Google mostly creates products for the web, but it has some new desktop apps today.
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Google launches search app for Windows, Gemini app for Mac
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I can think of options, but every single one of them ends with two separate builds….Long time Mac user here!
Edit: I just wish I could do that with my monetized apps
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"Alt + Space?" That sounds familiar...
Yep, it opens the little "Move/Close/Min/Max" menu that you rarely - but occasionally - need to use when a window has disappeared offscreen for example.
Wonder what MS thinks about Google hijacking their keyboard shortcut?
Yep, it opens the little "Move/Close/Min/Max" menu that you rarely - but occasionally - need to use when a window has disappeared offscreen for example.
Wonder what MS thinks about Google hijacking their keyboard shortcut?
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To be fair, unlike Apple Intelligence, Gemini isn't running anything on your machine locally. It's all running on Google's hardware which, no matter what you have, puts your machine to absolute shame.
I don't notice anyone talking about subscriptions here. Gemini has a free, basic tier but I wouldn't expect that to last too much longer since the whole sector looks to be pivoting away from the free or unlimited subscriptions they offer today. I'd say that I'd wonder about a bait-and-switch but this is a cloud product so I won't both.
So I guess more power to them but I'll stick with the getting to them through a browser (which isn't Chrome) since I really don't want an app that proudly offers the ability to "access your windows for additional context".
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Google wants all Android apps to go through its store, but prefers not to use other companies platforms app stores. Hmm.
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Oh lord, I just thought back to the last time running Google’s software on Apple’s hardware seemed like a good idea.
Nurse! I think it’s past my bedtime.
Nurse! I think it’s past my bedtime.
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I haven’t tried it yet myself, but maybe Excire will do the job for you. It is a local AI (so no data leak) that can run text-based AI queries on an image collection. I doubt it’ll be smart enough to distinguish your cat from your neighbor’s, but if it works as advertised it should at least be able to flag all your cat photos, after which you can sort them at will.
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No lie, I was just chatting with Gemini last week about how webapps break my mental context sanboxes so moving to Gemini was a non starter. Funny timing…
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So much for "Don't be Evil". Any time the Gemini app for MacOS, it runs a GeminiAppLauncher app which also sets itself to run on login to MacOS. This application hijacks the option-space key sequence to always launch Gemini, even if the user quits the application. The only way to stop this behavior is to rename or delete the GeminiAppLauncher app.
CoPilot and ChatGPT also use the option-space hotkey, but stop listening for it if the user quits those apps. Google just runs a hidden app to always listen with no way to disable that in app.
CoPilot and ChatGPT also use the option-space hotkey, but stop listening for it if the user quits those apps. Google just runs a hidden app to always listen with no way to disable that in app.
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I hate to have to say this, but Google IME is still the best free Japanese input method software you can get for the Mac. Apple’s default one, Kotoeri, has always sucked and still sucks today. Contrary to what you’d expect from the name, the IME is strictly local—it doesn’t send input to the cloud, let alone make suggestions based on it. It was one of the first things I installed on my Mac when I renewed it the other day.
That said, it’s the only Google app I feel comfortable using on my Mac on a daily basis these days. I do have Chrome installed, but I only use it for a handful of web sites that are Safari-hostile, and I avoid giving it any more than the bare minimum set of browsing history and login credentials.
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This, and .. why is there ZERO consideration about privacy in the authors coverage?
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I'll actually give the Google app for Windows a try. From the article it seems better integrated than Everything and Windows Search and I won't be surprised if it's better than the latter.
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I sure don't understand the use case for this. Web search? Browser, it's always open anyway. Local search? Voidtools Everything or F-search . Why would I want to mix the two?
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SubWoofer2
Ars Tribunus Militum
Perhaps it will allow users to find the actual Most Recently Used file, and not provide an earlier version as the Most Recently Used? Windows Search sucks.
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Why would I want this slop or to use any oligarch controlled OS who just keeps pushing crap I don't want and make it impossible to get rid of? I bet this buries into your system folder like AOL did.
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Microsoft's own Powertoys already hijacks that for their version of spotlight search, "Powertoys Run".
I had to change it manually to Win-space, because I've been using the Windows icon menu shortcut for over 30 years, and I'm not about to stop now.
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Does that Gemini Mac app install Google's resource hog Keystone which reportedly intervenes with some apps like Final Cut Pro?
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What does that mean? Did Google hijack that key combination?
ALT+SPACE on Windows is the shortcut to access a window's system menu, which allows you to maximize/minimize and more importantly move a windows with keys. The latter is helpful when for whatever reason a window has managed to crawl out of the visible space of the display.
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Or they just want iterate very quickly? The claude app - which is distributed the same way - is updated almost every day.
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I've never understood wanting to search on the internet and on my local computer at the same time.
I've been 'on' the Internet for 35 years, and using local computers a few years before that, and I've never wanted to simultaneously search for something on both my local computer/network and the Internet at the same time.
I prefer a complete task/domain-separation of dedicated Internet searching vs local searching.
If I want to search for something on the Internet I'll use a browser where that task separation is clear and obvious, and if I want to search locally I'll use a local system tool to do so.
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Anton Longshot
Ars Praetorian
I use Gmail and Chrome but keep an eye on both to be sure they don't fark with me and my stuff.
Also, I have alternatives sort of prepped. (telling THE WORLD that I have a new primary email...well...I honestly don't know how to do that somewhat efficiently.)
In any case, installing something new Google launches?
I Do No Think So. The days I trusted that company are prehistoric.
Also, I have alternatives sort of prepped. (telling THE WORLD that I have a new primary email...well...I honestly don't know how to do that somewhat efficiently.)
In any case, installing something new Google launches?
I Do No Think So. The days I trusted that company are prehistoric.
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Ocean Xavier
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
Hopefully this app soon gets functionality similar to Claude Cowork. Until then, there is zero upside to using this app vs. staying in a browser tab.
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Microsoft’s own PowerToys has a desktop search/run program that functions like Spotlight and works quite well.
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I guess I'm confused. Why the hell do I need an app when all I have to do is fire up my browser and go to gemini.google.com? I'm a Mac person. Also did 34 years in IT so I can find my way around 2 out of 3 times. 
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Love my Arch Linux install, but I prefer using Brave Search in Brave Browser for my searching needs. That, and KDE KRunner for my searching needs,
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I realize we're talking about beta software here, but we're talking about beta software RELEASED BY GOOGLE IN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY. And "beta" is not "production" but I'm this context it DOES mean "explicitly intended for release to the general public."
Am I the only one scratching my head in annoyance at the willingness of even the largest and most well funded corporations to just push half-assed shit out in the public, here?
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Why did you find it genuinely desirable? I have personally never understood why anybody would want any of those products.
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So now I can get crappy search results and relentless pushes to YouTube slightly faster? Color me unimpressed.
On top of that, Google has some sort of access to my desktop? Do you think that won't be monetized?
The days of "Don't be Evil" are far in the past. Google has become just as evil as the rest of the pack.
On top of that, Google has some sort of access to my desktop? Do you think that won't be monetized?
The days of "Don't be Evil" are far in the past. Google has become just as evil as the rest of the pack.
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What's the digital equivalent of garlic and holy water to keep the evil of Google away from my data?
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I'm glad to see Everything getting some mentions. It's one of the first things I install on a new Windows box. The lightning fast search is still impressive after all these years.
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Also, on the rare occasions when it crashes, it has one of the best error messages of all time: "Everything has stopped working".
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Fyi Google has a Gemini CLI app which I've actually found to be extremely helpful in solving Windows tech issues.
(For example asking it to diagnose random restarts. It searched through windows event logs finding the WHEA errors, looking up the PCIE devices and suggesting that I needed to check the seating on a PCIe u2 SSD)
(For example asking it to diagnose random restarts. It searched through windows event logs finding the WHEA errors, looking up the PCIE devices and suggesting that I needed to check the seating on a PCIe u2 SSD)
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Yeah agreed any windows search. Never thought about replacing it though as my brain thinks it is as a os thing that's locked. Guess I need to go look at alternatives now that I know I can lol
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On Windows, I use this: https://www.acdsee.com/en/products/photo-studio-ultimate/
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