"We want to connect people to personalized information at the moment it’s useful," reads the mission statement of Aviate, a replacement launcher for Android available today in private beta. It sounds almost exactly like the tagline of Google Now, and that’s no coincidence — Aviate co-founders Paul Montoy-Wilson and William Choi used to work for Google. While Montoy-Wilson worked for Google Play and Choi worked on search, the two had of course heard of Google Now, their employer’s best effort at predicting what information you’ll need next. But, the duo thought they could do a better job at it.
To the founders of Aviate, you shouldn’t even need to open Google Now. The apps and information you need should already be sitting on your home screen as soon as you need them. "What is the right product to bring contextual info to users?" asks Montoy-Wilson. "We decided it’s not an app with push notifications. It needs to live and breathe within the context of your phone — within the context of the experience where you access all of your content."
Aviate uses a variety of factors including the time of day and your location to determine what you’re likely doing, and provide the appropriate apps, buttons, and links for that moment. For example, when you wake up and unlock your phone, Aviate provides a widget filled with your next few appointments, the weather, and even an icon for Twitter, since you like to scan news headlines in the morning. On the way to work, Aviate pops up Waze, Pandora, and Gas Buddy. When you head out to lunch, your home screen adapts itself to the restaurant you’re in, providing photos and tips from Foursquare, as well as the option to check in. As you walk to your car after happy hour that evening, Aviate pops up quick links to get directions home and check on traffic. When you plug in your headphones for an evening walk, your music apps appear. And finally, as you slump into bed after a long day, your home screen includes a new "Set Alarm" button, and a link to your Kindle app.
Whereas Google Now provides the raw information you might need at any given moment, such as the weather or a boarding pass, Aviate hopes to also provide the apps you need. Google may envision a future where the world runs on Chrome apps inside a web browser, but today, apps are the way we do everything on our phones. And don’t worry, you can pick up to 10 apps to stick to the bottom of your home screen — and Aviate expects the scheme to work for most people. Where virtually every other launcher replacement for Android skews towards power users, Aviate is meant to be used by everyone.
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"In 10 years, are our phones always changing?" asks Daiss. He seems to say that perhaps someday in the future, our phones won’t have buttons and panes and pages to swipe through, but instead present the information we need along with a few buttons for how to act on that information. If you’re in a Starbucks, a custom Space could pop up offering you the option to order your drink in advance — which presents some interesting monetization ideas. If you're at an airport, Aviate could pop up your boarding pass.
Aviate is the promise of Google Now, but in a way that feels more hardwired into the device itself. "Google Now focuses on an engine for a Google data set," says Montoy-Wilson. "As a startup we have the flexibility to rethink the problem and build it exactly as we believe users want it. If we’re your home screen, which you use 50–100 times per day, we could be the interface that you interact with more than any other interface in your life.
Stock for me all the way. :american
Himu got the last one or you have one left? :-\I want one.Pm email. Last one!
What does it do?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVDEq5ZKssM
I know but I'm trying to find a way so I can send the invite.
I know but I'm trying to find a way so I can send the invite.(http://i.imgur.com/BdQew45.png)
This thing is fucking amazing. It simplifies so much. How do I send zero an invite?
How do you feeel about it from a graphic design perspective? I feel like it's a really cool amalgam of concepts from stock android and W7... The auto-app sorting is just too :noah
:noah
i'd like one
Can anyone spare an invite?
Is this basically another launcher? I guess I'd have to take off Nova Launcher?
Quote"We want to connect people to personalized information at the moment it’s useful," reads the mission statement of Aviate, a replacement launcher for Android available today in private beta.
Can anyone spare an invite?
whats your email addy?
Can anyone spare an invite?
whats your email addy?
PM sent
Can anyone spare an invite?
whats your email addy?
PM sent
sent
Huff, pm me your email address.Sent
https://plus.google.com/u/0/110154690075671339616/posts/DhZxVaRFK4xLinking to google+
:ufup
Anybody still got invites?
Himu, treesong and positive should have 5 invites
oh yeah i forget i have a gmailDon't have any invites left, i had to ask Zero Hero for one for my friend :(
pm'ed you
Huff, pm me your email address.Sent
Can someone help me to get in on this?Give me a fucking invite, nerds.
I still don't know how to add widgets
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/7/5285454/yahoo-acquires-aviate
:shaq2
Stopped using aviate a long time ago. Been using KK launcher. One screen, swipe to the right for Google Now.
(http://i.imgur.com/90hDWrq.png?1)
Nope, cause Nova blows.
Nope, cause Nova blows.
I will fucking cut you and drink your blood.