Google Now:能够读懂你的搜索?

There are two common complaints about the sort of radical personalisation that Google is attempting with its new Google Now mobile search service. One is that it doesn't work: the other is that it works too well.

人们对谷歌(Google)新推出的高度个性化移动搜索服务Google Now的批评意见主要分为两类：一类是认为用户体验太差，另一类则是认为用户体验过好。

For the sake of Google's bottom line – not to mention all the other internet companies pushing up against the frontiers of the mobile internet – the latter is by far the preferable error to make.

就这件事对谷歌利润的影响而言，收到第二类批评意见显然比收到第一类要好。如果考虑到其他各家互联网公司也在不断拓展移动互联网领域的边界，结论就更是如此了。

Google Now is an oxymoronic idea that might best be called "push search". If it works as advertised, your phone could one day automatically serve up answers to your most pressing questions – before you even think of asking them.

Google Now是对传统搜索服务的一种颠覆，也许称其为"推送搜索"更为合适。如果Google Now真象宣传的那样管用，那么有一天你的手机会在你主动搜索答案之前就自动为你最为急迫的问题做出解答。

For advertisers, who live with the perennial conceit that they have the perfect product or service to satisfy your every unexpressed want, this is a powerful idea. Google says it has no plans yet to put advertising into the service, though this seems inevitable.

对于广告公司来说，"推送搜索"是一个很有吸引力的想法，因为长期以来广告公司的生存之道就是使消费者相信其所推介的产品或服务能够完美满足消费者尚未表达出的任何需求。谷歌表示目前尚无计划在Google Now中投放广告，不过这似乎是难以避免的。

The "works too well" argument holds that people are not ready to accept the fruits of personalisation that technology has made possible. According to this view, a machine that "knows you" will simply be too creepy.

"用户体验过好"是指人们还未准备好接受在技术层面已经可行的个性化服务成果。在持这种观点的人看来，一款"懂你心思"的机器简直太可怕了。

The "doesn't work" complaint, on the other hand, is strongly voiced by author and internet commentator Doc Searls. In his new book The Intention Economy, he argues that amassing piles of data about internet users to "understand" them completely will ultimately prove futile.

作家兼互联网评论人士多克•西尔斯(Doc Searls)则强烈认为个性化服务"用户体验太差"。西尔斯在自己的新书《意愿经济学》(The Intention Economy)中指出，通过收集互联网用户数据来彻底"理解"用户的尝试终将被证明是徒劳的。

My quick test of Google Now – which will officially be released in a number of handsets running Google's Android software in mid-July – suggests the technology has a long way to go.

我对Google Now进行了简要测试，结果表明"推送搜索"技术仍有很长的路要走。Google Now将于7月中旬作为Android 4.1操作系统的组成部分正式发布，届时上市的数款手机将搭载Android 4.1系统。