Discussion

• Vox Rebecca Heilweil on x

  Here's what Alexa and other smart speakers say about the coronavirus

• @cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x

  Wait. So Pence just doubled down on the Google lie! Just...like...What is going ON?!

• @daiwaka Daisuke Wakabayashi on x

  Verily said it would like to roll out the pilot website by Monday “at the latest.” Yet when I asked for some information about the site, the spokesperson said it features “a series of questions” and that there are no other details to share at this time. It's Friday.

• @acyn Acyn Torabi on x

  Pence gets called out for the Google website claim https://twitter.com/...

• @nbc12 @nbc12 on x

  Though Google intially said it would not be publishing a national coronavirus website after claims made by President Donald Trump, the company has now announced a partnership with the government to launch just such a website. https://www.nbc12.com/...

• @daiwaka Daisuke Wakabayashi on x

  When I asked Verily whether the president accurately described the scope and progress of the website, the spokeswoman said he “accurately portrayed the vision and aspiration” of the project 4/x

• @daiwaka Daisuke Wakabayashi on x

  So, to clarify a few things from President Trump's remaks. The bulk of the website will be done by Verily not Google (alhough Google staff have volunteered and I don't blame the president for failing to grasp Alphabet's “other bets” structure. 1/x

• @backlon Dieter Bohn on x

  The White House still can't explain what's going on with the coronavirus screening website https://www.theverge.com/...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  @sriramk blaming Trump's idiocy on Silicon Valley comms is a real curveball

• @pkafka Peter Kafka on x

  @sriramk It sure seems familiar. It's just that Trump telling people they can go online and get their test set up asap is different than, say, music companies not working with twitter on a product launch.

• @sriramk Sriram Krishnan on x

  Without knowing any inside info, this Verily/Google/Trump situations sounds very much like a typical launch comms mix-up any PM here has probably seen. Very common launch approach to do scaled rollout. Also not typically understood if you're not in tech.

• @sriramk Sriram Krishnan on x

  If it weren't high stakes, this would be your head of sales/marketing person and product people having a follow up meeting on what gets rolled out when.

• @frankluntz Frank Luntz on x

  Also, the “1,700 engineers working on this right now” are actually just the pool of developers from which Google hopes to pull volunteers to work on the #coronavirus website. 👉🏻 https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @pkafka Peter Kafka on x

  @cwarzel There's a gap but but it's not the biggest gap between something that came out of Trump admin and reality. https://twitter.com/...

• @cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x

  I cannot stress this enough. Google said this is NOT a national website. This is for the Bay Area. kjldasfhkjdlsafghklsjafghfdfsjalkg

• @pkafka Peter Kafka on x

  Asked about the gap between what Trump and team said yesterday about Google's testing web site and what Google said yesterday, Pence says he'll info on the site and tests and more at 5pm Sunday.

• @4030lisa @4030lisa on x

  Narrator; Trump lied to America again. He also lied about the number of people involved in it, assigning a strange number of 1700 rather than the under 300 people that actualy are involved in a website designed for SF's Bay Area alone https://twitter.com/...

• @austinj Austin Johnsen on x

  Lol, VP just said it'll launch nationwide on Monday. Someone tell Verily https://twitter.com/...

• @krishansonrcf Kris on x

  This is priceless. It's even funnier now looking back on Trump taking a jab at the Obamacare site in his press conference. https://twitter.com/...

• @cnbc @cnbc on x

  Google is making a coronavirus information site to help find testing as more kits become available https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @billprady Bill Prady on x

  Why doesn't anyone in the White House fact check before the president speaks? https://twitter.com/...

• @garylegum Gary Legum on x

  For anyone concerned about giving Google your private medical info through its coronavirus screening website, good news! The president lied, the company isn't building a site. https://twitter.com/...

• @ecmclaughlin Elizabeth C. McLaughlin on x

  It's all a fucking lie. https://twitter.com/...

• @erickfernandez Erick Fernandez on x

  A blatant #sponsored Rose Garden press conference to juice stocks in the last hour of trading on a Friday but provided little-to-no information on actual testing. https://twitter.com/...

• @lib_crusher Social Distancer on x

  and it's not even supposed to be made for the public https://twitter.com/...

• @deray @deray on x

  The lies continue. https://twitter.com/...

• @eff @eff on x

  We hope this site will not collect data beyond what is pertinent for assisting in the crisis. Any data collection and digital monitoring of potential carriers of COVID-19 should take into consideration and commit to these principles: https://www.eff.org/...

• @eff @eff on x

  We're glad to hear a new website (created with @Google's assistance) will allow U.S. users to enter #COVID19 symptoms they may have to get instructions about if, how, and where to get testing. https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...

• @alexhalliday Alex Halliday on x

  One engineer per test that has happened so far. https://twitter.com/...

• @jenn_elias Jennifer Elias on x

  Scoop: Google is making a #coronavirus information site to help find testing as more kits become available. Internal emails show how Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is bringing several internal teams together for the efforts. https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @mhbergen Mark Bergen on x

  And @jenn_elias has the memo: it looks like a partnership between Google and Verily's Project Baseline. https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @jyarow Jay Yarow on x

  So much for the techlash. https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @google_comms @google_comms on x

  “Google is partnering with the US Government in developing a nationwide website that includes information about COVID-19 symptoms, risk and testing information. (2/6)

• @hshaban Hamza Shaban on x

  Google, after distancing itself from Trump's inaccurate comments about a coronavirus website, now says it is “fully aligned” with the US government. Google, a day later, says that it is building a website with info about coronavirus. Feels like a surreal, haphazard retcon: https:…

• @gettingtrump Trumpster on x

  it will go to SF first and have its shakedown where it will then be offered across the country. https://twitter.com/...

• @google_comms @google_comms on x

  “We are fully aligned and continue to work with the US Government to contain the spread of COVID-19, inform citizens, and protect the health of our communities. (1/6) https://twitter.com/...

• @dhh @dhh on x

  This is certainly one way to get companies involved. Just announce that they already are, then rely on the fact that refuting the president might have dire consequences, and voila, 1700 Google Gnomes spring forth from the magic forest to implement a flowchart. https://twitter.com…

• @fedporn Fed Porn on x

  The Art of the Deal https://twitter.com/...

• @google_comms @google_comms on x

  Statement from Verily: “We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for Covid-19 testing. Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time.

• @nxthompson Nicholas Thompson on x

  OMG. Google's not making a nationwide coronavirus testing website. And the company had no idea the president would say it was. https://www.wired.com/...

• @darrenrovell Darren Rovell on x

  3:42 p.m. ET on Friday: Trump says Google is developing a nationwide website that will be “very quickly done” to help qualify Americans for drive-thru tests. Google, 94 minutes later: We aren't close to having this ready and it's not guaranteed to be nationwide. https://twitter.c…

• @panzer Matthew Panzarino on x

  So. - Verily building the site, not Google (they are both Alphabet companies) - The site is not ready and will not be ready ‘on Sunday’ or soon. - The scope of the site is currently planned to be ‘the Bay Area’ at launch, not ‘America’

• @panzer Matthew Panzarino on x

  This was the little box at the top of the chart that everything else in the testing flow depends on. So what happens to the rest of that process to direct people to testing facilities now?

• @panzer Matthew Panzarino on x

  I'm just a dummy, but it seems to me that this implies that the President and his staff just lied about the extent of Google's involvement, the possible delivery date of this ‘contribution’ and its scope. https://twitter.com/...

• @biannagolodryga Bianna Golodryga on x

  Umm.... “A source at Google tells WIRED that company leadership was surprised that Trump announced anything about the initiative at the press conference. What he did say was also almost entirely wrong.” https://www.wired.com/...

• @cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x

  this is bananas. i asked a senior engineer at google about a nationwide program this afternoon and they told me “No comment because there is nothing to comment on” https://twitter.com/...

• @edavies Eric Davies on x

  It shouldn't come as a surprise really - he does it all the time - but Trump was completely making stuff up at today's press conference. Just complete and utter fabrications (and Wall Street bought it, hook, line, and sinker). https://www.wired.com/...

• @shoq @shoq on x

  Holy shit. They just made it up? But so what? We have no recourse against these authoritarian wannabes. We're inert. There is no opposition. https://twitter.com/...

• @jetjocko Adam Rogers on x

  One might well have asked, I now realize, why nobody from Google was up there next to the dudes from Walmart etc. with the president. https://twitter.com/...

• @cmclymer @cmclymer on x

  Donald Trump just stood at a podium in the Rose Garden and blatantly lied about Google developing a website that would screen people on whether or not they need a test for the coronavirus. We know this because moments later Google flatly denied it. This is our reality.

• @pierce David Pierce on x

  I say again: honestly, what is happening https://twitter.com/...

• @backlon Dieter Bohn on x

  aaaaaand there it is, Google wasn't even expecting its name to be mentioned today https://www.wired.com/...

• @profcarroll @profcarroll on x

  Even Trump's mobilizing the private sector is an absolute shit show. https://twitter.com/...

• @lutherlowe Luther Lowe on x

  It would be trivially easy for Google to build what Trump described. This was probably a Google lobbyist spitballing to help however they could & with idea to bring HQ into loop later. Google's looking for any angle to seek favors they can in DC right now, esp via Jared. https://…

• @jaketapper Jake Tapper on x

  Google's parent company says it is “developing a tool to help triage individuals for Covid-19 testing....is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time...” https://twitter.com/...

• @inafried Ina Fried on x

  Update. To be clear. Sundar Pichai sent a memo - yesterday - asking for volunteers and 1,700 people raised their hand. But they aren't yet involved and it's unclear how many will ultimately be needed or used for the project.

• @foxcahn Albert Fox Cahn on x

  I spoke too soon: we'll also hand over key health data to Google...what could possibly go wrong? 😨 “the announcement raises more questions than it answers...It's unclear what data Google will collect and whether logging in will be mandatory, for example."https://techcrunch.com/ .…

• @ranimolla Rani Molla on x

  Gonna work great in Manhattan https://www.vox.com/... via @voxdotcom https://twitter.com/...

• @joelockhart Joe Lockhart on x

  The President needs to stop talking and let the experts take over. https://twitter.com/...

• @maggienyt Maggie Haberman on x

  This is an important asterisk on the announcement today at the White House in terms of the timing of when there will be wide availability > https://twitter.com/...

• @joenbc Joe Scarborough on x

  They had a press conference about parking lots and half-baked ideas in “the early stages of development”. They brought along a few hand-shaking CEOs for Wall Street. The President insulted a black woman. -30- https://twitter.com/...

• @pkafka Peter Kafka on x

  *Trump said Google was making a website “very quickly” to direct people to drive-through coronavirus tests *Pence said he'd have info on *when the site would be available* by Sunday night *Google seems to think none of this is happening soon https://www.vox.com/...