The Nexus 5 and Kit Kat software are designed to make it easier to use Google’s search engine and other services to learn about a person’s habits and needs so it can display helpful information. Google Inc.’s virtual assistant, Google Now, also engages in richer dialogue with Nexus 5 users.
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Have you used Google Now? It’s incredibly convenient. If you can get over feelings of paranoia you’ll get the first time you realize Google must have been scanning your email in order to provide that shipment tracking card, you’ll love it.
It’s incredibly convenient to leave my door unlocked at night too so I don’t have to fiddle with keys in the morning.
But I ain’t doing that either.
Nice avatar Robo 😉
Yes, its probably very convenient. It would also be very convenient to not have to think for myself and just let Google do that for me. That doesn’t make it any less creepy.
You can turn it off. I don’t get why people complain…
What’s creepy about it, really? Are you that concerned about a corporation learning the lurid details of your incredibly interesting life? If so why are you sending email about those details through their servers in the first place?
This would be more like signing up for a service that tracks your location at all times and is able to unlock your door for you when you get home, but that’s stretching a bit too.
That would be a conscious choice, exactly like turning Google Now on.
In fact, its off by default.
iOS 7 does similar things. It knows when I typically commute, and Notification Center shows me how long it would take to get home.
Yes it does. And didn’t Apple just buy Cue and Grokr, which is a total Google Now ripoff?
http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/03/why-did-apple-buy-cue-because-google-now-eats-siris-lunch/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57587476-37/is-grokr-apples-foray-into-predictive-search/
It seems like they plan on getting much deeper in tracking users than they already do. So obviously Jim is ok with it when Apple does it. Maybe then, Siri will at least be a lot more usable. There really is no comparison when it comes to the utility of Google Now and Siri. Siri is just way too behind. Though this shouldn’t really surprise anyone given Apple’s track record with web services.
Love it!
Apple’s business model is to sell you hardware.
Google’s business model is to harvest your information and sell it to advertisers.
Google definitely does some shit that deserves to be denounced, but this isn’t one of them. It’s a shame Jim is so anti-Google about everything, as it leads to a ‘Boy Cried Wolf’ motiff when he points out something that’s genuinely worth being upset about.
Actually, my iPhone now with iOS 7, on notification center, every morning displays how long it will take from my hometown to the city I work in, and after around 4 in the afternoon it will start displaying the estimated time for the trip back home. Also, on sundays I usually visit my in-laws and the freaking phone will tell me the amount of time for that trip too. I remember when the “locationgate” thing was going on that Apple said it was collecting that information and now it’s clear what for.
iOS is slowly moving into this direction too, just not as bluntly as Google is going. As long as it is optional, I don’t think it’s that creepy. I’m not doing anything that interesting or embarrassing to feel that paranoid about Google Now. Plus, Google still hasn’t gotten their shit together in Spanish or with Puerto Rico, so the freaking thing is pretty useless to me anyway.
I think the problem is trust. With Google, you are the product. You feel comfortable with a company that openly tells you what they do with your data (or don’t do). You feel comfortable with a company who is not in the business of making money by selling/sharing your data. And you just don’t feel comfortable when a company give advertisements in your email based on a website you just visited. This means that you are tracking my every goddamn move be it with a phone or with some other methods. If I didn’t search Google for a coffee press, how the hell did they know to show me one from Amazon in my Gmail when I logged in??? That’s just freaking creepy and it feels like a stalker is silently following me on the internet. I would like to allow or disallow those kinds of things from happening. Now they are going to share your reviews with family and friends from your contacts in Gmail. No I am not the product bitch! I’m all Googled out!!! sorry I digress….
Apple is doing it to make information available for you for productivity. Google is selling you down the river to the highest bidder. Having travel time on my screen is great. Having an ad placed in my email based on websites I visit, not so much. I have TiVo so I can skip ads on TV I certainly don’t want more ads in my freaking email!
iAds. Apple does the exact same thing. It just isn’t their primary business.
They sale you the hardware then monetize your data, where implemented.
Oh and you can opt out of any and all of Google’s data collection on Android. #options
Nope, “locationgate” was a cache of cell tower locations that gave a rough idea of position. This data is all new and part of the “Frequent Locations” System Service in iOS 7.
That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard, so Microsoft and Apple can do the same thing, but they get a pass because it’s not their business model.
And Google does not sell your data to advertisers, the advertiser picks a target or demographic and Goolge places the ad for said group.
Apple doesn’t know my search history because they buy ads for Google.com
I visited Dell.com because we are opening a new branch and I was commission to buy some crap PC. Now I just got an e-mail from Discover card offering me 5% cash back on Dell.com. It’s frankly pretty creepy and I know it’s Google behind it.
I’d say it doesn’t. I was never directly marketed to in my email or any other way based on iAds. Do any regular users know how to access this option on Android?
The option is very clear so I’d assume yes but I have no idea off-hand. It’s under Settings -> Privacy in Chrome; tracking is not device wide. Apple had tracking code in Safari as well then added the same Do Not Track as Chrome [web and mobile].
How do you know if you were or not? Does your direct marketing emails say “we found you from Google”?
How do you think Apple gets the info for interest-based ads? The same way Google does: tracking.
“How to opt out of interest-based ads from iAd
To give you the best advertising experience, we recommend that you keep Limit Ad Tracking turned off on your iOS device, Apple TV, and iTunes desktop client. If you don’t want to receive ads related to your interests from iAd, you can turn Limit Ad Tracking on.”
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4228
I don’t care for convenience when dealing with a corporate that lied to the government.
Apple =/ Google, even if you want to believe that so much.
I can’t tell if you’re being serious.
How is this different from what Apple is doing?
If you think you can trust one giant international soulless corporation over another giant international soulless corporation, I think you might be in for a rude awakening. Sure, Apple is less reliant on ads, but they do own their own mobile advertising platform.
Apple is also selling you down the river to the highest bidder. See iAd.
If you don’t want ads in your email, don’t use Gmail. It’s completely unrelated to Google Now.
Are you mocking Dalrymple, or are you actually seriously thinking that? This is Poe’s law in full effect.
-__-
As an aside, I’m not a huge fan of profanity on blogs etc – but there is no one better than Dalrymple at the strategic and appropriate placement of the f-bomb. Well played.
Also – so many of you are confused about Google. They are not a services company. The are an ADVERTISING COMPANY. That’s what makes this creepy.
Oh – and Facebook? Um, they are in advertising as well…
Just saw this quote on Lifehacker and it’s too appropriate not to share:
“If you aren’t paying for it YOU are the product.”
Of course they sell information about you. That’s their business model.
It’s acutally a big difference from Apple/MS
What proof do you have that they SELL information about you