StigmergicWeb

My name is Rob Wall, and I for one welcome our Google overlords!

I’ve just been using Google Reader to read Wes Fryer’s Using Google Notebook, Google Reader, and Firefox and it made me think about how much I use Google, and how I use Google. Shortly after reading this, I was using Gmail to read and respond to an e-mail from Donna confirming our plans to work on another Ten Things to Know podcast, our next one being about Google services (and Google’s information dictatorship, but that’s another discussion). Google is everywhere in my life! A big chunk of my information is managed using Google through Gmail and Google Reader, not to mention the personalized Google home page.

Every time I open a web browser, the first thing I see is my Google home page. From Google Addiction

I’ve always wanted a Star Trek like console that consolidated all the information I needed to know - and here it is!

While I’m on my Google home page, I might take a look at some of the recent posts from various RSS sources on my Google Reader. From Google Addiction

I can choose to look at all unread items from the RSS feeds, items that I have starred, or items from sources that have been given tags.

One thing I absolutely love about Google Reader is that when I click on the title of any of the posts, a widget opens up where I can read the post, or even go to the original page. From Google Addiction

From Google Addiction

I could list all the ways in which Google Reader has it all over Bloglines, but that’s another post for another day.

As for Gmail … well, its just the best. Nuff said (and I have no screenshots currently).

All the above photos, by the way, I’ve uploaded to my Picasa Web Albums, another cog in the Google machine. When I was using Windows as my primary OS, I used Picasa to organize my photos. Its a great app - whenever someone asks me about an iPhoto equivalent for Windows, it is my first suggestion. If it was available for the Mac, I’d have to give it serious consideration as an alternative/supplement to iPhoto. Once Picasa was acquired by Google, Picasa Web Albums was created. It’s designed, I suppose, to be a Google competitor to Flickr. A main difference between the two services is that Flickr is based around sharing and social networking, whereas Picasa Web Albums seems to be set up as a place to put digital photos online so they can be embedded in web pages, with sharing via albums as a secondary function.

It’s tough to know how to feel about Google. Their control over so much of our information is scary, despite their motto of “Do no evil” - I feel comfortable with their use of my information so far, but what happens when there is a change in management that decides to use the information to do evil. As an open source, open content, open thinking kind of guy, I have mixed feelings about the Goog. I’m uncomfortable with a lot of their proprietary web services (or any web services) since my life is pooched if they ever go out of business or I am unable to access the services. I don’t have a universally usable data archive of the work I have created, since it’s all stored in their servers. At the same time, when I am asked what my favourite operating system is, my response is Firefox. With web based services like those provided by Google, I don’t need many additional apps for my day to day work.

Maybe we need a support group to help people come to term with their Google addiction. I’ll start - my name is Rob, and I’m a Google-holic.

UPDATE - Google has failed me. The default formatting they provide for inserting pictures into a blog puts the picture in a table, which makes the thumbnail really small. Sorry for being in your Google Reader twice for the same post.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 22nd, 2007 at 15:46 and is filed under google. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.