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posted by martyb on Monday April 12 2021, @09:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the digital-darwinism dept.

Google starts rolling out "Heads Up" in Digital Wellbeing to stop distracted walking

In November last year, XDA's Mishaal Rahman spotted an upcoming feature, called Heads Up, in a teardown of the Digital Wellbeing app. At the time, we'd learned that the feature would alert users to keep their heads up while walking to avoid any accidents. The feature has now started rolling out to Google Pixel users with the latest Digital Wellbeing beta update.

[...] The setup screen shows the same description: "Watch your step with Heads Up...If you're walking while using your phone, get a reminder to focus on what's around you. Use with caution. Heads Up doesn't replace paying attention." Tapping on the 'Next' button at the bottom of this screen begins the setup process, after which the feature shows a pushes a reminder every time you use your phone while walking.

Also at 9to5Google, Android Police, and The Verge.


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  • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday April 12 2021, @09:36PM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Monday April 12 2021, @09:36PM (#1136689) Homepage

    Sounds like they needed to throw one of their minority developers a bone so he'd avoid a PIP. "Okay, Rodrigo, all we want from you is to add another intent and a toast or 2 to the code. Can you do that?

    ¿Que?

    Oh goddammit...we knew lobbying for open borders was a bad idea! And we assigned him to the busywork app we assign all the illiterate minorities to!

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Snotnose on Monday April 12 2021, @10:08PM (3 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Monday April 12 2021, @10:08PM (#1136708)

    If you are so stupid you will walk into an active intersection while staring at your phone, IMHO, Darwin wins.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday April 12 2021, @10:23PM

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Monday April 12 2021, @10:23PM (#1136712) Homepage

      If people need an app to tell them they've been fucking off on their phone too much, an app written by a company that profits from people fucking off on their phones too much, then their problems start way before they hit the streets. I look upon FitBit and similar types with similar disdain; as the adrenaline rush, weight loss, and relaxing aftermath of exercise aren't enough for the gadget addict who needs blinkenlights and graphs to tell them their workout was a success.

      (side note, I don't do that FitBit shit but I found that I always had better results ignoring the calorie tracker on gym equipment. You think you've run your ass off on the treadmill only to discover you're only 200 burnt calories deep in the exercise, a lot more demotivating than ignoring the damn machine and looking at only the final results.)

    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday April 12 2021, @10:35PM (1 child)

      by Gaaark (41) on Monday April 12 2021, @10:35PM (#1136718) Journal

      Around one in ten careless Brits has suffered a "walk 'n text" street injury in the past year through collisions with lampposts, bins and other pedestrians.
      --https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-525785/Brick-Lane-Britains-Safe-Text-street-padded-lampposts-prevent-mobile-phone-injuries.html

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0_gmBD-fXk [youtube.com]

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8_b-hTlo1w [youtube.com]

      Damn... I'd rather have my head up watching the girls go by than lose spend my life on a phone

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
      • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday April 13 2021, @02:45PM

        by Freeman (732) on Tuesday April 13 2021, @02:45PM (#1137013) Journal

        Wow, that's nuts. I wonder if, perhaps those aren't unique incidents? As in, some people are more prone to hit lampposts, etc. than others and thus push the number of accidents up?

        --
        Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
  • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @10:13PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @10:13PM (#1136710)

    So just as you're about to look both ways before crossing, you get a notification, read it and then... splat. Who is the millennial transgender UX moron who thought this was a good idea?

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @10:35PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @10:35PM (#1136717)

    Sure it's a dumb and dangerous idea, but since we're talking about Google here they're likely to cancel it in a couple of months when they finds a better way to ass-fuck you.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 12 2021, @10:50PM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday April 12 2021, @10:50PM (#1136726) Journal

      Discontinued mid-walk?

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @12:55AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @12:55AM (#1136784)

        Mid-thrust.

      • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday April 13 2021, @01:46AM

        by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday April 13 2021, @01:46AM (#1136800) Journal

        as you're hit by a bus, the app self-deletes.

        --
        "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @11:11PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @11:11PM (#1136734)

      Of course it's not mentioned that an Advertising company that always has a Monetization angle for every development is constantly monitoring your physical activity..

  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Monday April 12 2021, @10:48PM (1 child)

    by looorg (578) on Monday April 12 2021, @10:48PM (#1136725)

    Waiting for the time that thing beeps or whatever it does and someone with the usual phone Pavlovian response immediately reach for their phone to check what is up and gets creamed by a truck or car as they where just crossing a road or something similar.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @01:30AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @01:30AM (#1136794)

      Most likely they sell info on who is walking to the FBI and CIA, who use the data to locate jihadis because real Americans use mobility scooters.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @02:47AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @02:47AM (#1136815)

    Someone just needs to invent a camera to go on the top edge of the phone. Then you can have an in-screen heads-up display like you're a fighter pilot avoid the Ruskies in Top Gun.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @03:27AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @03:27AM (#1136828)

    Seems to me being plugged in 16/7 has its own drawbacks.

    When is your mental downtime? How can your brain function when it just spends all day reacting to trivialities and has no time to just unwind. Walking down the street (assuming you dont live in a hell hole) youc an at least appretiate your surroundings.

  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday April 13 2021, @08:01PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday April 13 2021, @08:01PM (#1137107) Journal

    Smartphone zombies who cannot look up from their phones while walking down the street are annoying, but the ones who cannot look up their phones while driving down the street are dangerous.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
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