Ingress proves once again: Google gets its users
imtheirwebguy.com
imtheirwebguy.com
Well, yes, that may be true. But the important thing to keep in mind is that you aren't losing anything here. Yes, Google may be using your GPS data to improve its maps. But that doesn't mean you are having any less fun playing the game because of it.
This is, I think, one of the things that's deeply fundamental to Google's culture and really great about the company: Google is always looking for non-zero sum solutions. Where many companies think, "What's the most I can take from my customers to make us money?" Google thinks, "How can we maximize the sum of both us and our users?"
Look at ads, for example. Where many sites are constantly playing, "what's the most ads I can cram into my site before people start leaving?", Google is thinking "how can we make the ads as relevant as possible so that users actually want them to be there?"
It's kind of embarrassing how much of a fanboy I sound like these days, but I've just been endlessly impressed with their innovation.
As a side note, it was really awesome seeing something I wrote posted on HN. I feel like a real boy now.
That they would use 'Ingress' to update Map information is right up there in terms of cleverness. You get to play an engaging game, they get (in the large) lots of valuable data about where things are exactly, and to some extent how their gear reports things relative to where they really are. So if you can recognize that this particular street has crappy GPS you can fill in by translating what you're seeing from the AGPRS chip and make it seem like it is right on the money.
Well played Google, well played.
Really? First this answer has been known since the MySpace days at least -- and quite likely before then. Remember Google bought Orkut?
Google+ was more of a reaction against Facebook than some holistic answer to some problem that no one else could forsee. It was more like, "Google late to the game with a competitor that no one wants to use".
You can call it a reaction to Facebook, etc all you want but that doesn't disprove the author's statement.
Social signaling was never included in search results until Google+ came along.
Personally, I love seeing items in my search results that people in my Circles have shared on Twitter or Google+.
Google did not invent email conversations. Most email clients worth their salt could sort email based on thread since at least 1999/2000 (and also before that I only started using computers around that time).
Gmail did it differently and was considered innovative. Some people who had always used threaded readers hated and still hate it. Other people like it better, or never used the old way.
There's an invite thread there, and secret item codes. Also, +google on a request on G+.
https://plus.google.com/109471940039062886080/posts/5ZBXzZmh...
Anyway, in my case, the decision had several reasons. As far as the narrative goes I sided with Resistance, but thougth to myself: hell, it's time for a change. There was also a little bit of "transhumanists vs. bioconservatives" orangecat mentioned, and then maybe a little bit of: a) I got an invitation from a Resistance guy so I thougth going to the other team will be more fun, and b) I have small negative feelings toward Ada (because of the overblown popularity of A. Lovelace) and small positive feelings for Jarvis (AI from Iron Man movies!) :).