My Annual Google Update
On Monday evening, I gave a presentation to the PC Users Group of CNY. It's become something of an annual event - talking about what's new with Google.
It's a topic that gets more difficult each time out. Google seemingly has its tentacles in everything.
I premised my story on how Google has become an embedded part of my day, both at work and at play.
From Gmail, my main non-work email program, to Google Documents, Google Calendars, Google Maps, to iGoogle, I pretty much start and finish each day with Google.
In a way, that's frightening. While I don't worry overmuch about security (as yet, no major security breach has been reported involving Google), I am also not naive enough to believe that it is only "aggregate" data that Google can (and does) collect. Just the fact that Gmail will present ads relating to the content of your messages indicates that more than numbers data is being crunched in the vast server farm entity that is Google.
The operative word in the security arena is "yet." As one of the attendees at the group meeting told me, New York State has indicated that it has every intention of taxing us on transactions conducted with online marketers. Everyone knew that attempt would be made, it was just a question of when, as in, "not yet but soon." While most of the folks at the Users Group session were intrigued by things like Google Maps "street view" (not available for all locations, you can literally "walk" down the street, turn corners, and even view the building at a given address), most agreed that this was a security issue waiting to happen. It just hasn't happened "yet."
There has always been a tension between freedom and security, and we see this dynamic played out in the political arena all the time. Now we can start to watch the tension between information and privacy heat up.
That said, Google has implemented dozens of new features along with new applications that, on the one hand, increase the volume of, and our access to, information. Here are just a small handful:
Google Maps: send location info to your GPS system
Google Calendars: synch with Microsoft Outlook (I told the group this could not be done, and when I prepared my talk, it couldn't. Someone pointed out, as we were looking at a calendar online, that there was now a link announcing "New! Synchronize with Microsoft Outlook. I just can't keep up!)
Google Talk: You can now group chat.
Google Books: mashup with Google maps - if a book mentions a place name, in the "about this book" section, you will find a Google map pinpointing that location
YouTube: find a view you want to view, and click on full screen view. Now locate the icon in the lower left corner that looks a bit like the old pawnbrokers three balls icon. Click that, and you will get a relational view of the video selected, along with others that have been tagged with similar terms.
Google Toolbar: take a look at the little icon that looks like a box full of shapes. Here, you can select new buttons to add to, and customize your toolbar.
Google Groups: start your own group, and you can even customize your group's "home page." So now your family, your club, even a project team at work, can collaborate and share discussion threads, images, and more.
One thing we can all agree on: Google is enormously inventive, and the more raw data they gather about hunting/seeking behavior, favorite searches, time spent on activities, etc., the more likely they are to target the next "killer app" for their already formidable collection.
I look forward to next year's presentation, and I can't imagine what I will have to talk about.
It's a topic that gets more difficult each time out. Google seemingly has its tentacles in everything.
I premised my story on how Google has become an embedded part of my day, both at work and at play.
From Gmail, my main non-work email program, to Google Documents, Google Calendars, Google Maps, to iGoogle, I pretty much start and finish each day with Google.
In a way, that's frightening. While I don't worry overmuch about security (as yet, no major security breach has been reported involving Google), I am also not naive enough to believe that it is only "aggregate" data that Google can (and does) collect. Just the fact that Gmail will present ads relating to the content of your messages indicates that more than numbers data is being crunched in the vast server farm entity that is Google.
The operative word in the security arena is "yet." As one of the attendees at the group meeting told me, New York State has indicated that it has every intention of taxing us on transactions conducted with online marketers. Everyone knew that attempt would be made, it was just a question of when, as in, "not yet but soon." While most of the folks at the Users Group session were intrigued by things like Google Maps "street view" (not available for all locations, you can literally "walk" down the street, turn corners, and even view the building at a given address), most agreed that this was a security issue waiting to happen. It just hasn't happened "yet."
There has always been a tension between freedom and security, and we see this dynamic played out in the political arena all the time. Now we can start to watch the tension between information and privacy heat up.
That said, Google has implemented dozens of new features along with new applications that, on the one hand, increase the volume of, and our access to, information. Here are just a small handful:
Google Maps: send location info to your GPS system
Google Calendars: synch with Microsoft Outlook (I told the group this could not be done, and when I prepared my talk, it couldn't. Someone pointed out, as we were looking at a calendar online, that there was now a link announcing "New! Synchronize with Microsoft Outlook. I just can't keep up!)
Google Talk: You can now group chat.
Google Books: mashup with Google maps - if a book mentions a place name, in the "about this book" section, you will find a Google map pinpointing that location
YouTube: find a view you want to view, and click on full screen view. Now locate the icon in the lower left corner that looks a bit like the old pawnbrokers three balls icon. Click that, and you will get a relational view of the video selected, along with others that have been tagged with similar terms.
Google Toolbar: take a look at the little icon that looks like a box full of shapes. Here, you can select new buttons to add to, and customize your toolbar.
Google Groups: start your own group, and you can even customize your group's "home page." So now your family, your club, even a project team at work, can collaborate and share discussion threads, images, and more.
One thing we can all agree on: Google is enormously inventive, and the more raw data they gather about hunting/seeking behavior, favorite searches, time spent on activities, etc., the more likely they are to target the next "killer app" for their already formidable collection.
I look forward to next year's presentation, and I can't imagine what I will have to talk about.
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