In a continuation to further simplify and unify their services, the folks at Google seem to be rolling out a new feature that lets you set Google Now reminders right from your desktop. Let’s say you’re at work and for whatever reason can’t get to your phone, but you’re already on the computer and need to set a reminder. You can now just type something in like “remind me to take out the steak when I get home,” and just like telling Google Now on your phone a nice little card will pop below the search box with your reminder text and location, and allow you to set it to your account. This sort of per-account rather than per-device type of notification uses Google Play Services to aggregate the information between devices so long as you’re logged into your account on each one.
Just like the Google Now reminders, these reminders feature the ability to set not only a specific or general time, like morning, noon and afternoon, but also specific locations like work and home. These location-specific reminders are done through information you fill out on your account, but can also be calculated by places you frequent, and Google Now will ask you if these locations are work and home locations once you’ve been there enough times.
We’ve seen Google do this sort of thing before when it started rolling out Google Play Services as part of Android a few years ago. Google Play Services is a powerful tool that Google can use to keep users updated with key elements of what they want to deliver to customers in Android without having to wait for manufacturers to update the phone themselves. It also allows Google to sync your notifications and other information quickly and silently across devices, so things like swiping away a new email notification on your phone will also result in the notification being removed on your tablet and any other device. Getting you information before you think you need it has been Google Now’s specialty since the beginning, and now working toward unifying all those devices of yours under a single Google account seems to be the next big step for Google.