Does anyone care anymore what Google demos in IO?

No.

Google’s hardware is lackluster, their services come and go and are bloated with telemetry, their search is worse than ever, there’s no live customer support person to talk with in the event of a problem, and there’s no unified vision.

Engineering is good, leadership is abysmal.

I kinda do care, but this year it seems they removed the headphone from their so-called "affordable" phone, the Pixel 6a. Call me old fashioned, but I very much do still use wired headphones, especially when doing yard work, or whatever physical exercise, or connecting to any of my analog audio gear. The phone is a convergence device, and so walking away from audio convergence is a big mistake IMHO.

As far as the watch goes, I'm curious, it could be compelling if it surpases the Samsung watch, and we just assume is beats anything by fitbit.

A new tablet might be nice, and correct me if wrong but it feels like Android abandoned the tablet market, right? So it's nice to see them getting back in the game.

Google develop products for three reasons : a) To maintain (and hopefully increase) ad revenue, their cash cow. b) To attempt to diversify from this single source of income. Except this will never happen, nothing will ever come close to the income ads generate for them. They know this, but they have to look like they’re trying, both internally and externally. c) To create a false sense with the masses that they are a cutting edge technology company, to maintain the Google brand and thus keep people using Search. This includes things like Google Glass, silly natural language toys, self driving cars, etc. None of these things are even intended for mass production / consumption. Google IO is merely a showcase for these technology throw-aways, nothing more.

Google disappoints me. They've got a bunch of talented engineers who IMO are the most ethical you'd find in FAANG, but from the very top their leadership has no passion. The founders recently ditched. The CEO has maybe done a lot, but he's never _said_ anything consequential, and that matters just as much. The only clear direction I've seen has been the infamous "frustrate and seduce" tactic mentioned by a YouTube head.

I refuse to believe that this show of gadgetry is just to keep regulators away. I think they're really trying to find their next thing, but the lack of drive is making everything cost so much that they abandon each time. Sometimes it's working out, though. The Chromebook has so far been a success in schools. And a lot of the smaller features mentioned at I/O are real and impressive.

All the shenanigans with their AI (or policies) closing people's accounts on YouTube or Gmail or whatever, that results in livelihoods ruined, kind of turned me off of anything Google.

10 ways we ruined your search results in 2022

What ever happened to that natural language thing they demoed a few years ago that could call up a restaurant and get you reservations and stuff? That was so cool.

They are in a weird spot of being a privacy invading company that creates products to protect your privacy.

Yes. I think hn can be a bit of a bubble sometimes. AlloyDB looks cool, for example. Also interesting to see what's coming up in new Android releases given it's the OS with the most users in the world.

No, They can't seem to guarantee that the new tech I start learning today will still be around in a year... the rate at which they kill products and services is just frustrating and I'll skip, thanks.

In 2013 I was at I/O, when Larry Page stood on stage and allowed questions from the audience. It was enlightening and he gave a clear vision of the future. I have no idea what Sundar Pichai stands for. He still seems like someone working below a CEO improving a range of products. It's apt, because he is a bit like Tim Cook, both focused on a diversified organisation and an engine to pop out improvements. I miss the big visions and the clear picture. We only get that from Elon Musk and I wish we had a few visionaries as counterweight against him.

I do care, because I find it interesting, while I am sceptical if they are really capable of doing everything that they say, I still find it very interesting, which is why I always watch the entire full version of the event.

I know that in the past five years or so it has become very hip and cool to hate on Google and other bigger-then-some-countries companies, but I still try to be positive and thus focus on the positive.

While the negative does have its function, it is best to avoid it unless it's requested, same goes for hobbies, if someone asks you what you think about their hobby or the thing that they're working on, just be positive and give negative side only if they asked for it, because in many cases just giving people the negative or even just asking what's the point can have a really negative effect on them and their hobby, even if that wasn't what you intended to do.

It is true that human experience comes from inside, but we're all vulnerable some times.

Only if they demo real customer service

I do not care about the Google IO. But my reasons are far from everyone else's.

I work in ML. And if there's any thing that is cool and/or I should care about, it always trickles down to me within some weeks.

How else will you find out what this years new messaging app will be?

I was delighted to see they added more languages to Google Translate. And auto-translate in chat apps is really cool.

I mean, I care about what they demo more than whatever FB demos in that conference they have every year.

Not me - low bidder hardware that’s not exactly worldshaking? (Oooh Google Pixel Watch!) Services of low interest and even lower lifespan? Handwaving about their respect for their users/infofodder? Maybe if I was in SEO or ads, I’d care because that’d be my business…

Nope. Someone else already announced what they’re doing at least a year before and also, it’s Google, who don’t have a good reputation among colleagues and friends. We all have our own Google horror stories that invoke disinterest in their products and services.

It was great in the early days of AppEngine but now, even keeping up with the changelog of GCP has turned into a full-time job.

I think it’s good to be aware of their software advances, but most of the hardware reveals really demonstrated the amount of time needed to copy competitors’ designs (with a few exceptions).

LMAO I was greenlit to attend in.. 2013? 2014? as I worked in public education and got a free chromebook pixel. Neat hardware kinda. Played with google glasses but everything was boring.

Google being a major pusher of RCS is hurting its adoption IMO.

How does RCS help their bottom line, which is advertising? There’s no reason to believe they won’t abandon it at some point.

I would be interested to see if they do something with the metaverse.

I mean google glass was ahead of its time.

It depends on what they demo. I'm very much interested in their Quantum AI stuff.

How else would you find out what products they'll discontinue in 6-36 months?

No. Google is intrinsically untrustworthy.

Which companies do you care about?

Not really.