We should be worrying about Google's assimilation and consolidation, and here's why

http://gigaom.com/2014/01/10/we-should-be-worrying-about-googles-assimilation-and-consolidation-and-heres-why/

Summary: The Gmail-Google+ privacy row is interesting on its own terms, but it's really just part of a bigger picture that should concern all of us, particularly regulators.

It took them long enough. 

I kinda like my Nexus 4 a lot but that Hangouts SMS app swap creeper me out just like this Gmail thing creeps me out.  First thing I did after reading the article was opt out.  This is all just more reasons why I'll switch to Ubuntu touch, Tizen or sailfish phone just as soon as a viable replacement becomes available.

I know nobody wants to hear it but: don't use Google, don't use Google's sh*t, don't sell Google's stuff, warn everyone away from Google.

Interesting article in Fortune this month about Google Ventures.

Google has your email? Big Deal.

Google has your DNA? What?? OK, not really, but they are the biggest investor in 23andMe, run by Sergei's wife (now separated).

Lots of other interesting companies that Google Ventures funds.

The funny thing about the latest gmail / g+ privacy outcry is that this was there until recently anyway.
Post here that explains better than I can whilst Sat here in a barbershop queue


https://plus.google.com/104742159745221382810/posts/fSXWr8xNGaE

It's getting hard to distinguish between the genuine privacy land grabs Google makes and the noise from the anti Google corvette who just want to like sticks

Just got a nexus 4, about 4 days ago, and and have let it open everything, to see what happens.

i keep thinking things like:

"eek, I just took a photo, can everyone see that?" 
and
"Who else knows I am not at home now?" 


I am sure I will get used to it, there are loads of things I like,  (search for a pub, and it tells you how long to get there) and plenty that a rubbish ( when it listens to music is is right only 50% of the time)

Images backed up to the cloud, cool, but what about my bandwidth?

I kinda like it, I know that's they way its going, but Am I prepared to be sold for it?  I don't know.

Rupert, that is pretty much the way the world is going with phones and the Nexus 4 is quite good.

Just like on your desktop, everybody is trying to get as much data about you as they can so they can tailor more ads specifically for you.  Eventually, they will sell that data about me to third parties, and what those people do with it worries me. 

Companies like Apple, Google and MS, that have their phone OS reporting back about you will eventually be sitting on a pile of data too tempting for governments, rouge Watergate-type political operatives, insurance companies, lawyers and the like to stay away from.

So all this makes me think it is a good idea to silo as many things as you can.

Change telecoms every few years so no one company has your entire history.
Change smartphone OS every few years for the same reason above.
Try not to use Chrome, MsExploder, Google Search, Bing.
In particular don't use G+ Hangouts etc, unless you are knowingly using them for marketing.  There are other SMS apps on android.
Use similar care at home and office with your software on tablets and PC's.

Use a feature phone.

Brad, I know.  But do I care ?

Hanging about here, I should, as everyone here is so aware of what can be done with this data.  But a part of me says.... so what?

Maybe it is a fair exchange.  When it becomes a monopoly, I might feel different and to quote the article:

QuoteThe problem is, that's an all-Google future. There is no air in it for rivals. Whereas today's Google Search or Maps offers the user a list of the results, into which a rival's services can be inserted, the company is plainly heading for a virtual assistant scenario where it gives one result.

It's a long-term play for sure, but it's what Google Now is for. It's what Google Glass, with its leaning towards bite-sized chunks of information, is for. It's a scenario where asking Google for something is like asking a friend or colleague while in a rush – you don't want a list of options, you just want the answer. Who's selling that product? This company. Any pizza places around here? This one.

Then we will all lose. Will all other vendors be bust by then? Or will mankind in its infinitely create way, find other routes to market that are not Google. As an individual, I have ridden the Google wave for the last 13 yeears. The last 12 months or so they have decided I am no longer of value to them, unless I pay to play. So I know how it works.

but I never use it as a phone....

Diary
email
contacts
  news
tide table
weather
torch
clock
alarm
stopwatch
camera
radio
music player
fitness tracker
postcard sending
nightsky
navigation
boat spotting
Geotagging
spirit level
barometer
pub finder.....



but never a phone. (not true, I do use it as a phone, but not a hugh amount. Its amazing how that list keeps growing)

Its the Swiss knife of today.

I don't think I could go back to a feature phone.  Like Rupert, I hardly talk on the phone, but I use it for everything else.  I used my phone even more back in the old days before I had a tablet within arms reach in every room of the house.

>I hardly

I hear this over and over.  It seems like there should be a market for an 'aloof' tablet or ipod-size device that lets you bring your computing power with you without the baggage.  But the real reason that won't work is there's no corresponding untracked-app marketplace.

No one likes/uses/needs the internet more than I do, but I use a flip phone, not even a feature phone.

> untracked app marketplace

This is why I'm going to be real interested in the Ubuntu phones when they come out.  I suspect the marketplace will not be untracked but hopefully the whole ecosystem will be less tracked than the others.

*holds up Orwell bobble head*

Ubuntu?  Not heard of that before.  Interesting.

I have cyanogenmod on one phone, it is faster, more efficient than the old HTC skin, and frees up memory.  A good Ubuntu op system should work a treat.  If it gets the apps...

>If it gets the apps

Given that WebOS miraculously has had someone developing a few apps and games, I think there'd be some hope for a big(ger) dog community like ubuntu to have significant app development.

Quote from: rcjordan on January 13, 2014, 07:36:26 PM
>If it gets the apps

Given that WebOS miraculously has had someone developing a few apps and games, I think there'd be some hope for a big(ger) dog community like ubuntu to have significant app development.

I'm thinking a lot of webOS apps could be easily ported to Ubuntu Touch OS.  They are mostly HTML 5 based.

I figure Ubuntu phone will come out with only the basics at first, it might be like camping out for the first few months but then it should catch on.  I just hope they release a decent one in the US.