“Your smartphone ought to be smarter,” Aparna Chennapragada begins. “Why can’t it tell you where you parked your car, why can’t it remind you to pick up the milk your spouse texted you about?”
[caption id="attachment_10422" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image courtesy of events.google.com"]
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Since it’s introduction, Google has helped assist us in ways more than one. It’s given us many, if not all, answers at our fingertips. If ever you wanted to know where the closest place to eat was, within seconds your answer would be granted. If ever you needed a reminder about where you parked your car, (and if you’re like me, you do), Google was there with a simple drop of a pin on your location. What those examples share, however, is the fact that the user had to manually click and close apps to view another. Say, for instance, you were listening to Pandora, or text messaging a friend, and your friend asked, “Hey, do you want to see the movie, Tomorrowland? Can you check local times?” You would have to exit the text message and click on a separate app or perform a separate search for the movie if you wanted to look up its times.
The implementation of Google Now’s Now On Tap , however, completely changes that.
Using three key elements to further assist its user, Now On Tap interprets your context, answers your questions, and takes action-- all through the development of a natural language understanding. Google understands over 100 million places, and that refers not only to their layouts and geometry but the places within them. Once it understands the context specific to each person, such as the places you commonly go and at what time, it can then work to effectively bring you the answers you need through Google’s knowledge graph.
During its annual I/O, Google introduced the new Android M feature, which allows you to get information without having to switch context. Instead, it picks up on the context. In reference to the above example, the user does not have to exit the text message conversation and perform a separate search. With Google On Tap, the user can hold down the home button, and the phone will automatically conduct a search and supply the user with the necessary information without leaving the current window or app.
“The key,” Aparna, the Director of Google Now, says, “is understanding the context of the moment...and for developers, it’s a new way to reach and re-engage with users.” More details will be shared in the next upcoming months.
How do you feel about Google’s Now On Tap? Is it a feature that you see as being a great addition to the android?
[/caption]
Since it’s introduction, Google has helped assist us in ways more than one. It’s given us many, if not all, answers at our fingertips. If ever you wanted to know where the closest place to eat was, within seconds your answer would be granted. If ever you needed a reminder about where you parked your car, (and if you’re like me, you do), Google was there with a simple drop of a pin on your location. What those examples share, however, is the fact that the user had to manually click and close apps to view another. Say, for instance, you were listening to Pandora, or text messaging a friend, and your friend asked, “Hey, do you want to see the movie, Tomorrowland? Can you check local times?” You would have to exit the text message and click on a separate app or perform a separate search for the movie if you wanted to look up its times.
The implementation of Google Now’s Now On Tap , however, completely changes that.
Using three key elements to further assist its user, Now On Tap interprets your context, answers your questions, and takes action-- all through the development of a natural language understanding. Google understands over 100 million places, and that refers not only to their layouts and geometry but the places within them. Once it understands the context specific to each person, such as the places you commonly go and at what time, it can then work to effectively bring you the answers you need through Google’s knowledge graph.
During its annual I/O, Google introduced the new Android M feature, which allows you to get information without having to switch context. Instead, it picks up on the context. In reference to the above example, the user does not have to exit the text message conversation and perform a separate search. With Google On Tap, the user can hold down the home button, and the phone will automatically conduct a search and supply the user with the necessary information without leaving the current window or app.
“The key,” Aparna, the Director of Google Now, says, “is understanding the context of the moment...and for developers, it’s a new way to reach and re-engage with users.” More details will be shared in the next upcoming months.
How do you feel about Google’s Now On Tap? Is it a feature that you see as being a great addition to the android?