Today I installed Google’s latest innovation, the Google Web Accelerator. Its a tool that runs all the sites I browse through Google’s servers. Why? Apparently it makes things faster ;). Broadband is, by nature, in efficient. Even though you have a very highspeed you’re rarely, if ever, actually transfering data efficiently at that rate. For large files it can work great, but for thousands of small files, though you may not notice it, there are bottlenecks. The accelerator seeks to alieviate that by running a query through Google’s machines and then dishing the feedback out to you. It also “prefetches” a whole load of data while you read a page so that when you click a link, its already loaded for you :).
Now.. behind all that.. lets think about this..
Every site I access, excluding HTTPS, is being downloaded and stored on Google’s servers.
For people with “privacy issues”, this is a nightmare.
Wanna know what else? I have Google Search History installed and running. That keeps a remotely stored history of everything that I search for. Its accessible on any computer that I go too.
They also hold a very small portion of my email through Google Gmail. I use mostly my own service for email but I pay for it and even then its only “barely” better than what Google offers. Their stuff is, quite frankly, very hard to beat.
I’m also a proud and active user of Google Desktop Search, which stores a complete index of my harddrive and all my history locally and dishes it out VERY very fast. It also integrates into the standard Google.com search.
Lately, Google has become a source of income for me through Google AdSense. Its not yet a significant one, but as I focus more and more on building large content driven websites and communities its going to become more and more so. Google AdWords is also a way that I drive traffic to the various web projects I’m involved in. You simply can’t beat true results :).
Oh yeah.. and I use Blogger, which is owned by Google ;).
So, what’s it all mean?
Google has become a part of my life.. and a big part. I’m not alone in this.. for many people Google has simply become a way of life. Its something people take for granted.. imagine for a moment if Google went down for a day.. woah? That’d have a HUGE impact on the internet economy.
Google is gathering a MASSIVE database of information. There are many many positives to this and many negatives. I’ve read a good deal on the issues lately and there are some very strong arguments on both sides. Some people trust Google explicitely, others run around like mad trying to “warn” everyone. The majority don’t ask any questions and just move on with their lives.
I trust Google.
Sure, it could backfire.. but so could a lot of things :). I’m going to focus my energy on other things and just trust that they’ll keep their word and “Do no Evil”. That’s going to be harder and harder as they grow and gain more and more power. Power corrupts.. its inevitable. I shall simply do my best to make sure that I set a good example in my own life and to make sure that I continue to stay informed. Things will always slip by, but not nearly as much as if I simply took everything for granted.
As for the Giant, that’d be Ted..
He beat me at Basketball today, again. We played a VERY hard game and wow, the fouls were flying! It rained reallly really hard on the court and we kept at it. Final score was 21 to 16 after over 45 minutes of play. The series is now 8-7 and Ted has a chance to tie it up tomorrow :). He plays SO strong on the inside that I almost have to fly to ever get past him! I’m gonna have to switch my strategies these last few games, which means that I risk throwing the series.. oh well :). Its quite an experience.. you learn to adjust things on the fly.. you learn to react faster.. you learn that 40+ year old men still have energy ;).
And that’s just about that.. Goodnight World!
-Jonathan Wold
Highlight of my day:
Playing Basketball in the RAIN! Ohh it was beautiful! : )