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Googlebook

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Re: Googlebook

#931
post #907

I see the vision here, which the top commenters (sorry, couldn't read all of them) seems to miss. This should be a moonshot bet on the next generation of user experience. People are complaining about apps, but the idea here should be to make apps irrelevant as a concept. You don't need "apps", you need data feedable to LLM and a visualization toolkit for presenting results. And maybe some tools to manually wrangle th…

I can't get Gemini to not cut me off mid-sentence and reply to only half of what I wanted to say.

It doesn't reliably integrate with Google Maps.

I can't trust it for basic shopping tasks because it doesn't reliably evaluate stated criteria. I can't even ask it if a specific web store has a specific item in stock and trust the answer.

Google hasn't gotten the bare-ass basics right. They're not about to "make apps irrelevant as a concept".

> [W]e'll get another half-baked attempt at reskinning Chromium and/or Android.

100%!

Re: Googlebook

#932
post #907

I see the vision here, which the top commenters (sorry, couldn't read all of them) seems to miss. This should be a moonshot bet on the next generation of user experience. People are complaining about apps, but the idea here should be to make apps irrelevant as a concept. You don't need "apps", you need data feedable to LLM and a visualization toolkit for presenting results. And maybe some tools to manually wrangle th…

+1 on having little hope Google can pull this one up well. Recently my Android auto updated to use Gemini instead of their legacy voice command, which already sucked, and it got significantly worse, it's trying to play songs on Audible and Libro.fm at random, while I even have Spotify running. And I'm on Pixel 10 Pro! When asking to play a soundtrack of a movie, it starts to play random cover instead of the official thing, just no idea how it can be so bad.

Re: Googlebook

#933
post #305

Gross. This is just more proof that corporations simply don't know how to market AI. Everything is an ad for an ad at this point. The very first thing they show this new machine doing is helping people shop for clothes using AI. No one is doing that, these people don't exist. No matter how hard corporate America wishes they did. This is why AI doesn't sell. This is why companies like Microsoft and Dell are pulling ba…

> The very first thing they show this new machine doing is helping people shop for clothes using AI.

Shopping with AI is something I wish actually worked, but instead it doesn't. I've been using ChatGPT and Claude to try to help me cross-shop, solution/ideate, and figure out a path forward with various things: whole home dehumidification / HVAC updates, car mods, whole home water filtration systems, door locks, kitchen and office lighting updates, exercise equipment, et al.

As a whole, that experience has shown me that AI tools are /okay/ (but not "good") at recommending products that I can then go research more on my own. The tools are /TERRIBLE/ at confirming fitment or really doing anything that will give me the confidence to go from "this is interesting" to checking out in a shopping cart. ChatGPT has at least gotten better at bailing out, and now mostly recommends I send an email to a vendor to confirm fitment or that I hire a professional and recommends someone in my area rather than answering my questions well. As an avid DIYer and fairly handy/competent generalists, I have no desire to hire someone to do anything unless I can't help it, I'd rather figure it out on my own but the information to do so is often lacking or hidden away.

My hope was that AI tools could synthesize information from manufacturer's datasheets and install instructions which are hidden away and targeted at pros/distributors, with listing information from retail sites, to verify fitment, compatibility, and fitness for purpose, so that it could make a proper holistic recommendation. I wasn't even able to get it to give me proper torque specs for bolts on my car, but was able to find them by digging far enough in Lemon Manuals (https://lemon-manuals.la/).

On the whole, I would say AI tools are pretty shit at helping me spend my money effectively, and so are ads. It's an exceptional amount of work and time I have to invest to find the right things to buy, and I don't see any progress towards this situation getting better. I think Google is on to something with there being an addressable need, but I have no faith that Gemini and their approach will actually work and be useful. It's mostly a gimmick right now that results in poor outcomes that are only acceptable to people who lack the competence and discernment to know the difference.

Re: Googlebook

#934

I think if I wanted a cheap laptop I'd probably get the macbook neo, and if i wanted a non-gaming expensive one i'd get a macbook pro. I really don't see the market fit for this, I guess the android integration. But my god, I'd die of cringe if someone asked me about my laptop and I had to say "googlebook". Believe it or not, these things matter a lot, particularly if you're trying to target a young audience.

There's people who hate Apple and won't buy a Mac no matter what. They're a sustainable market segment to compete for. Google isn't competing with Apple for customers, but with Acer, Asus, HP, etc

Re: Googlebook

#935
post #877

So this is essentially Android desktop mode with Android 17 Gemini integration. Please get rid of that top panel. I just don't get why this and desktops like GNOME tries to copy macos top panel when clearly in macos it is menu bar that host app menus but that concept doesn't exists in these other desktops and yet they have a top panel. This is just bad UX. This will follow same model as Chromebooks i.e different devi…

>Please get rid of that top panel.... This is just bad UX. How so? It displays useful info at a glance. Where's the bad UX?

Read the sentence before the fragment you quoted:

> in macos it is menu bar that host app menus but that concept doesn't exists in these other desktops and yet they have a top panel

Re: Googlebook

#936
post #907

I see the vision here, which the top commenters (sorry, couldn't read all of them) seems to miss. This should be a moonshot bet on the next generation of user experience. People are complaining about apps, but the idea here should be to make apps irrelevant as a concept. You don't need "apps", you need data feedable to LLM and a visualization toolkit for presenting results. And maybe some tools to manually wrangle th…

I would be curious to see how OpenAI or Anthropic would implement this vision without the inertia of a ~200,000 person company and with all the enormous brain gain these two companies now have. A Linux-based, LLM-native phone/laptop hybrid is pretty close to being my personal dream consumer device.

There are rumours OpenAI is making a smartphone -

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/27/openai-could-be-making-a-p...

Re: Googlebook

#937

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot the part where average consumers kind of hate AI and won't buy this or use that feature because of its AI.

The average Redditor that performatively hates AI sure. But outside of the chronically online bubble, the average person, in my experience, does not hate AI

Surveys show otherwise. As does the viral video of that lady giving the AI-booster commencement speech and getting booed.

Re: Googlebook

#939

Would prefer a 'Google Linux'—a native desktop OS with a unified UI philosophy, similar to a macOS experience but built on a standard Linux foundation. Instead of ChromeOS or Android as the base, treat them as subsystems for compatibility. The real 'next big thing' would be integrating an engine like Gemini with OS-level hooks (similar to the OpenClaw approach) so agents can manipulate app windows and state directly.…

I mean, I'm sure they absolute could build it and do a great job of it, but their incentives are all aligned to having you use web apps or buying from their store. A real linux would be absolutely counterproductive to those goals.

I agree

Re: Googlebook

#940
post #907

I see the vision here, which the top commenters (sorry, couldn't read all of them) seems to miss. This should be a moonshot bet on the next generation of user experience. People are complaining about apps, but the idea here should be to make apps irrelevant as a concept. You don't need "apps", you need data feedable to LLM and a visualization toolkit for presenting results. And maybe some tools to manually wrangle th…

You forgot the part where average consumers kind of hate AI and won't buy this or use that feature because of its AI.

My average tech friend kind of hates AI.

My average "non-tech" friend or acquaintance? Absolutely loves it and is using it daily.

So, not my experience AT ALL.

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