Google Now knows a lot more than Siri and Cortana

Siri, Google Now, Cortana... it seems all major companies are working hard to make our smartphones answer all our questions. But... which one does the best job? Some folks decided to put it to the test, with over 3000 questions, and the results show a clear winner.

Google Now tells you where you parked your car

If you're one of those people that have spend more time than they admit looking for the place where they've parked the car, then you'll like to know Google is about to give you a helping hand with the latest Google Now update. Besides telling you the weather, upcoming appointments and such, Google Now will now also tell you where you've parked your car.

Sure, there are countless apps that allow you to manually set where you parked you car (or using the simple trick of dropping a pin on Google Maps), but those require you to do it while in this case you don't have to do anything. Just keep in mind the system is not foolproof, and you shouldn't blindly rely on it (for instance, it will likely assume that bus stop where you left the bus might be your parking spot, or the spot where you stepped out of a friends car). But even so, it's one more reminder that might prove useful when your memory fails or when you're too distracted to notice where you've left your vehicle.

There's only one thing that Google should have done: to give you walking navigation instructions for that spot when you ask it: "Dude, where's my car?"

Google Now gets to be more conversational

Google has been improving its Google Now "assistant" a lot, and now we get to have a few more cards and a more talkative voice recognition mode. Until now, if you asked Google Now to send a message, you'd be thrown into the message app without further ado. With the latest update, Google Now will ask you for additional information, like who you want to send the message to, etc.

This isn't the only thing that has been done, but it's definitely one that will amaze anyone not used to using voice commands/questions. (Yes, it's a bit more like Siri... but what's the problem with that?)

We also get a bunch of new cards, including ones that notify you when there's has been a change to a web site with the Website update card; a News topic card that keeps you up to date on whatever topic you may want; the The What to Watch card will notify you of movies and TV series; and you also get to see traffic incidents on your commute using real-time data from Waze, set repeat reminders, get real time scores for rugby teams, and also see when your packages are ready for in-store pickup.

What's not to like? :)

How to fix Missing Google Now Cards on Android

I had to wait many weeks to receive the updated Google Maps app in my Nexus 4, but Google decided to redeem itself by pushing the new Android 4.3 update to my device the very next day after its official announcement. However, the new Android came with some unexpected and undesired features.

For starters, soon after the update I got an unexpected reboot - something I had never experienced before with the 4.2 version, but that I'm willing to consider a mishap (as long as it never happens again). But even more sadly, my trusted Google Now cards on my home screen widget were missing. As I had been a week in vacations with no internet connection, I though that Google Now might be somewhat confused. But after a couple of days back home, the cards were still not showing - and it was even weirder because I could still see Google Now notifications in the notification bar; and the cards were still showing correctly in the iOS Google app. I tried rebooting, removing and re-adding the widget, and everything else I could thing of, to no avail.

After digging around for a while I came across a suggestion to go into Google Now settings and disable and reenable the Google Now cards.

And that did the trick. In my case I didn't even have to actually do it, as toggling it off showed up a popup stating I would lose my Google Now preferences - and so I canceled the process. But it seems just the hint of turning it off was enough to scare it back into working mode.

Looks like Android is reaching a point where it too will come to rely on "black magic" techniques of "closing and reopening" or "rebooting" to fix things that should simply work - and that we're used to associate with other operating systems. But the important part is that the it was a simple fix, and I hope it can help you should you ever face the same problem.

... Now all that I ask for is to never see that random reboot issue again.

Osito is a Google Now for iPhone

It's hard not to be amazed by Google Now. Without any intervention Google Now keeps you up to date on the latest news, weather conditions, your friends birthdays, alerts you to traffic conditions on your daily commute, and even reminds you when it's time to leave so you get to your appointments on time - all this only when you need it. But... if that's the case for Android users, iPhone user have been left out in the cold until now. Google may not yet have launched a Google Now for iOS, but you get most of it by using this Osito.

This free App does most of what Google Now does, and... well... it's free - so give it a try. It has very clean-looking info panels, and its developers aim to go even further, opening up an API so it can interact with other services. For instance, in the future you might be able to to what its creators already did: turning up the lights whenever they get to the office.

Beat that Google Now...

[via Verge]