I'm going to miss it.  I have all the things I want on one page.  And now I'll have to go somewhere else to get it.  

I think Yahoo has an alternative to it but I'm not thrilled with having to use my yahoo account as I don't really use my Yahoo email or profile.

I recognize that Google needs to drive products that drive money and that this specific product probably fell out of favor because nobody wanted to own something that was too difficult to monetize or manage but it was definitely convenient for me.

I'm sure when it's gone there will be a few sites that will pop up like when Google killed off Google Reader but this one doesn't seem to be drawing as much attention compared to Reader which is fine.

Time for me to figure out a new option.

There's been a lot of people upset that Google Reader is being shut down.  You can read a summary of the anger over at TechCrunch.  Many people are asking Google to bring it back and even posting online petitions to plead Google to keep Google Reader alive.

I feel that it's time for us to move forward.  Accept it.  Google is a grown up company and can do what it wants.  Google is doing something that few companies rarely do which is getting rid of products that, while popular, don't fit in with their strategy or direction of business anymore.  7 years of use from a product in this day and age is actually a long time.  

There has been an incredible shift over the last 7 years in both consumer products and software.  7 years ago, we didn't have Twitter.  7 years ago, we didn't have an iPhone.  Amazon's Kindle didn't exist.  Evernote didn't exist.  You couldn't buy a Mac with an Intel chip inside.  The first gen iPod Shuffle had just come out.

Technology changes, adapts, and disappears.  It's uncomfortable.  Remember the promise of the Palm Pre?  You have the choice to complain but Google has the choice to change.  But look at it from another perspective: it's an incredible opportunity for others to take advantage of this shift.  And there are plenty of options out there if you just Google the words Google Reader Alternatives

To me, this is the future.  It's a little scary but it's incredible.  

Google Now has changed how I view my email and search.  I'm actually wanting to give it more information so that Google provides me with more of everything.

Let me step back for a minute and explain Google Now.

From Google's site:
Google Now gets you just the right information at just the right time.

It tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team's score while they’re playing. And the best part? All of this happens automatically. Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them.

I bought a Nexus 4 just so I could have this functionality.  It tells me when UPS has delivered a package to my home, it tells me when I should leave for an appointment and factors in traffic.  It's the future we were promised when Palm launched the PRE.

This is a huge differentiator between Apple and Google.  Siri can't compete with this because this displays relevant information without me asking it.  Consider Google Now "pre-search".  

Google has done an excellent job with Google Now.  This is the future, now.