Hello!

I work on Google Assistant (“Hey Google!”) on Wearable devices such as Google Pixel Buds, Pixel Watch, and several others. Digital assistants are a fresh new way of thinking about computing, and my background in human-computer interaction drew me to this area.

Previously, I’ve worked on Google TV, Web Search, Gmail, and Google Now. Here are a few notable launches from my 14+ years at Google.

Google TV, 2020

• My teams delivered multiple impactful launches over several years; notable among them:
  • Chromecast with Google TV
    • New York Times’s Best Media Streaming Device of the year; 86/100 from Engadget, 8/10 from Wired.
  • Chromecast HD, a cheaper low-spec version of Chromecast
  • Google TV on 3P devices
  • Kid Profiles on Google TV

Google Instant, 2010

• I prototyped the product that later became Google Instant.

• Personally demoed my prototypes to Larry and Sergey to secure approval for the project.

• Several 100s of engineers successfully scaled this to Google’s billions of users.
• Recipient of the Operating Committee (OC) Award, given by Google to a select few teams each year, for accomplishments that “merit special recognition when they create significant new value for Google and surpass even our most audacious goals”.

Fun fact: when I showed an early prototype to members of the infrastructure team, here’s the reaction I received.

With the growth of mobile, Instant Search became less and less relevant, and was retired in 2018.

Google Inbox, 2016

I was an early engineer on the beloved yet cancelled-too-soon Google Inbox. Email is an integral part of our personal information, thus this aligned closely with my dissertation interests.

Google Now, 2018

• Google Now was a contextual assistant that provided the right information at just the right time. (“you have a flight in 3 hours & traffic is bad; you should leave now”)
• I pioneered the design for a server-driven cross-platform layout system across Android, iOS, & Web, which is is now built into Chrome, Google apps on both Android and iOS, and the Google.com homepage on mobile.

Hermit, the Lite Apps Browser

Some ideas are too radical to be pursued by large corporations, so I’ve followed them up as side projects. Hermit, the Lite Apps Browser, is arguably my largest such side project, with over a million downloads and a 4.6+ star rating. It offers features like Sandboxes (Containers) and native integrations for Sharing & Search that are not available in any other mobile browser.

Hermit is a fresh new take on how Web Apps should exist on a mobile operating system. Go check it out, it’s free to download »

User Experience & Design Consulting

A usable, friendly, and fast web site keeps users happy. Designing for usability is part art, part science. As a User Experience Consultant, I am happy to provide actionable suggestions to product teams that you can implement with your team. Read on for more details »

Academic Background

• I obtained my Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction from Virginia Tech in 2009 (dissertation: “Mental Workload in Personal Information Management: Understanding PIM Practices Across Multiple Devices”).
• I also hold a Masters from Georgia Tech and a Bachelors from the University of Mumbai.

Personal Life

I grew up in Bombay, the financial capital of India, right by the sea. My wife Amruta is a front-end engineer at Salesforce, and together with our 2 kids, we love to travel and indulge in our shared passion for good food.