Google I/O 2024

My Chrome installation updated itself recently, and when I restarted it today, it asked me whether I wanted to enable new AI features. I told it no. In retrospect, if it were really intelligent, it would have known I was going to say no.

Some of their AI features are pretty useful, like circle to search, accessibility, and the new-ish proofreading features. At the same time, I don't know if anyone cares about, e.g., AI generated wallpapers.

They'll also be announcing some new thing that is average, but as it overlaps with an existing thing that is awesome and barely related, they're of course shutting that down.

I am actually looking forward to their Hardware. Especially the Pixel 9. I just wish I could have it in Hong Kong. The worldwide availability of Pixel 8 remains extremely limited with 20 regions only. And I have no idea why Google hasn't done anything about it.

This kind of comment is what you get when you are on the wrong side of HN. You wouldn't find it for Nvidia's or Apple's events that are similarly full of marketing and hypes.

Google earn it, someone would say. That doesn't make such a comment less pointless or shallow.

Part of what was always so exciting was that Google presented open possibilities, an opening world, and was excited about getting developers & others onboard & jamming & seeing what was possible.

Google no longer does this. Since the G+ era, it's more and more about Google and what Google can do for you and Google's ideas, in whatever form they've crafted for you. They launch products, not platforms. There are no APIs. APIs and possibilities are in retreat; the Google Home / Google Assistant ecosphere has gotten smaller and smaller, tighter and tighter and tigher controlled. Most products don't really have APIs.

We've really lost the web2 mojo & humility, where humanity was winning because we all were cooperatively building forward. Now there's no major tech companies left that exhibit that cooperative dynamic, not in the same way. Google is there to present Google's vision, just like every other company is there to present their pre-packaged consumerized vision of how their stuff will run your life.

R.I.P. personal computing era, may you return again. What we have now - across the board - is ultra-massified ready-made consumerware.

Purely in terms of awe and wonder, OpenAI releases seem to rekindle the early 2010s spirit and excitement. And those are just silently dropped one day without even warning!

They also used to give out expensive surprise gifts to attendees - that’s the main thing I remember about early versions of it.

It is also a real person event (in the same sense that late night TV is): "This year's event will be broadcast in front of a small live audience" [1]. I don't know how small the live audience is, but one person from my company is going to be there in person.

[1] https://io.google/2024/about/#section-one

Correct. WWDC is mostly about release announcements/unveiling, they release the program on the day though.

Don't worry. There will be a few witless attempts too.

Found the Google employee. :-/