Mayan Cancuen panel - via wikimedia
As I write this the clock has just passed midnight on December 21, 2012 – the day the world is set to end, according to some interpretations of the Mayan calendar…and also according to Google Now.
Google’s super intelligent Siri-like application, which works on the latest version of its Android operating system, has many neat tricks – it can track your packages for you and give you the latest information about your favourite sports team, it can also figure out where you work and give you real time information about your commute.
It can even tell you when the world is going to end.
When you ask Google Now “When will the world end” the application, without much fuss, tells you in a calming computerized voice that the we’re all doomed to oblivion on December 21, 2012.
As proof of the impending apocalypse Google Now links to the website of NASA (never mind that NASA’s link is entitled “Beyond 2012- Why the World Won’t End“).
We’re not ones to argue with the might of Google but insofar as it’s now December 22 in the antipodes we’re going to chalk this one down to the parsing power of Google’s search engine rather than the search company’s attempt to actually predict the future.
And is if that wasn’t enough teasing from Google the company today released a special Doodle to celebrate the “end of the Mayan calendar.”
Anyway if the world does end today, then there’s not much point in me having written this (although that could be argued anyway).
If you want to try it for yourself, simply open Google Now and ask it “when will the world end.”
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