

Google retires Google Health and PowerMeter projects - rryan
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/update-on-google-health-and-google.html

======
TomOfTTB
I can't speak to PowerMeter but on Google Health they have no one to blame but
themselves. I desperately wanted to employ it here (I work for an agency that
takes in abused children and had envisioned putting the kids records into
Google Health so they would start out being able to carry their records
wherever they go).

But after just an hour of research I'd already identified over 20 serious
issues that could open us up to major liability claims.

To give just one example. This is from Google's own Google health page...

"Unlike a doctor or health plan, Google Health is not regulated by the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a federal law that
establishes data confidentiality standards for patient health information.
This is because Google does not store data on behalf of health care providers.
Instead, our primary relationship is with the user."

Well...ok...but then how are health care providers supposed to put information
in for their clients? The whole point of this is for the patient to carry
around accurate information. But if the Doctor has to trust the patient will
put the information in themselves there's no way to guarantee all the
information will be put in correctly. Meaning the records could be more harm
than good. Imagine a scenario where the patient forgets to put in allergy
information leading a future physician to assume they have no allergies.

(Yes you could provide patients with a zip file to just upload but there's
still no guarantee the user won't unzip it and upload it manually or any of a
million other stupid things that users sometimes do)

Had Google actually engaged the industry rather than throwing something at
them Google Health could have literally changed the world. Which is a far cry
from the quick death it has found itself suffering.

~~~
frossie
_Had Google actually engaged the industry_

Engaging the industry is a customer-serving function. I suspect that Google is
just not interested in that kind of activity - because if they were, surely
they would be better at it.

It almost seems like if a project can't survive by sheer Google brainpower
alone, they have no interest in sticking with it.

~~~
klbarry
Not necessarily true - their lobbying arm was very successful getting Nevada
to allow their self driving cars.

~~~
eli
Lobbying doesn't strike me as being very similar to B2C customer service.

------
mtraven
Microsoft's HealthVault appears to still be in business:
<http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/healthvault/> and they seem to be actually
doing the work of getting industry partners. I know, MS is icky, but maybe
they aren't quite as afflicted with corporate ADHD as Google.

------
bhousel
The rumors about Google Health's demise have been circulating for the past
year or so. But who I really feel bad for in all of this are the handful of
Google Health partners that actually tried building their own software and
using Google Health as the data store.

------
steve114
I'm in the health tech industry and thought Google Health was a great idea,
but it all boils down to the doctor's office adopting the process. Many Dr's
don't grasp technology very well and are usually too busy to care.

I guess they would rather have their customers sit in the waiting room filling
out forms than getting them on with their day.

This will eventually be popular, just a little ahead of its time.

~~~
savrajsingh
Sounds like a job for DrChrono. ;)

~~~
logjam
Their own technology and response to security questions hasn't reassured many
of us about their commitment to privacy, as I've stated here in response to
several of their press releases.

~~~
rdl
I had dinner with some of the DrChrono guys. I think they are working on
security issues (which, honestly, lag far behind adoption as a concern; they
meet some minimal standard which is technically HIPAA compliant and better
than most small practices now.)

The biggest security concern for something like DrChrono IMO is availability;
they do a better job of backups, DR, replication than a forgotten windows box
running filemaker in the closet of a small medical practice, now.

------
rryan
Glad to see them doing the right thing and aiding in the export and migration
of their users' data to other services (direct export to a Microsoft product!
Would that /ever/ happen at Microsoft?).

~~~
jcheng
When Microsoft shut down Windows Live Spaces they provided direct export to
WordPress and strongly encouraged their user base to take advantage--is that
close enough?

[http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archiv...](http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2010/09/27/wordpress-
com-and-windows-live-partnering-together-and-providing-an-upgrade-
for-30-million-windows-live-spaces-customers.aspx)

~~~
rryan
Well, I meant more Microsoft migrating data from one of their services to
Google :) -- but yes it's cool that they offered a data migration path in that
instance.

------
pessimist
These projects seemed set up for failure from the start. I wonder if this is a
systematic problem at big companies (or at least Google). They launch
"experimental" projects, dont give them enough resources, and consequently
doom them to failure.

OTOH, wave was also given lots of resources (supposedly), so perhaps its just
a sign of poor management.

------
savrajsingh
We've posted the Wattvision response: <http://blog.wattvision.com> ... there's
a coupon code in the post, too.

------
dwiel
If you had Google PowerMeter and want something similar, come check out
<http://PlotWatt.com> \- Not only do we show you how much energy your house is
using, we also run data processing algorithms and show you how much each
appliance is using.

~~~
krzyk
Do you know if there is a solution that will work in Europe (230V/50Hz)?

I was really looking forward to the Google PowerMeter, even email my local
power provider, but with no luck.

If I could install such a device in my house, without the need to talk with
the utility it would be great.

------
protomyth
I guess I should be happy they try to do a lot of things, but it sure puts a
break on the idea of being an early adopter of their products. It seems like
you should wait a couple years before taking something from Google seriously.
This sets up a really crappy catch22 dynamic.

------
cypherpunks
I kinda wish Google had better versioning in their infrastructure. While I
used neither of these products, their disappearance makes me reluctant to
adopt Google products for any core infrastructure. If I buy a program from
Microsoft, and Microsoft discontinues it, I get to keep using it forever. If I
do the same with Google, since I'm not managing my infrastructure, at some
point, it just goes away. It shouldn't be that hard to fork off sets of
servers to run frozen, legacy applications, or older versions of non-legacy
apps.

------
edborden
How Google PowerMeter got it wrong and how to fill the gap
<http://bit.ly/kj5ghH>

This is what happens when you build a data black hole...

~~~
nitrogen
It's considered better etiquette on HN to post the full link, rather than a
shortened version. If the link is too long to be displayed, HN will elide it.

[http://blog.pachube.com/2011/06/how-google-powermeter-got-
it...](http://blog.pachube.com/2011/06/how-google-powermeter-got-it-wrong-
and.html)

Edit: I also consider it useful to claim ownership of any of your own sites
you link.

------
evanw
Bummer, I had linked a workout app called CardioTrainer for Android to Google
Health to store fitness information in the cloud.

~~~
barista
Looks like Microsoft offering is still alive and you could actually use that.
That's what google seems to be suggesting its users. Oddly enough...

------
georgieporgie
I'm a massive nerd who spends ungodly amounts of time online, yet:

* I've only heard of Google Health in one obscure place, and I don't even remember where. I checked it out, put some info into it, but didn't see how it was of use to me.

* I've never heard of PowerMeter. Ever.

* I still have no idea what Wave was about.

I don't know what's going on with them, but this, combined with things like
the really lousy duplicate-login migration with Google Hosted, makes me very
hesitant to get on-board with anything new from the Goog. It's like a ball-
dropping convention hosted by MENSA.

------
barista
This is what I love and hate about this company. They are not afraid to
release products and then kill them shortly. They are no afraid to experiment.
Keeps them looking like they are always innovating and ahead of the curve.

The unfortunate part is that as a software developer it does not give me a
confidence in the logevity of any google platform. I have a friend who was
gearing up to use the platform and was testing out an idea that he was hoping
to launch soon. I bet he won't be as confident taking dependency on Google
platform the next time.

~~~
there
_Keeps them looking like they are always innovating and ahead of the curve._

lately, most of google's products have come out behind the curve, lacking
polish and functionality, and then fail to gain traction and get killed off.

~~~
barista
True. That's why I said it keeps them "looking like" they are innovating.
Failed or not, each small product or feature release gives them PR points.
Look at +1, buzz or any other new products. They are all the rage when they
are released. Everybody hails Google as the new king of innovation and when
the products are killed a few months/years dows the line, the only people
complaining are developers who took dependency on that product thinking it was
a good long term platform bet.

