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Google Duplex Rolls Out To Pixel Phones in 43 States; Plans To Bring Duplex To Other Android Phones and iPhones in Coming Weeks (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the further-expansion dept.

Google is expanding its Duplex reservation system to a total of 43 US states. It will work on Pixel phones in those 43 states, but it should be expanding to more Android phones and iPhones "in the coming weeks." From a report: To be clear, it's not quite the Duplex experience Google demoed at its I/O 2018 developers conference in May -- Google Assistant isn't booking haircut appointments just yet. But importantly, it's no longer limited to businesses with which Google has explicitly partnered. And for restaurants which use an online booking service that partners with Google (like Bookatable, Chef's Club, Reserve, Resy, Seatninja, Dinetime, or Easydiner), the Assistant works directly with Reserve with Google, the company's cross-platform service that makes it easier to manage bookings through Google Search, Maps, and other apps and portals.

38 comments

  1. Coming soon to a phone near you by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

    A script talking to a script.

    It's like the early days of IRC rooms all over again.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re: Coming soon to a phone near you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another day...

    2. Re: Coming soon to a phone near you by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      ... another Doug.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  2. Who needs all this stuff? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Never heard of it, and the short description here doesn't inspire me to look into it.

    Who uses this and why?

    Also, tech naming destroys yet another word.

    1. Re:Who needs all this stuff? by Albanach · · Score: 2

      Never heard of it, and the short description here doesn't inspire me to look into it.

      /. - news for nerds.

      Seriously, this was all over the technical and traditional news a year ago. AI reservations at places like restaurants made by a scarily realistic human-sounding voice.

      I'm not sure it's unreasonable for a tech news site to expect a little familiarity from their audience.

    2. Re:Who needs all this stuff? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never hear of it. And you can stop with the reddit style asswipe behavior.

    3. Re: Who needs all this stuff? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I second the other AC

    4. Re: Who needs all this stuff? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agree. Why can't all posts be like the faggoty hacker news liberal smugbox?

    5. Re:Who needs all this stuff? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't worry, if you have a Android phone, you will see it soon. Somehow Google manages to push all their new spywares into every Android phone ever built, but security fixes are impossible to do for a phone older than a year.

  3. Inefficient by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    If I was an owner of a business there is no way in heck that I would want to belong to a 'scheduling service' that results in a computerized voice calling my employees constantly. What a time waster for the person taking calls.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re: Inefficient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the fuck are they taking calls? What do you care what your employees do? Are you some kind of control freak?

    2. Re: Inefficient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think what one often means by employees is random people he has no relationship with, certainly does not pay, and that he wishes to control. Keep this fact in mind and you will understand reservations much better

    3. Re:Inefficient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depends, is the computer voice going to expediently ask you if you have room for lots people to come eat your food drink your liquor and pay your rent and payroll? Seems like a decent deal to me. Although I'm with you, it's better to just become a reservation partner and let all that reservation and billing data go into the cloud so I can read it on a screen, I hate wasting time on the phone with things that are more easily done online.

    4. Re: Inefficient by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I care about how productive my employees are. A phone call is a terribly time consuming way of communication.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    5. Re:Inefficient by TrekkieGod · · Score: 1

      If I was an owner of a business there is no way in heck that I would want to belong to a 'scheduling service' that results in a computerized voice calling my employees constantly. What a time waster for the person taking calls.

      Which is why they need to not ask permission and stop identifying themselves as a computer, and give it enough voice variation that you can't clue in by that. The entire point of the duplex demo was that it sounded human.

      You want me to not use such a service, have online services. If the only way to make an appointment is to make a phone call, and I have a system that will do that for me, I'll be more than glad to shift the burden. If there's on website where I can do it, that's better, but if you want to remain in the 20th century, that's your problem.

      --

      Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.

    6. Re: Inefficient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, you'd rather your employees not waste time taking bookings by phone? That's an awfully large chunk of the market you're discarding - phone bookings are still the dominant method in most service industries, by far.

      Or do you mean you don't want them talking to a robot, even if the robot is trying to give you a customer? Seems to me the robot is a lot less likely to tie up your employees with idle chit-chat and what not.

      (I'd also dispute the "time consuming way of communication" claim. Let's see who can get the booking done quickest - the 45-second call finding a free timeslot, or the six-part typed email exchange spread out over half an hour.)

  4. Duplex by iggymanz · · Score: 1, Insightful

    never heard of it before. whoop de doo an app that does the same thing as restaurant's websites but feeds the database of marketing scum

  5. How about rolling out Fi to more places? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Can't get Fi because I'm not in a major city. Will Google cancel Fi for lack of interest as a result of not actually letting people sign up for it? History says yes.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. The other 7 states by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here are the states that won't be getting it yet:

    • Indiana
    • Kentucky
    • Louisiana
    • Minnesota
    • Montana
    • Nebraska
    • Texas

    Posting as AC because I already moderated in this story

    1. Re:The other 7 states by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder why not in Texas. I live in Houston, the 4th largest city in the country. I use a Google Pixel 3 on Google Fi. The service and signal are great.

    2. Re:The other 7 states by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Reading between the lines of the Verge article, those states may grant municipalities authority to impose local regulations on telephony (home rule) or have other state laws imposing on the service.

      It's not the two-party consent rule, as several 2-party states are on the service list.

      If a service isn't available in the market it's usually because of laws that prevent it, as a rule of thumb.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    3. Re:The other 7 states by PPH · · Score: 1

      I wonder why not in Texas.

      East Texas district courts.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  7. Ignorance should be painful by Fuzi719 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    WTF is with the "I don't know what it is but it must be destroyed!" people? You make comments on something you admit you know nothing about, but you know for certain it must be bad? Holy F. If you bothered to gather even the most miniscule amount of information about the topic, you'd know that it is not "inefficient" or time-wasting. It is simply an additional service that could be very beneficial not only to the user but also the business, as it makes making an appointment or reservation easier for both sides.

    1. Re:Ignorance should be painful by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

      I think the fact that 'Google' is the first word in the headline has more to do with it.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    2. Re:Ignorance should be painful by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      I think the fact that 'Google' is the first word in the headline has more to do with it.

      Yeah, many of us figure it’s going to be yet another personal marketing data vacuum machine.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    3. Re:Ignorance should be painful by imidan · · Score: 1

      Slashdot has long been home to an odd species of luddite technocrats who love technology except if it's new. Especially if it seems to suggest the way they've been doing things is not the ultimate best way. Also, these people never actually RTFA, so their arguments are often against strawman versions of the technology that they made up after reading the headline and skimming the summary.

  8. All those PHD's to book a table by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How pathetic.

    1. Re: All those PHD's to book a table by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a "how many PhDs does it take to make a restaurant reservation" joke in there somewhere.

  9. Okay... by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

    ”To be clear, it's not quite the Duplex experience Google demoed at its I/O 2018 developers conference in May”

    In other words, this is half-duplex rather than full-duplex.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Okay... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's an old fag joke, the millennials won't get it.

    2. Re:Okay... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2

      Probably only 7N1 at that.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  10. I wonder how this will play out by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I keep wondering if Duplex trying to make reservations for you, will be like having the voice mail systems we all hate calling service workers up and trying to book something...

    How many places will just hang up on something like this out of frustration? Would be really interesting to get recordings of what this is like when it contacts you to try and make an appointment.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:I wonder how this will play out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you."

    2. Re:I wonder how this will play out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Look at me still talking when they're bookings to do."

  11. We just don't understand what this is solving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's masturbatory millennial work.

    This will not generate wealth for anybody, let alone society; it's hipster trash.

  12. How about using duplex for something better? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like automatically answering SPAM calls and ... (you can fill the rest)

  13. Solution in search of a problem ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does anybody really give a damn about this?

    Have we all become so fucking stupid and lazy we need a fucking AI app to book a hair appointment?

    Fuck you and your stupid fucking digital assistants, to me this shit is just pointless tech, and yet another way for Google to try to get more of your personal information.

    Suck it slow and gently, Google .. slow and gently.

  14. tech solution looking for a market by Virtucon · · Score: 1

    doing it wrong.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"