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Android coming to wearables

googleblog.blogspot.com

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Re: Android coming to wearables

#61

Post by wutbrodo »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #12
kshatrea wrote: post #3

I am in the position of being torn apart by two very strong feelings. One is the world where information flow due to companies like Google does a real service to humanity: for e.g. wearing devices that can keep us reminded of our meds or monitor sugar levels, to talk just about the possibilities in healthcare. Then I think of Edward Snowden and I now know that what Google knows, maybe America/Russia/China/WhatHaveYou…

I find myself also questioning this often. It leads to me regularly switching between iOS and Android, Google services and Apple services. Ideally I would like privacy but I think as we go forward keeping privacy would leave you in the same kind of position someone like RMS is in by sticking to his Free Software philosophy so strongly. I'm always surprised at the number of friends and family I see who have their Face…

> It leads to me regularly switching between iOS and Android

Is this only because of the app permissions model? AFAIK, other than that, Android per se isn't any less privacy-oriented than iOS. iOS apps also much more commonly retrieve various user data and marginally more often send data around unencrypted.

Re: Android coming to wearables

#62

Post by livejamie »

yeukhon wrote: post #29

The commerical, PoC is great. But its idea has the same flaw as Facebook Paper ( https://www.facebook.com/paper ). I can check the weather, get alert and listen to my music from my smartphone. I can enjoy some home automation with Canary ( http://canary.is/ ). If I have free time I can design my own app and integrate a speech recognition to open the door (I am sure there are companies selling this too). What unique "…

Can you check all that stuff by just flicking your wrist?

Re: Android coming to wearables

#63

Post by danford »

lutusp wrote: post #27
k-mcgrady wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find myself also questioning this often. It leads to me regularly switching between iOS and Android, Google services and Apple services. Ideally I would like privacy but I think as we go forward keeping privacy would leave you in the same kind of position someone like RMS is in by sticking to his Free Software philosophy so strongly. I'm always surprised at the number of friends and family I see who have their Face…

> It leads to me regularly switching between iOS and Android, Google services and Apple services. The difference between Apple and Google has recently occurred to me: with Apple, their secrets are in jeopardy. With Google, yours are.

I feel the only reason your secrets may not be in jeopardy with Apple is because they don't know as many... If you really want your secrets to be safe you wouldn't use any closed source code at all and would take security precautions to secure the code you do use. Unfortunately we live in a time when closed-source software is the norm and too many people think having a secure, open, communications infrastructure is too complicated and don't quite understand the reasoning behind it (thankfully that attitude seems to be changing a little), but I hope one day we'll look back on this time and wonder what we were thinking by allowing digital goods to be closed source.

With 3D printers, neural implants, augmented reality, food and organ printers, and the age of automation, what the future holds is a digital realm that's going to be very scary for people who understand it, especially if the infrastructure is completely owned by corporations and un-trustable governments and even a small amount of the source is closed. I mean look around the room and think of all the things that could be augmented or replaced with 3D printed components.. Why have a physical laptop in front of you when you can augment the key board, 25 screens, and everything else? Not only that, but you can do it for nothing if you know how to code it.

We can already print organs and I don't think it will be too long until we can print good tasting food, but what if you execute some code on your food printer that prints a steak with anthrax in it? I think in the next 50 years all this is going to be fairly common place in the developed world and I really hope I have confidence in the system that we have in place at that time.

Re: Android coming to wearables

#65

Post by k-mcgrady »

wutbrodo wrote: post #61
k-mcgrady wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find myself also questioning this often. It leads to me regularly switching between iOS and Android, Google services and Apple services. Ideally I would like privacy but I think as we go forward keeping privacy would leave you in the same kind of position someone like RMS is in by sticking to his Free Software philosophy so strongly. I'm always surprised at the number of friends and family I see who have their Face…

> It leads to me regularly switching between iOS and Android Is this only because of the app permissions model? AFAIK, other than that, Android per se isn't any less privacy-oriented than iOS. iOS apps also much more commonly retrieve various user data and marginally more often send data around unencrypted.

It's because I find Android works best when using Google's services and as I'm not paying for those (and they are using my info to sell ads) I trust Apple more to protect my data (it's in their interest).

Re: Android coming to wearables

#66

Post by hugofirth »

dictum wrote: post #57
kshatrea wrote: post #3

I am in the position of being torn apart by two very strong feelings. One is the world where information flow due to companies like Google does a real service to humanity: for e.g. wearing devices that can keep us reminded of our meds or monitor sugar levels, to talk just about the possibilities in healthcare. Then I think of Edward Snowden and I now know that what Google knows, maybe America/Russia/China/WhatHaveYou…

> in my nation (India) being gay is illegal Sorry for the flame material, but why is it that this is rarely mentioned in western news media (at least in the countries whose news I follow)? For those who, like me, didn't know that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_India

It is odd - there was uproar around the Russian propaganda laws regarding Homosexual relationships running up to the winter olympics (and rightly so! I am not suggesting otherwise). Yet, I (who, perhaps arrogantly, consider myself fairly well informed) had absolutely no idea that homosexuality is illegal in India. This is wtf-worthy.

Re: Android coming to wearables

#67

Post by agumonkey »

justinph wrote: post #21

Those things look huge. Until "smart watches" can be made smaller and lighter, the adoption rate will be abysmal. Seriously, those things are electric hockey pucks with straps.

At least some models are round. And don't tease the industry. Remember that not long ago cell phones..

Re: Android coming to wearables

#68

Post by wutbrodo »

bane wrote: post #55

So it's like an amped up google now on a watch? I'm intrigued, but the price has to be good. Anything over $100 is just going to be a nonstarter in my opinion. Will I have to charge it 3 times a day, not going to work...etc. There's lots of difficulties with packing this in to a usable form factor and selling it. The galaxy gear had a return rate > 30%. But it's also a $300 watch. For $300 it better do more than make…

As far as I'm aware, the Moto X is very much able to avoid triggering by anyone's voice except the one it's keyed to. I was curious about how well it worked, so I tried repeatedly to launch Voice Search on my girlfriend's phone (even trying to imitate her voice); I wasn't able to do it at all. Trying to do so to an arbitrary person's device would be even harder.

Re: Android coming to wearables

#69

Post by Kiro »

hanley wrote: post #42
Kiro wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an argument against all smartwatches, not just Google. Nevertheless, I think you're wrong. I have a Pebble and it has changed my life. I will never leave the house without a wearable on my arm again.

In what ways has it changed your life?

* My phone is on permanent silent mode.

* I never miss a call.

* When biking I know if I need to stay and bring out the phone just by glancing my wrist.

* It's very convenient to be able to read texts and emails on your wrist (this is even better than you imagine).

* Great for meeting notifications.

* If I leave the phone on my desk I still see when people call (several times I've catched calls by running to my desk from the other side of the office if I see that it's an important call).

* When using RunKeeper I can see all the stats (speed, distance etc) immediately and also control the music without touching the phone.

* I can use Sleep Cycle without putting the phone on my bed.

* Silent alarm which does not wake up my spouse.

* I can easily access my grocery list (through Evernote) and have it available right in front of me until I'm done shopping.

* I can play Flappy Bird on it.

Re: Android coming to wearables

#70

Post by JetSpiegel »

untog wrote: post #23
svenkatesh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moore's law is about transistor count; what does that have to do with battery life?

I think at this point "Moore's Law" is just used as shorthand for "technology will solve technology's problems given enough time"

It's just 3-5 years away!
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