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Found it strange that some parts of media decided to focus on the semantics of Google and Verily being different subsidiaries of Alphabet. This is an almost mea

• drewbug 7y ago
  google pr team probably asked them to
• koolba 7y ago
  It’s par for the course for the media to flip on any minute detail of a Trump comment that they think will get a rise out of people.
  • anoncareer0212 7y ago
    If I were flippant, I'd say it appears par for the course for you to blame the media for the gov't lying. It's been well-reported that what was said in the conference was far from the truth. See my other comment for details.
  • gethoht 7y ago
    Or maybe the president should be relaying reliable information during a fucking pandemic. But yeah, fake news or something.
• anoncareer0212 7y ago
  Because what was said in the press conference is very, very, very, very, very, different from whats going on inside Google and Verily. Think: someone had an idea for a much, much, more limited in scope project for a very small area _that morning_. Not a nationwide exposure detector somehow built by 1700 engineers to be launched in the next week.
  • vikinghckr 7y ago
    I don't think the President ever mentioned it being next week. Also, see this from Google communication: https://twitter.com/Google_Comms/status/1238989460127338497 https://twitter.com/Google_Comms/status/1238989460127338497 This effort for a nationwide testing website is different from and in addition to what Verily was already doing at a smaller scale in Bay Area (although I imagine there will be lots of overlap and shared code etc.)
    • elliekelly 7y ago
      The President said it would be up on Sunday.
      • res0nat0r 7y ago
        Walmart, CVS and the other companies aren't doing anything yet either. It is all just used car salesmanship yet again. https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1239004910269673472 https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1239004910269673472
      • deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      • vikinghckr 7y ago
        Here's the transcript from the press conference: https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/CmrNxLAP9wohLWALMBfXyQvkqv2aW1mlwzvtsOAah8iUJlJPcRyc2L7Sc-_DjKXnQ8BdWKYeqtITUePAZQRRMdhCfkU?loadFrom=PastedDeeplink&ts=1885.01 https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/CmrNxLAP9wohLWA... I searched for "Sunday" there, and they only mention they'll be able to provide details of when the testing website will be available by Sunday evening. They didn't say the website will go live Sunday.
        • dmix 7y ago
          I could see how someone could get the impression he said it was coming Sunday evening but watching the interview from start to finish it's clear that wasn't a direct response to the question like some people thought it was. Edit: Re-reading the transcript it looks like they only announced the announcement of plans for Sunday? >> Mike Pence: For Americans looking on, by this Sunday evening, we'll be able to give specific guidance on when the website will be available If anything it was the FDA approval of Roche's automated testing ability that was going to happen by Sunday, which was announced today (Saturday) with a 24 hour window [1], and is only one piece of the puzzle. We don't even have a brand name or domain for the "Google site" yet. The only domain he mentioned http://coronavirus.gov http://coronavirus.gov directs to a CDC content site, so it will probably just be via Verily, which only announced a limited SF roll-out so far. The closest thing he gave to a direct response to the website question was a paper was being released after the press conference which outlines their plans. Not sure on the status of that. The Reuters article was last updated 17hrs ago yesterday so it might just be highlighting the press interview, not the paper. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22575661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22575661
• casefields 7y ago
  If Trump said he cured cancer, but the truth was that only a few strains were cured, these same people would literally be upset. This is getting worse than the Bush Derangement Syndrome and all the Obama hate/conspiracies.
  • mindslight 7y ago
    Details matter. And getting some details wrong is fine if you accept criticism with the goal of converging on being correct. Trump rejects the framework of communicating in correct facts, relying on emotional platitudes instead. Running with your example, it's as if Trump is boasting that he has cured cancer, because he knows someone who invested in a company that made a marginal improvement to treatment for one type. And then when asked for clarification, he doubles down on his blunt assertion while making fun of the questioner. If you accept a leader as being an authority, then you're still reassured by this. Everything is under control, because he says so. But if you try to analyze the facts you're hearing to form an independent judgment, he's out to lunch. And it's extremely worrying to hear someone who is not in touch with reality insist that everything is fine, especially when that person is supposed to be responsible.
    • tathougies 7y ago
      > Trump rejects the framework of communicating in correct facts, relying on emotional platitudes instead. Yes, he uses words that people understands. No non-tech, non-finance person would know what alphabet is. Regular americans do not know that Google, Inc (a publicly traded company) decided to change its name to Alphabet Inc (still traded under GOOG though, because apparently this snafu is good enough for the NYSE) and create a new subsidiary named Google, and another called Google Life Sciences which is now known as Verily. Most Americans would simply say 'Google'. There is nothing wrong with a POTUS using words that literally everyone understands. If you understand this, you will understand why Trump won.
      • mindslight 7y ago
        I was addressing the general pattern of why "these same people would literally be upset". In service of converging on the nuanced truth, I do agree that the specific of conflating Google and associated entities isn't a particularly big deal. The suspect bit here is the claim of "1700 people working on it", which doesn't add up no matter how you try to slice it. It obviously doesn't take that many people to make a website. It doesn't even take that many people to scale a website, given the modern options available. I think the most plausible explanation is trying to claim entire departments responsible for the infrastructure that will be used, but they're still not "working" on it. Regardless of how the figure could possibly be justified, it doesn't have any purpose in the speech besides conveying a feeling of big/strong/powerful - ie an emotional platitude. I do understand why Trump won. I personally have been quite tolerant of Trump, chalking most of the outrage up to differences in taste, and trying to explain this to others. That is, tolerant up until now when we're three weeks behind with our society's coronavirus response, and he's still spouting ineffectual bullshit.
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• bluk 7y ago
  The key quote in the Verge article is: "Carolyn Wang, communications lead for Verily, told The Verge that the “triage website” was initially only going to be made available to health care workers instead of the general public. Now that it has been announced the way it was, however, anybody will be able to visit it, she said. But the tool will only be able to direct people to “pilot sites” for testing in the Bay Area, though Wang says Verily hopes to expand it beyond California “over time.”" From https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21179118/google-coronavirus-testing-screening-website-drive-thru-covid-19 https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21179118/google-coronavir... From this quote and the behavior of Google's communications team (whether Google or Verily), you can assume that Google/Verily were caught off guard by the announcement of Google's involvement. Whether it was Google's original intent or not, it seems Google is trying to make the best of the situation now.
  • appleshore 7y ago
    I feel like this debate is analogous to the test kits being rejected from 3rd parties, if that’s what happened. We’re lost in bureaucratic technicalities. Verily was a division of Google X before Alphabet. It’s effectively Google Life Sciences minus the corporate advantages of the Alphabet structure. Maybe Kushner or the President wanted to encourage Google, or maybe a speechwriter over exaggerated it. Or maybe the President lied. But when the media ultra parses the controversy to make every element the nth degree worse for him, it makes it hard to believe in objectivity at all.
    • sdenton4 7y ago
      ...or maybe trump heard something in a briefing and said what he thought he understood, instead of what he'd been told. And without, you know, coordinating or having the speech fact checked before delivering it to millions of people. The dude doesn't do process... See also, walking back the "no trade with Europe" thing a few days ago. He doesn't get a lot of slack (outside the right wing machine) because he's repeatedly foot-gunned in dramatic and damaging ways.
      • appleshore 7y ago
• tootie 7y ago
  Because it's yet another detail that he's gotten wrong and shows that he's not paying attention. He made several incorrect statements about who is building the site, how many people are working on it, when it will be ready and who the target audience is. It's been a valve of mistakes this week that just show he isn't treating this seriously.
  • mandelbrotwurst 7y ago
    ...or that he's incompetent to the point of not being able to receive, process and relay information with any degree of reliability. Pick your poison I guess.
    • aguyfromnb 7y ago
      Last time I was reprimanded for making this point on these forums, but I'll say it again: If you think a guy with a 40+ year career in the cut-throat New York real estate world, then in in media and entertainment world, culminating in the Presidency of the USA, can't "process or transmit information", it might be you with the issue. You can mock "Art of the Deal" all you want, but it's not possible to be that "lucky". I wouldn't call what he's doing 4d-chess by any means, but everything he does or says is filtered for his base and/or for self-preservation.
      • jmull 7y ago
        Did you watch the address Wednesday night? And how many critical points had to be corrected afterward? That’s fully incompetent transmition of information.
        • aguyfromnb 7y ago
          >Did you watch the address Wednesday night? And how many critical points had to be corrected afterward? Yes. Sounds like the system is working as intended. Do you understand the pace at which things are happening right now (much of it the administration's own fault)? It isn't "just" a virus; they are also concerned about the economy and an election and an opposition (and media) who will blow every mis-step out of proportion. It doesn't matter what Trump does, the media says it's bad. Always. Remember when he was racist for restricting flights from China early on? And right now I'd bet they don't have a plan (again, their own fault). The press conference was a disaster, I agree. Trump looked legit ill. Based on that you determine he can't process information? Your priors mean nothing?
• balls187 7y ago
  Accurate information is critical at this juncture. The news outlets should be holding the president's feet to the fire and demanding accountability.
• cavisne 7y ago
  Tech media knows the average person doesn’t understand the whole Alphabet/Google thing (and lets be honest in 2020 no one really understands it as the founders have left and Sundar is CEO of both ). So they make a deliberate decision to induce fear and anger in their audience, for clicks. They hate you!
  • animalnewbie 7y ago
    Truly the enemy of the people.
  • lawrenceyan 7y ago
    Hate is a strong word. I think the media understands that in our present day world, they live or die by the number of clicks they can get. Journalistic integrity in that kind of environment is understandably difficult to ensure. People will no longer pay for a subscription to the news in the numbers that used to be feasible in the past. This is a fact, and with it comes a set of a consequences we as a society have to come to terms with. Instead of pointing fingers, I think it's more important that we try and focus on finding solutions to the problem.
• thepangolino 7y ago
  I saw an article from Verge doing that. It was so cringe. I blamed it on someone there wanting to hop on the “orange man bad” bandwagon.
• jmull 7y ago
  Because the guy’s been spewing incorrect information about the response for weeks. A lot of that incorrect information is very high stakes. This inconsequential detail just came along for the ride. If I were you I’d be extremely concerned with the slipshod handling of this. A lot of lives are at stake.
• cheez 7y ago
  Orange man bad.
• Grimm1 7y ago
  I mean it was enough of a difference that a lot of Googlers were confused by it too. That said, I hear the internal memes this spawned are on point.
• thawaway1837 7y ago
  Very few of the media seemed to focus on that. They largely seemed to focus on the fact that the Verily plans were nothing like described in the speech.
• Reedx 7y ago
  It's so disingenuous. Almost everyone refers to Alphabet as Google, even on HN. We all know this, right? You can find endless examples if not. And most people outside of HN or tech don't even know what Alphabet is. It's very much thought of as "Google". Ridiculous that people are suddenly pretending otherwise.