The right tool for the right job

Over the past year or so, I’ve seen Google release two products that make subtle unexpected use of technology in brilliant ways.

The first is Google Stadia, their streaming video game service. I talked about it a few years ago, and it’s indeed quite excellent! What makes it interesting for this post is the way the controller works. Most video game controllers, like on a PlayStation or Xbox, use Bluetooth to connect to the system. It’s a great way to connect and works well.

Stadia, on the other hand, uses wifi. At first blush, that seems really weird, but it’s actually very smart. The biggest potential issue with Stadia is latency. When you press the “jump” button on your controller, that button press has to go all the way back to Google, where they press “jump” on their server, and then they stream that video to your TV. It happens amazingly fast, but it’s clearly much different than the “jump” command just having to go across the room to your PS5 and then on to the TV.

Since your “jump” command eventually needs to get out on the internet to get the data to Google, having them connect to wifi saves a step (and some of that precious time). The controller can issue the jump command directly to the internet, whereas a Bluetooth controller would pass that info along to your Chromecast or computer first, and then send it out. It’s a smart…