Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Fired Google

theartofdoingstuff.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 142 posts

Re: I Fired Google

#131

Post by kellengreen »

dhruvmittal wrote: post #104
elbasti wrote: post #11

I have an android phone which means I use android auto fairly often. The sheer quality destruction it's experienced since transitioning to Gemini is incredible. I experience this mostly when asking for music. Before gemini, mistakes were common but deterministic. It was easy to understand where the query had gone wrong and so how to fix it. Example: "Hey google, play Blackstar " (Plays the album blackstar by David Bo…

Before: "Hey Google, call my wife" ------> Immediately calls wife With Gemini: "Hey Google, call my wife" --50%-> "Is that XXXXXX?" --25%-> Immediately calls wife --20%-> "I'm sorry, I couldn't find a contact saved as 'wife'" --05%-> Immediately calls someone different from my wife

This is so accurate.

Re: I Fired Google

#132

Post by 9dev »

omoikane wrote: post #105
9dev wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you even browse the web without using an ad blocker?

So that you would notice sites that are serving obnoxious ads, and remember not to visit them in the future. Maybe you are saying "the whole internet is like that now, it's impossible to find good sites without obnoxious ads", but I don't think it's that bad yet (hacker news is a good counterexample). But if everyone keep visiting user hostile sites, the site operators will see no incentive to change.

Frankly, I just don't care about the distinction. I'm going to engage with sites, I just choose not to download some of their content which I find annoying. Whether they offer that content or not doesn't matter to me at all, because I never see it anyway.

And for those that are countering this with "but some sites can only cover their costs using ads!" I say: Tough luck. I'm readily paying for things if I want them; if you can only offer something in exchange for advertisements, I don't want it.

Re: I Fired Google

#133

Post by NautilusWave »

elbasti wrote: post #11

I have an android phone which means I use android auto fairly often. The sheer quality destruction it's experienced since transitioning to Gemini is incredible. I experience this mostly when asking for music. Before gemini, mistakes were common but deterministic. It was easy to understand where the query had gone wrong and so how to fix it. Example: "Hey google, play Blackstar " (Plays the album blackstar by David Bo…

Verbally getting Android Auto to play the album Black Star by Amaarae is impossible.

Re: I Fired Google

#134

Post by shinydevops »

psanford wrote: post #42
itodd wrote: post #3

> Then I went directly to Amazon and ordered an Alexa. Dear lord.

I got rid of my Alexa devices after they would not shut up. "Alexa what is the weather for today?" "The weather for today will be ... By the way, did you know that you can set alarms? Just say ..." I do not care about whatever stupid feature you want to build engagement around. Do what I asked you to do and then shut up. And don't get me started on the Alexa Show that had the audacity to display ads.

For all ten people this will help, "Alexa, disable 'by the way'" works wonders.

And for scorched earth, "Alexa, set a reminder for 8 AM to disable 'by the way'" is an option.

I haven't heard a single 'by the way' in many moons.

Re: I Fired Google

#135

Post by [deleted] »

fhdkweig wrote: post #89
elbasti wrote: post #11

I have an android phone which means I use android auto fairly often. The sheer quality destruction it's experienced since transitioning to Gemini is incredible. I experience this mostly when asking for music. Before gemini, mistakes were common but deterministic. It was easy to understand where the query had gone wrong and so how to fix it. Example: "Hey google, play Blackstar " (Plays the album blackstar by David Bo…

I don't really use Google products except Youtube, but their auto-subtitler (closed captions) have really taken a weird turn lately. It used to try sounding out the words so even if it didn't pick the right word, it was at least close to right one. But now it substitutes entire phrases and sentences based on what is most likely to appear in a conversation even if it has no bearing or similarities to what was said.

[deleted]

Re: I Fired Google

#136

Post by johnea »

Excellent! Firing goggle is a great way to demonstrate the art of doing stuff!

I fired them years ago, and not just the kitchen countertop puck, every service they offer. Yes, that's right, I don't watch youboob, or use their search or gmail!

And you shouldn't either!

Re: I Fired Google

#137

Post by wiseowise »

bsimpson wrote: post #62
elbasti wrote: post #11

I have an android phone which means I use android auto fairly often. The sheer quality destruction it's experienced since transitioning to Gemini is incredible. I experience this mostly when asking for music. Before gemini, mistakes were common but deterministic. It was easy to understand where the query had gone wrong and so how to fix it. Example: "Hey google, play Blackstar " (Plays the album blackstar by David Bo…

There was an Amazon UXR study that floated around ~8 years ago that said the only things people care about from a voice assistant are music, weather, and alarms. PMs keep trying to make them "smarter," and it just makes the core user journeys worse. Surely they think they're inventing cars when we're griping about buggy whips. But it really feels like voice assistants peaked ~10y ago for the things people actually wa…

> There was an Amazon UXR study that floated around ~8 years ago that said the only things people care about from a voice assistant are music, weather, and alarms.

That’s all cool, but once we implement those how can we keep making money and justifying our salaries?

Re: I Fired Google

#138

Post by wiseowise »

bighead1 wrote: post #23

> Nobody asked for cars that require IT support and 3 sub-menus to lower the air conditioning. (Screens are cheaper to install than buttons and knobs.) perhaps, but people did ask for cheaper cars.

Did they get them, though? And at what cost?

Re: I Fired Google

#139

Post by mdrzn »

And it's another AI article with the usual repetitions-of-three:

"I don't need a four-minute explanation. I don't need context. I don't need a balanced discussion"

"Not a philosophical question. Not a medical question. Not a legal question."

"It was not a carefully considered decision, it was a primal gut reaction." it's not X, it's Y!

"The telephone. The microwave. The Internet."

"Google Home used to be one of my favourite gadgets. Not because it was smart. Because it was useful." it wasn't X, it was Y!

Re: I Fired Google

#140

Post by cwnyth »

krabizzwainch wrote: post #121
cwnyth wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ublock Origin works decently well on Firefox on Android. I think I saw that something worked on iPhones, but I never investigated it myself.

I have an old iPhone 14 Pro and I haven't been able to get too much working as far as adblocking outside of the pihole. Firefox for iPhone is bad and Mozilla has committed to simply not fixing it. But I want my bookmark sync so I'm stuck.

Isn't Firefox on the iPhone just a Safari skin? Unless you're in the EU and Japan, all web browsers on the iPhone have to use Webkit.

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

Post reply on HN