Slashdot Mirror
Google DVRs and TV Advertising
Ray writes "Google may be creating their own branded digital television DVR / satellite service. A DVR that lets you "Log In" with your Google Account before you begin your television watching would allow Google to serve up relevant ads based on: the program you are watching, your search history, the type of emails you have received in the past 24 hours (excluding spam hopefully), or anything else Google can track. Imagine the possibilities... You are watching Google Satellite TV through your "internet ready" Google DVR."
I think the Google cookie is pretty evil. There's no chance I'm going to let Google track my viewing habits too.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
...if the broadcast flag will affect this Google digital signal. Seems like kinda poor timing on Google's part with the whole broadcast flag issue still up in the air. Maybe they know something we don't.
"You will pay for your lack of vision..." - Emperor Palpatine to Ray Charles
Is this the sort of thing where you need like a google media device in between the satellite and your tv? If not, how long before Google decides on putting one of those out?
Why would being served even targetted adverts over my recordings be preferable to the current solution of no adverts at all?
This is a solution in search of a problem, surely?
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
First its the search engine, then the email, then the news... Now TV that brings it all together? They are trying to steal our minds I tell you!
The main problem with any profesionaly made DVR these days they have to load the sucker with DRM to keep from getting sued (ala Replay TV). MythTv is slowing getting to the point when a non-linux person will be able to buy a prepackaged hardware set and then load from a bittorrted iso all there software updates and it will be superior.
I would imagine that they would at least be able to serve up something more relevant... but would they allow me commercial skip? Is having a DVR with no commercial skip "evil" or just good business? If they were relevant ads, I might be incluned to watch...
All Victoria's Secret ads... let me go get on their mailing list real quick...
I have a plan. Using mainly spoons, we'll tunnel our way out of the city...
I don't know about you but I wanted want "relevant" ads on my television.
Especially not based my searches for adult movies.
I guess we won't be needing this after all.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Google may be the second coming. It's still a bit early to know for sure and all we really have is rumors and speculation. But, Slashdot seems to feel that Google is the second coming so, it seems only logical that it is a fact.
We'll be repeatedly reporting further on this unsubstantiated rumor for weeks to come. Unless further rumors are revealed.
Imagine watching Dirty Harry through this PVR. Just as "Make my day" line is read an ad for the Smith & Wesson firearm company pops up.
it's about time!
Scott McNealy to Michael: "Suck my Sun!" Michael Dell to Scott : "Lick my Dell!"
No way is Google going to spend the capital to do their own satellite system or the licensing fees to use someone elses. They'll be doing it over broadband to a hard drive within the Set Top Box.
If they want this thing to be cost effective for HD, they should use Swarmstreaming.
You smell that? Do you smell that?... Speculation, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of speculation in the morning. You know, one time we had a random Google idea, rumor-blogged for 12 days. When it was over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' rumored product. The smell, you know that speculation smell, the whole blog. Smelled like... victory.
The IRS is the one organization that you don't want to fuck with. Remember, these are the guys who took down Al Capone.
Geez, google really is trying to build the biggest most detailed maps of people possible. No thanks, I like my data private.
This article is pure speculation based on a domain name (googledvr.com) that Google doesn't even own! The article says that Google "might buy the domain" from its owner should Google want to start a DVR service. TiVo is becoming marginalized and plans to make its money from advertising technology-sharing agreements with cable companies and patent licensing.
The article even mentions "GBrowser," which as we all know is Google's Master Plan to unseat the most popular web browser in the world, bar none.
Google also owns googleporn.com. Can we have an article about how they're about to put every porn site out of business?
For more information, click here.
"...would allow Google to serve up relevant ads based on: the program you are watching, your search history, the type of emails you have received in the past 24 hours (excluding spam hopefully), or anything else Google can track. Imagine the possibilities..."
I am, and I'm not terribly thrilled with them.
Is the typical Slashdotter concerned with the sheer volume of information that is being collected about people by a single corporation? I'm afraid I'm not going to shed my skepticism just because Google claims to "do no evil".
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
I can see it now. Ads for pr0n and naked celebrities will be coming up on the TV!
Also, if I subscribe to the Tin Foil Hat newsletter, will Google start sending me ads for products that will block those ads?
Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
I sure some content creators will sign deals with Google, but many content distributors will have a knee-jerk anti-Google reaction because this makes Google a direct competitor (e.g., another company distributing ad-supported content).
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
If they can give me targetted ads, they can give me targetted TV shows. More shows I like, available when I want to see them. All to get me to watch ads that are for stuff I might actually want to buy. Sounds good.
Great! Now I can tape all the shows I'm missing when I'm busy typing in Google Word on this fabulous Openoffice.org-based, fully networked Google Office product that's just made my life so much... ... oh, wait.
Hooray! First the Web, then TV... I can hardly wait until all media are subsumed into the maw of a single corporation. What could possibly go wrong?!?
Read my blog.
I would never trust Microsoft in a million years to do anything like that, and I don't trust Google either.
Calling the article pure speculation is generous - it's making an outrageous claim to drive traffic to ZDnet...
It costs money and time to create good content. Even brilliant stuff like IMPS took years of volunteer work to produce. In the network age, the question becomes, how do we pay for this content? People will still develop free content for the joy of creativity, but if they can't feed their families, they'll have to do it part time in addition to a day job. Suppose the revenues from google's targetted ads were so good that google could afford to provide the consumer with a free (basic) TV, a free digital media device, and a free basic video stream (with ads) of popular programs. Would there be people who'd gladly go for this? You bet. Would this be a huge benefit for the very poor (as long as they gave and were able to give informed consent and the tracking was no worse -- no more evil -- than the automated tracking of google mail)? I think yes. Would there be people who'd rightly be outraged at the violation of their privacy that this would entail? Yep. They'd obviously not be members of such a service.
No surprises here. Google has been slowly but surely horizontally expanding into other types of directed advertising. Print (magazines). Radio. And soon, video content.
Print media is the only place I see this not fitting in with Google's business plan, unless it's used as just a way to offer its advertisers a complete advertising package.
What I see:
If any content can be delivered via the internet, Google will find a way to place targeted ads alongside that content. Whether Google uses existing content delivery systems (e.g., banner ads), or develops their own (e.g., GoogleDRV), they will continue to horizontally expand in targeted advertising.
Not a bad thing, IMO, since it provides revenues for publishers, who will (hopefully) keep their product free or low-price (well, to the consumer, anyway).
So what areas are still relatively untapped by Google? Internet radio? DRV, for now? How about regular television -- can't targeted advertising be delivered via Cable?
Google will continue to offer new services, innovative or not, that have the potential of increasing both ad-views and responses.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
I'd buy it. In the past, google's advertising solutions have been much less invasive than their competitors. If this box was a decent DVR, and recomended cool music to me while I was fast-forwarding through kidde cerial commercials and crappy movie adds, whats the problem with that? On the other hand, google could always TURN evil, in which case it would simply go into the trash. This is pretty moot though, since this doesn't sound at all like something google would do. They don't usually do hardware for the masses (the google search boxes are for enterprise, and more about software anyway).
I was under the impression that DVR's came about to help one avoid advertisements. Everyone I know with a TiVO purchased it for two reasons: 1. to avoid commercials and 2. to record their favorite show while they were doing something better than being a couch potato.
Imagine the possibilities:
1) You receive a new Gmail and it pops up automatically on your TV (if you choose to see new messages of course).
2) A ticker at the top of the screen shows recent news that interests you... or better yet, it shows new items from my Google Reader!
3) A more personalized TV experience which will serve up relevant commercials on commercial breaks based on your interests.
I like the idea of an internet-ready DVR, wider span or programming with suggestions related to my viewing habits, my gmail on my TV, and for the most part everything Google... but, *not* MORE commercials - even if they are more relevant.
Or, am i just asking for too much?
~jaime~
domspe.org
Time for a reality check, I think. Googles honeymoon is over, Slashdot is lambasting them.
Try out fish, the friendly interactive shell.
I have a DVR so I don't have to watch ads at all. Of course, Tivo is already trying to screw that up. What's next? A Google car that is linked to Google Earth and Google Maps? They can track my destinations and the nearby stores to remind me when they are nearby. "Hungry? There's a McDonalds 2 blocks away!"
I think Google is overreaching at this point. I guess Google's now trying to float off of their cachet to move into other industries.
Parent has a good point in asking why we would want to use Google's DVR when there are ad-free versions already available. Indeed, isn't the *point* of a DVR to get rid of ads? Am I missing something?
On top of that, the example of Tivo indicates that there are evidently some issues with the technology/market as it is (the DRM "forced delete", for example), and I'm not sure if Google's DVR system will resolve any of those, though I wouldn't put it past Google to figure out a way to get it working.
But I'm not sure if I'm buying this "total integration" thing Google's pushing. What are they going to get from my email? I send an email to my friends saying, "Wow, did you catch the latest 'Lost'?" and Google knows to record 'Lost'? I think in the end, some separation of the different aspects of my life is a good thing and I'm not eager to plug my whole life into Google just yet.
What Google will hopefully bring to the television is what they brough to the web... text ads or something else unobtrusive they people don't mind seeing. They could even be shown during a show in the lower right corner like most stations display their stupid logo.
Obviously, I'm no Einstein otherwise I would be working for Google, but there has to be a successor to the half-century old commercial. It's annoying, expensive, and going the way of the dinosaur.
gasmonso http://www.religiousfreaks.com/I'd think the better way to do this would be for Google to serve up commercials relevant to *me*. Who cares what show I watch?
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
In other news, Google may be releasing their own branded digital toilet. A toilet that lets you "log in" to your Google account before you do your business would allow Google's complex waste analysis algorithms (codenamed CrapSense) to serve up relevant ads (printed on GTicker toilet paper) based on what you have eaten recently, your hydration level, or anything else Google can track.
Imagine the possibilities.
I've been trying to get help from Google for two months already. So far, I only received two automated responses and nothing else. I am still unable to log onto Orkut.
My overall experience with Google is mixed: it works great when it works. When it doesn't work, it's a disaster - there is no contact phone number or e-mail address where a human being would try to fix the problem. You are basically on your own because, you know, "It's free, so no guarantees."
I hope, Google DVR if it ever gets released without their favorite 'Beta' qualifier, will have real customer support. Google so far has been in business where they provide no guarantee to anyone. They have to learn how to support their clients.
Not that I mind Google tracking and directing commercials I might want to see (hey I gotta watch them at some point) but do I really want pr0n commercials popping up when I am chilling with some girl watching tv?
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
I've seen other grumblings (although from blog-type sources so take it for what it's worth) that it seems likely that google would consider trying it's hand at traditional TV advertising brokering using what they learned from Adwords/Adsense.
Madison avenue isn't shaking in it's boots just yet, but could be interesting if they figure out a way to sell advertising traditionally more efficiently AND make money doing it. (or if there's some 3rd option that puts the whole industry on it's ear) *shrug*
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
first of all, relevant google television ads would completely blow the industry up. don't you hate normal tv ads? they are awful! something personalized by google, while this may not intially replace normal ads, could cause an entire industry to re-examine their strategies.
but don't think the privacy of your tv is more important than your online privacy, the notion is rediculous. the number of pages or emails you associate with are completely limitless. there are only a few broadcast channels in most areas, usually under 200 cable channels in most areas, and around a thousand (or less, there are more pick-what-you-want plans) satellite channels.
more importantly, don't worry -- google won't expose your dirty browsing / viewing habits. they don't allow "adult" oriented (and a slew of other types of) advertisers or publishers.
-- lol pwned
I know the /. crowd worships google, but the fact is they collect more personal identifiable information on people then anyone else. Its not anonymous. And that makes me uneasy, and frankly I view that type of collection evil.
The DVR service is a great idea, and lots of money to be made their. MS has been all over this stuff for years with their media center, iptv stuff, etc. I think Google could do a decent job with a DVR, but I don't trust them anymore then MS, the government, or any other evil/big organization. I don't want them keeping records of me, and certainly not scanning my email and serving up ads based on a message I got that morning.
Think of the possible problems. Let's say someone has cancer and got email discussing it from their wife. They haven't told their children yet, they are sitting watching tv with them at dinner, and there come the cancer drug ads. Nice way to find out that your dad has prostate cancer. I'm sure others can think of better examples (I can think of some funny vaigra and herpies ones), but you can clearly see where I am going with it.
What's with all the cheesy Google rumors? Why isn't this filed under the "Laugh. It's Funny" category?
:(
I already get ads that disrupt the shows I'm watching with paid cable (and I'm not talking about commercials, I'm talking about those invasive ads in the bottom corner of the screen advertising shows on the channel I'm already watching).
I suppose it's no better than when they plaster a TORNADO WATCH (!!) map over my programs that takes up about 30% of the screen real-estate. They just don't seem to understand the only reason I watch your bloody ads is for the content. Erode my content and I become less eager to watch your stupid, redundant ads.
I guess it helps prevent piracy. No way I'm going to burn a copy of the annoyance-laden series when I can buy or rent the series without said annoyances. Of course, I have to wait much longer for the DVD release
While I'm on a rant, why do some commercials show 25 seconds of irrelevant content only to give the punchline in the last 5 seconds of the ad?? I can't count the number of times I've watched ads and said to myself, "ok, neat, so what are you selling?". I blame Nike for starting it all. Thank goodness for Tivo.
i personally don't mind commercials per se, though it really bugs me when they show the same commercial two or three times in the same break, particularly if it's an annoying one or if it has nothing to do with me (I'm fairly certain everyone who doesn't live under a rock knows what Viagra is, and I'm also pretty certain i don't need it (yet) so stop pelting me with the ad 3 times each and every commercial break after 8pm.)
if they would keep the commercials varied and tuned to my interests, I'd be fine with it. besides, commercials give me time to head for the john or make a snack when I'm watching a movie or something.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
I've just been playing with the ORB free service. It allows you to take your own PC and turn it into a personal streaming server for audio, video, music, and Live TV. Yup -- if you have a TV Tuner card it will allow you to stream live TV anywhere. The website (www.orb.com) acts as a session setup/co-ordinator so firewalls are not a problem. I suspect (although I haven't verified) that all the streaming is actually P2P between your PC and the end station, orb.com is only used to set up the connection. Besides being firewall friendly, the key thing that orb does is transcoding on the fly -- it will adjust the stream to fit the bandwidth requirements of the transmit pipe and the end device. they state that you can stream to a PDA or certain cell phones, not just PC's but I haven't tried that yet. It does not require PVR software in the PC, but will co-exist with Windows MCE or other PVR software too.
That's how tv started out. That's how radio started out. Eventually, you get offered a "better" serivce (cable, sirius in the above instances) with no ads. Then the ads come back. Rinse, repeat. Eventually google will start charging, and offer ad-free for a fee, but it's more of the same shit.
Terminator, etc, google is going to take over the world! Be careful, be VERY careful...
Many people love and trust Google in the same way they love and trust Apple. It's well established that they do not love or trust the people they are currently doing TV business with (cable or other satelite TV service).
But is Google prepared to go head-to-head against some of these entertainment giants? Some of these have some seriously strong backing. This will be an interesting and exciting time! (And hacking Google DVRs will be fun!)
Strange. Google is assuming that you'll be watching television alone (or at least with like-minded souls). Since my wife is a crystal-loving hemp-wearing nature lover and I'm a technodroid, it'll be interesting to see what sort of targeting goes on as we watch shows together on the Googletube.
"I'm afraid I'm not going to shed my skepticism just because Google claims to "do no evil"."
;-)
The propensity of an entity to do "evil" is directly proportional to the propensity of said entity to deny that it does evil.
-- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
GREEEEAAAAT. GoogleTV. It's not bad enough that our arses are literally glued to our desks in front of the proverbial digital girlfriend... now we can get fat and lazy in front of the boob tube with smart ads. I can just feel the fat cells curdling in my innards.
401 - Attention span not found
This sounds like more wild conjecture.. people taking little bits of information and drawing some extreme conclusions. But..
As we've seen in other articles here, Google also likes to contribute to existing open source projects. I think this is one of those cases. MythTV is a large project, with a lot of features. It's quite usable now, but like most projects I'm sure it could benefit from getting some more good developers.
The UI could use some work, XvMC acceleration improvements (or integration of other acceleration devices) would be great, and integrating into some Google WWW services would be very good. MythTV has a WWW scheduling interface, but you need remote access to your machine to use it. Integrating the scheduler into your Google account services would be a big improvement.
Is actually a good idea. I mean I cannot count the number of times I see commercials for the same things over and over again in which I have no interest. Yes, Google can track your television viewing habits, but who is to say that the Cable company can't already do that with those fancy digital cable boxes many of us already have in our homes or apartments?
At least in this case they would be using the information to actually direct advertising better so that I do not need to see the same commercials over and over again. Actually there is nothing quite as annoying at some of the Comcast commercial. I mean I already have cable with you and you are not selling any services I do not already have, so why do you insist on continuing to sell them with those annoying commercials (and WTF is Comcastic?). Seriously Time-Warner wasn't this bad when I had them for a Cable company in Columbus.
Oh, and since I am a single guy I can do without the feminine care product commercials. Shit if Google wants to direct commercials for products and television programs that I would never see because they don't warrant usual advertising during primetime, then sign me up.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
This sounds like a great idea, as long as you can erase your history, just like I can erase my google cookies!!! I hate regular commercials as much as the next guy. But if they're tailored to things I like, I might actually be interested in watching them. But I don't want anyone tracking my behavior, unless I know about it, and I can erase my history, otherwise, count me out!!
It doesn't matter how much you trust the company, it only takes one corrupt employee to grab the info about you and sell it to those who can do the most damage. This already happens all the time at grocery stores that monitor your shopping habbits. They may say they don't sell it to others, but the employees do (try it yourself, sign up for a card with a misspelled name and watch all the junk mail you will get under that name). You CANNOT trust companies that gather that much information about you unless it is anonymous. If people are logging in then no doubt it will not be anonymous.
- John Smilanick (http://www.johnsmilanick.com/
If it includes discount coupons, where do I sign up?
Two girl party for the price of one? Every fifth full service gets me free anal?
Oh to live in a Libertarian world... Damn you, Victorian era. Damn you to everlasting Hell.
It doesn't sound like Google to work as a personal DVR. I think it seems more likely that they will get a copy of every TV show they can find, and let you view them over a streaming connection. that way, you can see it as often as you want, but only when you're connected to Google, so there isn't a "permanent ownership" issue we get from a DVR, so we avoid the broadcast flag.
And then people wouldn't be so mad about ads, since the idea would be time-shifting. "wait, I get to watch pretty much any tv show whenever I want? Ads, meh, I'll browse in another window when ads are on"
We seem to be getting a new "Google May Be" every week. Google must be busy working on their
DVR, OS, nationwide WiFi, Office, Wallet, Auctions, AOL, satellite, and the list goes on.
That is the funniest thing I've read all month. Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
He bases his conjecture on some domains he believes were registered by google, such as googlehdtv.com.
I think Google could come up with a better name than "googlehdtv" if they really wanted to get into this game.
Anyway, apparently he doesn't know about 'whois', because he could have easily seen that this was registered by a domain speculator, not by Google.
domain: googlehdtv.com
created: 09/Apr/2004
last-changed: 09/Apr/2005
registrant-firstname: Hdtv
registrant-lastname: Websites
registrant-organization: hdtvwebsites.com
registrant-street1: 2821 egypt road
registrant-pcode: 19403
registrant-state: PA
registrant-city: audubon
registrant-phone: +1.235551212
registrant-email: hdtvwebsites@yahoo.com
( That Slashdot "lameness filter" sucks. It wouldn't let me post the basic whois output, saying there were too many "junk characters". I have to keep adding crap to get around it.)
Why Google was interested in buying up "dark fiber"?
Okay, I think the premise is off base.. But, I could see some very useful services being offered by Google.
They have copious amounts of bandwidth and storage, and the clout to create business relationships with content producers. Google could offer a competing video download/purchase service - similar to what iTunes is doing, but creating a more open service (Google could be less of a threat than Apple).
Integrate that video purchase service with open source PVRs (MythTV, Freevo) and create APIs to allow others to integrate.
Move over Microsoft, there's a new evil empire in town.
I already have Tivo. What would a Google DVR do that Tivo doesn't already do?
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
> How is this going to be abused?
Why does something have to be "abuse" before we have the right to complain about it, or refuse it? A society doesn't function well if too many people go out of the way to piss people off and their entire defense is "I'm not touching you, I'm just waving my finger 1/4 inch from your face"
You can object to annoying as well as abusive.
> They'll show ads to me based on my interests
No, they won't show -anyone- ads based on their interests. They'll show people ads based on their advertiser's needs, adjusted for their perception of your interests.
- If you're interested in something that no one pays google to advertise, you won't see an ad for it.
- If you're not interested in something someone pays google a -lot- to advertise, you'll probably see it anyway.
- If google incorrectly estimates your interest in things, they'll show you things you aren't interested in.
This is tricky; just because you ask a question about something, or someone emails you about something, there is no reason to believe that this is an interest of yours. I work on a lot of things that require me to search on subjects I have -zero- personal interest in. I shudder to think about the kind of ads that would get served up to me.
All of this assumes a direct relationship between what I search on and what I'm interested in possibly purchasing. That assumption is untested and I feel it's largely invalid.
Suppose I search for information about Wimbley cars so I can show my sister what a piece of crap the 2006 Wimbley is. Suddenly I'm inundated with ads for the new Wimbley.
> Wal-mart decides to stock shelves with things that are
> relevant to my area's purchase history - so if I go
> into a Wal-mart, it's more likely to carry something
> I intend to buy.
Assuming you are typical of the people in your area. If you aren't, Wal-Mart loses your business, and due to the fact that they are looking at a limited and inherently biased subset of data *, they don't correct for error.
* using purchasing habits requires them to have the product first in order to detect that people have an interest. If everyone wants the new Whizmo Cranfraz, but Wal-Mart doesn't carry it, Wal-Mart doesn't see that everyone wants it. In brick-and-mortar, this is detected by examining other vendor's sales or asking questions. In the net arena, this often goes undetected.
Also, vendors tend to make assumptions based on close matches. They assume that if you buy a John Doe brand Doohickey for $N, you'll be fine with them dropping the John Doe brand in favor of the Richard Roe, for $N-10 dollars, or for the Jane Doe brand Thingamajig, because the Thingamajig does -almost- the same thing as the Doohickey.
All you have to do is look at the remaindered Personal Organizers, MP3 players, and copies of Lotus Ami Pro in the $3 junk bin to see the fallacy with that. Not everything is an interchangable commodity item.
I've worked in retail and wholesale, and I've seen just how -badly- this kind of thing is normally done. Most businesses can get a 2000% improvement in identifying customer needs by scrapping the crap customer tracking technology and having sales people talk to the customers. For every one person you identify as being interested in product A, you have 25 people come in, look for product B, and leave without talking to the manager or a salesperson when they couldn't find product B or a salesperson to help them.
Sorry for the heat; as you can see, this is an area that bugs me; better advertising is no substitute for customer service.
> It's smart business - a hell of a lot smarter than
> blindly throwing ads out there hoping they'll be used.
It's smarter; it's only "a hell of a lot smarter" if they do it "a hell of a lot better" than most people who try this kind of thing.
> In fact, I'd argue that the Internet is more relevant
> because businesses can see the value in it. Many of
> us wouldn't have jobs if there weren't such potential.
Just don't forget that many folks here -don't- have jobs, in part because of half-planned attempts by businesses to leverage the net's potential value.
At some point all you people who claim to appreciate relavent ads are going to get pretty sick and tired of them. It is one thing to have a single, rather unintrusive, source of relavent ads. It is quite another for ALL ads to be relavant. No matter how relavent ads are, there is only so much stuff your average person can buy.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
It would seem that an obvious strategy for them would be to archive tv shows and then serve them up over the internet. We wouldn't need DVRs then --- just tv a la carte.
Waaaaaaah!
Hear that? It's the Waaaahmbulance.
Everybody is whining over vaporware, vaporware purported to 'maybe' created by a company, even though that company never said two shakes about it.
And I thought we covered the whole information debacle a few weeks ago during the whole 'Xerox dots You' scare, I thought the consensus they already have the info, it's just a matter of how hard it is to join the queries.
"There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
Hmm, I know google got bags of bling just laying around, but even for google, launching their own "Sat" would be pretty expensive and risky, unless ofcourse they piggy back... When your TV / DVR goes off, google will yell ITS STILL IN BETA!
-- I Dont Deserve A Sig I Have Bad Karma
- our products are so good, they spread by word of mouth
- we are so great, we don't spend a dime in advertising and our products still catch up
- we only show advertisements
- we dont't do no evil
At least MS is upfront about its stance with users. Google is a hyprocite. It creates a illusion of goodness while sucking your blood away from you.Reality: They use bloggers and places like slashdot to heavily promote their goods
Reality: They are viral marketeers
Reality: Most of the ads shown are from crappy mom-and-pop sites
Reality: what about invasion of privacy, violation of copyright, taking a lot from OS community and giving nothing back, and more
When you put Google Adwords on your site, and the google bots can't find the right target advertising for your site, the default setting is to display generic google ads on your site, and as the webmaster, your click-through revenue drops.
In the world of cable/satellite, there is a fixed level of revenue that google must achieve in order to be able to offer this service. Targeted ads could pay for this, because they will cost the marketing agency more with the inherent trust that this method of advertising will yield greater results. If the viewing habits/data collected by google can't find a targeted ad, a generic ad would most likely be substituted. Yet, this would not be subsidized by Google, so the number crunching begins to fall apart if there are not enough targeted marketing ads available to consumers.
Good premise, but it'll take some good leadership to make it break even.
Google and Wal-Mart (and Dell) for that matter have advanced algorithms that they're constantly tweaking and are better than anyone else's in their respective industries's when it comes to monitoring their consumer habits. So its not as simple as you say that just because you search for something you'll see commercials for it. Google has worked very hard on figuring out the difference between a genuine interest in a subject and a trivial inquiry about a subject.
The internet is not responsible for anyone losing a job. Capitalism and efficiency mandate periodic bouts of creative destruction. That means companies and whole industries change, morph, shift or completly dissapear so that better more efficient ones may arise and the entire economy benefits because of this. Some companies may not use the internet as well as others but its ridiculous to imply that the internet is somehow bad because some folks don't have jobs anymore. And I know it was just an observation but its an observation that could have no other intent.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Just imagine if Google gave free broadband/cable TV? Or something that costs 10 bucks a month?
Would you be interested then? I would be.
I think that whats being missed here is the bigger picture. Fine debate if google doing this is a good or bad idea, but the TV world is beginning to strugle with on demand, and DVR, and other stuff. If they loose money because ads are not bieng viewed, then we loose shows. With ads geared towards the user they can combat the fact that people are eventually going to be watching TV when they want to and not when a show is on. The scary ones will be when ads start being customized individually, and not just seeing ads of interest. And also when product placement becomes customizable according to who viewing. Imagine watching a show and the background is different than your neighbor who is watching the same show because you two fall under different demographics.
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
It's bad enough, those stupid period-relevent ads I get stuck with on some DVDs*, but having to sit through a bunch of chose ads before I can watch TV isn't going to win me back to television.
This isn't new with DVDs, I've got VHS tapes with crap telling me of the next great movie coming up or offers from Disney or such, which look pretty silly 10 to 20 years later. At least with a tape I could open it up and snip out the offending leader. My DVD player sometimes doesn't allow me to skip these insidious things.
Small wonder I'd like to rip the stuff off the DVD and burn my own. With Google TV I'll probably have to time my potty break or such.
Technological advances aren't all good, some make crumpling a man's trachea with the Dark Side of the Force seem downright reasonable.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
To bad we can reverse this and send google ads of our choice? haha lotz of PORN pop ups for google would be nice, they scare me , they are tracking to much, why would i want a dvr with popup ads, plus the regular commericals?? pointless
Whats the psychology behind a crackpot conspiracy theorist? I mean is it some kind of mental disorder? Do you think there could ever be a treatment?
If a plane had NOT hit the Pentagon that would be a huge story every network would want to get to the bottom of and scoop the rest of the news industry. The reason why no mainstream news sources dispute that a plane hit the Pentagon is because a PLANE ACTUALLY HIT THE PENTAGON.
So what else do you think is fake that the rest of the world accepts as fact?
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Mmm, google porn. Oh wait, they already got image search.
Mmm, image search.
Google should buy TiVo. Then produce a Google/TiVo device for DirecTv and Dish. Then I could have all the great benifits of Tivo plus the targeted ads for Google. (Imagine ads that would really be relevate to the show I'm watching.) Then they could add to it a IPTV channel. Where they download and store IPTV shows (like systm) to your device and it makes a tv channel out of them.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Because of 1) broadcast Closed Captioning requirements and 2) advanced in speaker-independent phoneme analysis, I can easilly imagine Google providing an "Adsense for Video" from broadcast, cable, and satellite content sources.
Keywords in Closed Caption text or "key phonemes" noted during a program segment could drive Adsense to have relevant ad spots to be digitally inserted into the MPEG-2 transport stream in the next break using SCTE 35 Digital Program Insertion information.
Alternatively, Google could give you the TV, except CC keywords and key phonemes would drive on-screen text advertising...
"Microsoft may be creating their own branded digital television DVR / satellite service. A DVR that lets you "Log In" with your Microsoft Account before you begin your television watching would allow Microsoft to serve up relevant ads based on: the program you are watching, your search history, the type of emails you have received in the past 24 hours (excluding spam hopefully), or anything else Microsoft can track. Imagine the possibilities... You are watching Microsoft Satellite TV through your "internet ready" Microsoft DVR."
I saw many positive comments regarding the Google version of the article. Why do I suspect the opinions would be much different if the article read like the edited one I posted in the preceding paragraph of this comment? Read through this new edited version and see if you have a different, more negative reaction. Just because it's Google doesn't mean it's automatically a good thing.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
Watching TV is a "social" event. You watch it with your family in the same room. You watch it with friends over for company. You dont sit in a private "viewing booth" and consume TV alone.
This will fail because if you log in and Google targets ads to an INDIVIDUAL, then that individual will no longer "want" to be watching TV with his/her friends and family, for the single reason that their PRIVATE internet/email behavior is dictating what types of ads they see in a SOCIAL television viewing setting.
It's similar to this: You invite your bible study group over to watch a football game, and they start to sense there's a theme to the adds that doesn't add up to your public image... You can't blame it on Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at that point.
Thanks, but no. I won't log in to watch TV. I don't want the TV people knowing what web sites I view and what email I send/read. Even in the aggregate. Even it if helps them present me with "more useful" advertising.
As much as I think Google is a cool company, I fail to see how this is a good thing, while doubleclick's tracking cookies are evil.
....shall I go on?
And make no mistake....doubleclick's tracking cookies are definitely evil. Along with hitbox, valueclick, linkexchange, adsmart, adbureau, adtech, linksynergy, focalink, avenuea, mediaplex,
How can targetted advertising from these companies be evil, while targetted advertising from Google results in the phrase: "Imagine the possibilities..."?
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
...I were willing to buy (or even use free) a box that allows someone to throw *more* advertising at me.
The reason I own a Replay box in the first place is avoid advertising.
When are people going to figure out the media keeps making crazy speculations about Google that (mostly) never come true. It's like an entire industry has sprung up to try and figure out what Google might do next.
man
No manual entry for
They probably could by TiVo with a week or two's pizza budget. They get what right now the slickest interface in the commercial DVR market, a rabid base of current subscribers and they save what is really a pretty good company. I can see it already TiVoogle.
Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
Is Google paying people to submit these "stories" about any article/blog/message board post with the word Google in it?
In any case, if I was to pretend that this was a serious article, Google had better watch its step. Let's not forget that Google is a one-trick pony. While it makes fantastic amount of money off that trick, serving up contextual ads in a browser is not the same as serving them up on TV. To begin with, the context is different. The most important factor that Google uses to show you adds is what you typed into their search box -- or the words on the page you're viewing in the Adsense case. When serving up adds on a TV show, it doesn't have as much to go off. It has the genre of the show, but so does the TV station choosing to serve up the ads, which is already doing targeting based on it. It has the episode description, which is small and often of limited value ex: (Magnum PI: "Mac returns and involves Rick in a scheme concering a luxury boat and its complement of four geishas"). Google also has access to "your interests", as the writer says. Not only is that much harder to determine, it's been done before. See: Doubleclick and Abacus. Things didn't work out so well for them.
Also, there's a reason that people find using Google adwords valuable right now: it's a completely measurable spend of your ad dollars. You'll know exactly how much traffic (minus the growing click fraud, I guess) was driven to your site. There's no interactive TV yet (at least not in the U.S.), and Google can't provide that anymore. At that point, they're really not that different from a typical advertising company.
Google could do a good job with TV ads, some day. The barriers to entry are much higher than slapping some adwords on every text page on the Web, though.
You guys don't get it. Advertisements are here to stay, so why bother with seeing ads for stuff you aren't going to buy? Also, your life is _not_ private. If you are on the internet, or have a bank account, or have windows in your house, people can see what you are doing. People have to stop thinking of Google as an evil empire trying to steal our souls, and start looking at it as a way to fund tecnological advances. Because, when advertisements are more effective, companies pay more for them, so we as consumers can pay less for our media.
-johnson
So, when Google wants to pop ads up on screen it's really cool, but when TiVo puts relevant ads on screen..........
-516
So I'm not supposed to read the article this time? \confused
Funny that I'm reading the comments to this article and my MSN Messenger pops up a notice that says I just recieved an email from Tivo... spooky!
First, TFA is just a speculation about a domain registration that not even Google owns, second, the premises are based on the fact that google has registered the domain name googletv. The blog article links to a NYT article that says nothing about google and TV.
TWFA is just fuss by a googledrone.
We are Google. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. You will disarm your weapons and escort us to your bank account. If you attempt to intervene, we will destroy you...
So now can we call Google evil?
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
I can't wait to get my buddy on tampax's mailing list so his google TV shows him nothing but tampon commercials. Is there a Tony Little mailing list out there? He'll love his commercials too.
I for one welcome our new google overlords!
No more tampon and vagisil commercials for me? :)
This too shall pass.
Not that I'm surprised, but everyone here at slashdot seems to be doing an awful lot of speculation.
Assuming that they are actually planning on doing something with this domain, I'm guessing we will see it more in the form of a physical google dvr box that will be sold at a discounted rate. In exchange for this of course they will be able to better target their advertising on their various services.
I would sincerely doubt that they will be wrapping text ads around traditional T.V. this would be incredibly irritating. I can see them doing targeted T.V. ads on the "guide" while you are looking for something to watch. This shouldn't bother the user so much, and it shouldn't bother the content producers either.
I can also see a large consulting opportunity here. Imagine the connections to information that google has. Say apple is looking to sell their newest iPod, google knows that the majority of people who have searched for information on iPods have also recently watched Friends on T.V. Knowing this google can say to apple. Advertise during friends reruns. Now this ad is running at people who are known to be interested in iPods. Therefore this ad might be the final push to get the consumer to purchase it.
Because google is actually distributing the information I don't see how this would violate their "Don't be evil" philosophy.
Moderation is not supposed to be used as an indicator of agreement.
Toys, nothing but toys.
googledvr googlelive googlenow googlenumber googlepens
There aren't any relevant ads. I don't watch ANY ads on my Dish Network PVR and I'm not going to start. I record everything I watch and fast forward like a fiend.
Google is starting to edge into services which have long been held as a "privelege" for users to cough up big bucks for and not get much out of. TV and video is a realm for companies who want to hold on tight to the content and not give consumers the ability to record or do anything else with it. Google is going to need to get MPAA on people's asses to protect its investment.
If only there was some other company that tried this before. I wonder how that worked out for them...
If the service is free, I'll save up the money to get one of these boxes. As for the ads, they'll probably be shown on the digital menus, so that you see an ad everytime you change the channel (rather than forcing us to watch commercials or changing the default commercials). I can deal with that if the service is free. If there's a charge for the service, then there's no way I'll be getting this thing. You don't pay a service charge to tape things onto VHS.
How so? In what way is /. lambasting them? The only communicae that /. proper has with users is the tone of their submission postings. It is common to see a negative tone of posted submissions that deal with MS, SCO, etc. It's equally common to see a posotive spin on articles realting to Google, Linux, etc. I'm not arguing with you, I'm sincerely asking how (where, give me an example) /. proper is lambasting Google. Some readers are certainly doing so, but /. ... I think not. Also, not sure how my original post was Flame Bait.
It's not exactly difficult to get multiple accounts . . . just do the occasional search for Victoria's Secret logged in under your TV login . . .
I'm not sure of details, but didn't their purchase of KeyHole effectively get them a satellite?
Google is investing in Space Elevator technology, in order to launch space billboards.
However, the billboards will have those lenses that cause a different image to appear from different angles, so that advertising can be targeted to each 50 mile wide strip of land.
UV lasers will shine from the billboards, designed to catch reflections from the irises (iri?) of anyone looking at the billboards, in order to calculate the response to each ad.
..what are the benefits of that? I mean, why would I WANT google ads on my TV? Is it going to be free TV? If so, what will make it better TV that other free channels?
Besides being google, what will that DVR/TV do different than similar alternatives? Anyone has any insight on that?
"From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen" - Cat Stevens
But Slashdot wouldn't be Slashdot if it didn't hype every trial balloon Google sent up. Soon you'll be seeing the following on high school logic tests:
What part of "a well regulated militia" do you not understand?
what product/service is google NOT going to come out with?
The world needs more google services right away, since more parents want to name their kids like them.
//WR
Now imagine Google Video getting subscription to every cable/satellite channel it can get (probably also from Canada, Japan and some other countries), recording it all in HDTV resolution and Dolby Digital sounds, and serving it up through the internet for a small fee (well.. compared to full cable that is). Content is distributed via Akamai and Partners, so it's always fast. For a few extra ads before show starts you get extra $10 off a month.
And those are nice and relevant ads (I am ok with that, in fact I ofter rewind cool ads and watch them again). And you don't need to buy a box. No need to have a clear view of the southern skies. No need for $75 a month cable package just because the channel you love doesn't come in Basic cable. No need to think whether you pre-programmed all shows you want to be recorded. No need to think about recording conflicts (each TV channel thinks it's the pinnacle of human artistic creativity and tries to push shows at the same time "competitors" do). No need to worry about missing interesting stuff -- because your preference block is finely tuned and known to Google via your watching browsing and emailing habits.
How about that?
Would you sign up for this service? I am waiting...
Hyperom.com
Lie all you want. The free world now agrees George Bush and the US Government are guilty of treason.
It is that simple and documented here:
http://home.powertech.no/rzr/
It's that simple. If you are in the US, do not be fooled by your propaganda media to believe anything else.
We all know the truth in the parts of the world who still have a free press.
9/11: Never forget it was a false-flag operation