Google Now
google.com
google.com
Yay, just what I wanted: yet another software service to interrupt me thoughout the day.
Snarkiness aside, I'm sure the information is relevant and good. But if I forget that my favorite team is playing while I'm working on a design, do I really need to be reminded? People are not machines. I do not subscribe to and process an information feed in the same way that an email client would.
I see Google continually trying to work the problem of strong AI and transhumanism and that's great. I'm all for it. But they seem strangely blind about the real hard edges associated with being human. Instead of assistance it all seems to be about data, speed, and relevance. It seems the assumption is that people will adapt to however fast we can push the information at them. I'm not so sure that is an valid assumption. Or if it is, I'm not sure I like the way we would adapt to this vision of the future.
In some cases, it makes sense for some of these to be notifications that ping you. I want my phone to remind me if I need to leave right now to make my next meeting.
Finally, you can configure each individual card provider to be on or off so if you don't like a particular type of card, just don't use it.
I'm excited to see if they will provide an API for this. I would love to write custom card providers so that I can get ambient notifications of things happening in my world (e.g. the build is broken on an OSS project I run, a motion sensor in my house was triggered, etc.)
Features like these are nice "demo" features. These make great ads but does it really get used in real life?
I like this a lot, if there is an accident or something I'll notice via this card and potentially avoid it. Great potential here.
I attempted to look for it on the Play Store this morning but I could not see it.
That wasn't counting the times I used it for the regular voice actions.
The extra info is "nice". That's how I would describe it. For those that like Siri, this is going to be up their alley. The natural voice recognition isn't as good as Siri's and there are some bits missing (I still freaking can't say "Navigate home" to get directions home, even though I can say "Navigate to McDonald's" and be launched into turn-by-turn).
I think in a few months or even when they release next month it will be capable of what Siri can do and will also have the intelligence to give you that info ahead of time.
What would you call them?
"Card" isn't intuitive because this isn't the way people use cards in real life. The only analogy for using cards as a notification I can think of is in an old novel where a visitor comes to your door, your butler shows them into the parlour, and brings you their calling card so you can decide whether you want to see 'em. This nowadays lies outside most folks' field of experience.
To the other person calling them "atomic" bits of information, neither the information on "Google Now Cards", business cards, or index cards is "atomic". You can easily split the information and the bits still make sense. You probably meant to say "chunk" or "unit" or perhaps "self-contained"--though external links make them not very self-contained either.
I kind of get the idea they picked the word "card" because it's such a mundane, every-day word. And they want their product to appear like that. It's just a card! Must be easy to use!
Calling it a "message" or "notification" would also make it sound intrusive, like it interrupts your activity whenever it activates. A "card" has a very passive connotation, and that's the idea they want to give: It doesn't interrupt you, only when you look at your phone, it's right there presenting you with the info you need right now.
The problem I think is, we don't really have a every-day metaphor for such a thing. Maybe a "personal assistent", but I don't think they wanted to use a metaphor of something that is "alive", because it brings connotations of inaccuracy and doing all sorts of stuff with it, while they want just this thing that, when you look at it always happens to show exactly what you want to see.
They should've called it "psychic paper" :-) (Dr. Who)
Personally I feel a bit of annoyance at calling it "card" because if this thing really takes off they've claimed a mundane every-day use word with a rather inaccurate extra meaning. And if it doesn't, it's just a program that uses weird words for simple notifications.
I do like how they actually look like cards, rectangular with a subtle drop shadow, it looks good. I wonder what the three vertical dots are for? Some UI element or branding to make it look like a sort of sprocket perforations?
In any case it's likely whether or not it will catch on as a term-of-art will heavily depend on whether people want to use the service.
Google doesn't have a great track record when it comes to designing new products / interfaces so will be interesting to see whether this takes off or not.
Watch the video, they show what a card is at the 20 sec mark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mirror_(TV_series)#2._.22...
In the last two weeks since I disposed of it, I'm less stressed, considerably more alert, have slept better, feel like I'm slightly less thick, more productive and haven't had a single migrane.
The thing was a ball and chain.
EDIT: this move was motivated by Black Mirror. Thank you Mr Brooker.
And do books count as well? Not really devices, but just as absorbing, for some of us. I don't really understand why we think about electronic devices differently from every other human invention.
A year or two ago, I had a short train commute (Loughborough to Leicester and back, on one of the main routes to London) on a daily basis and saw far more people immersed in books than in their phones -- I suspect it was a bit early in the day for the younger folk, though.
In fact, it was more common to see business people using laptops than books and phones combined.
As you said you do not care about when your team is playing or rather if you care, you will mark it down some other way and do not need Google's help with it so you most likely won't have that card "turned on".
If you care, but don't want to be interrupted by notifications specifically, then you'll either turn off notifications for that card, or if possible (the following is pure assumption based on the Jelly Bean notification priority options), you would set that specific card's notification priority to minimum, meaning it does not show up in your status bar and doesn't fire off any sound/vibration signals, but if you pull down on the status bar (meaning you are looking for information) it's there at the bottom of your notifications, completely unobtrusive.
Either way, it's the user's choice.
Everywhere I turn with Google I am being forced into a Procrustean bed, and you tell me that everything with Google Now is totally configurable so that it'll fit me. Sorry, at this point I do not believe you.
If true, this would be very ironic, as Google's ascendancy was based on their curation of the wild wild web, making sense of the terabytes of data out there.
But even worse, is that they didn't notice the line scores are out of alignment: http://www.google.com/landing/now/images/card-sports.png
(Top row of Clovers is shifted over).
I'm sure the baseball scores are aligned properly in the actual app. But it serves as a not-so-subtle reminder that this isn't what the actual app looks like, or how it behaves. In my mind, they're associating themselves with other companies who show completely fake visuals in commercials, like fast food.
The most apt comparison you can make for doing this is "fast food", rather than the 800lb gorilla in the room, Apple, who had to be sued to include "screen images simulated" and "sequences shortened" in their iPhone ads...?
Compare Google Now to Google Play- Google Play just sends me into convulsions.
Really hoping this design takes over Android, and ASAP.
I think its a pretty clever design.
Edit: Not so sure about it now. Its too bad it wasn't misaligned in the correct direction.
I'm eager to see how the Cue/Greplin team aim to address this shot across the bow, and having never used either, if there's something distinctly different about them that migh encourage me to use both (or Cue vs Now).
Interesting to see two such complete implementations of 'day-planning' hit so closely to each other.
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If anything should embolden you, it's that while Google does tend to do a great job unveiling new products (like "Now"), they often fall behind on iterating, at least as compared to smaller, nimbler teams are able to. Also, they aren't at all very likely to integrate with non-Google services, so there's that.
Of course, this is a new 'flagship' type of thing for JellyBean users, so they'll likely be focused on making it really good.
Again, good luck. I can relate to established giants announcing competitors before you've had a good while to get traction, so I know it can be disheartening, but it also validates the hell out of the market, and there's no saying that Apple will ever be able to approve their iphone client as it likely competes with Siri a good deal.
Turns out, it's what happens if you swipe from the bottom up in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but I think it might be a broader thing (I can imagine it works with glasses).
Like with so much other stuff google makes, this isn't really something google needs to market to consumers. This is the bait they are giving to handset manufacturers to incentivize them to push out an update to the latest version of android.
Is it? I think Google Now is part of the "Google Apps for Android" suite. These apps are not part of Android itself, they are licensed by manufacturers to complement their Android-based operating system.
And these Apps are usually updated by Google and independently from the OS. So unless "Google Now" uses a specific API that is only available in 4.1, I would expect older devices receive the app as well.
A personal example: I fly a few times a year, and I always check my flight status at the specific airline's website. I haven't really looked into other options because I've held a "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" attitude, and it is a simple enough task. But if I were to use an app like this, suddenly I have a huge added incentive to search for my flight statuses on google.
I don't mean to imply that this is a bad thing. To the contrary, I think it is a smart business decision that adds a lot of value to all of the integrated google products for the user. I just found it interesting when I was trying to decide what the "value" was to google for a product like this.
"Tear out your day / all that information is rainy days / actually needed."
Not sure if it makes me trust Google's efforts to bring me "just the right information at just the right time."
"dissented japanese underground you're done"
"to the mountain tell you what internet xxx" (personal favorite)
"fearsome evil"
"graceland"
I bought the first iPhone the day it came out, but I'd much prefer this sort of addition to my next smartphone than what I've seen from iOS 6 so far (especially what I fear with the Apple Maps app).
The first minute of that video is more compelling to me than the entire Microsoft Surface presentation/website etc.
Usually speech recognition errors are fairly routine, but in this case they are hilarious. Oh, and the word 'Android' was not recognized.
Perhaps I'm not looking closely enough, but I don't see anything that tells me how I can get it.
I agree it's not something you discover without being told though ;)
The first thing I did after clicking on the link was search the Play Store for "Google Now" - obviously it came up a blank.
What this means is that I'll probably forget all about it by the time I either:
a) get an Android 5 phone/tablet, or b) update my Galaxy S2 or Galaxy Tab to Android 5
Google could have alleviated some of this by having an app ready for download and linking to it. I have to admit that I hoped that this was the way forward since they released Chrome Beta, as opposed to relying on manufacturers/carriers updating their phones. Alas, it wasn't to be.
Anyway. You can tell from the way this is implemented that this is a core OS feature, not an addon app stacked on on top. The reason it's not out for ICS or older versions of Android is because they can't run it. They lack the pieces it uses through out.
I wonder if they assumed it would be obvious to everyone or just didn't car.
Except Cue is an app that can be loaded onto any iPhone, while it's unclear whether Now is a part of the new version of Android, an app, or what.
And if it's a core part of the latest version of Android, well, good luck getting that in your life without buying another phone.
I don't know that this will really make a big difference in phone-user interaction. I hope it stays on Glass where the use case is actually semi-relevant.
Don't be discouraged if what you produce initially is something other people dismiss as a toy. In fact, that's a good sign. That's probably why everyone else has been overlooking the idea.
http://paulgraham.com/organic.html
The problem that Google is focused on is reducing the number of clicks required to get you relevant information now... from one to zero. It's a problem that Google Now might not solve, but somebody eventually will.
Could this mean that Google Now is intended to be available across multiple platforms (including desktop environments)?
Give us all your personal info, we provide you pretty UI. Oh and how about this recommended cafe to visit with your friend? If you go here is a 10% voucher.. Just saying..
If they use this data for other purposes (ads/paid recommendations/geotracking), that is a separate issue, and I would be very mad.
Source: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...
That isn't entirely accurate. There has to be a way to access mailboxes for troubleshooting/compliance purposes - A couple years ago, a Google engineer got fired for snooping into some kid's mailbox.
By itself this information is innocuous, but in the right context and with just a pinch of the heartlessness of a giant computer system, the wrong set of categorizations could cause a really big problem.
However there are really three usage cases where I see this potentially becoming a problem:
1. Google sells data to advertisers directly, without anonymity. 2. Google is rendered insecure and the encryption they use is cracked. 3. Government forces Google to hand over data about individuals or large swaths of individuals.
The most likely scenario is number three, which already happens, and this can happen to any information stored anywhere (bank accounts, post office and online).
Google would face strong public backlash for selling data to advertisers (#1)directly and would have to change their user policies.
Google spends untold amount of money on #2. That's not to say they are completely safe or trustworthy, but it is to say they work very hard at protecting that data (for your and their sake). This situation could just as likely happen to any web provider, linkedin being a recent example.
My biggest fear is what happens if the government gets the power to subpoena individuals based on "categorizations" or "keywords". Then I think privacy becomes a serious issue for Google.
For now. But what happens when data mining technology increases to the point where they can deduce real facts about you as a person from all this data they're collecting. I think this is what people mean when they say Google "reads" your email.
Like that NYT article "How Companies Learn Your Secrets" on buying habits (at Target) of pregnant teens.
(Of course, I'm likely tilting at windmills. The carriers have been accumulating triangulation data for a long time. http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention )
I'm running it on my phone now and the first thing it did was ask "Hey. Is it OK if I do all these things?". It wont run without your permission.
Unlike Apple, Google is pretty good at asking these things.
Edit: Maybe Apple has gotten better. I just remember iTunes wiping my iPhone, iPod and all ID3 tags from my music collection numerous times when I was just supposed to copy/add some files. And that was before you even booted their OS.
Well yes, glad you asked, I am fed up with Apple.
From what I've seen on Android (I'm pretty new to it as a platform, so I could well have missed something), you do get told what the app wants to access but then only get a binary "allow everything that it's asked for/don't run the app at all" option.
Drama, much...?
I don't trust facebook and thus I don't use it. It's easy.
This is random content covered in fuss. I'll completely leave any real judgement until its release, but I can't help but wonder how long until I can "sponsor" a local card?
Also, Google needs to pair down its services. Releases like these were once major announcements, but they're no longer covered because everyone knows Google's lack of focus may kill a service in a short time. These blanket services have really begun to overlap and I almost need a comparison chart of them just for Google's offerings.
2. I don't know why you think Google would push this here. People like to act like Google is going to push ads on people, but they have no history. They've always been about unintrusive, (seriously now) helpful ads. It seems like this is just a hypothetical reason to position against Google Now right out of the gate.
3. Google is "pairing down". They cut dozens of things in March and Google+ has done wonders for unifying value and promoting integration across Google products. I don't even know how to address the last sentence, it's just blatantly hyperbolic.
2. The term "helpful ads" is the problem. I don't get helpful ads. I get page clutter that is parsing my content.
Google's business is advertising. They make the vast majority of their money by stopping me from doing what I want, and placing ads in my way. The evolution of the search results page shows this clearly as many cases about 80% of the screen real estate is covered in ad content.
It is important to note that Android is not an altruistic effort to help humanity. They believe mobile will be the next wave of computing and need a new model for serving ads. Items like Siri worry them because a user skips Google and is provided no "helpful ads".
To say they don't have a history of this is wrong. Search, YouTube, Maps, Mail, and Android itself are all heavily ad covered now and all signs point to this growing.
3. They're pairing down after they launched them. This is my concern. Devs adopted some of these services to watch them die. Now they've launched many new items which will be dead within 1 year.
I'm not being hyperbolic. Then tell me: • How is Video different than YouTube? • How are Maps and Earth distinct? • Why does News exist when I can use the keyword news? • Where should I put my online content: Blogger, Orkut, Sites, or Google +? • Talk is very interesting, but why should I use it alone instead of Gmail Chat or Google Hangouts? • Panoramio, Google+, Picasa, or Orkut for sharing photos? • Fusion Tables looks fun, but why wouldn't it be better to launch a public Google Spreadsheet?
Finally, Google has seemingly paired down the list of products on their product page, but most products aren't even listed! Where's play, drive, or any of the items they announced today. To say they don't have a problem here is drinking the kool-aid so hard you might not wake up.
2. Earth is the 3D variant while Maps is the in-browser digital analog of regular maps that includes path finding. WebGL is not to the point of being able to deprecate desktop Earth, and you ought to believe that Google is more interested than anyone in getting to that point.
3. There's literally no such thing as "Gmail Chat". It IS Talk... it even says so right on the label. I suspect Hangouts will replace Talk within 3-6 months, but Hangouts are brand new and tied to G+. People would freak if they killed a product as old as Talk to push people towards Google+.
5. I agree. Though Google+ basically has already merged with Picasa.
6. Fusion Tables aren't even the same thing as Spreadsheet. Not sure what else to say.
7. Play is a market and Drive is the rebranded Google Docs.
I don't think they have a problem. I think you're confused, I think you are ignoring the fact that they've shuttered probably close to a dozen projects recently and are literally, before our eyes, merging projects into the new Google, Google+. (Events now is Google Calendar integrated in Google+).
2. Google is using their name in the branding. E.g. Apple calls the iPhone just the iPhone, not the "Apple iPhone." On the other hand, Google prepends their name to all of their product names (e.g. "Google Play" "Google Now" "Google Plus" "Google Glass"), with Gmail being the only major exception that I can come up with (off the top of my head).
2. So, you think it wouldn't go after another company calling it's media webstore Play Store or Supercorp Play? Now, I don't really know about Google, but Facebook has shown that it is possible to attack other companies even for using just a part of your (completely generic) trademarked name.
The big corps like Google, Apple, MSFT, etc. will fight it out and not really worry about the legal costs. But for startups/small businesses, this can and probably will be a growing burden moving forward.
Why not ? I think it is fair to believe there is one.