Google X gets a new name and a new logo

The moonshot group drops its "Google" branding, evolves into an Alphabet incubator.

Read the whole story

 

[Nowicki]

The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

 

[ackmondual]

Nowicki[/url]":1kcvpzhr]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

I'm not so sure. I was thinking if that's how you felt about them, then you wouldn't really need a motto for reassurance.


EDIT: grammar

 

[Rohmish]

Nowicki[/url]":2xostlsw]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

They never used that moto officially. And it was dead long before rebrand.

 

[ackmondual]

Even though this logo doesn't describe Google as a whole, it still feels like seeing the new Konami logo replacing the old one I've been familiar with for a couple of decades.

 

[Oletros]

Nowicki[/url]":hc8z77bb]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

Google still has that motto

 

[Nowicki]

ackmondual[/url]":23kclg12]

Nowicki[/url]":23kclg12]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

I'm not so sure. I was thinking if you that's how you felt about them, then you wouldn't really need a motto for reassurance.

Well the act of removing it when rebranding just chips away at my hope they would stay that way, but doesnt say they have gone to the dark side.

 

[Cloudgazer]

Rohmish[/url]":13k3qc7q]

Nowicki[/url]":13k3qc7q]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

They never used that moto officially. And it was dead long before rebrand.

Um - not sure what you mean by officially, but yes, it was on official Google documents

http://investor.google.com/corporate/go ... nduct.html

And it did indeed not follow over to Alphabet's code of conduct, so it was indeed removed in the rebrand.

 

[dizdizzie]

Does Google still have R&D division like Microsoft Research?

 

[marsilies]

dizdizzie[/url]":z67fbxoh]Does Google still have R&D division like Microsoft Research?

You mean like this?
https://research.google.com/

 

[dizdizzie]

marsilies[/url]":1ccbidoy]

dizdizzie[/url]":1ccbidoy]Does Google still have R&D division like Microsoft Research?

You mean like this?
https://research.google.com/

Yes. Thanks a lot.

 

[Quiet Desperation]

They gots plans...

 

[nancy-drew]

It dropped the "Google" and is just "X" now, and you can the division's big yellow X logo above.

I think you accidentally a word there.

 

[mcmcc]

a new group inside X, called the "Foundry" is "creating tighter criteria" on when these projects get to live or die.

Missed opportunity -- shoulda been called "Y"...

 

[Sixclaws]

Nowicki[/url]":31pdjvfb]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

IIRC that motto was killed during an investor meeting.

This is the problem with pubicly traded companies. People at the top of the company may go we need to be a better company, then shareholders go LOL NO, we want profits and we don't care how you get it.

 

[Lupuss]

Sixclaws[/url]":15juwp75]

Nowicki[/url]":15juwp75]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

IIRC that motto was killed during an investor meeting.

This is the problem with pubicly traded companies. People at the top of the company may go we need to be a better company, then shareholders go LOL NO, we want profits and we don't care how you get it.

Indeed. The kind of reason why a company like Dell decided to go private again.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Replicant, Google's robotics team

They named their robotics team after robots that kill people, I guess that tells you what they're aiming for (military drones)

 

[Terabitman]

I can't read moonshot without thinking about the cargo delivery method in Borderlands 2/TPS. It would be awesome if they were developing an Earth-to-moon delivery system.

 

[trimeta]

I'm still confused why Project Loon is under X, while the drone- and satellite-based internet ideas are under Access & Energy. Would it be that hard to move them over?

Maybe this is why they want to have a modular office space in their hypothetical new HQ: so they can physically rearrange teams as necessary.

 

[Gorn]

I don't think an initiative should be labeled "moonshot" unless its purpose is to actually go to the Moon.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Gorn[/url]":b4wztf54]I don't think an initiative should be labeled "moonshot" unless its purpose is to actually go to the Moon.

Yeah that word gets tossed around a lot for vague initiatives that are never anywhere near as impressive as flying humans to the fucking moon.

 

[afidel]

ElectricBlue[/url]":nnvgaag6]

Gorn[/url]":nnvgaag6]I don't think an initiative should be labeled "moonshot" unless its purpose is to actually go to the Moon.

Yeah that word gets tossed around a lot for vague initiatives that are never anywhere near as impressive as flying humans to the fucking moon.

Autonomous cars will be as impressive to me as going to the moon. Perhaps not as grand a scale but much more important to peoples everyday lives.

 

[JasePow]

Sixclaws[/url]":1ef3u8um]

Nowicki[/url]":1ef3u8um]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

IIRC that motto was killed during an investor meeting.

This is the problem with pubicly traded companies. People at the top of the company may go we need to be a better company, then shareholders go LOL NO, we want profits and we don't care how you get it.

The best thing about Google is that whatever you think of their business practices, you can simply opt out of using them. There are always alternatives.

Now, maybe those alternatives aren't as good, and some outright suck,... But there are alternatives.

 

[fcx56]

JasePow[/url]":1759gurs]

Sixclaws[/url]":1759gurs]

Nowicki[/url]":1759gurs]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

IIRC that motto was killed during an investor meeting.

This is the problem with pubicly traded companies. People at the top of the company may go we need to be a better company, then shareholders go LOL NO, we want profits and we don't care how you get it.

The best thing about Google is that whatever you think of their business practices, you can simply opt out of using them. There are always alternatives.

Now, maybe those alternatives aren't as good, and some outright suck,... But there are alternatives.

The one thing I've learned from using script blockers is that wherever you go on the internet, there Google is.

 

[MrHandsome]

Google's X, where the pissing contest is crossing bars....

 

[geofflee]

There's a guy named Astro leading a moonshot. What a fitting name.

 

[SansMoins]

Project Loon—a balloon-based internet scheme

Sounds like Recode doesn't have must faith in Project Loon.

 

[fryhole]

They can't Trademark or Copyright a single letter so they're going to have a hard time if they try to enforce any infringement claims.

 

[Danation]

ElectricBlue[/url]":3fs9vuev]

Replicant, Google's robotics team

They named their robotics team after robots that kill people, I guess that tells you what they're aiming for (military drones)

First of all, in both the book and the movie, most replicants were peaceful slaves. Only a tiny fraction rebelled and made their way back to earth.

And second, it's a huge leap to assume a science fiction reference means that Google is chiefly making military drones.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Danation[/url]":312rlbsu]

ElectricBlue[/url]":312rlbsu]

Replicant, Google's robotics team

They named their robotics team after robots that kill people, I guess that tells you what they're aiming for (military drones)

First of all, in both the book and the movie, most replicants were peaceful slaves. Only a tiny fraction rebelled and made their way back to earth.

And second, it's a huge leap to assume a science fiction reference means that Google is chiefly making military drones.

Replicants in off-world colonies rebelled which is the reason why they are illegal on Earth in the first place. The six that escaped killed 23 people.

And as for the second point, so far Google hasn't made any moves in the defense contracting world, but they did hire a former DARPA chief and spinning this group off does give them more leeway the pursue that course if that'swhere they can see profit from this.

 

[Quisquis]

Seriously?

They're actually using letters... lame.

 

[Uxorious]

More new technology; less new logos and names please...

 

[Sixclaws]

JasePow[/url]":2ohnck4o]

Sixclaws[/url]":2ohnck4o]

Nowicki[/url]":2ohnck4o]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

IIRC that motto was killed during an investor meeting.

This is the problem with pubicly traded companies. People at the top of the company may go we need to be a better company, then shareholders go LOL NO, we want profits and we don't care how you get it.

The best thing about Google is that whatever you think of their business practices, you can simply opt out of using them. There are always alternatives.

Now, maybe those alternatives aren't as good, and some outright suck,... But there are alternatives.

One of the best quotes on alternatives that suck:

Of course we'll bundle our MorganNet software with the new network nodes; our customers expect no less of us. We have never sought to become a monopoly. Our products are simply so good that no one feels the need to compete with us.

CEO Nwabudike Morgan
Morgan Data Systems press release

 

[loombot]

Yeesh. Is any company worse than Google at branding?

 

[SkepticalOptimist]

When I saw the movie 'TRON', I thought it was unrealistic that Encom, a software company, would fund research into quantum teleportation, matter-energy conversion, etc. But to enjoy the movie, I suspended my sense of reality.

Then Google X came...

 

[MechR]

Oletros[/url]":2zrnqk83]

Nowicki[/url]":2zrnqk83]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

Google still has that motto

Correct; it's still here:
https://investor.google.com/corporate/g ... nduct.html

Also, since smartasses used to complain "Don't be evil" != "Be good", Alphabet's code of conduct instead states: "Do the right thing – follow the law, act honorably, and treat each other with respect."

This led to two things:
1) Clickbait headlines spun the move as "Alphabet drops 'Don't be evil'", effectively lying by omission since nobody reads TFA. The results can be seen in this very discussion thread.
2) Smartasses now complain "the right thing" is too subjective. There's no pleasing some people.

 

[neoritter]

Nowicki[/url]":asn8dfff]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

The couldn't live with lying anymore to you.

 

[jozero]

Its amazing how little has come from Google's various experiments, outside of their core business.

All of these "side projects" sound incredible, but I can't point to a single actual thing that has come out of it. Startling how much it parallels Microsoft during their hey day.

Also makes you *really* appreciate Elon Musk, and what actual real things he has accomplished.

I *wish* we were all wearing our google glasses, warning me about the google driverless car behind me, getting internet from a balloon or available everywhere Google internet, on the way to my doctor appointment to get an amazing google test that warns of potential ailments.

Instead what I actually get is 30 second ads before I watch a 1 minute video, search that tracks me everywhere with the same damn ad on repeat because I looked at shoes 3 months ago, on an OS that looks like a paint factory exploded.

The only moonshot thus far is how far google's perception of themselves is from their reality. Billionaires from selling classified ads stuck to free crappy equivalent of the local newspaper, imagining themselves as humanity saviours. Wooooopeeeee. Please, actually DO something.

 

[ben.hocking]

According to Recode, X is currently home to:
• Google Self Driving Cars
• …

I will be disappointed if they don't rename the self-driving car as X car.

 

[Cloudgazer]

Sixclaws[/url]":2ne2bgx1]

Nowicki[/url]":2ne2bgx1]The only thing I dont like about the rebranding is that they actually did away with the motto "Dont be evil". Kinda wish they kept that. I felt they really did live close to that motto.

IIRC that motto was killed during an investor meeting.

This is the problem with pubicly traded companies. People at the top of the company may go we need to be a better company, then shareholders go LOL NO, we want profits and we don't care how you get it.

http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intellig ... nd-sergey/

Yeh - it was the mean old shareholders that did it - the fact that they have zero ability to control what Google does is neither here nor there!