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Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

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Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#41

Post by jamesaguilar »

hnriot wrote: post #39

While this is incredibly smart and a very impressive application of machine learning, does anyone actually want this? I'm quite capable of looking at traffic reports or bus times myself when I need to. I actually think I'd find this pretty annoying, if my phone told me sports score before I'd had a chance to watch the game, or if it started second guessing me at every turn. This has the feel of valet parking, while i…

Tbh if I have a calendar entry with a location attached, I'd rather just skip the step of typing the address myself of the computer is smart enough to do it automatically.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#43

Post by abraham »

troymc wrote: post #34
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.

That's cute. Is there a way to tell Google that you mean a different "Folsom"? Google's Knowledge Graph does have a concept of name ambiguity (as does Wikipedia; it has disambiguation pages). For example, if I do a Google search for "Taj Mahal", the right sidebar shows details about the landmark in India, but below that it also offers to give me more information about the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, or Taj Mahal t…

If Google new there was a conference room in a persons current building named the location of an event I would bet it would be smart enough to use that instead. Maybe as more places start using Google indoor mapping this particular problem will be fixed. Most of the errors will likely just be a lack of context provided to Google or a lack of information available in a format Google can access.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#44

Post by potch »

So I can steal someone's phone, and just have it remind me of all that user's private info by walking around? Nifty.

Edit: I know the above is glib, and I'm not trying to rain on the parade of unbelievable achievements in data-wrangling that are going on here (I'd love to hear how it's done computationally), but I don't like knowing that all the privacy controls something like this deserves will be rolled out hastily in response to someone's life inevitably being ruined by the careless trust of one's life to a device that can fall out of their pocket. It's easy for the savvier of us on this site to say "serves them for not thinking to take precautions", but when we make it so easy to give a third party the reins, even we get complacent.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#45

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#46

Post by anonymouz »

ben1040 wrote: post #25
revelation wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

> ... if you spend enough nights at a place, it calls it home

Finally! We can replace the old cliche where a girl has basically moved in with a guy once she has a toothbrush at his place, by a new one, where she has moved in once her phone calls his place home.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#47

Post by jpalomaki »

I think Android 4.1 is finally something like the "agents" people have been envisioning for over a decade.

The possibilities on this are endless and currently Google is about the only company that is able to do it (from my point of view). Google knows my calendar, Google knows my contacts, Google knows pretty much everything I buy online (because they handle all my emails), Google knows about my travel plans (email again), Google know what I've been looking, where I've been (Latitude) and so on.

There could be also huge opportunities for money making in all this. One good question is should they keep all this just to themselves or would it be better to try to create an ecosystem for applications.

Let's the take travel plans as an example. It would be fairly easy for Google to mine my calendar and emails to figure out my travel plans. This would open up opportunities in offering me flight upgrades and other travel related services. Google could either try to use this information themselves, they could allow advertisers to use it, or they could expose it to 3rd party apps (of course with my consent). Keeping with the agent idea these things would be much more than just highly targeted ads. They could be direct offers, like "Say Yes Please, to upgrade your flight from Helsinki to Barcelona to business class for 150€".

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#48

Post by wtracy »

bdr wrote: post #22

Interesting. I'm thinking that Android vs Apple may be decided on the simple fact that sufficiently-better AI trumps any-amount-better UI. Lawsuits and supposed openness be damned.

Which is why it seems to me that introducing Siri was a dumb move for Apple: UI is one of Apple's core competencies, but machine intelligence is pretty much the one thing Google is best at.

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#49

Post by fixedd »

troymc wrote: post #32
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…

I work from home but visit my brother's place (in the next city) fairly often. I wonder if Google Now would think I work there. If so, I wonder if there's a way to tell it what's really going on.

It thinks I work at my kids' school :)

Re: Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

#50

Post by fixedd »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #41
hnriot wrote: post #39

While this is incredibly smart and a very impressive application of machine learning, does anyone actually want this? I'm quite capable of looking at traffic reports or bus times myself when I need to. I actually think I'd find this pretty annoying, if my phone told me sports score before I'd had a chance to watch the game, or if it started second guessing me at every turn. This has the feel of valet parking, while i…

Tbh if I have a calendar entry with a location attached, I'd rather just skip the step of typing the address myself of the computer is smart enough to do it automatically.

I also really like the examples like "how tall is the Eiffel Tower?" Sometimes I want to know a specific piece of information, sometimes I want to read up on something. This allows me to ask specific questions and get poignant answers.
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