It's obvious that Siri, the iPhone's voice-activated intelligent assistant, is emulating them. Aware of the potential of voice command, Google has taken this tool and turned it into a "killer app" in the years to come.
Presenting a few weeks ago "Jelly Bean", the latest version of its Android operating system, Google, after launching "Google Voice" and Google Search", is now counting on " Google Now "which foreshadows what tomorrow's intelligent digital services will be. Making full use of its huge online resources, from its databases to its unparalleled computing power, Google has once again broken new ground by launching this groundbreaking service without delay.
"Google Now" does not wait for you to ask for information, after analyzing your data, habits and tastes, it spontaneously offers you information that may be useful to you!
Example: if every morning you take the same bus to work and one morning you are late, he will tell you the next bus schedule or advise you to take the metro. He will also be able to remind you that Friday night you are going to the theatre and that you should not forget your tickets. He will even be able to tell you that when you leave the show there will be no more public transport and will then offer you the number of a taxi company.
Why not enjoy unlimited reading of UP'? Subscribe from €1.90 per week.
In two days time, you have to go to Strasbourg for the day on business. Google Now will remind you to book your TGV tickets and will tell you that snow is expected that day and that you should equip yourself accordingly. So, this "anticipating and preventive" tool has a cumulative effectiveness: the more you use it, the more it knows you and is able to anticipate your desires.
Apart from the practical aspects of this system, one can imagine its potential in the field of e-commerce: the traditional "good tip" from a friend who calls you to give you a good tip, a new address, a promotion, etc. in your neighbourhood may indeed, in time, be replaced by a "friend" message from "Google Now" such as "From tomorrow at the Marché U next door, you will find your Meursault (favourite producer) on special offer at 15 euros a bottle! "We can also imagine a multitude of applications in other areas, such as education, health, tourism, etc..
The problem remains the same: the quantification of the self, the right to invisibility! And how are some users going to react who may end up being "invaded" by their smartphone which, through overzealousness, keeps bothering them with voice or text messages to offer them information of interest???
Funny to think that you can get angry with your smartphone, or even ask for a divorce!
All the success of such a tool will therefore depend on the real relevance and usefulness of the information that will be delivered to the user, and even the way in which the user accesses it - as least intrusive as possible! And then if its effectiveness is cumulative, in the end it's up to you to learn how to cultivate your secret garden in front of your smartphone. In short, a slow smartphone!
{Jacuzzi on}
