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Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

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Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#21

Post by shasta »

jrockway wrote: post #13
necubi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This can have some amusing results when the input isn't as Google expects. For example, in my office the conference rooms are named after streets, some of which are also cities. So when I have a 2pm meeting in Folsom, I get a notification a couple of hours before telling me I should leave soon so I can make it to Folsom, CA in time.

This also happens to me. The conference rooms on the floor I work on are named after landmarks in Manhattan. Meeting invites often say something like "2PM in Battery Park". So at about 1:30, my phone vibrates and says it's going to take 25 minutes to take the subway there. Heh.

My horse is named Friday.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#23

Post by revelation »

habosa wrote: post #14

I have been using Google Now for a few months now and it has been amazing. Example 1: One night I was going to a Roots concert and I went through the venue's website on my Google Chrome on my laptop. Then, right around concert time, Google Now alerted me to what subway I should take to get there. Example 2: I searched for the Phillies score once on my tablet, and now my phone tells me about the score of each game. Ag…

Are you sure Google guessed in Example 3? It usually does the "leave now to get there on time" for every event in your calendar (for which it can find some kind of geographical reference, fitting or not).

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#24

Post by sudont »

bdr wrote: post #20
tarkin2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really cool, but am I the only one who finds this creepy as hell?

I'm not trying to be glib, but: so what? Some people will use it, because it will provide value to them. I may be one of them. Kids born today will, if nothing changes, think this stuff is absolutely normal. Your reaction is a valid one, and I have my limits too, but I think we're beyond the point of merely acknowledging that it's creepy. Please go further: Where is the line? Why? And what are you willing to do about…

I can't really see Google proper abusing this, as the product is one-to-one the monitoring: commerce. If you accept that, Google Now is just really targeted advertising—a big, NLP-based, bayesian coupon.

It seems like the bigger issue is when malicious parties usurp this data and use it for their own ends. We can look to science-fiction for predictions. Scroogled comes to mind, as well as a (possibly falsely remembered) recent campaign IRL to root out dissidents via internet searches.

And one more scenario: false flag. Since search records are considered evidence, planting this evidence could be all the sway that a jury needs, or even just for defamation purposes.

I think the fear is not of Google, but of making our lives tied to a record-keeper that could potentially have no accountability.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#25

Post by ben1040 »

revelation wrote: post #23
habosa wrote: post #14

I have been using Google Now for a few months now and it has been amazing. Example 1: One night I was going to a Roots concert and I went through the venue's website on my Google Chrome on my laptop. Then, right around concert time, Google Now alerted me to what subway I should take to get there. Example 2: I searched for the Phillies score once on my tablet, and now my phone tells me about the score of each game. Ag…

Are you sure Google guessed in Example 3? It usually does the "leave now to get there on time" for every event in your calendar (for which it can find some kind of geographical reference, fitting or not).

Yes, if you have location history enabled, it seems to pretty much assume that if you go the same place during the day often enough, it calls it work, and if you spend enough nights at a place, it calls it home.

Google had picked a location for me and called it "work" which was not the exact street address but close enough. I know I didn't ever key in an address and explicitly tell them it was where I work, or else they'd have had the correct address from the get-go.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#27

Post by th0ma5 »

abduhl wrote: post #16
habosa wrote: post #14

I have been using Google Now for a few months now and it has been amazing. Example 1: One night I was going to a Roots concert and I went through the venue's website on my Google Chrome on my laptop. Then, right around concert time, Google Now alerted me to what subway I should take to get there. Example 2: I searched for the Phillies score once on my tablet, and now my phone tells me about the score of each game. Ag…

Example 3 is very disconcerting from a privacy standpoint.

Mine asked me if it was okay, and I know exactly where to turn it off. It also saw I visit friends at a regular schedule every week, asked if it could remember it, and gives me traffic time estimates to there around the time I need to go, and earlier if traffic is heavy.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#28

Post by sprokolopolis »

Recently, my parents went on a trip to London. Before they returned, I received a Google Now card with their flight information and estimated time of arrival. I am not sure if they gathered this info from email or sms. It was somewhat creepy, but certainly helpful and convenient (I needed to call them before they left).

I have been quite pleased with Google Now and use it much more than I ever used any of the other Siri clones. When I am busy, I forget things easily and it is nice when Google just gives me helpful information to keep me on track.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#29

Post by haakon666 »

revelation wrote: post #23
habosa wrote: post #14

I have been using Google Now for a few months now and it has been amazing. Example 1: One night I was going to a Roots concert and I went through the venue's website on my Google Chrome on my laptop. Then, right around concert time, Google Now alerted me to what subway I should take to get there. Example 2: I searched for the Phillies score once on my tablet, and now my phone tells me about the score of each game. Ag…

Are you sure Google guessed in Example 3? It usually does the "leave now to get there on time" for every event in your calendar (for which it can find some kind of geographical reference, fitting or not).

Yes, it mines google latitude data for that. Since I left my office job and started running my own business from home. Latitude has been getting very confused about where I work. Last time I checked it thought I worked at the local shopping centre.

Edit: Just checked, it now thinks I work at my kid's school.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#30

Post by slykat »

revelation wrote: post #23
habosa wrote: post #14

I have been using Google Now for a few months now and it has been amazing. Example 1: One night I was going to a Roots concert and I went through the venue's website on my Google Chrome on my laptop. Then, right around concert time, Google Now alerted me to what subway I should take to get there. Example 2: I searched for the Phillies score once on my tablet, and now my phone tells me about the score of each game. Ag…

Are you sure Google guessed in Example 3? It usually does the "leave now to get there on time" for every event in your calendar (for which it can find some kind of geographical reference, fitting or not).

I think Google did guess his home in example 3. It looks like Google Now tries to build a model of where your home is based on your GPS locations during sleeping hours.

The reason I think this is the case is that it kept on updating my "home" while I took a road trip across the East Coast. So when I moved from NYC to D.C. everyday it would tell me the commute to NYC (Home) because I had spent a few days there and Google thought I was based there.

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