4 ms·

Google does plenty of stuff well, but what's their last big exciting new product or even new feature? Bard is good but they're chasing OpenAI. Same story with t

by TillE 3y ago

Google does plenty of stuff well, but what's their last big exciting new product or even new feature? Bard is good but they're chasing OpenAI. Same story with the Pixel phones and Samsung. Or YouTube Shorts and Tiktok. It all seems directionless or stagnant, like the bad old days of Microsoft.

utopcell 3y ago
Do you mean, Google is one CEO change away from turning it around, like Microsoft did ?
- throwup238 3y ago
  More like Sundar is one bad conference away from a viral video of him running around on stage covered in sweat yelling "Shareholders! Shareholders! Shareholders!"
  - vineyardmike 3y ago
    Google is mostly owned by Larry and Sergey, so as long as they’re happy, nothing can be done. And they can have that discussion in private. Sundar just needs to smile through any conference and keep going. My guess is that he’ll say some off color on a hot mic or email leak. Considering his lack of effort in addressing Caste issues at Google… that’s possibly an issue. Could be antitrust stuff too. He’s been in hot water lately.
parineum 3y ago
> Same story with the Pixel phones and Samsung Market share wise but not feature wise. Everyone is chasing them in regards to photo quality.
- solardev 3y ago
  A bit out of the loop here... who are you saying has the better photo quality now, Pixel or Samsung?
  - kajecounterhack 3y ago
    I think they're saying Pixel is leading everyone in still image quality. Pixel is assuredly NOT leading in video recording quality though. And the overall package still matters: for example X% superiority in still photos didn't make up for Pixel 6 having a very small photo buffer / a slow camera startup speed. Didn't make up for lens cracking issues in Pixel 7. iPhone just works.
Erratic6576 3y ago
The only exciting announcements from Google are the discontinuation of services
kajecounterhack 3y ago
Google Photos was pretty great. But yeah, Google is a utility company to me at this point. Search, Maps, GSuite, Chromecast, YouTube: it'd be nice if they could keep the things we use running and charge a reasonable price. Why is the Chromecast with Google TV still using such underpowered hardware?!
paxys 3y ago
Every large tech company does one or two things extremely well and prints money from them and then has a hundred other efforts that range from terrible to middling. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon...they are all the same in this regard. When was the last time any of them truly innovated?
- utopcell 3y ago
  Waymo.
- pb7 3y ago
  Apple Vision Pro.
  - jamedjo 3y ago
    So late to the VR headset market they thought they needed to stick googly eyes on it... dunno maybe I'm missing something?
    - Nevermark 3y ago
      It instantly changed how I work. Seems like a lasting change. I sit on my couch with a MacBook Air (very couch friendly) developing with many screens of relevant info arranged around me. A mundane but profound benefit of “spatial computing” is no longer having visual information limited to the “keyholes” of hardware screens. Apple seems to get that the Vision Pro wants to be a Mac replacement, not an iPad replacement. Counterintuitively, the stereo 3D is the secondary benefit. Albeit a natural and significant one. Everything in Vision works with both see-pinch and track/mouse click. Hoping see-pinch comes to Mac screen in Vision, or simply Mac becomes redundant.
    - pb7 3y ago
      >dunno maybe I'm missing something? Yeah, vision.
- david_allison 3y ago
  Metaverse?
QuinnyPig 3y ago
Apparently they’re killing / renaming Bard, because Google gonna Google. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/google-reportedly-rebranding-bard-to-gemini-adding-advanced-subscription-service/ar-BB1hOJw3 https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/google-reportedly-rebr...
- pb7 3y ago
  Like Microsoft killed Bing AI? I mean, renamed it to Copilot? Oh wait, Copilot already existed but for code. Wait, merged? Or is it the same thing? Hmmm... acquired and killed and rebirthed with a crappy new UI? Who fucking knows but Google gonna Google!
- gtirloni 3y ago
  Bard is a horrible name though. Poet? Horse ornament? It's close to Bardo which is the stage after death and before rebirth. Gemini is much more neutral and easy to work with. Like Alexa or Siri.
  - Erratic6576 3y ago
    Gemini because of the two opposite faces: one looking towards you; the other one, towards the NSA
    - sigilis 3y ago
      That would have been Janus. Gemini are twins, which represents all of your data being copied I guess.
      - gtirloni 3y ago
        ROFL, thanks for that.

by TillE 3y ago

utopcell 3y ago

Do you mean, Google is one CEO change away from turning it around, like Microsoft did ?

throwup238 3y ago
More like Sundar is one bad conference away from a viral video of him running around on stage covered in sweat yelling "Shareholders! Shareholders! Shareholders!"
- vineyardmike 3y ago
  Google is mostly owned by Larry and Sergey, so as long as they’re happy, nothing can be done. And they can have that discussion in private. Sundar just needs to smile through any conference and keep going. My guess is that he’ll say some off color on a hot mic or email leak. Considering his lack of effort in addressing Caste issues at Google… that’s possibly an issue. Could be antitrust stuff too. He’s been in hot water lately.

parineum 3y ago

> Same story with the Pixel phones and Samsung Market share wise but not feature wise. Everyone is chasing them in regards to photo quality.

solardev 3y ago
A bit out of the loop here... who are you saying has the better photo quality now, Pixel or Samsung?
- kajecounterhack 3y ago
  I think they're saying Pixel is leading everyone in still image quality. Pixel is assuredly NOT leading in video recording quality though. And the overall package still matters: for example X% superiority in still photos didn't make up for Pixel 6 having a very small photo buffer / a slow camera startup speed. Didn't make up for lens cracking issues in Pixel 7. iPhone just works.

Erratic6576 3y ago

The only exciting announcements from Google are the discontinuation of services

kajecounterhack 3y ago

Google Photos was pretty great. But yeah, Google is a utility company to me at this point. Search, Maps, GSuite, Chromecast, YouTube: it'd be nice if they could keep the things we use running and charge a reasonable price. Why is the Chromecast with Google TV still using such underpowered hardware?!

paxys 3y ago

Every large tech company does one or two things extremely well and prints money from them and then has a hundred other efforts that range from terrible to middling. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon...they are all the same in this regard. When was the last time any of them truly innovated?

utopcell 3y ago
Waymo.
pb7 3y ago
Apple Vision Pro.
- jamedjo 3y ago
  So late to the VR headset market they thought they needed to stick googly eyes on it... dunno maybe I'm missing something?
  - Nevermark 3y ago
    It instantly changed how I work. Seems like a lasting change. I sit on my couch with a MacBook Air (very couch friendly) developing with many screens of relevant info arranged around me. A mundane but profound benefit of “spatial computing” is no longer having visual information limited to the “keyholes” of hardware screens. Apple seems to get that the Vision Pro wants to be a Mac replacement, not an iPad replacement. Counterintuitively, the stereo 3D is the secondary benefit. Albeit a natural and significant one. Everything in Vision works with both see-pinch and track/mouse click. Hoping see-pinch comes to Mac screen in Vision, or simply Mac becomes redundant.
  - pb7 3y ago
    >dunno maybe I'm missing something? Yeah, vision.
david_allison 3y ago
Metaverse?

QuinnyPig 3y ago

Apparently they’re killing / renaming Bard, because Google gonna Google. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/google-reportedly-rebranding-bard-to-gemini-adding-advanced-subscription-service/ar-BB1hOJw3 https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/google-reportedly-rebr...

pb7 3y ago
Like Microsoft killed Bing AI? I mean, renamed it to Copilot? Oh wait, Copilot already existed but for code. Wait, merged? Or is it the same thing? Hmmm... acquired and killed and rebirthed with a crappy new UI? Who fucking knows but Google gonna Google!
gtirloni 3y ago
Bard is a horrible name though. Poet? Horse ornament? It's close to Bardo which is the stage after death and before rebirth. Gemini is much more neutral and easy to work with. Like Alexa or Siri.
- Erratic6576 3y ago
  Gemini because of the two opposite faces: one looking towards you; the other one, towards the NSA
  - sigilis 3y ago
    That would have been Janus. Gemini are twins, which represents all of your data being copied I guess.
    - gtirloni 3y ago
      ROFL, thanks for that.