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Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead

106 pointsby oliversongover 12 years ago

15 comments

habosaover 12 years ago
I have been using Google Now for a few months now and it has been amazing.<p>Example 1: One night I was going to a Roots concert and I went through the venue's website on my Google Chrome on my laptop. Then, right around concert time, Google Now alerted me to what subway I should take to get there.<p>Example 2: I searched for the Phillies score once on my tablet, and now my phone tells me about the score of each game. Again, I never asked.<p>Example 3: After 2 days, Google Now guessed where I lived/worked and what time I left for work most days. I don't use any check-in services or anything like that it really just guessed. Then it started telling me what time I'd have to leave home/work to get there on time based on the current subway schedule. Exactly what I wanted, never asked.
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ben1040over 12 years ago
When I saw the keynote introducing Google Now, the first thing I thought of was that concept video they used to introduce Glass [1].<p>For example, in the video, the user looked at a subway station entrance, and the glasses showed a rider alert that the station was closed due to a train problem.<p>I have to imagine that Google Now will be an important information engine behind the "HUD" displays in Glass. Glass is aiming to also follow that principle of offering you information when it's contextually-relevant, and trying to get out of the way otherwise.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c6W4CCU9M4" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c6W4CCU9M4</a>
OriginalSynover 12 years ago
So far Google Now is pretty impressive. I love that it will post a reminder in my notifications before an event telling me when I have to leave to make it there on time based on current traffic conditions.
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hnriotover 12 years ago
While this is incredibly smart and a very impressive application of machine learning, does anyone actually want this? I'm quite capable of looking at traffic reports or bus times myself when I need to. I actually think I'd find this pretty annoying, if my phone told me sports score before I'd had a chance to watch the game, or if it started second guessing me at every turn. This has the feel of valet parking, while it sounds fine and convenient and luxurious, in reality I find it very undesirable and will avoid places that have it.<p>There's something very much at the core of life in experiencing it for ourselves without having a computer to hand hold us the whole time and remind us it's time leave for work. I don't find it creepy, just embarrassing to feel like I need to be babied so much by technology.
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bdrover 12 years ago
Interesting. I'm thinking that Android vs Apple may be decided on the simple fact that sufficiently-better AI trumps any-amount-better UI. Lawsuits and supposed openness be damned.
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jpalomakiover 12 years ago
I think Android 4.1 is finally something like the "agents" people have been envisioning for over a decade.<p>The possibilities on this are endless and currently Google is about the only company that is able to do it (from my point of view). Google knows my calendar, Google knows my contacts, Google knows pretty much everything I buy online (because they handle all my emails), Google knows about my travel plans (email again), Google know what I've been looking, where I've been (Latitude) and so on.<p>There could be also huge opportunities for money making in all this. One good question is should they keep all this just to themselves or would it be better to try to create an ecosystem for applications.<p>Let's the take travel plans as an example. It would be fairly easy for Google to mine my calendar and emails to figure out my travel plans. This would open up opportunities in offering me flight upgrades and other travel related services. Google could either try to use this information themselves, they could allow advertisers to use it, or they could expose it to 3rd party apps (of course with my consent). Keeping with the agent idea these things would be much more than just highly targeted ads. They could be direct offers, like "Say Yes Please, to upgrade your flight from Helsinki to Barcelona to business class for 150€".
potchover 12 years ago
So I can steal someone's phone, and just have it remind me of all that user's private info by walking around? Nifty.<p>Edit: I know the above is glib, and I'm not trying to rain on the parade of unbelievable achievements in data-wrangling that are going on here (I'd love to hear how it's done computationally), but I don't like knowing that all the privacy controls something like this deserves will be rolled out hastily in response to someone's life inevitably being ruined by the careless trust of one's life to a device that can fall out of their pocket. It's easy for the savvier of us on this site to say "serves them for not thinking to take precautions", but when we make it so <i>easy</i> to give a third party the reins, even we get complacent.
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modernerdover 12 years ago
With a little imagination, it's not hard to see why some are nervous about a search engine that stores every interaction in an attempt to profile its users and guess their intentions. Don your finest tin foil hat as we channel surf some internet TV stations from the future:<p>LIGHTS DIM; THE GLOW OF A COMPUTER SCREEN FILLS THE ROOM<p>"In what is thought to be a world-first, a man's life was saved late Friday following automated intervention by a search engine.<p>"Close friends of Mr Exampleson, who BBC News can now reveal were the only members of his "Best Friends" circle on Boogle Plus, said they were able to get to the Beachy Head cliffs in Southern England five minutes before his arrival thanks only to an email from a 'Concerned Partner'.<p>"The email said that their friend was displaying worrying behaviour, that he had personally disclosed his intention to take his own life, that he had planned a route to Beachy Head with an estimated arrival time of 19:27, and that he was currently on the A267 heading South at a speed of 57MPH.<p>"A spokesperson from Boogle Ireland this morning said that they have long been publishing helpline numbers on their website when a user enters certain search terms, and that this was simply an extension of that service.<p>"Privacy advocate Mr Foilhatison joins us now to discuss what this means for..."<p>SWITCH CHANNEL<p>"...surrounded the building and ordered the suspect to come out with his hands up. When questioned, it emerged that the man was famous writer Real Steveyson, who is staying in the area to write his hotly anticipated thriller, <i>Cryptonomnomnom</i>. Mr Steveyson has since been released with a public apology. Police are now said to be following a variety of other leads they hope will 'prove to be less of a hopeless time suck'.<p>"Asked why he felt detectives had singled him out and surrounded him in his remote location, Mr Steveyson said that he had been searching Boogle over a period of two months for various methods to reduce DNA evidence at crime scenes for his upcoming book. He had also been Boogling for local peat bogs, completely unaware of the recent bodies that police have pulled from them. Mr Steveyson suspects that Boogle may now be sharing live search information with local law enforcement agencies in a bid to both pre-empt crime and increase conviction rates. The idea sounds so far-fetched that he plans to make it the subject of his next novel, which he hopes to publish for the first time via telepathic transfer using the new...<p>SWITCH CHANNEL<p>"We're here in the diamond district where Miss Caratson is closing her shop for the last time. Tell us, Miss Caratson, is it the same story for you as it has been for the others?"<p>"Sure is! I haven't sold a single engagement ring since Boogle Hive got popular."<p>"Can you explain why?"<p>"Boogle talks my customers out of the purchase! Somehow it detects that they're in a jewellers. And that's when it gets really weird. It always starts the same way: they get that dreaded audio alert. That's when I know I've lost the sale.<p>"One time, it told a young man that, based on a language analysis of all correspondence with his partner, there was a 76% chance that his fiancé-to-be was only interested in him for his large Boogle Wallet balance, so he might want to hold off on his big plans.<p>"Another time, Boogle tells my customer that, based on something called their "Boogle Lifestyle Score", they probably weren't the marrying kind. Then it reels off a list of 12 ways they'd have much more fun with the same amount of money, and it lets them know that six of the 12 things are within a five-minute walk.<p>"And don't get me started on the glasses! Guys using those Boogle Glasses always get told that Boogle has found the same ring they're looking at 500 bucks cheaper three shops down. It's a race to the bottom. I just can't win.<p>"Some of us tried to circumvent it by installing Faraday shielding and blocking the damn system altogether, but Boogle just warns people to avoid us before they even get in the door. It's over. I'm done!"<p>"What will you do now, Miss Caratson?"<p>"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to do what everyone else is doing. I'm going to start a..."<p>SCREEN DIMS, AMBIENT LIGHTS FLICKER ON<p>Yes, some of this may be a little far-fetched, but the idea of a computer network attempting to infer intentions based on a lifetime of intimate accumulated knowledge <i>is</i> troubling for many. Even if such a system has the potential to be incredibly useful, I suspect that the amount of blind trust it demands would make it a challenge to adopt for more than a few of us.
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sprokolopolisover 12 years ago
Recently, my parents went on a trip to London. Before they returned, I received a Google Now card with their flight information and estimated time of arrival. I am not sure if they gathered this info from email or sms. It was somewhat creepy, but certainly helpful and convenient (I needed to call them before they left).<p>I have been quite pleased with Google Now and use it much more than I ever used any of the other Siri clones. When I am busy, I forget things easily and it is nice when Google just gives me helpful information to keep me on track.
Zenstover 12 years ago
Interesting, would appear the AI is based upon your email and general google collected info upon you. With that in mind I better make sure I'm catching all the spam comming in as one walk near Soho in London and things could get interesting.<p>From what I have played with google now and its card alerts it has so far impressed me with bus options to get home, though mostly when I'm upon a bus already and it offers alternatives. If the bus breaks down then I'm covered is how I see it in a thru positive blinkers.
ams6110over 12 years ago
The trick will be for them to be helpful without being creepy.
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blrgeekover 12 years ago
Google Now is awesome.<p>Search for a place on Google - card shows up with driving directions on phone.<p>Morning and evening, shows up driving time/directions for work/home.
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ecoover 12 years ago
So the voice search is called Google Now? During the keynote it was confusing because they kept calling the voice stuff "Voice Search" and "Google Now" was only used when talking about the cards (which are confusingly in the same app).
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YooLiover 12 years ago
Not looking forward to the ads. I'd rather pay for it.
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nspover 12 years ago
;-