Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What will Google offer?

google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 81 posts

Re: What will Google offer?

#71

Post by r00fus »

ignifero wrote: post #20
thecoffman wrote: post #16

Since the failure of Wave, does it seem to anyone else the Google has been copying rather than innovating nowadays? Buzz was a copy of Twitter, this is a copy of Groupon, +1 is a copy of Facebook's like button etc... I'd like to see more innovation and less parroting coming out of them. I don't want my search results to be social - I want them to be relevant and spam free. If they really feel like going "social" is t…

Agreed, but this one seems to be the perfect fit with google places and checkout. It's not great to see a Goliath taking on smaller competitors, but the truth is that Groupon hasn't innovated much since it launched.

As long as the customer benefits (i.e., the behemoth actually innovates and doesn't kneecap the opposition), then the competitive marketplace is doing it's job.

Re: What will Google offer?

#72

Post by ratsbane »

rednum wrote: post #7

The back button in my browser is broken on this site. I know it doesn't matter for the product itself, but it's one of these little annoying things that leave me with slightly negative - instead of totally neutral - impression.

That bothered me too. Looking at the traffic, it's doing a 302 redirect (temporary) from www.google.com/offers/ to https://www.google.com/offers/t Perhaps the t page is just the temporary page that lists only a few cities and they're planning on using the main page at /offers once they've got more cities or businesses listed.

That still doesn't explain why they didn't just put the temporary page at /offers, though. I tend to give Google benefit of doubt and assume they had a sound technical reason when they do something I don't understand, but I'd like to see an explanation of the thinking behind that.

Re: What will Google offer?

#74

Post by 182446 »

f1gm3nt wrote: post #33

Goodbye Groupon? This is going to get interesting. I can see this getting pushed to Android phones, with the option of getting a notification for one shot deals within you location. Pretty sure the Groupon guys are rethinking the offer they turned down.

No way. Groupon is going nowhere. I use coupon sites.. all of them. There are three different ones in my city and I use them all. If Google Offers opens here I will us it too.

Re: What will Google offer?

#75

Post by 182446 »

patrickaljord wrote: post #38
bakhlawa wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope this is a joke. Instant Search is a UX nightmare with the screen changing / morphing with every keystroke. Now if you meant Google Suggest, I'd have no argument, but on any new browser install, one of the first items is to switch Instant Search off.

I love instant search UX, whenever I use a browser that is not supported it just seems like I'm getting a super slow experience. Maybe you should give it a longer try.

I have given it a long try and I hate it. It's so annoying.

Re: What will Google offer?

#76

Post by TruthElixirX »

thankuz wrote: post #34
bakhlawa wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope this is a joke. Instant Search is a UX nightmare with the screen changing / morphing with every keystroke. Now if you meant Google Suggest, I'd have no argument, but on any new browser install, one of the first items is to switch Instant Search off.

Agreed. Meant the concept, not necessarily the execution. Definitely see the potential, given they continue to improve it.

The most frustrating thing about instant search, to me, is that even in Firefox 4 and Opera (Haven't tried it on Chrome) the instant part freezes up sometimes if I type really quickly or backspace too fast.

Re: What will Google offer?

#77

Post by erik_p »

erik_p wrote: post #25

I just made the embarrassing mistake of verbally telling my co-workers to visit google.com "whack" offers (instead of saying forward slash or just slash )

wow, AWS goes down and everyone loses their sense of humor :( (or do people not use "whack" on the west coast as slang for forward slash?)

Re: What will Google offer?

#78

Post by TruthElixirX »

dstein wrote: post #55
ignifero wrote: post #14

Sorry, Groupon, it's not like you didn't have a buyout chance. (does this sound coming from the future?)

I think you've got that backwards. Google are the ones who will probably regret lowballing Groupon. Google's track record in social anything is abysmal. What makes this half-assed attempt any different? What Google's entry into this market means is that it will basically kill off any other Groupon clones, and merely solidify Groupon and Living Social's dominance.

This isn't social in the same sense as their past failures were though. Orkrut, Buzz, etc all relied on your friends also using those services. Crowd sourced coupons don't have this holding them up.

Re: What will Google offer?

#79

Post by jonknee »

hugh3 wrote: post #64
jonknee wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Groupon needed a ton of boots on the ground because no one knew who Groupon was and they didn't have existing relationships with millions of businesses. I think Google could automate a lot of it with good results.

Too automated and surely it'll fill up with crap offers? Big overlay on google maps: "Get 0.5% off your total bill at Joe's Pancake House when you order at least sixteen pancakes!" PS. Man, I feel like pancakes now

They do a good job policing AdSense ads and that's at a scale at least an order of magnitude higher.

Re: What will Google offer?

#80

Post by count »

erik_p wrote: post #77
erik_p wrote: post #25

I just made the embarrassing mistake of verbally telling my co-workers to visit google.com "whack" offers (instead of saying forward slash or just slash )

wow, AWS goes down and everyone loses their sense of humor :( (or do people not use "whack" on the west coast as slang for forward slash?)

Humor isn't typically upvoted on HN. Keep it on reddit, please.
Post reply on HN