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Ask HN: Does anyone care anymore what Google demos in IO?
They'll release something only to kill it a few months later. Is anyone taking Google IO seriously?
- ppetty 4y agoI think it’s good to be aware of their software advances, but most of the hardware reveals really demonstrated the amount of time needed to copy competitors’ designs (with a few exceptions).
- GoOnThenDoTell 4y ago10 ways we ruined your search results in 2022
- seattle_spring 4y agoYou won't believe #3!
- texasbigdata 4y agoMore ads! Now more indistinguishable than ever!
- pinewurst 4y agoNot me - low bidder hardware that’s not exactly worldshaking? (Oooh Google Pixel Watch!) Services of low interest and even lower lifespan? Handwaving about their respect for their users/infofodder? Maybe if I was in SEO or ads, I’d care because that’d be my business…
- notananthem 4y agoLMAO I was greenlit to attend in.. 2013? 2014? as I worked in public education and got a free chromebook pixel. Neat hardware kinda. Played with google glasses but everything was boring.
- enos_feedler 4y agoI was there too and those were actually the good days. You felt like Google was building the internet
- parasense 4y agoI kinda do care, but this year it seems they removed the headphone from their so-called "affordable" phone, the Pixel 6a. Call me old fashioned, but I very much do still use wired headphones, especially when doing yard work, or whatever physical exercise, or connecting to any of my analog audio gear. The phone is a convergence device, and so walking away from audio convergence is a big mistake IMHO. As far as the watch goes, I'm curious, it could be compelling if it surpases the Samsung watch, and we just assume is beats anything by fitbit. A new tablet might be nice, and correct me if wrong but it feels like Android abandoned the tablet market, right? So it's nice to see them getting back in the game.
- rob74 4y agoWell, they (and most other smartphone makers) "converged" all interfaces into USB-C. I personally use wireless headphones, but is using a USB-C-to-headphone-plug adapter (which you usually get with the phone) really that much of a hassle?
- hot_gril 4y agoYes it is. Mine is never there when I need it, and it doesn't even work right sometimes.
- tpxl 4y agoUSB-C ports actually have to support audio (ie be plugged into a DAC). My wife has a phone with a USB-C port that gives a helpful message that it wont work without an official adapter if you plug in a rando USB-C - 3.5mm adapter. So yeah, fuck USB-C, it's a hassle.
- Dracophoenix 4y agoXperias still have a headphone jack, but just like anything made by Sony, you're going to pay quite a bit for it.
- SwiftyBug 4y agoI love Xperias design. But my experience with one was terrible. It came with a snapdragon processor that the phone couldn't properly cool down so if I had the camera app opened for more than 30 seconds, I'd get an alert saying that the app had to be automatically closed due to high temperature.
- HomeGear 4y agoNo. Google’s hardware is lackluster, their services come and go and are bloated with telemetry, their search is worse than ever, there’s no live customer support person to talk with in the event of a problem, and there’s no unified vision. Engineering is good, leadership is abysmal.
- nullgeo 4y agoEvery year I scan through their Google I/O website to see if anything catches my eyes, not many things they're presenting catch my eyes. I did look at Flutter 3, but probably won't try it out. And the Google hardware ecosystem just does not appeal to me.
- lodovic 4y agoOnly the Chromecast is interesting, but that is really becoming less and less every day due to their aggressive advertising.
- rightbyte 4y agoI am still pissed off since buying a Chromecast just to realize there was no way to watch videos on a harddrive on the home network.
- ngrost24 4y agoYou might want to check Videostream for Chromecast ? There's both a mobile app that links to your PC and also a desktop app. Last time I checked, VLC also allowed casting of videos on your PC(although iirc was more iffy with subtitles, etc) though not sure if there's mobile support, and I believe there are also other paid apps that can be used to cast videos. If you're referring to seeing videos directly from a hard drive without a PC, a TV with usb support should take care of that (long time ago, I had even a Bluray player that had usb and was used in similar fashion to cast videos from a usb flash drive)
- 4y ago
- remus 4y agoYes. I think hn can be a bit of a bubble sometimes. AlloyDB looks cool, for example. Also interesting to see what's coming up in new Android releases given it's the OS with the most users in the world.
- nitinreddy88 4y agoAlloyDB is nothing but their own forked version of Postgres with some improvements. Neither it's open source nor up-streamed to validate their claims. Android/iOS releases for past 4 years, you can simply skip and you don't notice any changes in Visual/New Features/Performance aspect
- remus 4y ago> AlloyDB is nothing but their own forked version of Postgres with some improvements. Neither it's open source nor up-streamed to validate their claims. They're claiming a 4x speed up over stock postgres for transactional workloads. Given that postgres is a very mature and performant DB already I think that's pretty friggin incredible! Im not sure which parts of it you'd expect them to open source, given that it's basically a carefully designed + built storage layer which I imagine is pretty closely tied to GCPs internals. If you wanted to validate their claims you could always start up an instance and run your own tests.
- tentacleuno 4y ago> Android/iOS releases for past 4 years, you can simply skip and you don't notice any changes in Visual/New Features/Performance aspect Oh c'mon, that's not fair. There have been monumental leaps forward in security, performance, design and pretty much everything else on Android at least. The design has been radically updated in 12 too, which is nice to see (even if some bits broke my workflow). There's a fine balancing act with this: Change too little, and people call the OS old and legacy software; change too much, and you've broken a lot of people's workflow(s) and expectations of the OS. They really can't win either way.
- blhack 4y agoWhat ever happened to that natural language thing they demoed a few years ago that could call up a restaurant and get you reservations and stuff? That was so cool.
- mvkel 4y agoIt was entirely vaporware. The demo was on rails/fabricated.
- umeshunni 4y agoHuh? I used it last week to make a reservation.
- mvkel 4y agoWow, TIL! Thanks for the correction. They definitely aren't shouting it from the rooftops!
- endisneigh 4y agoSo much misinformation on here lol… you can literally use it now.
- rpdillon 4y agoAvailable in 49 states (not Louisiana) and a host of countries other than the U.S. https://www.androidauthority.com/what-is-google-duplex-869476/ https://www.androidauthority.com/what-is-google-duplex-86947...
- hyperdimension 4y agoNot Louisiana? That's a strange exception.
- californical 4y agoYeah, that was probably the last year that I was interested in Google’s products. I couldn’t believe how awesome that demo was, it really felt like the future. But then the features that we actually got were huge letdowns. And I just kinda…stopped caring, and started asking questions about privacy concerns, and ultimately moved off of Google entirely.
- livinglist 4y ago
- julianpye 4y agoIn 2013 I was at I/O, when Larry Page stood on stage and allowed questions from the audience. It was enlightening and he gave a clear vision of the future. I have no idea what Sundar Pichai stands for. He still seems like someone working below a CEO improving a range of products. It's apt, because he is a bit like Tim Cook, both focused on a diversified organisation and an engine to pop out improvements. I miss the big visions and the clear picture. We only get that from Elon Musk and I wish we had a few visionaries as counterweight against him.
- tomcam 4y agoOnly if they demo real customer service
- starik36 4y agoAll the shenanigans with their AI (or policies) closing people's accounts on YouTube or Gmail or whatever, that results in livelihoods ruined, kind of turned me off of anything Google.
- sshine 4y agoFor me it was the tracking and the advertising. But realising that it’s more likely to get permanently locked out of Gmail than someone hacks my domain also made me switch from Gmail.
- hit8run 4y agoThey are in a weird spot of being a privacy invading company that creates products to protect your privacy.
- sshlocalhost98 4y agoHahaha that’s true.
- uuyi 4y agoNope. Someone else already announced what they’re doing at least a year before and also, it’s Google, who don’t have a good reputation among colleagues and friends. We all have our own Google horror stories that invoke disinterest in their products and services.
- roydivision 4y agoGoogle develop products for three reasons : a) To maintain (and hopefully increase) ad revenue, their cash cow. b) To attempt to diversify from this single source of income. Except this will never happen, nothing will ever come close to the income ads generate for them. They know this, but they have to look like they’re trying, both internally and externally. c) To create a false sense with the masses that they are a cutting edge technology company, to maintain the Google brand and thus keep people using Search. This includes things like Google Glass, silly natural language toys, self driving cars, etc. None of these things are even intended for mass production / consumption. Google IO is merely a showcase for these technology throw-aways, nothing more.
- tdubhro1 4y agoI’d suggest they care less about new products diversifying income and more about new products making them look diversified and less like a monopoly. That is the logic behind changing their name to “Alphabet”, distract from their utter dominance in search. Their only real fear and existential threat is from the govt doing an antitrust on them and forcing a breakup, hence it’s worth a few billion every year to keep that wolf from the door.
- roydivision 4y agoThis is a great point, I agree. I’d add, if they are serious, Google need also to fear disruption from an as yet unknown source. This has killed many a dominant company, and by its nature difficult to predict and safeguard against.
- tdubhro1 4y agoI agree that disruption is the other major threat, which they also pour billions into via acquisitions and VC activities. My guess though is that the possibility of govt action is what really scares them, and most of the tech elite. You can tell when Google realised this by noting that they went from spending almost nothing on lobbying to spending quite a lot (coinciding roughly with their transition from “don’t be evil” to “c’mon, man, be real “) It’s not that long ago that Microsoft was facing the very real possibility of antitrust, so it’s very much something leaders of tech companies have a duty (to shareholders) to defend against.
- NetOpWibby 4y agoGoogle being a major pusher of RCS is hurting its adoption IMO. How does RCS help their bottom line, which is advertising? There’s no reason to believe they won’t abandon it at some point.
- fmajid 4y agoEven more than the fact it's warmed-over telco garbage?
- NetOpWibby 4y agoWell yeah, that too.
- fmajid 4y agoNo. Google is intrinsically untrustworthy.
- bobsmooth 4y agoI was delighted to see they added more languages to Google Translate. And auto-translate in chat apps is really cool.
- marban 4y agoIt was great in the early days of AppEngine but now, even keeping up with the changelog of GCP has turned into a full-time job.
- rg111 4y agoI do not care about the Google IO. But my reasons are far from everyone else's. I work in ML. And if there's any thing that is cool and/or I should care about, it always trickles down to me within some weeks.
- visarga 4y agoThey actually do decent work in ML but don't share their models and can't use those models in products because of their large size. So it's little to see.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y agoHow else will you find out what this years new messaging app will be?
- thatgerhard 4y agoNo, They can't seem to guarantee that the new tech I start learning today will still be around in a year... the rate at which they kill products and services is just frustrating and I'll skip, thanks.
- coldtea 4y agoNot really.
- hot_gril 4y agoGoogle disappoints me. They've got a bunch of talented engineers who IMO are the most ethical you'd find in FAANG, but from the very top their leadership has no passion. The founders recently ditched. The CEO has maybe done a lot, but he's never _said_ anything consequential, and that matters just as much. The only clear direction I've seen has been the infamous "frustrate and seduce" tactic mentioned by a YouTube head. I refuse to believe that this show of gadgetry is just to keep regulators away. I think they're really trying to find their next thing, but the lack of drive is making everything cost so much that they abandon each time. Sometimes it's working out, though. The Chromebook has so far been a success in schools. And a lot of the smaller features mentioned at I/O are real and impressive.
- tmaly 4y agoWhen you get that big, the legal department takes over and has to double check every spoken word and decision that is made.
- LoveMortuus 4y agoI do care, because I find it interesting, while I am sceptical if they are really capable of doing everything that they say, I still find it very interesting, which is why I always watch the entire full version of the event. I know that in the past five years or so it has become very hip and cool to hate on Google and other bigger-then-some-countries companies, but I still try to be positive and thus focus on the positive. While the negative does have its function, it is best to avoid it unless it's requested, same goes for hobbies, if someone asks you what you think about their hobby or the thing that they're working on, just be positive and give negative side only if they asked for it, because in many cases just giving people the negative or even just asking what's the point can have a really negative effect on them and their hobby, even if that wasn't what you intended to do. It is true that human experience comes from inside, but we're all vulnerable some times.
- altdataseller 4y agoI mean, I care about what they demo more than whatever FB demos in that conference they have every year.
- endisneigh 4y agoWhich companies do you care about?
- pru567 4y ago[flagged]
- throwaway29303 4y agoIt depends on what they demo. I'm very much interested in their Quantum AI stuff.
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y agoHow else would you find out what products they'll discontinue in 6-36 months?
- tmaly 4y agoI would be interested to see if they do something with the metaverse. I mean google glass was ahead of its time.
- atc 4y ago