Looks like Chromebook is being replaced with something called "Googlebook" and it is full-scale Microsoft-style Surveillance PC.
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Since the Google announcement wording also poses this as not just the future of Chromebook but the future of Android, this raises serious questions, for me, about how much longer using Android will continue to be an option. Google's been escalating removal of Gemini opt-outs and Android is almost the only one of their products I haven't yet dropped as a result. (This is, of course, happening at the same time governments worldwide are making citizenship contingent on owning an Android or iPhone.)
@mcc I assume the boot loader will be locked in such a way we can't replace the OS with anything useful, as well, so that'll be great.
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Looks like Chromebook is being replaced with something called "Googlebook" and it is full-scale Microsoft-style Surveillance PC. Apparently anytime you "wiggle your cursor" anything that is underneath the cursor gets fed into Google's surveillance AI https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/meet-googlebook/
One of these things that makes me consider detecting the platform from my webserver and blocking it entirely because the probability of whatever I wrote becoming an LLM input is too high
@mcc I wonder how locked down the hardware will be. In a couple of years, maybe these things will be cheap, and they can be wiped and have Linux installed on them.
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@mcc I assume the boot loader will be locked in such a way we can't replace the OS with anything useful, as well, so that'll be great.
@Unlikelylass @mcc They already say you need to also have an android 17+ phone, so....
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@mcc Leaving aside the other considerations...
"Just wiggle your cursor and watch it come alive with Gemini, offering quick, contextual suggestions every time you point at something on your screen."
That just sounds like a usability nightmare. I do not want a flood of popups every time I jiggle my cursor.
What a stupid dystopia we're living in.
Is it the year of the Linix desktop yet?
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@Unlikelylass @mcc They already say you need to also have an android 17+ phone, so....
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@mcc I wish there was a third phone.
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Looks like Chromebook is being replaced with something called "Googlebook" and it is full-scale Microsoft-style Surveillance PC. Apparently anytime you "wiggle your cursor" anything that is underneath the cursor gets fed into Google's surveillance AI https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/meet-googlebook/
One of these things that makes me consider detecting the platform from my webserver and blocking it entirely because the probability of whatever I wrote becoming an LLM input is too high
@mcc the like number one question i have whenever i see anything like this is just like.
who wants this??? what does this solve????????
like every single time i see a brand do this it doesn't. solve anything?? it just introduces new problems
like, their example of it being useful is it prompting you to "share your japan pictures" or whatever and then it just fucking opens your pictures folder when the button to do that is literally right there like ????? who is this helping
legitimately this bubble is so perplexing to me
- carrie -
@mcc the like number one question i have whenever i see anything like this is just like.
who wants this??? what does this solve????????
like every single time i see a brand do this it doesn't. solve anything?? it just introduces new problems
like, their example of it being useful is it prompting you to "share your japan pictures" or whatever and then it just fucking opens your pictures folder when the button to do that is literally right there like ????? who is this helping
legitimately this bubble is so perplexing to me
- carrie@mcc "I've invented the worlds first tuna can that doubles as a condom!" like okay???? nobody even, thought that they might want that some day?? this isn't solving a real problem that anyone is having
- carrie -
@jrdepriest @mcc the whole "Device Attestation" shite and them choosing to go with Motorola, which are so #AntiRepairDesign that they argue with @EUCommission about the #EU-wide #SupportDuration…
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@Unlikelylass @mcc I suspect that this is going to be something more like the chromebook pixel, a limited-run high end proof of concept thing, but who knows. Google has very little tenacity when it comes to hardware.
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@mcc Gee, anyone remember long ago, when the google would was a new thing, and they would proudly spew their core belief of "do no wrong"?
I sure do.
When an entity welcomes investment from murderous petrostate despots & anti-democracy oil oligarchs, their goals inevitably become warped & perverse.
#PrinceBonesaw spent $100 billion to get an international state surveillance platform.
Koch spent a billion to coerce AI user adoption.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2025/07/17/bill-gates-charles-koch-and-three-other-billionaires-are-giving-1-billion-to-enhance-economic-mobility-in-the-us/We continue to underestimate how far the oil industry is willing to go to thwart democracy & climate action.
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Looks like Chromebook is being replaced with something called "Googlebook" and it is full-scale Microsoft-style Surveillance PC. Apparently anytime you "wiggle your cursor" anything that is underneath the cursor gets fed into Google's surveillance AI https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/meet-googlebook/
One of these things that makes me consider detecting the platform from my webserver and blocking it entirely because the probability of whatever I wrote becoming an LLM input is too high
@mcc my god, they’ve somehow managed to make chromebooks *worse*
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@jrdepriest @mcc the whole "Device Attestation" shite and them choosing to go with Motorola, which are so #AntiRepairDesign that they argue with @EUCommission about the #EU-wide #SupportDuration…
I assumed they "went with Motorola" because they were the only ones to return their calls. It's not like there is a huge or vocal movement for de-Googled Android phones. It's still incredibly niche. I really hope the partnership with Motorola helps more people realize that such a thing is even possible.
I looked up "Device Attestation" for GrapheneOS.
https://grapheneos.org/articles/attestation-compatibility-guide
Is that what you are talking about? How they support and use a lower level of "attestation" so that people who make Android apps won't feel compelled to force their apps to only be valid when "attested" via the official Google Play Store? That sounds like a good thing. It sounds like a necessary thing before some developers will even consider supporting GrapheneOS.
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@Unlikelylass @mcc I suspect that this is going to be something more like the chromebook pixel, a limited-run high end proof of concept thing, but who knows. Google has very little tenacity when it comes to hardware.
@mhoye @Unlikelylass thanks for the perspective
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@otte_homan @zambezi what i believe display name means is that the state is moving in the opposite direction of banning it. they are moving in the direction of requiring it. if google is scanning everything, this is helpful to certain parts of the government because they can subpeona the scans.
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@ancoghlan @xgranade @mcc no mainstream manufacturer should ever call graphene home out of the box. It’s awesome. Yes. It’s also not for the masses.
Samsung?
They have tizen in a box somewhere. They have bixby + non Google ai partnerships. They have their own App Store and app suite outside Google apps and services.
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@mcc I wonder how locked down the hardware will be. In a couple of years, maybe these things will be cheap, and they can be wiped and have Linux installed on them.
@mcc @BoloMKXXVIII If it's anything like Android phones, and if it ships with AluminumOS, which I assume it will, it'll be extremely locked down on all fronts. -
Since the Google announcement wording also poses this as not just the future of Chromebook but the future of Android, this raises serious questions, for me, about how much longer using Android will continue to be an option. Google's been escalating removal of Gemini opt-outs and Android is almost the only one of their products I haven't yet dropped as a result. (This is, of course, happening at the same time governments worldwide are making citizenship contingent on owning an Android or iPhone.)
@mcc I’m a huge fan of Android and was quite involved in the development / xda community back in the day. Made friends I still talk to this day over building Android. Now it makes me anxious to think about using it. Gemini buttons are everywhere, my photo data, health data, messages, apps, keyboard and app usage and I could go on continuously builds a massive mind map of my life for the benefit of?
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@mcc I’m a huge fan of Android and was quite involved in the development / xda community back in the day. Made friends I still talk to this day over building Android. Now it makes me anxious to think about using it. Gemini buttons are everywhere, my photo data, health data, messages, apps, keyboard and app usage and I could go on continuously builds a massive mind map of my life for the benefit of?
@mcc When I accidentally click the wrong button in photos because they are changed, reordered and renamed one a month and instead of choosing a filter I’m sending a family photo up to Gemini to add to its knowledge of me.
