Very cool and a little creepy

[Gekko]

Where is this history?

www.google.com/searchhistory/

chrome://history/

 

[Gekko]

Details? Battery drain is something I'm just used to. I have two batteries, keep my phone on charge in my work truck, and have an external battery pack if/when needed. I'd rather have my phone functioning in all areas than try and skimp here and there to get an extra 30 minutes of battery time, and lose out on features.

that's cool. i just believe in turning things off that i don't use anyway. a feature has no value to me if i don't use it anyway. i'm not going to leave it on 24/7 just for the sake of leaving it on. it's just not efficient.

 

[sledge007]

You mentioned that having Google Now turned on was a significant drain on your battery. I was just wondering if you could throw out a number as to what you figured it was costing you, is all.

 

[Gekko]

You mentioned that having Google Now turned on was a significant drain on your battery. I was just wondering if you could throw out a number as to what you figured it was costing you, is all.

i'm going to guess at least 10%. i think the reason Google Now hits the battery is all of the constant web history and location logging, tracking, and searching.

 

[gnr_2]

Anyone who has your Google account on their device, or physical access to one of your devices, can see this history. You're right that this could potentially become an issue, but if you're not too open about where you leave your accounts signed in and who has unrestricted (read: no lock screen security) access to your devices then you should not have any problems.

If people you don't trust can easily access this 'history' of your activities, my personal recommendation would be to re-think how open you are with access to your devices and your account.

This thread started because this happened. My only point is that if you don't know Google is doing it, the original situation could have been much worse. His wife wasn't signed in. He was. And as such, he could see what his wife was doing if she had the iPad with her all day. His wife probably isn't going to notice which account is signed in. He could track her every move. So yeah. This isn't even about his wife being "loose" with were she was signed in. And even if she realized he was logged in, most people don't know this is happening. That's why it creeped me out and I turned it off.

And it's a lot faster for law enforcement to get the info from your phone than the cell phone company if they are holding the phone and with triangulation they can only tell you an area, Google gives you the name and address of the establishment, the exact time you were there and how long. Like I said, I can see it on a crime show where they find the phone in the pocket and see the history or a different show where the resident geek says if we check their computer, it will tell us where their phone has been. (Remember its accessible from lots of devices so a lock isn't going to work if you don't do it to your computer as well).

This isn't a conspiracy theory. It is why the OP posted in the first place.

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

 

[Gekko]

"The sheep won't even need a chip implanted--they'll carry it around like status symbol." ? JAFOAgain

 

[androidluvr2]

Google gives you the name and address of the establishment, the exact time you were there and how long.

When I view google.com/searchhistory, I only see my google searches not my locations but I didn't have Google Now on until recently. Is this a function of Google Now?

 

[Julie Bonnet]

I use Google every day at work and for leisure. I think it's very useful!

 

[anon(394005)]

yeah i turned off Google Now on my phone. in addition you can tweak the settings to only allow certain cards. i'm sure over time it will get better and get more precise, more perfected. but the cards just really annoyed me in general. the type of information it was giving me i like to go get "on demand" rather than thrown at me randomly at random times. i don't like the unpredictability of when i was getting that information. i like full control. in addition, the battery drain was significant.

Same here. I disabled Google Now on my Nexus 7 and Note 2 and made sure location and web history are disabled as well (needed for it to do its thing). I'm just not comfortable with providing that information. It feels very creepy to me. Besides, I've always found it much more useful and efficient to get needed info on demand by launching a specific app or just go to a specific website. Bam! Done. No waiting for something to be predicted and presented to me.

 

[gnr_2]

When I view google.com/searchhistory, I only see my google searches not my locations but I didn't have Google Now on until recently. Is this a function of Google Now?

It's Google everything. The particular thing I'm referring to is in Maps, but it's your search history and location history. You have to disable it. Then when you try, it says its only visible to you. Yeah right.

Edit: If you go to Maps, at the top, click "maps" and a menu will pop up. At the bottom it says "location history". That's where the story of your previous day is presented to you.

Edit2: And another crime show scenario, teenage boy runs away/is missing and is suspected to be planning an attack on his school. Police ask if the child had a cell phone. The parents lead the police to their son's computer where they pull up the search and location history. (Yes. I watch too much TV. These crime shows are addictive!)

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

 

[androidluvr2]

Edit: If you go to Maps, at the top, click "maps" and a menu will pop up. At the bottom it says "location history". That's where the story of your previous day is presented to you.

Got it. I checked and mine is wrong. I didn't leave the house yesterday and it shows me as having traveled 50 miles! I have WiFi and GPS off and it prompts me to turn those on to increase my location accuracy.

So does that mean that my location was based on cell tower triangulation and it has me bouncing from tower to tower even though I am stationary?

 

[msndrstood]

Got it. I checked and mine is wrong. I didn't leave the house yesterday and it shows me as having traveled 50 miles! I have WiFi and GPS off and it prompts me to turn those on to increase my location accuracy.

So does that mean that my location was based on cell tower triangulation and it has me bouncing from tower to tower even though I am stationary?

Me too, lol. It had me traveling 434 miles... From my recliner! That's magical!

What?! ...I'm msndrstood.
via Gnex

 

[cwbcpa]

When I started this thread I was really just posting more because I surprised by the technology than anything. I don't know why I had never really thought it through. There have been some really good points made both for and against the technology. It makes me think more about what's out there and who's using it or could use it. I didn't think I was unaware but I guess I didn't consider it as much as I thought I had.

Sent from my Really Big Phone

 

[xkillbot2000x]

Thank you for bringing this up. I am personally tired of constantly seeing my navigation/maps running on my phone every time I search a place on my laptop. Thankfully, I finally found a way to disable the location history.