Very misleading title. The predictive power of this sounds really impressive, but utterly useless. I don't have alternative routes if there's traffic, and if there is, I already know what my options are, because I drive it every day. (coincidentaly this morning I was followed by one of google's white lexus self driving cars, with its silly spinny thing on top making it look like an attempt at being a TARDIS, although it was self-driving (it said so on the rear bumper), the driver was clearly driving it.)
I feel like Google Now will just take much of the fun out of life. If I want to see a movie, it's not exactly hard to look it up or walk down to the theater. Buying a ticket on Fandango is pointless, my movie theater has people selling tickets and completely unused machines right next to them. I also use the machine because there's never a line. I don't want to go into a restaurant and have google pick what I should order!
The only useful integration technology I have found useful recently was Passbook. I bought a United ticket on my smartphone which issued a Passbook boarding card when I checked in. I walked through SFO in about 15 minutes from curb to sitting on the plane, waving my iPhone at scanners along the way. Even when I changed my return flight the Passbook info changed dynamically with information and my boarding 'card'.
I am happy to pick my own restaurants, I enjoy looking on Yelp and making my own mind up. I don't want to go to the place that has paid google the most for ads, or who has hired the most fake reviewers. I have my own mind and I'm happy to use it.
Maps, Email, Search, all wonderful innovations from google, they have revolutionized these areas, but I still want to think for myself once in a while.
It's not that you don't think for yourself. You just move up the ladder a notch - now you are in symbiosis with Google and instead of doing the low level work you do the high level work. You can still enjoy life just as much in different ways.
The same kind of argument has been brought by people against cars, telephones and recordings. "I like to walk on my own feet, or ride a horse." "I like to speak to people face to face, not on that contraption." "I prefer to play the song on the piano, no need to use recordings!"
And especially agains Google Search & Wikipedia - many have voiced that we have become generalists and don't remember anything anymore, instead relying on Google to bring information to us all day long. Well, instead of learning dates and places and APIs by heart, we learn to efficiently search for them on Google. It's like meta-learning vs direct-learning, it's not worse, just one level up on the abstraction ladder.
I do prefer to walk, and I do prefer face to face. I am not against technology, in fact quite the opposite, I am just against useless technology like this.
I feel like Google Now will just take much of the fun out of life. If I want to see a movie, it's not exactly hard to look it up or walk down to the theater. Buying a ticket on Fandango is pointless, my movie theater has people selling tickets and completely unused machines right next to them. I also use the machine because there's never a line. I don't want to go into a restaurant and have google pick what I should order!
The only useful integration technology I have found useful recently was Passbook. I bought a United ticket on my smartphone which issued a Passbook boarding card when I checked in. I walked through SFO in about 15 minutes from curb to sitting on the plane, waving my iPhone at scanners along the way. Even when I changed my return flight the Passbook info changed dynamically with information and my boarding 'card'.
I am happy to pick my own restaurants, I enjoy looking on Yelp and making my own mind up. I don't want to go to the place that has paid google the most for ads, or who has hired the most fake reviewers. I have my own mind and I'm happy to use it.
Maps, Email, Search, all wonderful innovations from google, they have revolutionized these areas, but I still want to think for myself once in a while.