Two More Google Software Dogs Go To Heaven

theodp writes "Two more software products will be going to Google Software Heaven shortly. On Friday, Google issued a death certificate for Google Health (date of death = Jan. 1, 2012), and added that the lights will go out on Google PowerMeter on Sep. 16, 2011. 'We've observed that Google Health is not having the broad impact that we hoped it would,' said Google. 'There has been adoption among certain groups of users like tech-savvy patients and their caregivers, and more recently fitness and wellness enthusiasts. But we haven't found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people.' Regarding PowerMeter, Google's 'Green Energy Czar' had this to say: 'We're pleased that PowerMeter has helped demonstrate the importance of this access and created something of a model. However, our efforts have not scaled as quickly as we would like, so we are retiring the service.' Google added that the White House will carry on the fight after being inspired by success stories like the Harker School (tuition: $36,435), which used grant money to acquire off-the-shelf sub-metering technology that revealed their energy bill could be reduced by not air conditioning the gym from 9pm-3am."

Comments

"not air conditioning the gym from 9pm-3am"

[gatkinso]

The fact that people need software to tell them this would save money is sad indeed.

Re:"not air conditioning the gym from 9pm-3am"

[myurr]

And a quick walk around the school after it had shut wouldn't have let them discover this without the need for expensive analysis!?

Part of the problem with most managers is that they seem to refuse to go anywhere near the coalface and subsequently rely on spreadsheets and numbers for managing their business. Spending a few days every now and then actually experiencing the business first hand would leave them far better informed and help them become better managers.

Re:"not air conditioning the gym from 9pm-3am"

[hey!]

The fact that people need software to tell them this would save money is sad indeed.

Not really, because I'd probably turn the AC back on at 5AM. I wouldn't necessarily know that the marginal savings of keeping it off between 3AM and 5AM are so small that I'd might as well make the gym comfortable for early morning users. Likewise, I might turn the gym AC off at 11PM, not realizing that the gym wouldn't warm up enough to affect the people working out after 10PM.

So by turning the AC off between 9pm and 3am instead between 11pm and 5am, hypothetically I might be keeping the gym more comfortable for the users while using less energy, even though the AC runs the same number of hours.

Re:"not air conditioning the gym from 9pm-3am"

[spire3661]

And part of the problem is lay people going 'Durr, its obvious' Balancing an HVAC system is not as obvious as you make it out to be.

There's a Google Health?

[Dachannien]

First I'd heard of it. Maybe I've been living under a Google Rock, but you'd think a company that specializes in advertising could Google Tell People About This Thing better.

Not surprising

[redemtionboy]

So the things people cared the least about in Google's wide spectrum of services were health and energy? We're doomed.

google didn't help

[gargeug]

I was working on a metering device for residential solar arrays and attempted to contact google about the technical aspects to link our product easily with google's powermeter, as it was just getting going. They never got back to me or showed any interest in getting some products to adopt the technology. Seems to me they lost it on their own...

Re:Just Tried Google Health...

[AmigaHeretic]

I actually used Google health along with members of my family.

Main use is each member has any list of medications and and importantly "Allergies".

I used to have a piece of paper in my wallet with this information, this was much more convenient to access from anywhere I needed. It was good for an emergency, any when in a medical office visit where you have to fill out some form, and honestly I can't remember all this crap at this age anymore.

It really is handy. More convient then scratching things off a piece of paper and updating it. Now I don't know how many people are in the medical industry, but there are lots of sites that are HIPAA Compliant that you can pay for, for this type of service, but Google was free and I could care less if the world knows about my Google logins allergies. The trade off was fine.

This however is just another straw in the "Cloud" coffin.


I think something like Opera Unite is much more interesting (The implementation is far from perfect), but an easy users side "Server" with plug-in blocks that can have 100s of mini servers serving anything--- WhiteBoard server, Web server, Music server, Video Server, Medical server, PostIt Note server, etc....

No, Opera Unite, does not go through Opera.com. It can use a DynDns style url for easy access through opera.com, but you can access it directly through your IP and port #. Again, just the concept I think is more interesting anyway then the cloud. Any easy server, with "plug any anything" server modules.

Re:Because it doesn't.

[Doc Ruby]

No, airsealing buildings to retain heat (or keep cool) and maintain humidity has been probably the highest priority of both new buildings and retrofit for at least a decade. "Breathable" buildings are energy inefficient. Preventing mold with the minimum mechanical ventilation and proper materials in construction is much cheaper and effective over a building's operational life. You are the one who is 100% wrong, at least in the modern construction era.

Re:So THAT'S what we're spending our money on.

[Doc Ruby]

Except they don't. Nearly all buildings are inefficient in ways that are fairly cheap and simple to fix, once the specific problem is identified. Very few of them are identified. The efficiency upgrade industry should be 100x larger, but most people are ignorant, inefficient, and even smug about it.