Trust me,Watch A Female Employee Who Gives Permission For Things From The Manager Online I never thought it would come to this. If you had asked me a week ago what I was expecting from Google's I/O developer conference, "boring" is not the word that would've come to mind.
Yet, looking at this year's announcements, I'm struck most by how completely expected and, well, safeit all is. Sure, Google Lens was far and away the best thing Google previewed here, and a standalone VR headset is particularly enticing if you're a VR enthusiast (so far a pretty small, self-selecting group).
SEE ALSO: Google's Assistant app for iOS is a clunky messBut none of that is exciting or especially innovative. Google Lens is just a rehashed version of Google Goggles (albeit slightly more useful), and we've been hearing rumors about Google's standalone VR headset for well over a year.
Boring, right?
Most boring @google #io17 ever
— Ilia 🕶 Daraselia (@idaraselia) May 17, 2017
All this #politics stuff is crowding out Google #IO17. Google is kind of a boring company these days, at least to me. Been there, done that.
— Jake Hamby (@jhamby) May 18, 2017
Suddenly #io17 has become an infomercial of Google home. A beta product only available in US. #boring
— Imanol Pérez Iriarte (@ipereziriarte) May 17, 2017
Right. That wasn't always the case. It wasn't that long ago when Sergey Brin enlisted a group of skydivers to introduce the world to Google Glass. Or when Google's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division, the skunkworks behind moonshot ideas like modular smartphones, gesture-sensing radar, and clothing with embedded sensors, was a reliable source of shock and awe for I/O attendees.
This year, though, there was no sign of ATAP, which lost its chief visionary Regina Dugan to Facebook last year.
It's not just ATAP, either. There was no sign of anything remotely experimental. Instead, we got to see the most polished version of Google's augmented reality tech yet (which, by the way, started in ATAP nearly four years ago), new skills for Google's digital assistant, VR features we don't really need, and yet another fine, but also boring, update for Android.
Lost in all the announcements is the part of Google that used to be daring.
Don't get me wrong: None of these things are, in themselves, bad. Tango technology stands to be a truly valuable learning tool, Google's Assistant is starting to look like it could finally fulfill the wasted potential of Google Now, and Android O appears to be a solid, if unremarkable, update. Great.
The fact is, Google needs these services to be reliable and good and that's exactly what it's trying to deliver. But lost in all that is the part of Google that used to be daring -- the Google that was unafraid to take risks, "do epic shit," and show off crazy ideas that might never end up working outside of Google's research labs.
You could argue that Google has outgrown its moonshots. Google X, Alphabet's moonshot factory, has reportedly been reorganized amid a broader cost-savings effort. After all, the company doesn't make billions of dollars a year because it partnered with Levi's to make an app-enabled jacket or because it cracked the code on positional tracking in virtual reality.
But it's exactly projects like these -- the wild, futuristic, epic shit -- that makes Google... well, Google.
Google Glass was an abject failure and, yet, here we are a few years later and seemingly every major tech company is salivating over augmented reality. Alphabet's self-driving car arm, Waymo, is reportedly a mess, but would autonomous-car technology be where it's at now if every car and tech company in the world wasn't racing to keep up with Google in the first place? Project Ara's modular smartphones are dead (and, if we're being honest, were never remotely realistic in the first place) but in an era when all our smartphones are near-identical slabs of glass and metal, it was the last truly innovative imagining of what a smartphone could be.
All of these things will have a noticeable and lasting impact, even if it's not immediately obvious. And it was all possible because of a culture that encouraged its employees to move fast and take risks. Maybe that hasn't changed still, but you wouldn't know it from walking around the company's biggest event of the year.
You'd be bored, just like me.
Topics Google
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano explodes, blasting ash miles into the skyStarbucks policy change: You don't need to buy anything to sit in cafeGoogle launches YouTube Music and YouTube PremiumBishop Michael Curry stole the show at the Royal WeddingHeavily pregnant woman dressing up for 'Deadpool 2' is the definition of maximum effort'GQ's comedy issue throws hysterical shade at 'Vanity Fair's photoshoot failJennifer Aniston and Tig Notaro to play first couple in Netflix filmConsumer Reports snubs Tesla on Model 3 recommendationHow to watch Mark Zuckerberg's meeting with the EU parliament8 things I learned when I published my debut novelOof! 'Fahrenheit 451' does NOT age wellWho is Alden Ehrenreich? Meet the new Han SoloGoogle's wifi router will soon speedSassy senior quote uses 'Stranger Things' timestamp to call out unhelpful teachersRiz Ahmed and Mindy Kaling may just have tweeted their way into 'Ms. Marvel'Microsoft's Xbox Adaptive Controller is for people with disabilitiesNew Zealand's Prime Minister makes appearance in hologram formChewbacca met the hobbits, but there was a problem: PhotoRepublican congressman tries to blame sea level rise on rocks and soil'September' writer comments on Taylor Swift's Earth, Wind & Fire cover Lyft and Uber threaten to stop operating in CA if forced to make drivers employees Lucid Air's battery range blows past Tesla OnePlus under fire for pre Mom's dog identification fail may be the funniest tweet of 2017 Latest iOS 13 update fixes iPhone 11 green tint problem Rob Lowe says he had an encounter with Bigfoot Facebook just banned one of its biggest QAnon groups J.K. Rowling responds to Trump's latest insult with a powerful Abraham Lincoln quote Every Android phone will now help detect earthquakes Alexa, have you been hacked? New research found major security flaws in Amazon’s virtual assistant. Pete Souza is trolling Donald Trump for insulting Mika Brzezinski 'Fortnite' has now been punted from the Google Play Store as well How to deal with anger: 7 coping skills to try We've entered the breakup phase of lockdown romances Apple reportedly taking on Peloton, Nike with online exercise classes French President's official portrait sparks glorious Photoshop battle Justin Bieber's right Yeezy sneaker is for sale on eBay It’s time for Twitter to ban Donald Trump Teen pranks her family with the Influencer Challenge, and their reaction is hilarious Piers Morgan gets absolutely owned by co
1.9307s , 8228.3203125 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Watch A Female Employee Who Gives Permission For Things From The Manager Online】,Charm Information Network