You know, Google, the web already had this feature • Hacker News Board

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#61

Post by ianstormtaylor » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:11 PM UTC

yanw wrote: post #45

Chrome never implemented RSS auto discovery. Everyone else has a "walled garden" why must Google be different? and why should they - arguably the least “walled” of said gardens - suffer the "openness" brunt? The fact that they are not investing in RSS tools doesn't mean they're against them, it's just not in their interest anymore, and so I come to the conclusion that this is yet another Google Reader lament, and I t…

It's not different, but what the article should have made you realize is how broken (or, if not broken, just fucked up) the system is if the average user (and even higher-than-average users) don't realize how all of these little pieces of the web are eroding their privacy.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#62

Post by lawdawg » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:12 PM UTC

felipebueno wrote: post #21

I used to be a Google fan as well. Not a BIG fan but a fan. In late 2010 I decided it was time to move on from Google. It took a while but I already went back to Firefox (nightly), started moving my emails to fasmail.fm (with my own domain so I'm not tied to anyone), I'm trying to use only DuckDuckGo (it's difficult... I have to admit that Google is unbeatable yet), stopped using google+ and Google Reader (since 2011…

Is this the tech version of Poe's Law? Or is it the new version of tin-foil-hatism?

You guys have a very, very strange definition of "evil". Google may not be perfect, and sure they deserve some harsh criticism and mocking from time to time for their choice of unofficial motto, but come on people, get a grip.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#63

Post by jmillikin » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:12 PM UTC

yanw wrote: post #45

Chrome never implemented RSS auto discovery. Everyone else has a "walled garden" why must Google be different? and why should they - arguably the least “walled” of said gardens - suffer the "openness" brunt? The fact that they are not investing in RSS tools doesn't mean they're against them, it's just not in their interest anymore, and so I come to the conclusion that this is yet another Google Reader lament, and I t…

  > Chrome never implemented RSS auto discovery.

Chrome has an official extension for RSS auto-discovery: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rss-subscription-e...

The Chrome team argues that not enough people use RSS to justify having an icon in the URL bar by default. I personally think this is somewhat circular reasoning ("People don't use RSS, so we won't show an icon letting them know about RSS"), but sadly other browsers such as Firefox have followed their lead and removed RSS notifications by default.

Also, whether or not the browser implements native RSS auto-discovery is irrelevant to the point of the article. The Chrome extension in the article could be easily implemented by checking for a special element, so that no URLs need to be sent back to Google just to know that the page is Plus-enabled.

However, off the top of my head, there's a good reason why this wouldn't do much good. The advertised functionality of the Google+ extension requires details about the Google+ stream that the page links to. If the extension checked for a , it would still need to send the URL in that link to Google to get those stream details. The privacy improvement seems marginal.

In the end, I think this complaint is better served by declaring that the URLs aren't recorded. Google's DNS and Omnibox already have similar declarations, so it wouldn't be unprecedented.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#64

Post by bitwize » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:14 PM UTC

It's the 2013 version of Netscape's "What's New" and "What's Cool" buttons.

Holy shit, nothing HAS changed. It just has a different skin on it.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#65

Post by yanw » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:14 PM UTC

kaoD wrote: post #26

kunai wrote: post #2

Google has overstayed the web's welcome. What started out as a quirky, innovative company that bucked all of the suit-and-tie trends (see Microsoft, HP, even Apple in some regards) of Silicon Valley, has now turned into a monstrous calamity with no regard for its users. Up until 2009, it was breezy and beautiful, but right now, at this moment, it's a different story altogether. Don't be evil? Pfeh. The only thing lef…

What I specially hate about Google+ is the fact that Google can't stop spamming me to join it. Now even Google Play comments need to be part of Google+. You know what, Google? Fuck you. No. Fuck you twice. I won't join that fucking horrid place. I don't even have Facebook, why would I join a crappy social network?

So don't joint. No need to be rude about it.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#66

Post by umsm » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:15 PM UTC

I don't know if people know this or not, but all of these "social" features invade our privacy without us having to install an extension. The social javascript embedded into the web page automatically communicates with each service it's from.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#67

Post by lawdawg » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:15 PM UTC

kunai wrote: post #2

Google has overstayed the web's welcome. What started out as a quirky, innovative company that bucked all of the suit-and-tie trends (see Microsoft, HP, even Apple in some regards) of Silicon Valley, has now turned into a monstrous calamity with no regard for its users. Up until 2009, it was breezy and beautiful, but right now, at this moment, it's a different story altogether. Don't be evil? Pfeh. The only thing lef…

I must have missed all of this outrage over Android, Chrome, GMail, Docs + Drive, Adwords, Analytics, etc, etc.

To be honest, I'm really glad Google finally pulled the plug on Reader instead of letting it rot to death. It's opened up the market for companies who will really focus on it. The same with iGoogle, which will be replaced by a much better "Google Now"-ish product.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#68

Post by ajanuary » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:16 PM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #56

kaoD wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I specially hate about Google+ is the fact that Google can't stop spamming me to join it. Now even Google Play comments need to be part of Google+. You know what, Google? Fuck you. No. Fuck you twice. I won't join that fucking horrid place. I don't even have Facebook, why would I join a crappy social network?

You know, I don't really like Google+ but I have had no difficulty in opting out of it and declining to share things like my YouTube favorites and so forth (with a few exceptions that were wholly by choice). I'm not happy with their social strategy in general, but I don't feel it's anything like as burdensome on the user as Facebook's, which caused me to stop using that service altogether.

They really do push you to at least create an account though. I've accidentally created and had to close an account several times. I've given up and just left an open but dormant account now.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#69

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:16 PM UTC

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #58

DanBC wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do they need to do to fix YouTube? (I'm really asking. I think some of it is broken, and maybe people can pass information onto YouTube people.) 1) Default to 240: I want to be able to always watch videos in the worst resolution possible. I want the lightest bandwidth possible. I'd sometimes be happy with just the audio. It seems that I can't default to 240, no matter what I click. 2) Small elements in UI: There…

Personally I'd hate a default to 240 feature. I don't care about bandwidth, I'm tired of clicking the HQ button.

[deleted]

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#70

Post by BHSPitMonkey » Thu, Apr 11, 2013, 11:18 PM UTC

kunai wrote: post #2

Google has overstayed the web's welcome. What started out as a quirky, innovative company that bucked all of the suit-and-tie trends (see Microsoft, HP, even Apple in some regards) of Silicon Valley, has now turned into a monstrous calamity with no regard for its users. Up until 2009, it was breezy and beautiful, but right now, at this moment, it's a different story altogether. Don't be evil? Pfeh. The only thing lef…

You think they haven't caused outrage in the Search space? The DuckDuckGo people would like to have a word with you.

As for Google+, aside from the ever-increasing pervasive integrations with other Google properties, I actually do like the product itself. They've made sense of choosing who you share individual items with (Facebook still hasn't done this), it combines the "friend" and "follower" models nicely (it's quite nice reading posts from people like Linus there), the photo albums are very nicely presented and high in quality, and Hangouts are unmatched IMO. If I knew anyone else who used it, I would participate there more...