This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I'm slowly moving away from Gmail and Google Docs/Drive, but in the meantime entering this into uBlock Origin seems to help:
mail.google.com##div[jscontroller][jsaction]:has(> span > button[aria-label="Try Gemini"])
drive.google.com##div[jscontroller][jsaction]:has(> span > button[aria-label="Try Gemini"])
docs.google.com##div[jscontroller][jsaction]:has(> span > button[aria-label="Try Gemini"])
AAAAAria to save the day!
Thats nothing, the Play Integrity API is trying to block usage by other operating systems like CalyxOS and Graphene. Imo much more insidious and opaque.
Ewwww
Where are they putting it, chrome? Just use Firefox instead.
I use gmail at work and I see the logo in chats, email, drive, docs, and I'm not sure where else. Its annoying when I'm typing an email and it tries to get me to use it. I don't know how to get rid of it either.
The article in this post tells the only way to get rid of it. If you use it for corporate, your IT people have to call and ask Google support to add the setting for you to be able to turn it off.
My employer is switching from Microsoft to Google for office tools next month and they’ve been championing its availability to all of us. I’m not looking forward to it…
It is also on android phones and can't be uninstalled or disabled.
to be fair, Microsoft is also shoving Copilot down our throats. They keep adding unremovable Copilot buttons to Outlook.com
They replaced the "M365" app icon with "M365 copilot" and the copilot icon on android the other day. I Uninstalled it.
It's nice to be able to use copilot in some of these apps, it is shit to be forced to have it everywhere.
I would say that neither corporation forcing AI on us is fair by any stretch
We don't "get" tech anymore. Tech happens to/at us. We are already getting AI generated ads. Where are the AI based ad blockers?
Already happened. It died because it turns out the AI was funneling all of your browsing data to the servers running the AI instead
GPT-AdBlocker for Chrome promises to block all ads, including ads in videos - gHacks Tech News - https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/19/gpt-adblocker-for-chrome-promises-to-block-all-ads-including-ads-in-videos/
Google was "cool" 2 decades ago... or before they combined both monetization (through ad) with power (through monopoly) they inexorably transformed EXACTLY to Microsoft the same way Facebook/Meta did the Google playbook.
Those huge tech corporations are pulled by the market to follow the same, sadly successful, strategy playbook and keep no uniqueness.
Google has been the new Microsoft for years already but through careful marketing consumers somehow believe they aren't.
Google is slipping. Duck duck go is a better search engine. There are better mail systems as well. Meta is done as well.
Some of my non-techie friends were complaining about how rubbish Google search is now and I suggested Duck Duck Go. They couldn't get past the name. I know it's based on some childhood game in the US but it makes no sense to anyone here in the UK.
So back to the search engine with the serious and sensical name "Google" then?
Yeah it’s a weird fucking name and i didn’t like the search results of it nor of Google so I switched to Ecosia instead
I love the dedicated piracy folder lmao
This is probably the most 'old man yells at cloud' thing about me but I hate voice assistants and they have yet to work consistently enough to be worth my time.
It is completely insane to me that something simple like "Add ____ to the grocery list" has worked and stopped working multiple times for years now. How hard is that to get right? Cannot believe such a simple action is so inconsistent.
Nah dude you're right. I have mine disabled and nuked as best as possible on my phone. I have no nest. No Google assistance puck. No Alexa. My home is not a smart home. There is a gun and a bottle of wild turkey next to my printer, and sometimes I make threats to it to ensure all my machines stay in line.
I think a lot of that has to do with that Google used to be a company with engineers wanting to make the best software.
Now it's an ad agency that happens to have some software to make money, and they don't care about the software anymore. Money is not only bottom line, it's all the lines. You see the results in the quality of their software, it's all gone down hill.
My Google smart speaker used to integrate with my shopping list app. The loss of that integration and other features makes it basically a glorified white noise machine now.
That's my biggest gripe with Gemini; it's not a proper replacement for Google Assistant and yet it's still treated as such.
Feels like Google took at least two steps back when it comes to Gemini on Pixel devices...
They just slapped an LLM which tried to replace Google Assistant where the said LLM could not even do the most basic functions like setting up an alarm.
Or I ask to go to Costco, and where Assistant previously would route me to the nearest one, Gemini sends me to one 80 miles away
Apple Intelligence too. Thankfully you can still disable it
I tried to ask it how I could remove it, Gemini told me that in order for me to help it I needed to active some of the "smart" features I didn't have active on my account, essentially helping do the opposite. It follows the ever increasing practice of trying to shove basically illegal behavior into "it's just the algorithm, bro, there was no intent!"
Every Google Drive action I do now is shifted over 20% for ✨
When AI appeared in my android text messaging app was the day I relented and installed GrapheneOS. Between Graphene and Bazzite on laptop/desktop, and NixOS for homelab/self hosted tools,.couldn't be happier to be free from all big tech BS while still getting tech benefits on my own terms
Is it bad that I stopped using Google docs and plan on moving to OpenOffice instead?
I'd recommend libreoffice, because oracle also kinda sucks.
Kinda?
I view Oracle as worse than Google.
Worse but less powerful
Why would that be bad?
Open office. Or libre office. Also. Don't give Google your data like that bro
I <3 libreoffice
I'm being serious with this comment. In no way have I felt like Google has forced Gemini on me. I barely notice it exists. Can anyone give me examples?
They’ve stuffed it into every page in Google cloud and workspace.
I tried it in sheets one time and it literally made up fake data for my analysis. Never trusting that again.
It "messaged" me in Google Messages today introducing itself and how it could summarize text messages on my phone for me
Gemini 'messaged' me in google messages introducing itself a couple months ago. Just appeared like a normal text conversation with any other contact, but as soon as you click on it you're presented with a wall of T&Cs.
Deleted the 'conversation' and it's stayed gone; though there's an option for it in settings.
The only other place I've see it is an on-screen reminder every time I use Google Assistant. (usually just triggering home automatons)
The good news is that this may cure my laziness. I've been preparing to leave most of google service for a while now.
