
Google Now - dirtyaura
http://www.google.com/landing/now/
======
DanielBMarkham
"...Cards appear throughout the day..."

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.

~~~
mitjak
Also, _what the hell is a card_? After reading the word "card" for the 5th
time, even after reading the few paragraphs below the main image, I still have
no clue what on earth a card is. Like an app in webOS? Or is it a game of some
kind? Apps and websites that invent their own names for existing concepts and
seem to assume that you're silly for not having inborn knowledge of what they
mean are frustrating.

~~~
icebraining
The half bottom of the page is only examples of "Google Now cards". The phone
image shows how these cards are displayed. Seems very obvious to me.

What would you call them?

~~~
planetguy
Dunno, a message? A notification?

"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.

~~~
tripzilch
I agree. These "Google Now Cards" hardly share any connotations I have with
the word "card", except for being rectangular and containing a small amount of
information.

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?

~~~
brittohalloran
The three dots look to me like an action overflow button (now standard on
Android ICS). It's typical "right click menu" type stuff.

------
bretthopper
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).

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).

~~~
ken
I think this is just a symptom of a bigger issue. With these Google demo
videos, like with most webpage commercials I see, the screenshots and videos
don't look like actual screenshots, but just mock-up animations.

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.

~~~
FireBeyond
I love how you compare oranges to apples, rather than to Apple.

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...?

------
bmelton
I think this is a direct competitor to the recently re-launched Cue, but with
perhaps better integration with things like Glass.

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.

~~~
nik_0_0
First thing I thought as well, extraordinarily similar to Cue, with (most
likely) much stronger integration: maps, calendar, mail, etc.

------
brown9-2
Confusing that nothing on the page (besides the video) mentions the word
"Android" or how you can get Now.

~~~
mike-cardwell
Yes. I just wasted my time looking on the Android market place for something
called Google Now, and not finding it.

~~~
antihero
This irritated the fuck out of me, I wish they'd explain what the hell it is.

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).

------
degenerate
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 :(

~~~
jamesgeck0
It's a part of Android 4.1, so the WHEN, WHERE and HOW depend a lot on what
phone you have.

~~~
bookwormAT
"It's a part of Android 4.1"

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.

~~~
fudged
It's not an app... it's like the notification tray. You can't simply 'take'
the notification tray from one OS to another. Same with this. It comes with
Jelly Bean.

~~~
ryanhuff
So my one year old phone will never see it. I am so tired of the one year
obsolescence cycle of Android phones.

~~~
myko
This is why I recommend only Nexus devices.

------
jsz0
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?

~~~
jpwagner
I'm constantly frustrated by this. I use incognito browsing way too often.
Then when I come across something by accident that I _do_ want in my history
(either for searching through history later or because chrome occasionally
crashes), I have to copy the link over to a normal-browsing chrome window.

~~~
skeletonjelly
Can you not bookmark it within the Incognito session?

------
joeybaker
Looks a lot like Greplin — I mean Cue. :)

<https://www.cueup.com/>

~~~
freshfunk
My thoughts exactly.

------
courtewing
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.

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.

------
mikk0j
LOL. The closed captioning in the beginning of that demo video reads like a
haiku from an emo kid:

"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."

~~~
dcaranda
Nice catch. More gold from Google's automated closed captioning on their own
promotional video:

"dissented japanese underground you're done"

"to the mountain tell you what internet xxx" (personal favorite)

"fearsome evil"

"graceland"

------
BradleyStC
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.

------
spiffistan
That sure tickled my switch-to-android fancy

~~~
peregrine
<https://www.cueup.com/> Is a similar product from a YC company.

~~~
pjscott
And it's on iPhone right now -- runs fine on 3GS and above. Android support is
planned later.

------
st0p
Am I the only one seeing some kind of horrible speech-to-text subtitles that
are really missing the point?

~~~
methodin
It was on by default for me and I was really confused for a short period of
time wondering what the heck they were trying to tell me as part of the video.
It was hilarious, however.

~~~
adunk
I had the same experience. But the subtitles really were something extra,
would definitely recommend for a laugh.

~~~
outworlder
Thanks for your tip. The subtitles are usually fairly accurate, but there's
something messing with them on this video, could be the music or the narrator.

Usually speech recognition errors are fairly routine, but in this case they
are hilarious. Oh, and the word 'Android' was not recognized.

------
mmahemoff
Hoping they add support for 3rd party plugins (and _gasp_ RSS feeds) in the
future.

------
tspiteri
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.

~~~
hahainternet
Do you mean something like the Data Protection Act?

------
wlk
Where/When can I get it ?

~~~
jedc
I believe it's simply a part of the JellyBean Android OS.

~~~
scott_w
It's interesting that I don't see any mention of this on the landing page.

Perhaps I'm not looking closely enough, but I don't see anything that tells me
how I can get it.

~~~
josteink
Swipe up from the bottom of the screen at your home-screen. It should show.

I agree it's not something you discover without being told though ;)

~~~
scott_w
What I meant is that the page itself doesn't tell you anything about how you
would actually get it.

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.

~~~
josteink
Technically speaking it is Android 4.1, but yes I get your point.

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.

------
egypturnash
Isn't this exactly what Greplin pivoted to with Cue? Like, last week?

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.

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

~~~
pjscott
I'm not sure. There's a big psychological difference between push and pull --
if you check your phone, then you'll pulling the information at your
convenience, but if it gets pushed to you on a HUD, then that's potentially
intrusive and distracting. I think the only way they could really make that
work is to have a good way of telling _when_ it's reasonable to push
information to a Glass-wearer, and that's tricky. Definitely cool if they can
figure it out, though.

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

~~~
pwny
I'm pretty sure Glass is the reason they do this. It really seems like it's a
perfect fit for something you'd be wearing on your face constantly.

~~~
drharris
Indeed. Location-aware, time-aware. I'm seeing a Siri-killer. The best
personal assistants know what you want before you ask for it. So, why not the
same for digital assistants?

~~~
coopdog
Exactly, and you don't have to talk to it. It's just a notification, and
(hopefully) learns which notifications are most useful for each person

------
marijn
Translation: Here's _another_ reason why you should give us all your data!

~~~
darkstalker
People complains about getting spied by google, but already is happily giving
all his data to facebook

~~~
hackinthebochs
Google has far more information about _me_ than facebook does. My search
habits paint a far more detailed and personal picture about me than where I
went or what I ate today. It is completely reasonable to be weary of giving
even more data to google. I'd rather not have all my information housed in a
single company. I trust google just as much as facebook (very little).

------
melvinmt
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.

------
EzGraphs
It's easy to dismiss Now as yet-another-notification-app. But as PG as said:

 _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.

------
pawelwentpawel
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.

------
yread
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?

------
arb99
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)

~~~
tspiteri
Some people transcribe improperly too, e.g., "they'd of" instead of "they'd
have". (Or is that "they'd've"?)

------
astro1138
How do I publish custom cards?

~~~
Achshar
There will be some kind of API i guess, but another thing is Google Now is an
app in itself, and i am not an android dev, but an app having developer API
does not seem very fitting. For example, gmail can have intents but not an API
for other apps to use, i guess.

------
ondrae
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.

------
apricot13
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!

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

------
supercopter
Interestingly there's not a single word in the description about Android or
Jelly Bean or Nexus or smartphones or tablets...

Could this mean that Google Now is intended to be available across multiple
platforms (including desktop environments)?

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

------
mattbirchler
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.

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

------
Johnyma22
Hey Joe pubilc.

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..

~~~
haldean
This attitude annoys me. Everything you do is about tradeoffs, and being
online is no exception. You're trading privacy for convenience, and if you
don't want to, then don't. People aren't wrong for being okay with that trade;
they just have different priorities than you.

~~~
sp332
Google is wrong because they don't really tell users what the tradeoffs are.

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

~~~
bjcubsfan
I think that's Roboto. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roboto>

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

------
g-garron
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.

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

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

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

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

------
samrat
So, is this Google's answer to Siri?

------
kerryjson
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?

~~~
josteink
You don't. You have to opt in.

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.

~~~
thisisblurry
You're confusing Apple with developers of iOS applications. Apple may not have
stopped it in the past, but the developers never asked either.

~~~
ryanhuff
The first time you run an app that wants your location, the iPhone will ask
you to grant permission.

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

------
truth_dude
battery killer?????

~~~
rryan
No perceptible effect on my battery life so-far. I believe it is mostly
server-side.

------
localhost3000
reminds me a bit of zazu

------
CubicleNinjas
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.

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.

~~~
drivebyacct2
1\. It's disableable, prioritizable and is mostly user driven out of the box
anyway.

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.

~~~
CubicleNinjas
1\. Good news.

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.

~~~
drivebyacct2
1\. There's no "Videos" now besides the search category.

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+).

------
tomp
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.

~~~
pyre
1\. Names can't be copyrighted, but they can be trademarked.

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).

~~~
splatzone
Feedburner, YouTube, Orkut, Picasa, Blogger? Good points though.

~~~
thomasbachem
Those were all acquired, not built by Google.

~~~
Sayter
Orkut was a Google project from Orkut Büyükkökten's 20% time.

