Google Now
Google Now is an intelligent personal assistant developed by Google. Google Now, including Now cards, voice search and commands, is available as an aspect of the Google Search application for Android and iOS. Now cards are also available for Chrome OS in the notification center. Voice search and limited voice-commands are available in the Google app for Microsoft Windows, and through Google Search when using the Google Chrome web-browser. Google Now uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of web services. Along with answering user-initiated queries, Google Now pro-actively delivers to users information that it predicts (based on their search habits) they may want. Google Now recognizes repeated actions that a user performs on the device (common locations, repeated calendar appointments, search queries, etc.) to display more relevant information to the user in the form of "cards". The system leverages Google's Knowledge Graph project, a system used to assemble more detailed search results by analyzing their meaning and connections. On Android 6.0 "Marshmallow", Google Now supports an additional feature known as "Now On Tap", which allows users to perform searches within the context of information currently being displayed in an app. When a user activates the feature, by holding the "Home" button or using a voice command, the entire text content of the current screen is parsed to search for keywords and other information (such as the names of people, television programs and films, etc.), which is then used to generate cards that display information, suggestions, and actions related to the content. Users can also use voice commands to ask questions related to the subjects of these cards.
