Posts Tagged: google

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20
Sep 08

Google on the future of mobile

Google’s Andy Rubin thinks this of the future of mobile:

  • Smart alerts: Your phone will be smart about your situation and alert you when something needs your attention.
  • Augmented reality: Your phone uses its arsenal of sensors to understand your situation and provide you information that might be useful.
  • Crowd sourcing goes mainstream: Your phone is your omnipresent microphone to the world, a way to publish pictures, emails, texts, Twitters, and blog entries.
  • Sensors everywhere: Your phone knows a lot about the world around you.
  • Tool for development: Your phone may be more than just a convenience, it may be your livelihood.
  • The future-proof device: Your phone will open up, as the Internet already has, so it will be easy for developers to create or improve applications and content.
  • Safer software through trust and verification: Your phone will provide tools and information to empower you to decide what to download, what to see, and what to share.

    Link: The future of mobile (googleblog.blogspot.com)

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10
Sep 08

The future of search

It’s not specifically about mobile, but when Marissa Meyer of Google writes about the future of search it’s worth paying attention.

“So what’s our straightforward definition of the ideal search engine? Your best friend with instant access to all the world’s facts and a photographic memory of everything you’ve seen and know. That search engine could tailor answers to you based on your preferences, your existing knowledge and the best available information; it could ask for clarification and present the answers in whatever setting or media worked best. That ideal search engine could have easily and elegantly quenched my withdrawal and fueled my addiction on Saturday. I’m very proud that Google in its first 10 years has changed expectations around information and how quickly and easily it should be able to be retrieved. But I’m even more excited about what Google search can achieve in the future.”

Link: The future of search (googleblog.blogspot.com)

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26
Jun 08

Android Genesis

July’s Wired tells the story of Android.

“As soon as programmers started playing with the emulator, they saw how big Google’s ambitions were. The company was trying to make programming for a cell phone analogous to programming for a PC or the Web. Coders were told that their applications would have constant access to the Net, not the usual mobile hurry-up-and-wait feel. Working with the cloud — enabling programs to push or pull info to or from the Web — was a must. All Android phones would know where they were at all times, either by tapping into onboard GPS or by cross-referencing cell towers using a proprietary database owned by Google. And applications would be allowed to share information, which at the simplest level meant the kind of copy-and-paste functionality across all programs that cell phones currently lack.”

Link: Google’s Open Source Android OS Will Free the Wireless Web (wired.com)

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29
Feb 08

Why mobile search is different

Scott Jenson, leading Google’s mobile efforts, talks about why mobile search is different.

(for those on the RSS, follow the link for the video)

Link: MEX 2008: Scott Jenson, Google (youtube.com)

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16
Apr 07

Google’s mobile user experience strategy

Stephen Wellman describes the six key elements that Google considers when designing mobile applications. “Understanding users, anywhere, anytime” is one of them:

“Rechis said that Google breaks down mobile users into three behavior groups: A. “Repetitive now” B. “Bored now” C. “Urgent now”

“The “repetitive now” user is someone checking for the same piece of information over and over again, like checking the same stock quotes or weather. Google uses cookies to help cater to mobile users who check and recheck the same data points.

“The “bored now” are users who have time on their hands. People on trains or waiting in airports or sitting in cafes. Mobile users in this behavior group look a lot more like casual Web surfers, but mobile phones don’t offer the robust user input of a desktop, so the applications have to be tailored.

“The “urgent now” is a request to find something specific fast, like the location of a bakery or directions to the airport. Since a lot of these questions are location-aware, Google tries to build location into the mobile versions of these queries.”

Link: Google Lays Out Its Mobile User Experience Strategy (informationweek.com)