Author: spr1311pfudala

Google Now Knows What You Did Last Summer!!!

Posted on by spr1311pfudala
Heavy.com

Google Now is now a direct competitor to Apple’s Siri. Google Now is an intelligent virtual personal assistant similar to Siri. Recently Google Now became available on iOS for iPhones and iPads.

Google Now access a lot of personal information on someone’s iPhone/iPad. There are many privacy issues related to the use of Google Now. Google Now analyzes your browsing history, mail, calendar events, and other activity on your iOS device to “predict” information that you will need before you even think about needing it.

In order to begin using Google Now and iOS, you must first open Google Search, where Google Now appears at the bottom of the screen as a stack of cards. You swipe the stack of cards in order to access the main feature of Google Now, the “cards.”

Here is an example of how Google Now is your personal assistant: You have meeting scheduled for later today in Aurora. The meeting is scheduled in your Calendar app. Google Now accesses your calendar and from the information that it obtains, it creates a “card” that gives you map, directions, and current traffic conditions to the meeting. When you repeatedly search for a particular sports team’s score on the internet, Google Now automatically displays the previous night’s final score on a “card.” If Google Now detects that you are in a foreign country, it will provide a “card” with a translator and a currency convertor.

Readwrite.com
Google Now does allow you to select what information you share with Google Now. However, the less information you provide to Google Now, the less useful, reliable, and efficient it becomes.

Google Now can be a very convenient tool for everyone. However, Google Now on iOS does not allow you to send e-mails using only your voice and you cannot access with the push of the “Home” button like you can with Siri. Google Now also only works with other Google products, such as Google Calendar. It was also released with glitches and users have complained of battery problems when using Google Now.

While I can see how Google Now can be a great convenience for me, I cannot get past the fact of how much information it will obtain from my iPhone. That information could be stored on Google’s server for years and it could sell that information to advertising firms that would creep me out with very personalized ads. Perhaps if my information was kept on my phone and it never went through Google’s servers, I would be more open to using it.

Would you be willing to provide extensive amounts of information in order to use Google Now? Are you concerned with your privacy in this technological world? What can Google do to alleviate the privacy concerns of its customers? Should Google be competing directly with Apple’s Siri on Apple’s own products? Is this Google’s strategy to win over Apple consumers? Did Google release Google Now on iOS prematurely since it still has bugs and is only compatible with Google services?

 

Sources:

Google Now Takes On Apple’s Siri by Rich Jaroslovsky: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-08/google-now-takes-on-apple-s-siri-rich-jaroslovsky.html

(Image) Google Now Opens Up To iPhone And iPad Users by Taylor Hatmaker: http://readwrite.com/2013/04/29/google-now-ios-iphone

Google Now for iOS: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know by Karen Tumbokon: http://www.heavy.com/tech/2013/03/google-now-for-ios-5-fast-facts-you-need-to-know/

High-Speed Internet: Is it Still High-Speed?

Posted on by spr1311pfudala

This past week Google announced that they are expanding Google Fiber to Austin, Texas. Google Fiber is Google’s version of high-speed Internet, which can download at up to 1000 Mb per second, and digital cable television service. This is 100 times faster than any other Internet provider. Google Fiber also gives you one terabyte of storage, which can be used to record up to eight HD TV shows simultaneously. Google provides you with a brand new Nexus 7, that you use as a remote to control your TV.

Google Fiber is currently only being provided in Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO. Future cities that will have Google Fiber are Westwood, KS, Westwood Hills, KS, Mission Woods, KS, Kansas City North, MO, and Kansas City South, MO. Google offers three prices for Google Fiber:

Google Fiber Network Box
  • Gigabit + TV: $120/month ($300 construction fee waived)
  • Gigabit Internet: $70/month ($300 construction fee waived)
  • Free Internet (5 Mb): $0/month (for at least seven years) + $300 construction fee

These higher Internet speeds would eliminate those irritating YouTube buffers and would speed up downloading/uploading files. However, are the benefits of Google’s high-speed Internet worth the cost? It is estimated that it cost Google $11 billion to install Google Fiber nationwide, 20 million homes. That comes out to roughly $550 per home. With Google waiving the $300 construction fee, it would take five monthly payments of the highest-priced service, Gigabit + TV, to pay for the installation of Google Fiber to a home. Google would not start making a profit until five months after installing the service to a home. That is a long time to make a profit. This could prevent expansion to other cities.

In order to receive support from city politicians and residents, Google will install Google Fiber to public institutions for free. Hospitals, schools, community centers, and libraries will get Google Fiber installed for free. The rollout of Google Fiber also creates jobs in the Austin area and creates economic growth.

But is Google Fiber really necessary? The current U.S. average Internet speed is 7.2 Mb per second. While 7.2 Mb is not ultra-fast, it is still quite fast. Should Google not be focusing on expanding Internet access globally? Google should focus their Internet operations strategy on providing access to areas where it does not exist. We can wait for Google Fiber until everyone has access to the Internet first.

Should Google be waiving the $300 construction fee? Is this a smart way to gain customers or is Google only increasing its own expenses? Why is Google only expanding Google Fiber from town to town and not expanding nationally at one time? How are other Internet service providers going to compete with Google Fiber and its amazingly fast speed? What would you do with download speeds of up to 1000 Mb per second? Overall, does Google have good product strategy and project management in regards to the rollout of Google Fiber?

Sources

Analyst: Google Will Spend $84M Building Out KC’s Fiber Network To 149K Homes; $11B If It Went Nationwide: http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/08/google-fiber-cost-estimate/

Austin Next City for Ultra-fast Google Fiber: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-04-09/austin-expected-to-be-next-stop-for-google-fiber

Google Fiber: https://fiber.google.com/about/

Google Fiber Expands TV, Internet to Austin, Texas: http://www.abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/04/google-fiber-expands-tv-internet-to-austin-texas

Residents and Businesses Excited for Possibilities Google Fiber Brings: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/residents-excited-for-possibilities-google-fiber-brings

US Internet Speed Lags Behind S. Korea, Latvia: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/science_tech/us-internet-speed-lags-behind-s-korea-latvia