Google Now Gains More Content Categories & Info Cards

Google has beefed up its Google Now feature. In addition to the existing content (Calendar, Sports, Traffic, Weather, Places) the company has added a range of new cards/categories to Now:

• Flights
• Hotels
• Restaurant reservations
• Events
• Packages/shipping
• Stocks
• Movies
• Breaking news
• Nearby attractions
• Nearby photo spots

Google Now is in a way Google’s answer to Apple’s Siri, although the two “assistants” operate differently. More than Siri Google Now is about personalization and intended to anticipate user needs and interests. Siri of course requires an active prompt or query.

People can add or subtract particular cards to customize the feature. Google Now users swipe vertically on the homescreen to reveal the cards.

Google Now cards also appear automatically in context or when appropriate, based on proximity to local restaurants, attractions, traffic, scheduled appointments and so on (e.g., “Leave now to get to your Windows Phone launch event.”). In my experience Google Now works well in some situations and not in others. However when it works it’s very impressive — even “magical.”

By the way, over at The Verge is a nice piece on the inside workings of Google Now.

The news came as part of Google also announcing several new Nexus devices. This was supposed to happen at a live event in New York today; however it had to be cancelled because of Hurricane Sandy. Instead on its blog the company revealed a new Nexus handset (the 4.7-inch Nexus 4) and two new Nexus tablets: a Nexus 7 with more memory and a new 10-inch tablet, starting at $399.