Google Discovers Radio
November 22, 2019
We noted The Hindu BusinessLine story “As News Consumption Patterns Change, Google Launches Audio Streaming of News.” Now radio is broadcast. The Google approach uses the Internet. But audio is audio. And audio evokes images of radio technology. The family may not huddle around the glowing vacuum tubes, but the experience is similar. Yes, we know that radio brought some families together in a shared auditory experience.
No gray T shirts and khakis for this family unit of radio listeners.
The Google approach surfs on the trend for isolation. Hey, islands of existence are good, right?
The write up points out:
As people take to podcasts and digital audio content, Google has launched audio news broadcasts. All a user needs to do is to ask Google Assistant to ‘Play the news’, and it begins streaming news. Google has tied up with global media houses such as BBC to provide content to users.
DarkCyber wonders if any other high tech companies have stumbled upon this innovation. Yes, yes, Amazon Alexa can do radio. I think I saw the neighbor’s kid asking his iPhone to play something, maybe Cambridge University’s Naked Scientist. Disappointed kid? I don’t know.
The write up quotes a Googler as stating:
“The audio web is like the text web of the 1990s. At Google, we saw an opportunity to help move digital audio forward by focusing on audio news.
Does anyone hear Eureka arising over the sounds of employee protests?
Stephen E Arnold, November 22, 2019
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