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Google I/O 2021

96 points| mfrw | 4 years ago |events.google.com

64 comments

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[+] actuator|4 years ago|reply
I am really intrigued to see how this will work. https://health.google/health-research/imaging-and-diagnostic...

For me at least, minor dermatological issues have been something that I feel lazy enough(also a bit conscious) to not go to a dermatologist about. If there is something that can quickly help me figure out any OTC solution to it or some home remedy, I would love that.

[+] gordon_freeman|4 years ago|reply
From their Keynote today I definitely saw the renewed focus on their mission: "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". The new features introduced in Translation, Search, Photos and Health diagnosis along with that cool feature to search/find a specific clip within a video etc. by utilizing AI and ML at scale is pretty good.
[+] spurgu|4 years ago|reply
Project Starline looks incredible. Wonder if it'll be affordable/viable for consumers.
[+] ruffrey|4 years ago|reply
It is a very cool idea. Also seems possible to DIY in a less tech advanced way.

Eye contact seems like the hurdle for making it feel real. With a screen that large, it may feel like someone is looking below the head, which may feel off.

[+] AtlasBarfed|4 years ago|reply
So... it's 8k, a big display ... ok I see they are doing something with depth modeling. Is that kinda like a 3d tv then?
[+] ortusdux|4 years ago|reply
The new UI overhaul looks interesting:

https://www.theverge.com/22439777/android-12-design-features...

The privacy changes are a step in the right direction.

[+] Forbo|4 years ago|reply
Here's hoping the privacy stuff is present in AOSP and not dependent on Play Services.
[+] officeplant|4 years ago|reply
Haven't heard much positive feedback from other people testing 12 on their pixels when it comes to the UI changes. I'm still kinda on the fence but a lot could change by release. The privacy changes seem to be the only benefit to 12 so far personally. Which of course makes it worth the move.
[+] rkagerer|4 years ago|reply
The new Material stuff feels to me like a gimmick. Basically just color skins on your screen the same way you can pick your own skin for your phone case.

Sure, people will use it, but it's not very clever and won't make anyone more productive.

[+] Hammershaft|4 years ago|reply
you know, on some level I enjoy the abstract graphic design in this UI change, but I get the sense this resembles a kind of fast fashion more than genuine progress towards better UI design.

(Not that the iphone is any different here, if anything, apple often seems to move further from their professed design principles to pursue a kind of tech fashion.)

[+] pjmlp|4 years ago|reply
Apparently Tizen and Wear OS are merging, curious to see what it means in practice.

Regarding Android, the usual kind of keynote as if everyone would be getting the last Android version.

[+] moshmosh|4 years ago|reply
So true. I remember how big a bummer Android keynotes were when I did lots of mobile dev. "Oh, cool, that'll be fun to use... in three or four years".
[+] Shadonototro|4 years ago|reply
Their Java bloat was borderline for a constrained device that is a smartphone, always needed double the memory/cpu/battery than iOS alternative, it couldn't scale down to a smart watch, they are stuck and went with a partnership with SAMSUNG, what a shame

Some people are even saying they are about to fully embrace tizen with Dart & Flutter as a 1st class citizen, some are even saying they'll use it as a foundation for their next gen Android smartphones

[+] tosh|4 years ago|reply
The assistive technology showcases are super impressive and inspiring. Is there like a website to get an overview of these efforts?
[+] lern_too_spel|4 years ago|reply
A password manager that doesn't support sharing passwords? Why would I bother importing passwords from another password manager for less functionality?
[+] nostromo|4 years ago|reply
Sundar is perhaps the most uninspiring CEO from any major American tech company when presenting. He's talking about amazing tech like quantum computing, but he sounds like he's talking about a Ford Taurus.

Is this just his external-facing persona, or is he like this internally too?

[+] cromwellian|4 years ago|reply
I find most of the Apple speakers overproduced, overwrought, to the point that it comes off as in-authentic. There's only so many Johnny Ive superlatives you can layer into a talk -- beautiful, magical, amazing, incredible, etc before it becomes a meme, a joke.

I prefer the good old days of I/O, even before I/O, Google Developer Days, when geeky engineers did the presenting. When they got excited about something, it was unscripted and actually real excitement.

(I'm a Google employee), and I feel they are following in Apple's footsteps too much, especially the MadeByGoogle presentations. I/O still retains some of that authentic, geeky, cringe factor that makes it seem more connected to developers as opposed to consumers.

[+] asadlionpk|4 years ago|reply
Do you think that's your bias speaking?

I find him to be very approachable, honest and calm presenter both internally and externally.

[+] tosh|4 years ago|reply
I like how authentic Sundar comes across (also true for the other speakers). I think the live format helps.
[+] dheera|4 years ago|reply
Maybe he's just down-to-Earth, honest in his emotions, and doesn't like artificially hyping things up? Sounds good to me.
[+] madia_leva|4 years ago|reply
As a non-American, I have a different perception. For me, Sundar is one of the few CEOs that doesn't sound like a maniac robotic snake oil seller. I find it refreshing and inspiring to get a CEO that talks line a normal human being addressing normal human beings.

I think it's just a cultural thing. When it comes to level of histrionism, Americans are on one extreme of the spectrum while some Asian cultures are on the opposite one. Sundar seems to me to be in the exact sweet spot.

[+] throwaway3699|4 years ago|reply
Sundar spends most of his internal facing time talking about racial equity and less about actual business.

Source: Googler friends.

[+] _euac|4 years ago|reply
Meanwhile, Google's market cap has tripled during his tenure as CEO.

Maybe being flashy and showy isn't all that important after all.

[+] rektide|4 years ago|reply
Starting off with new collaboration tooling integration is pretty on target for 2021!

Getting a big vibe of yesterday's "Slack Destroying American Companies"[1]. I didn't actually click through & read, which would have lead me to finding out it's Matt Taibbi having a discussion with Antonio Garcia-Martinez (who personally I am not interested in hearing from). But the title reminded me of a part of Ezra Klein interviewing Cal Newport about his new book, "A World Without Email"[2]. In the interview they spend quite a while discussing how it seems like the whole world is presently stuck with Slack, how there's so little visible mainstream competition. Cal has been engaged with this question of workflow & tech & collaboration for a number years, often from a somewhat anti- standpoint, with books such as "Deep Work" and "Digital Minimalism". Hearing two sharp minds talking about collaboration was incredibly enriching to me.

Notably, the collaboration tools shown at the beginning of IO are for explicit collaboration times. They're not marketed as always on communication devices, not a replacement for slack. But they both are about modern tech-enabled collaboration, which is an interesting topic, and one that seems like we're only just starting to really dive into. Long long long after Engelbart's Mother of All Demos (52.4 years after).

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27191181

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/podcasts/ezra-klein-podca...

[+] lern_too_spel|4 years ago|reply
They still haven't launched a lot of the Google Workspace features they announced last year. Don't hold your breath. Some of the features, loke Meet in Docs, are just the same features they announced last year just announced again.