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Google and Ambient Computing

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Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#51

Post by criddell »

WC3w6pXxgGd wrote: post #27
gambler wrote: post #14

A handful of oligopolies coercing me to use overcomplicated always-connected gadgets that are orchestrated by "AI" that I don't control, can't train, and whose main objective is to manipulate my behavior and siphon as much of my private info to its corporate master as possible. All of this to solve "problems" that I never had, while a choir of corporate shills drones on and on that problems I actually have are not re…

You're no coerced in any way. Don't use Google.

That's almost impossible. If you were to send me an email you would be using Google and not even know it because I host my domain mx there.

Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#52

Post by cmroanirgo »

amelius wrote: post #38
gambler wrote: post #14

A handful of oligopolies coercing me to use overcomplicated always-connected gadgets that are orchestrated by "AI" that I don't control, can't train, and whose main objective is to manipulate my behavior and siphon as much of my private info to its corporate master as possible. All of this to solve "problems" that I never had, while a choir of corporate shills drones on and on that problems I actually have are not re…

Isn't it time that Google grows up and becomes a true tech company? I consider products containing adware to be "half-broken" and I don't understand how Google engineers can feel proud of their work. As an engineer I want my work to be paid for because my users like my products, and I certainly wouldn't want any of my work to be used to serve anyone other than my users.

Considering the thread about Google's Soli [0] has a huge number of votes, there's a clear sign that many are still heavily plugged into the borg. I'd suggest that even more would disagree with the suggestion that Google isn't a real tech company.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21269877

Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#53

Post by ChristianBundy »

icandoit wrote: post #21
gambler wrote: post #14

A handful of oligopolies coercing me to use overcomplicated always-connected gadgets that are orchestrated by "AI" that I don't control, can't train, and whose main objective is to manipulate my behavior and siphon as much of my private info to its corporate master as possible. All of this to solve "problems" that I never had, while a choir of corporate shills drones on and on that problems I actually have are not re…

I don't like the always-on surveillance either. But if people choose these products because the convenience is worth it in their estimation, revealed preferences and all that. Maybe this suggests a counter-product? An offline, all data is local, product opportunity. Who will build it?

Currently working on this with Secure Scuttlebutt, FWIW.

Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#54

Post by zorked »

uoaei wrote: post #30
magashna wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still very pessimistic about the network resources that they expect the average user to have. The recent hubbub was about places that have data caps. I'm still not convinced that the latency is there for an enjoyable experience. I'll be incredibly surprised if it isn't a complete flop.

Every time something like this comes up, I imagine a bunch of giddy "world-changers" sitting behind Mac Pros with Retina displays and T3 lines, building something that works great under those conditions, and then convincing each other that they've helped people over $16 microbrews. I know this is a caricature but it's how I get my kicks. To wit, the conditions that the engineers inhabit in their lives has basically z…

Most tech-company engineers have exactly the same infrastructure at home as everybody else. Comcast and the like, also mad about data caps, latency and DNS hijacking.

Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#55

Post by dvdbloc »

amelius wrote: post #38
gambler wrote: post #14

A handful of oligopolies coercing me to use overcomplicated always-connected gadgets that are orchestrated by "AI" that I don't control, can't train, and whose main objective is to manipulate my behavior and siphon as much of my private info to its corporate master as possible. All of this to solve "problems" that I never had, while a choir of corporate shills drones on and on that problems I actually have are not re…

Isn't it time that Google grows up and becomes a true tech company? I consider products containing adware to be "half-broken" and I don't understand how Google engineers can feel proud of their work. As an engineer I want my work to be paid for because my users like my products, and I certainly wouldn't want any of my work to be used to serve anyone other than my users.

Do you have an example of a “true tech company”?

Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#56

Post by whazor »

mey wrote: post #5
ydnaclementine wrote: post #3

It seems like google has the unfortunate culture of just releasing a bunch of new services, not maintaining them, and allowing them to die. (Remember all of their chat apps?) I think I’ve read it’s due to google’s promotion process and needing to “release” something to move upward. I expect the majority of these service to no longer be around in 5 years.

https://killedbygoogle.com/ I am rather curious about Stradia's longevity.

Stadia will be a free gaming service next year. If they launch a free to play game, people will switch internet provider for it.

Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#57

Post by petra »

amelius wrote: post #38
gambler wrote: post #14

A handful of oligopolies coercing me to use overcomplicated always-connected gadgets that are orchestrated by "AI" that I don't control, can't train, and whose main objective is to manipulate my behavior and siphon as much of my private info to its corporate master as possible. All of this to solve "problems" that I never had, while a choir of corporate shills drones on and on that problems I actually have are not re…

Isn't it time that Google grows up and becomes a true tech company? I consider products containing adware to be "half-broken" and I don't understand how Google engineers can feel proud of their work. As an engineer I want my work to be paid for because my users like my products, and I certainly wouldn't want any of my work to be used to serve anyone other than my users.

Adware based products win in the marketplace.

Google can't change that.

At least the money from those adware products goes toward deep tech r&d. It could be worse.

Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#58

Post by VikingCoder »

jlarocco wrote: post #43
VikingCoder wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Splitting a NURBS surface "in half" is an insanely complicated operation, and the way you do it almost certainly depends on your intended use case. If you can't find a library (or engine) in your domain that has the operation, then you're kind of S.O.L., and have to start from first principles. I don't blame commercial results and SEO for this. It's not like you used to be able to see a menu of rich choices for this,…

> Splitting a NURBS surface "in half" is an insanely complicated operation, and the way you do it almost certainly depends on your intended use case. It's actually not "insanely complicated", and there are resources around, like https://pages.mtu.edu/~shene/COURSES/cs3621/NOTES/spline/NUR... and https://www.amazon.com/NURBS-Book-Monographs-Visual-Communic... > It's not like you used to be able to see a menu of rich c…

> It's actually not "insanely complicated"

Hi, your first link talks about NURBS curves, not NURBS surfaces. Cutting a surface in half is significantly more complicated than cutting a curve in half.

And your second link is to a commercial result, an entire book. Presumably because the topic is complicated enough that people are willing to pay $69 to $78 to understand the challenge well enough.

If your DDG search for "splitting a NURBS surface in half" are successful, I'd love to see the results.

Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#59

Post by UncleMeat »

amelius wrote: post #38
gambler wrote: post #14

A handful of oligopolies coercing me to use overcomplicated always-connected gadgets that are orchestrated by "AI" that I don't control, can't train, and whose main objective is to manipulate my behavior and siphon as much of my private info to its corporate master as possible. All of this to solve "problems" that I never had, while a choir of corporate shills drones on and on that problems I actually have are not re…

Isn't it time that Google grows up and becomes a true tech company? I consider products containing adware to be "half-broken" and I don't understand how Google engineers can feel proud of their work. As an engineer I want my work to be paid for because my users like my products, and I certainly wouldn't want any of my work to be used to serve anyone other than my users.

Do you pay for YouTube premium? Options are there, but it seems like most users prefer ad supported content to paid content in many contexts.

Re: Google and Ambient Computing

#60

Post by pixelbath »

greggman2 wrote: post #29
jacquesm wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate it. It means that I'll never be able to trust some new service they launch because (1) if I adopt it it will likely get killed and (2) even if they don't they are going to let it suffer a slow death. I'm more than happy to wait for years if I have to in case something develops accidental mass market traction in which case Google will likely support it long term. I wonder if Google realizes how much this works…

I found it fun to use cassettes, laser discs, CDs, DVDs, mini discs, mp3 players even though I no longer use any of them. Also found it fun to go Atari -> Amiga -> DOS PC -> Windows. And Atari 2600 -> NES -> SNES+Genesis -> PS1 etc.. I agree it sucks when support ends but I enjoy it checking it out while it exists.

One major difference is that I can still use all those things you listed (and in many cases, do). I can't continue using Google Reader or Google Code.

There are alternatives, of course, but the burden is on me to migrate. When I'm forced to keep migrating away from Google products, I find it less and less appealing to continue using more of their products.

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