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? You could've said that it doesn't have a screen. You could've said that it respects children's attention by not offering distractions on demand. It seems to m

by ridaj 5y ago

? You could've said that it doesn't have a screen. You could've said that it respects children's attention by not offering distractions on demand. It seems to me you can design a smart watch for children with these kinds of characteristics rather than opt out of the exercise altogether.

option_greek 5y ago
And they would probably have passed regardless. No distractions and screens probably means no ads and that's most likely a no no for the former do no evil company.
- ridaj 5y ago
  I suspect that, with their bet on cloud in particular, they're hiring in many places where ads don't matter. Even in the mobile OS world, where ads is eventually where they make some of the money, they have a clear adoption challenge first...
- handrous 5y ago
  You forgot the other thing they love: humanity-scale dragnet surveillance (to feed "the algorithms"). If it can spy on lots and lots and lots of people, they might still be interested.
anshorei 5y ago
But how will you show the kids ads then?
- haliskerbas 5y ago
  Haptic feedback when you get close to the right Cheerios box or Lego set. Some Pavlovian type stuff
  - effingwewt 5y ago
    I quite literally shivered in abject horror at the thought that some advertisng schmuck will read that and jump on it. We need to ban advertising.
    - NaturalPhallacy 5y ago
      You'd love The Santaroga Barrier by Herbert. I typed of this excerpt and have used it countless times: >To those men in their oddly similar dark suits, their cold eyes weighing and dismissing everything, the people of this valley were a foe to be defeated. As he thought of it, Dasein realized all customers were "The Enemy" to these men. Davidson and his kind were pitted against each other, yes, competitive, but among themselves they betrayed that they were pitted more against the masses who existed beyond that inner ring of knowledgeable financial operation. >The alignment was apparent in everything they did, in their words as well as their actions. They spoke of "package grab level" and "container flash time" -- of "puff limit" and "acceptance threshold." It was an "in" language of militarylike maneuvering and combat. They knew which height on a shelf was most apt to make a customer grab an item. They knew the "flash time" -- the shelf width needed for certain containers. They knew how much empty air could be "puffed" into a package to make it appear a greater bargain. they knew how much price and package manipulation the customer would accept without jarring him into a "rejection pattern." >*And we're their spies, Dasein thought. the psychiatrists and psychologists - all the "social scientists" we're the espionage arm. The Santaroga Barrier, Frank Herbert, 1968
  - polynomial 5y ago
    ok, this is the guy we want to hire.
javajosh 5y ago
Those discussions did happen, and I agreed that there was a niche possibility for a product targeted at parents of young children. Maybe. But they didn't want to talk about a niche product (it's Google, after all) and after thinking about it I didn't feel comfortable with the idea at any level - it trains kids and parents to be dependent on tech, trains kids it's okay to be constantly tracked, and while there are undeniable benefits, there are undeniable costs, too. The older the kid gets the more problematic it all becomes.
- m_mueller 5y ago
  As a parent I've actually been thinking about this for a while. These watches are now very common btw, roughly half of the 7-9yo in the neighborhood have em. IMO ~9 should be the minimum age and the tracking should only be activated on press of an emergency button. I haven't yet found a product like that, they tend to give zero control to the kids. Aren't people concerned with their kids learning responsibility?
  - MandieD 5y ago
    I’d love to be able to give my kid something that’s primarily an analog watch but with an “I’m lost/scared” button.
    - polynomial 5y ago
      I feel lost/scared just thinking about this world we have built, with all its perverse incentives.
    - Tijdreiziger 5y ago
      A traditional 'dumb' phone seems to loosely fit this definition.
    - JTbane 5y ago
      Just get a flip phone with a prepaid call/text plan.
  - gnicholas 5y ago

by ridaj 5y ago

option_greek 5y ago

And they would probably have passed regardless. No distractions and screens probably means no ads and that's most likely a no no for the former do no evil company.

ridaj 5y ago
I suspect that, with their bet on cloud in particular, they're hiring in many places where ads don't matter. Even in the mobile OS world, where ads is eventually where they make some of the money, they have a clear adoption challenge first...
handrous 5y ago
You forgot the other thing they love: humanity-scale dragnet surveillance (to feed "the algorithms"). If it can spy on lots and lots and lots of people, they might still be interested.

anshorei 5y ago

But how will you show the kids ads then?

haliskerbas 5y ago
Haptic feedback when you get close to the right Cheerios box or Lego set. Some Pavlovian type stuff
- effingwewt 5y ago
  I quite literally shivered in abject horror at the thought that some advertisng schmuck will read that and jump on it. We need to ban advertising.
  - NaturalPhallacy 5y ago
    You'd love The Santaroga Barrier by Herbert. I typed of this excerpt and have used it countless times: >To those men in their oddly similar dark suits, their cold eyes weighing and dismissing everything, the people of this valley were a foe to be defeated. As he thought of it, Dasein realized all customers were "The Enemy" to these men. Davidson and his kind were pitted against each other, yes, competitive, but among themselves they betrayed that they were pitted more against the masses who existed beyond that inner ring of knowledgeable financial operation. >The alignment was apparent in everything they did, in their words as well as their actions. They spoke of "package grab level" and "container flash time" -- of "puff limit" and "acceptance threshold." It was an "in" language of militarylike maneuvering and combat. They knew which height on a shelf was most apt to make a customer grab an item. They knew the "flash time" -- the shelf width needed for certain containers. They knew how much empty air could be "puffed" into a package to make it appear a greater bargain. they knew how much price and package manipulation the customer would accept without jarring him into a "rejection pattern." >*And we're their spies, Dasein thought. the psychiatrists and psychologists - all the "social scientists" we're the espionage arm. The Santaroga Barrier, Frank Herbert, 1968
- polynomial 5y ago
  ok, this is the guy we want to hire.

javajosh 5y ago

Those discussions did happen, and I agreed that there was a niche possibility for a product targeted at parents of young children. Maybe. But they didn't want to talk about a niche product (it's Google, after all) and after thinking about it I didn't feel comfortable with the idea at any level - it trains kids and parents to be dependent on tech, trains kids it's okay to be constantly tracked, and while there are undeniable benefits, there are undeniable costs, too. The older the kid gets the more problematic it all becomes.

m_mueller 5y ago
As a parent I've actually been thinking about this for a while. These watches are now very common btw, roughly half of the 7-9yo in the neighborhood have em. IMO ~9 should be the minimum age and the tracking should only be activated on press of an emergency button. I haven't yet found a product like that, they tend to give zero control to the kids. Aren't people concerned with their kids learning responsibility?
- MandieD 5y ago
  I’d love to be able to give my kid something that’s primarily an analog watch but with an “I’m lost/scared” button.
  - polynomial 5y ago
    I feel lost/scared just thinking about this world we have built, with all its perverse incentives.
  - Tijdreiziger 5y ago
    A traditional 'dumb' phone seems to loosely fit this definition.
  - JTbane 5y ago
    Just get a flip phone with a prepaid call/text plan.
- gnicholas 5y ago