Today Google announced a new version of its popular toolbar that allows users to save settings online. That means browsing on another computer would be a lot more customized, though critics question how much browsing data Google records.

The king of search already has access to countless search logs, e-mail, clipped pieces of content in its Notebook application, and web statistics from Analytics. The company acts as a nerve center for many surfers, and the Google Toolbar promotes that brand presence by adding a visual cue at the top of the browser.

According to Google, this latest version of the toolbar allows you to “save your settings online, and then get all of your bookmarks, custom buttons and AutoFill information from your different computers — like when you’re at home, or at work, or if you get a new computer for the holidays. It’s kind of like carrying your Toolbar with you . . .”

Other enhancements include:

• Google Gadgets support, which allows toolbar integration with basic XML scripts. The toolbar can write the scripts for you.
• Google Notebook is now integrated.
• URL typos will now generate a list of Google’s suggestions on what you might have meant.

All of these features are great, but what privacy are you giving up in return? First, the toolbar gives Google a constant between pages so they’re able to record an entire clickstream session including second-by-second action.

This may also tie into their Pagerank algorithm for statistics accumulation similar to Alexa.com and Compete.com.

If you’re comfortable sharing a close-up of your browsing habits and use Internet Explorer then this is a must-have upgrade.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 6:52 pm under Google.  Print This Post

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