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Comment by rryan | Hacker News Reader

Most of these are passive notifications -- i.e. they don't ping you they're just there in your notification bar (or if you swipe up to start the Google Now app).

In some cases, it makes sense for some of these to be notifications that ping you. I want my phone to remind me if I need to leave right now to make my next meeting.

Finally, you can configure each individual card provider to be on or off so if you don't like a particular type of card, just don't use it.

I'm excited to see if they will provide an API for this. I would love to write custom card providers so that I can get ambient notifications of things happening in my world (e.g. the build is broken on an OSS project I run, a motion sensor in my house was triggered, etc.)

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So this looks similar to the Local Scout that Windows Phone added a couple of years ago. Of course that was limited only to places.

Features like these are nice "demo" features. These make great ads but does it really get used in real life?

It was pretty neat for me today. When I woke up my phone told me it would take approximately 18 minutes to get to work given current traffic conditions. As the work day was ending I got a card saying about the same amount of time getting back - though by the time I left the timer had increased to about 30 minutes.

I like this a lot, if there is an accident or something I'll notice via this card and potentially avoid it. Great potential here.

Sorry, is it out, or is it part of another App?

I attempted to look for it on the Play Store this morning but I could not see it.

It's part of Android Jelly Bean which is available to Googlers and Google I/O attendees.

I used it three times today for the cards alone. Gave me ETA for getting home, the bus for getting downtown and the weather when it was about to rain.

That wasn't counting the times I used it for the regular voice actions.

and what were your impressions?

It was nice, but I'm not one of those "OMG Siri is the best thing ever" people. I'm the guy that upgraded to ICS... 6 months+ ago and I still unlock my phone, swipe to the other screen and tap the Camera icon instead of unlocking to the left. I have familiar usage patterns.

The extra info is "nice". That's how I would describe it. For those that like Siri, this is going to be up their alley. The natural voice recognition isn't as good as Siri's and there are some bits missing (I still freaking can't say "Navigate home" to get directions home, even though I can say "Navigate to McDonald's" and be launched into turn-by-turn).

I think in a few months or even when they release next month it will be capable of what Siri can do and will also have the intelligence to give you that info ahead of time.

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