This evening I got signed out of all my google stuff. Did some searching to figure out what the deal was. And I came across this.
Account Action Required notifications and unexpected sign out issues
Hi everyone,
We’ve gotten reports about some users being signed out of their accounts unexpectedly. We’re investigating, but not to worry: there is no indication that this is connected to any phishing or account security threats.
For Chrome users seeing the error message “Sync isn’t working. Sign-in details are out of date,” please try signing in again by clicking the sign in button in Chrome.
For all other Google users, please try to sign-in again at accounts.google.com and if you cannot remember your password, please use this link (Sign in - Google Accounts) to recover your password. If you use 2-Step Verification, there may have been a delay in receiving your SMS code. Please try again or use backup codes.
Google knows they gotta get Allo on more than just mobile if they want anyone to use it. Still probably too little too late. Just make Hangouts better!
To add to all of this they are rebranding [1] Messenger to Android Messages to try and compete with imessage. It’s essentially trying to get everyone to use RCS. I doubt iphones will get it but google voice app may be the way for Google to get iphone users to use RCS [2].
I am creeped out by a google phenomenon that I have noticed a few times and I don’t know quite how far it goes.
I was at a play the other night with my fiance and mother in law. We saw a poster for another play on tour that I was interested in. I searched on my phone for tickets in Birmingham but it was sold out. Then I searched for tickets in nearby Wolverhampton, but I was mistaken, the tour was never going to Wolverhampton. At that point I had devoted too much time to it so I gave up.
Yesterday I was at my mother in law’s house and she asked if it was worth looking up that play again. As she started typing google auto completed the search with “Wolverhampton” and it appeared in a purple font as if it were part of her search history.
In the past I have put this to coincidence but the fact that it completed to a town that had no relevance to the play makes me think that it was my search that it’s referring to.
I have logged onto my gmail on her computer once before to print something out, probably 8 months ago but I made sure I’d logged off after I was done.
I am worried that she may have access to searches I make and vice versa! I frequently see strange auto-complete searches coming to me but I put that down to google targeting “relevant” searches to me. What can I do to stop this?
I am a bit miffed about this. I like to put end credits and stings at the end of my videos, so my jumps typically happen WAY before where google want’s end cards to appear. And with Annotations, you can have an arbitrary number of clickboxes on screen, but you can only fit one or two vertically and 2.5 horizontally with end screen. Not to mention it COMPLETELY kills the option for a chapter select type clickables for when you make SUPER long videos.
I DO wish someone would create a service that can really take on YouTube as a legitimate competitor.
I’m glad Annotations are dead. They were ugly, misused, lazy, and shit design. If you got links you need me to click on, put it in the description. If you need to correct something in your video, do a better job of editing it in the first place.
It sounds to me like either her browser is still considered logged into your account or your phone is logged into hers. There’s no other really plausible explanation.
Of course there is. Google shows you possible searches based on your previous searches but also searches of people in the same area, and people connected to you closely, like friends and family and work colleagues.
If you searched for a term, and then your mother starts a search with the same string, of course google knows she is your mother, and of course google is going to suggest what you searched for previously.
Sure, it’s creepy, but it’s google’s job to do that. Because in 99% of other cases, you wouldn’t know the back story, and it would just feel magically useful.
I think the pertinent piece of information you missed was -[quote=“Guy, post:7, topic:511”]
and it appeared in a purple font as if it were part of her search history.
[/quote]
However more than likely that the link has been clicked locally on that instance of Chrome or on that Google account sign in on any other connected device. as @linkigi said.
The magical arts of account management and histories elude us to this very day. Many explain it away with computer science but there is a foreboding feeling that this could be the work of aliens.
This is why if I avoid using devices that are not my personal property, do not allow ANYONE to use my personal devices for ANYTHING, and if I am forced to log in on a device that is not mine I use private browsing. If private browsing is not available I don’t use it period.
I think that Google, Twitter, etc. are on course to implement the solution they should have from the very beginning, which is to simply permaban all the awful people. It’s just sad that it is taking so long to get there, and that they are going down so many wrong roads along the way.
They should get in some talks with blizzard to get some of their “you cheated once, we have now banned, not your credit card, not your computer, not your ip, we’ve banned you the person from using our service”
