For example, if you use Google’s Picasa, Google+ enhances the service by fully integrating the content of Picasa into the their social network. If you use Android, you’ll be able to take a picture, load it into Picasa, then make it available to your “Circle” in Google+. The name Picasa supposedly changing to “Google Photos” but for now its just a rumor.

Other fully integrated services and products include (but are not limited to): Gmail & Youtube.

Facebook has some major competition brewing!

Google is getting into facebook’s swimlane.. again.

They tried with Google Wave and Google Buzz and now they have a new secret weapon… google+.
You have experienced their incredibly useful tools displayed

We “google” everything. Their tools are a household name as handy as any appliance in our homes. The tabs on the google page are etched in our minds: Web | Images | Video | Maps | News | Shopping .. etc

Google+ will add “YOU” to the tab. This will allow us to completely personalize and compartmentalize our contacts. One of the weakness’ of Facebook is its clumsy means sharing information. For example, when you accept a friend they are automatically able to shared all the data you put up. You can group friends into groups, but it is not transparent. Google Circles will hopefully fix that. From the horses mouth: Circles will be “The easiest way to share some things with college buddies, others with your parents, and almost nothing with your boss.”

Other tools in the YOU tab will include:
Hangout:
Let friends know you’re free for a video hangout, any time, anywhere. Then catch up, watch YouTube, or… just hangout.

Sparks:
A feed of just the stuff you’re really into, so when you’re free, there’s always something waiting to be watched, read, or shared.

Huddle:
Texting is great, but not when you’re trying to get six different people to decide on a movie. Huddle turns all those different conversations into one simple group chat, so everyone gets on the same page all at once. Your thumbs will thank you.

Instant Upload:
Taking photos is fun. Sharing photos is fun. Getting photos off your phone is pretty much the opposite of fun. With Instant Upload, your photos and videos upload themselves automatically, to a private album on Google+. All you have to do is decide who to share them with.

For more info on google Plus check them out here

http://www.google.com/intl/en/+/demo/

I hope it does well

7/7/2011, 1am: I am in Google+. My access is very very limited and I cannot invite yet, but so far I must say LOL.. its beautiful.
Google is really doing it right. Facebook, Microsoft and others will have to follow their lead on this one. Wow!!!

Google has taken steps toward protecting is users from malware and phishing attacks by alerting webmasters of malicious content and bad URLs.

Now Google offers a service for Network Administartors that allows system owners to receive early notifications for malicious content on their network. Its called “Google Safe Browsing Alerts“. As an example of how powerful this can be, imagine an Internet Service Provider have such a service.

I can already hear the “nayers of google” crying, “what about the privacy of the networks and your users?” To this I say, “SHUT THE HELL UP!” Google loves you. Google died for your sins. Repent, for the kingdom of Google is at hand.
http://safebrowsingalerts.googlelabs.com/

That is all.

http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2010/09/safe-browsing-alerts-for-network.html

Basically, someone creates a innocent looking extension or plug-in, they distribute it and the innocent looking plug-in/extension sends your personal information to where ever.

How can a person avoid this?! I guess the safest way would be to not use ANY plug-ins and extensions.. but that is over kill.
I know that I am pretty paranoid about WordPress extensions/plug-ins but the open source community is pretty good about peer reviewing, testing and reviewing some of the more popular plug-ins. When it comes to software I depend heavily on reviews of others who have used the product. If there are no reviews (even on forums or dev/plug-in sites), I usually consider the app to risky.

Sometimes what I do is try the app/extension/plug-in on a site/blog I don’t care as much about. In the case of browser plug-ins, I use a single trusted browser with minimal plug-ins to do important sensitive/personal transactions. Most of the stuff I do on the web does not require so much scrutiny.

Unfortunately, there is always a risk with plug-ins, apps, and extensions. All we can really do is manage the risk, by being careful and suspicious.

Thanks Mr. Grech for the knowledge.

I love Google, but it conflicts with my finely honed skill of not trusting. I use Google for just about everything knowing they have a dangerous amount of information about me and everything else readily available in a search friendly little package.

Google showed up as the most conspicuous tracker on third-party sites. Google Analytics, a free product that allows online publishers to gather statistics about visitors to their sites, was used on 81 of the top 100 sites. Cookies from the advertising company DoubleClick, which is owned by Google, were present on 70 of those sites. When combining trackers from those two services, Google had a presence on 92 of the top 100 sites. Others weren’t far behind. Cookies from Atlas, Microsoft’s DoubleClick rival, appeared on 60 sites, and trackers from two other analytics companies, Quantcast and Omniture, showed up on 54 sites.

– Ny time

I still love Google and I still believe, perhaps foolishly, that they are not evil. Even so, one day I think Google will turn evil, not unlike any empire that has become too powerful. The culture of the company will change in a generation and a new dynasty will reign using personal information as a weapon rather than a useful tool for making better searching. I hope I am very, very wrong.

Google, like any other legitimate service provider, encrypts login traffic, but not your content. So the moment you’re signed in they switch to plain-text communications and send everything to you in the open.

http://dmiessler.com/blogarchive/why-you-should-encrypt-all-of-your-google-activities-poc

Tags: google, encryption, gmail

Tags: google, security

There were some rumors about them doing something called “gdrive” which would be an application that would use a bit a space on personal computer around the world. Genius! I can be quite secure too. I saw some technology built into the Sidewinder Firewall that effectively seperated every service in its own area of hard drive so that if that service was comprimised it would not do damage to the rest of the system.

Tags: google, gdrive, platypus, picasa, sidewinder