Google is Great! Google is our FRIEND.

[Guden Oden]

Today, I had a bizarre experience. Well, not so much as far as experiences go perhaps, but at least slightly weird.

I clicked the Google search bar's text box, and up pops a new explorer window with a big announcement requester, telling me my search bar has been updated!

There's tons of new stuff in there, finally our swedish bar get the translation button for example (had to use the english version before), autocompletion on search queries, send pages to my non-existing blog and lots of other weird stuff I'll never use.

It's a really creepy experience having GTalk sitting there in my toolbar. Suddenly it just grows a couple extra arms overnight, I never notice when it happens. I get up one morning and it has sprouted 3 new features all of a sudden. I love GTalk, I always have. Sound quality is good, the interface is so nice and clean, and it has just the features you need/want. MSN is a cluttered mess in comparison, especially the latest 'live' version. I can't understand how they expect people to PAY for smilies and shit, and there's an animated adbanner at the bottom of the main window... GAH. Soon it'll start showing video commercials too complete with sound too I bet. In fullscreen mode, and you can't turn 'em off...

I know it's dumb and irrational because they're probably no better than any other billion-dollar company, but I just love google's little programs. I can't help myself, they just FEEL all nicer and cuddlier. MS, them I expect to grab me from behind and drag me into some alley so they can suck out all my blood, but I know in my heart that google would never do that to me.


Hehe!

 

[Blade]

Give 'em a few years. They'll start sucking blood.

 

[_xxx_]

Yup, they will.

 

[London Geezer]

Has anyone noticed that some big companies have started using Google Earth on their adverts? British Airways use them on their posters (it's a satellite picture of holiday places they fly to, like Nice or Bermuda, and you can the "Google Earth" in the top corner). Also the BBC have started using them on the news, very recognisable 3D "zoom in" effect we all have fun with at home, and they always have the Google Earth logo in the corner...

 

[chroniceyestrain]

yeah, google is our friend http://www.google-watch.org

 

[MPI]

Heh. There are some valid issues raised on that page, but MAN do they lay it on thick... Haven't read all of them, but I'm sure the Illuminati and the Knight's Templar comes up somewhere.

 

[_xxx_]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/03/google_eavesdropping_software/

 

[Guden Oden]

Heh, Google inadvertently caused a wipe against the endboss in Uldaman yesterday, when a friend called me on GTalk just as I was about to heal the maintank. Of course I got popped out of the game, and by the time I had recovered from that confusion it was too late to do anything. We all died.

On the other hand, we probably would have died anyway, even the highest level of our party members were 3 levels below the endboss, he was pretty damn tough.

*Edit:
Oh, and with regards to that microphone thingy - creepy yeah, but I can't possibly imagine it being enabled by default, or without a 'disable' checkbox in the config menus. Anyway, I don't mind having my surfing habits poked and prodded at to serve context-sensitive ads; I don't WANT ads for diapers and viagra and shit like that. As long as the snooping is done by a serious company that can be held accountable, I feel it's acceptable.