Interesting opinion piece on the ad market and Google.
I think this is exactly why they made alphabet, in preparation for the collapse of their ad based income. I think android will be the first to break in with a real quality AI, and google will be the first to churn out intelligent robots. They'll make their money off of infrastructure and logistics in the future.
What I like so much about google is how inherently bad they are. They failed at anything that is not ads, or data/user-work extraction. They have the most money in the world, the best mind in the best working environment, the most trapped customer/users/workforce, the most data, they choose the headlines... and .. all their grand plan are utmost failure. They are so bad at making anything else than selling ad.. It's funny. That's my only solace: I can laugh at my overlord. While they still pouring money in a new dung-pile, and selling my data, and making me do the work to better their software/search-engine Everyone was talking about their glass. That was the future. They spend a shit-ton of money. The fad lasted 6 month.. more surprisingly Apple followed the proven failure trend with their watch.. Blind leading the blinds Google+ .. it was launched with such a bravado, forcing anyone who made a google-search once in their life to have an account, or something. Outing trans, ruining life in the process.. The "new facebook" is a failure. Last year that was the self-driving car. It made the headline (because google own the headlines) every time the car made a turn. It seems it's a dead end. I heard they sold their software and the self-driving business for a penny. Because it's shit, I guess. Now the AI. Every time they beat a Go-player, or something, we heard how great their AI is. It's probably another turd, because the headlines are already on the decline.
I dunno. Android seems really good. My Google Assistant works much better than Alexa. Chrome is a good product. My office uses Google Suite, as do most offices I work with. I think they've had a lot of successes, but they're mixed in with a lot of failures.
Well ok, but Amazon hasn't had my mint chocolate Pro Bar Base bars in stock with Prime delivery in weeks. I'm a little concerned. Next stop is a Google search. I think the article makes a lot of good points. A post-Google world will be interesting. I heavily rely on Gmail and Maps.
It blows my mind that Google doesn't let me pay what they're getting for my data to be completely invisible, completely anonymous and utterly devoid of advertising. I suspect it's because it's such a fuckall small number that it would infuriate the world. By the bye, I do pay for gmail. $5/email address/month.
... and if you could the only demographics that would see ads would be the ones less desirable to advertisers. Mitigated by the fact that the data on demographics advertisers really want seeing ads is worthless because they aren't going to see the ads regardless so as it stands you have no privacy and advertisers on whose behalf corporate surveillance exists aren't getting what they want out of the arrangement either. So, at least not the worst case, eventually the advertisers go away and having based your business model on corporate surveillance becomes a liability. Or someone pays enough bribes to enough congresscritters to get a bill outlawing adblockers passed.
Which will have as much pragmatic importance as the Betamax suit. I think Google has a number of revenue strategies that will continue to make them money... but I also think that advertising revenues are due for a precipitous correction. The agencies have been dying for 20 years now and the only people who mourn them are the employees whose lives have started to resemble Al Bundy's more than Don Draper's.Or someone pays enough bribes to enough congresscritters to get a bill outlawing adblockers passed.
but then they would have to release a payment schedule that would show that old farts like you and I aren't worth as much to advertisers as the [fill in generational name here].Google doesn't let me pay what they're getting for my data to be completely invisible
you're already paying b telling google where you are, or where you shop. That's how they make the maps good. That's how they make the search engine good: by processing what link people used after a search. It's a nice business model : make the user work for you. The captcha to create an account on hubski is a way to train the google image recognition software. But all of that is mere value extracting compared to amazon, who sell anything anywhere anytime to anybody
Good point. I would, too. If Google collapsed, the pieces would get sold (or consolidated into a smaller company). I'd pay a reasonable subscription fee for Gmail and Maps.