Google goes for the big fish

[warpus]

Google is one of those successful companies that doesn't mind throwing its money around with the goal to innovate. What other companies do this? Most of them sit on their money. Sure, there is usually some innovation, but google spends millions.. if not billions.. on sometimes "out there" ideas.

Good! For all the bad things about google, let them innovate. Maybe this will pan out, maybe it won't. In the end I'd rather large companies throw their money around like this rather than sit on it.

 

[Antilogic]

Maybe it can optimize my selection of condoms based around a specified budget and the frequency at which I boink my wife!

What if it was monitoring your "sessions" and recommending certain types for your partner's pleasure?

 

[Farm Boy]

It's sexy algorithm time honey!

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Good! For all the bad things about google, let them innovate. Maybe this will pan out, maybe it won't. In the end I'd rather large companies throw their money around like this rather than sit on it.

I think the time has come where Google's innovations have stopped being beneficial...or even innovations. From demanding a real name be attached everywhere you go to shuffling website layouts (got to justify those tech experts' salaries, after all. Never mind that it might make it worse.), it's just not encouraging all round.

 

[warpus]

I think the time has come where Google's innovations have stopped being beneficial...or even innovations. From demanding a real name be attached everywhere you go to shuffling website layouts (got to justify those tech experts' salaries, after all. Never mind that it might make it worse.), it's just not encouraging all round.

Their shenanigans online have been in part problematic, yeah.. I was mostly talking about their adventures in car-land, house-land, fibre-land, and so on. Hey, maybe one day they'll send people to Mars.

I think we'd have seen their online issues whether they were throwing money at these innovative projects or not. So I'd rather that they do it - maybe some cool stuff will come out of it, like smart underwear or space bacon.

 

[Takhisis]

Oh noes, gkynet is going to screw us.

Why on earth would I want a cybertoaster to clutter up my Internet connection?

 

[Zelig]

It's too big and too powerful as is. Google needs some healthy competition.

Google has legitimate competition in terms of product/service quality in the areas where they dominate, their dominance is largely due to factors other than product/service quality.

Google is one of those successful companies that doesn't mind throwing its money around with the goal to innovate. What other companies do this?

Off the top of my head, solely looking at big tech companies: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Valve, Intel, Nvidia, AMD.

 

[Kozmos]

You'd be hard pressed to call most of those innovators. They only innovate out of necessity. Same with consumer electronics. When a certain product reaches market saturation they start throwing out the gimmicks like curved screens, 3DTV and other.

 

[Zelig]

You'd be hard pressed to call most of those innovators. They only innovate out of necessity. Same with consumer electronics. When a certain product reaches market saturation they start throwing out the gimmicks like curved screens, 3DTV and other.

That's why I didn't list Samsung or LG.

I don't know what you mean by "innovate out of necessity" that isn't applicable to Google as well.

 

[Kozmos]

While you could call innovation out of necessity a normal, natural thing but in regards to these companies the innovations are firmly in their sector and are profit-oriented. Microsoft trying to get into tablets/smartphone market by badly emulating everyone else, Nvidia/AMD in their never-ending dong measuring contests but really both are horrible and that new 'Mantle' thing aside not really innovative but derivative, Amazon is sort of okay given the Kindle and now with Prime, but not really noteworthy still and very focused in their own market. Valve is building PCs on its own OS, welcome to 2000. Now Intel...well you could make a few arguments there but majority of their crap is still based on shrinking stuff and again trying to edge in against ARM.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Their shenanigans online have been in part problematic, yeah.. I was mostly talking about their adventures in car-land, house-land, fibre-land, and so on. Hey, maybe one day they'll send people to Mars.

I think we'd have seen their online issues whether they were throwing money at these innovative projects or not. So I'd rather that they do it - maybe some cool stuff will come out of it, like smart underwear or space bacon.

So far I haven't heard many good things about Google Glass. And given what their company is, even these supposedly offline projects will have online components.

 

[Kyriakos]

Google Glass was a horrible idea from the start, which is why it failed.

Not many sane people actually want strangers to know random stuff about them through a program, more so if they are in close proximity in physical space...

 

[Zelig]

While you could call innovation out of necessity a normal, natural thing but in regards to these companies the innovations are firmly in their sector and are profit-oriented. Microsoft trying to get into tablets/smartphone market by badly emulating everyone else, Nvidia/AMD in their never-ending dong measuring contests but really both are horrible and that new 'Mantle' thing aside not really innovative but derivative, Amazon is sort of okay given the Kindle and now with Prime, but not really noteworthy still and very focused in their own market. Valve is building PCs on its own OS, welcome to 2000. Now Intel...well you could make a few arguments there but majority of their crap is still based on shrinking stuff and again trying to edge in against ARM.

MS - Xbox; Nvidia - Shield, G-Sync; AMD - x86-64; Amazon - AWS; Valve - Controllers; Intel - Tri-gate transistors.

Despite what you think about Intel just "shrinking stuff", they've possibly got the most talented and best-executing engineering team on the planet, and regularly bring technological breakthroughs to market, so I'm listing tri-gate transistors anyway. The much over-hyped ARM isn't even the real competitor to Intel. Apple/Nvidia/Qualcomm are, I listed two of them and almost listed Qualcomm.

Again, you haven't specified what your criteria actually are in terms that make Google unique, the examples I listed from MS/Nvidia/Valve are all out of their sectors and haven't turned a profit. (And AWS is out of Amazon's sector as an online bookstore, despite being profitable.)

If you just want non-profitable things that have never been released to market, you can pretty much just pick any non-launched products from MS Research.

Google Glass was a horrible idea from the start, which is why it failed.

It hasn't launched, so I'm not really sure how it's managed to fail yet.

 

[gay_Aleks]

I'm starting to think this will end like Microsoft in the 90s - they used to do everything, anywhere, and look at them now - Windows 8. Seriously?

So, in about some years time they'll make a colossal failure (like the whole Windows NT or Windows 2000 or Vista...), which will send them into the purgatory of "relevant, but not THAT relevant".

 

[Kyriakos]

It hasn't launched, so I'm not really sure how it's managed to fail yet.

It failed so much that they google-backtrack-presented its launch as a mere test

 

[gay_Aleks]

Google Glass was a horrible idea from the start, which is why it failed.

Not many sane people actually want strangers to know random stuff about them through a program, more so if they are in close proximity in physical space...

Kyriakos, then you're grossly ignoring not just the Internet, but history of man as a whole - we always want to know things about the others.

If not for that, how would you justify the Internet? It surely can't be excused with a simple "well it sounded good at the time".

 

[Kyriakos]

I am not using the internet.

 

[gay_Aleks]

I am not using the internet.

Of course you aren't. Instead, you're communicating through us with some kind of a divine interference, probably from some of the more hilarious Hellenic gods. Dionysus, probably, considering what a fun guy he was. I'm sure he'd greatly approve of the Internet.

 

[Kyriakos]

Actually, with Dionysus it's only fun until someone get's hurt
and then their head is on a pike paraded by their own mother who is head of the bacchic orgy 7

So you do have a point, and are close :/

 

[Traitorfish]

It hasn't launched, so I'm not really sure how it's managed to fail yet.

I agree, it was quite the feat.