“Over the past year, Apple’s iBeacon has gained a lot of media attention and developer traction,” Evan Niu writes for The Motley Fool. “Quietly introduced at Worldwide Developers Conference 2013, iBeacon’s micro-location capabilities have incredible potential in retail and can also help facilitate the Internet of Things. Google wants in on the action.”
“Android Police reports that Google is preparing to introduce a new ‘Nearby’ feature that replicates some of iBeacon’s functionality,” Niu writes. “When activated, an Android device could automatically turn on its microphone, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other functions in order to tap into various Google services based on location.”
“For all of the same reasons why iBeacon is a big deal, Nearby will be a critical piece of the mobile puzzle. Retailers are looking forward to location-based offers and other opportunities to appeal to iPhone owners, and soon Android may do likewise,” Niu writes. “Location will also have obvious use cases as the connected home trend continues. As rumored, Apple launched its HomeKit platform for smart appliances throughout the home. Google has no such centralized smart home platform yet, even though it did acquire Nest earlier this year.”
MacDailyNews Take: How many magic mushrooms do you have to consume to come anywhere near to equating overpaying for a company that immediately had to recall 440,000 faulty smoke alarms with providing the tools that soon will allow hundreds of millions of iOS users users to control everything there is to control?
Niu continues, “Google I/O is now just weeks away, which could potentially be when investors hear more about Nearby.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wait, Google wants to try to poorly copy something that Apple’s already patented in myriad ways? For some reason, that sounds vaguely familiar.
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Google = Evil
Don’t they have more vaporware for Glassholes and those too lazy to drive a fscking car? The dumbasses are an advertising company and they’re late to the party with this?
Another classic take! Made my evening.. I don’t know how these shady googlers take themselves seriously.
Wait, why would I want to walk by a device that can turn on my microphone and wifi? That sounds like the NSA or Anonymous?
I can just imagine how many nefarious people and apps will take advantage of google’s attempt at replicating the iBeacon experience.
…yeah, and half- baked attempt!
Mo better spyware, coming soon. Creepy frat boy party crashers going through your dresser drawers, following you up the street, helpfully keeping track of your visits, noting your purchases and recommending like products every time you turn around. My gawd, were’t eyeballs enough? Shades of Minority Report.
Minority Report didn’t have any creepy frat boys (or any frat boys). I think you are watching too many spoof movies.
It had eyeballs. Conspicuously so.
Google’s Android owns you!
Yet another way for google to suck out people’s personal info to sell to advertisers and to get advertisers to flog stuff you do t want.
Jesus when will this company stop killing privacy and human rights???
Remember, if you haven’t done anything wrong, you don’t need privacy or human rights.
Hope you forgot the /S. Normally you are one the saner voices here
Yes, I agree with you 100%!!!
Please post your financial records, medical records (specifically, your hemmorhoid exam + anal wart photos and the number of miscarriages your wife had), your kids’ photos, where they go to school, what time you leave your home empty, when you’ll be on vacation, your porn viewing habits, your bank account balances, account numbers, passwords, etc., etc…
Remember, you haven’t done anything wrong so you have absolutely no need need any privacy or human rights.
/S
Laugh of the day, thank you 🙂
And if you still haven’t done anything wrong, we’ll change the rules so that you have. Oh wait, did I say that out loud? Damn. Delete! Delete!!
It going to come to a point when google will know stuff about you before you do.
And when that happens the human race is fucked big time.
Roll on the next extinction because that’s the only thing that’s gonna stop google.
Google/Android is going to bury Apple. The only place Apple rates is in the US.
… which sucks for Apple, because the USA is only the world’s biggest economy.
Btw that’s Khrushchev you’re sorta quoting. Give that a think.
Too bad most Android users are a bunch of cheapskates. Good luck monetizing that, Google.
First thing I thought of, too. If I had a business, would I want iPhone users or “I want everything free” droids?
Microphone? Did they say it’ll turn on its MICROPHONE?
GOOGLE can access the MIC at will? Just to ‘check for location data I’m sure!
This really isn’t anything surprising. iBeacons transmit a code. Any modern mobile platform can tune into the signal, get the code and pass it on to an application that does what it’s enabled to do with the code.
In other words, iBeacons are inherently cross-platform from the start. It’s all client side development to deal with the iBeacon and most of that is on the 3rd party app side.
An old bull and a young bull are standing around in a field doing what bulls do when the young bull notices a big herd of cows over in the adjacent field. He sidles up to the old bull and says, “Let’s run down to the other field and do a couple of cows.”
The old bull eyes the field of cows, turns to his companion and says, “Nah! Let’s stroll down and do the lot!”
In other words, you can be first to market which really only gives you bragging rights and generally leads to a half-arsed implementation, or you can take your time and do it properly.
=:~)
Exactly right.
And yet Google ripped off the iPhone and iOS.
You obviously never saw android before the iPhone came out.
Get your history right.