Nearly a few short years ago, Google introduced us to a lovely little addition to the Android ecosystem known as Google Now. Google Now had a few main focal points during its initial unveiling and launch, part of which was to make it easier for users to do a few things hands free, like search for stuff more accurately by voice, while also integrating intelligent, learning technology into the system so it could grow to fit users on a personal level based on their needs, likes, dislikes, and other criteria. It has evolved into much more than a simple voice-activated app, offering users intelligent card-based interactions from some of their favorite apps, as well as weather information, ticket times for upcoming movies, and “hot topic” news articles chosen based on their interests.
Over the years, Google has been adding more and more app compatibility into Google Now, and today they’ve just announced that the Google app will now work with 70 additional apps on top of everything else it already supported. This means that as you use the Google app from here forward, you’ll see more cards begin to pop up tailored to your personal user experience. Now more than ever, the Google app will be able to feed users with the most relevant information in a card-based format at just the right time without users having to initiate a query in Google Search.
As ride sharing has become quite popular in this day and age, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to see that the Google app has partnered up with Zipcar, and the app can keep you apprised of important relevant info via Now cards, like the time you need to return a Zipcar and cards for directions on where to drop it off. Streaming music is another thing that continues to grow, and as Spotify is one of the most popular streaming music applications out there, users can receive playlist and station recommendations via Now cards. Other streaming music/radio services like TuneIn and YouTube are compatible now as well. Other various Now cards pop up for things like Eat24 orders, cooking recipes from Allrecipes.com, info on dinner reservations from Open Table, and even alerts from apps like Runkeeper, Jawbone and Adidas regarding your personal fitness goals.
