Aww man, I worked on the chromecast SoC. It was a... difficult product. If there was a more perfect example of a product being killed by penny pinching, I can't think of one. It just didn't have enough flash for anything but a super cut down android. We had to drop multilib - the SoC and everything supported 64bit, just there wasn't enough space for the libraries. And the cheapest, bargin-basement flash as well - causing so many to be bricked trying to update. Plus 1gb ram, when even entry level phones were shipping with 2gb - just a couple of 4k framebuffers and the video decode reference frames meant there was pretty much nothing left for the apps themselves. So 1080p was it's limit despite having a capable video decoder and output.

And for ages afterwards they would use it as a reference device for google TV and testing for play store certification - just as they were pushing 64-bit only as a valid app path. So many things were only missing from the google tv play store for years afterwards because they just wouldn't function on those things.

Re: Google Cache is fully dead

#128

Post by phs318u »

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #103
naet wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It adds up over time. I used and liked Google domains for a bunch of websites, and was disappointed when that was axed and all my domains moved to squarespace (and have since transferred them all out). I used the Google podcast app on my phone, and that was killed and replaced by YouTube music which is a horrible replacement. I used to buy in heavily to the Google ecosystem and trust it as a pretty solid go to option…

It became apparent they are a zombie company once I realized I no longer put any brainspace into learning new functionality/tools Google offered. They are a corporation living off the corpse of who they have been. Total zombie company that doesn't realize it's dead yet. What was the last new Google anything you added to your daily life? Instead of adding Google Quickshare to share files from my PC to Android I use Mi…

Yes. They are the new Oracle. And like Oracle, they won't care how much their brand stinks like a fish market on a hot summer's day because they'll still be raking in enough cash not to care.
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