Google Now

"...Cards appear throughout the day..."<p>Yay, just what I wanted: yet another software service to interrupt me thoughout the day.<p>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.<p>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.

Google has definitely stepped up their UI design with Jellybean. Oddly enough, at Google I/O they showed the Sports card with real MLB teams, and on this page, it's fake teams (likely due to licensing rules).<p>But even worse, is that they didn't notice the line scores are out of alignment: <a href="http://www.google.com/landing/now/images/card-sports.png" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/landing/now/images/card-sports.png</a><p>(Top row of Clovers is shifted over).

I think this is a direct competitor to the recently re-launched Cue, but with perhaps better integration with things like Glass.<p>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).<p>Interesting to see two such complete implementations of 'day-planning' hit so closely to each other.

Confusing that nothing on the page (besides the video) mentions the word "Android" or how you can get Now.

How come whenever Google launches something, I only know the who/what, but am never told the when/where/how? Telling me WHEN (if ever) this will be available on my device, WHERE to download it when that happens, and HOW it will integrate into my device/profile would be really nice to read about :(

I hate the thought of worrying about the future ramifications of my searches. For example if someone asks me to check the time of a sports ball game for them will Google Now nag me with sports scores I don't care about in the future?

Looks a lot like Greplin — I mean Cue. :)<p><a href="https://www.cueup.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.cueup.com/</a>

What I find most interesting is the potential for an app like this to help shape your habits in such a way that is directly beneficial to Google. We're seeing this more and more with tighter integrations between major google products, but I feel this goes above and beyond what we've traditionally seen from Google in terms of habit-building.<p>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.<p>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.

LOL. The closed captioning in the beginning of that demo video reads like a haiku from an emo kid:<p>"Tear out your day / all that information is rainy days / actually needed."<p>Not sure if it makes me trust Google's efforts to bring me "just the right information at just the right time."

Lots of different div's there on the page telling me how great it is, but where's the all important Call-To-Action?. I clicked back to HN to try and figure out what it actually is and maybe how to get it.

That sure tickled my switch-to-android fancy

Am I the only one seeing some kind of horrible speech-to-text subtitles that are really missing the point?

Hoping they add support for 3rd party plugins (and <i>gasp</i> RSS feeds) in the future.

There are quite a few privacy concerns about these technologies, and I think that proper legislation is necessary to address them. Most people trust a bank to hold their money, and there is legislation to control financial institutions. Now, people are increasingly trusting their data with data banks, and there needs to be legislation to control how the data is stored securely and not abused.

Where/When can I get it ?

Isn't this exactly what Greplin pivoted to with Cue? Like, last week?<p>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.<p>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.

This is the killer app for Google Glasses. Get relevant information in your HUD throughout the day. Awesome.

I'm thinking this is a definite value-add to Glass.

Translation: Here's <i>another</i> reason why you should give us all your data!

It's only a matter of time before Google catches up on Apple on UI and slick hardware (really only the two core strengths of AAPL) and win by using Google's core strength: DATA. The future is bright.

It's easy to dismiss Now as yet-another-notification-app. But as PG as said:<p><i>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.</i><p><a href="http://paulgraham.com/organic.html" rel="nofollow">http://paulgraham.com/organic.html</a><p>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.

It would be really cool if this would have a rule-system programmable by user. Something like - "if I'm next to a good [type] restaurant show a card", "When I enter my flat, show me [last messages, friends updates, ..., n] etc. On{x} (www.onx.ms) seems to be doing it in a pretty interesting way. I'm pretty sure that merging those two ideas would create a very handy product.

Looks a bit like what live tiles should do. And the design looks quite a bit like Metro. Perhaps they'll publish it on WP8 as well?

Their subtitles (which are turned on automatically on that video) don't match up at all. Guessing it was automatically transcribed (speech to text)... would have thought they'd of tested that! (Or just manually entered them)

How do I publish custom cards?

I have all kinds of questions about how they choose which information is most important about a user's geography, such as showing trains schedules when in the station. Did they take all of their Google Places categories and analyze which apps where being used more in what types of places? How do they decide where you are at in a city, where locations are all stacked on top of each other? I hope they open this up so we can add in relevant streams, mostly public safety info. p.s. I would love to work on these problems. City data is super interesting to me.

This means I have to leave wifi or data on to be notified in the morning which kills my phone. I already manually check the weather by turning on wifi and opening an app this just cuts out an extra tap!

I am reminded about this scene from Wall-E: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohcwksrvDOg" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohcwksrvDOg</a>

Interestingly there's not a single word in the description about Android or Jelly Bean or Nexus or smartphones or tablets...<p>Could this mean that Google Now is intended to be available across multiple platforms (including desktop environments)?

Now all they have to do is release the API and someone will Port it to iOS :)

One thing I really like about Google is that if this is a hit, they will bring it to other platforms. Counter to what Google would like, this is one reason I feel comfortable sticking with iOS.

Nearly all features note: 'Only shown if location services enabled'

Hey Joe pubilc.<p>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..

Anyone know the font they're using? That nice, big open one?

Searching for "Google Now" in the Play store on my Galaxy S3 yields nothing, once again the Android user experience is found wanting.

Now they will even know what do I eat!. Google will know me even better than myself. I'm not sure I like the idea.

I see it as a downgraded version of Google Wave(robots &#38; gadgets). ( or in long term extension of mail )

This seems to be a basis for a future "Google goggles" product

Good move Google, let the haters hate, Bring it on!

maybe it's me but, with the exclusion of the sports scores "Google Now" really seems more like "Google Here".

So, is this Google's answer to Siri?

How can I opt out? Or do I have to leave Android and buy a Windows Phone to avoid getting my information in that system?

I'd +1 it but ... no +1 button.

battery killer?????

reminds me a bit of zazu

This feels like its aimed at Siri, and if so I feel it misunderstands Siri's value. I don't want pushed content. I want light content that is pulled with my personal, minimal, request and without fuss.<p>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?<p>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.

It's sad that all these generic names that Google is coming up with (Play, Now, Plus, Glass), can probably be copyrighted and everybody else would then be prevented from using them... What a wicked capitalistic world, what a sad day for freedom.