View Your Google Histroy

Did you know that Google has been keeping track of every single Google search you’ve ever performed? That is, at least every Google search you’ve performed while logged in to your Google account. Don’t believe me? 

Go here:https://www.google.com/history

Neat, huh? You can browse through your web history (includes searches and sites visited) by date using the calendar on the right, and beneath it is the total amount of searches you've performed to date. I’m nearing 50,000. I don’t know whether to be proud of or depressed by that.

In case you’re wondering if this is a breach of privacy, it’s not. You agreed to this when you signed up for a Google account. And you signed up for a Google account when you started using Gmail, YouTube, Picasa, Google Docs, Google Voice, Google Talk, Google Desktop, Google Sites, Blogger, Google Reader, Orkut, Google Code, iGoogle, Google Chrome—you get the point. There’s a lot of stuff that’s owned by Google and signing up for any of it signs you up for Google Web History as well.

Personally, I don’t mind it. I think it’s kind of interesting.

Google Trends

You should also check out the Trends section, which works just like Google Trends but only for you. The All Timesetting isn’t particularly insightful, since it could span back for years, but if you limit it to the last year, last 30 days or last 7 days, things get interesting. Apparently, I spend most of my time googling groovyPost, instead of spending the extra millisecond to just tack on the .com. (I think in the biz they call that a “navigational search.”) And unsurprisingly, the site that I visit the most is a Bandcamp page that just streams white noise (puts my baby to sleep, works like a charm).

The graphs along the bottom confirm other facts about your search habits that should be obvious. For instance, I do a lot more googling on the weekdays than the weekends. And I googled the least in July, when I was traveling most of the month.

Other Considerations

• This is different and distinct from the history that’s saved in your browser. Browser history is saved locally on your machine. Google Web History is saved on Google’s servers and applies to all activity done while logged in on any device. So, for example, if you performed a search on your iPhone, it would show up here as well. If you want to remove all traces of your web history, you’ll have to delete your Google Web History and your local browser history.
• When you are in Incognito Mode, you are not logged in to your Google Account, thus your search activity / web browsing activity won’t be recorded in Google Web History.
• Google uses your web history to tailor your search results and ads. So, if you are testing your search engine rankings or just want to see the web like the rest of the world sees it, search in Incognito Mode.
• If you have Javascript disabled or some other “no scripts” plugin installed, Google Web History may not work.
• If you install the Google Toolbar, Google will begin tracking sites that you visit even if you don’t go there directly from Google.com.

Google Chrome OS

As if its decided lead in spiders, searches, and engines is not enough, Google launches its new Chrome OS, the company’s browser-based operating system. The new OS offers marked differences in data handling, such as cloud data storage, adding more user security and ease of use. It is also a very light operating system and does not eat up a lot of RAM. This is ideal for netbooks and systems that rely on cloud computing. Being a by-product of the Chrome browser, the Chrome OS also boasts of similar security features that the browser has been known for.

How it works

Security is one of the key components in the Chrome OS. The system fuses typical system-level security systems with exploit mitigation techniques. Thus, it successfully decreases the venues for attack and the system codes that can be attacked by malicious programs. And because all applications run through the browser, the operating system is more compact and easier to control and protect.

Sandboxing has been crucial in how Chrome functions. Through sandboxing, processes and applications have minimal interactions with each other and the operating system kernel. This partitioning of processes and applications makes it difficult for any malicious attacks to affect the whole system. Crashes become seldom, if these occur at all.

Security

Security is also one of the trademarks of the Chrome OS. Contrary to current trends in operating systems, Chrome limits the ability of applications to download and run any binary. This minimizes any application compromises that open up the whole system to attacks.

 Likewise, the Chrome OS boasts of a verified boot process. This boot process allows the system to start up and boot without possible harm to the system’s memory, the Linux kernel, and the partition tables. This is done through cryptography.

Since the whole Chrome OS is secured by Google, it is close to impossible for any malicious program to penetrate and run. And even when some freak malicious programs do manage to get through the doubly secured kernel hardening and processing infrastructure, this will be immediately detected upon reboot. This sends a prompt to the user. It also initiates self-cleaning program within the system.

The cleaning process has less hassle too than the others. Since the system data is set apart from the user data, the system can fix itself without causing the user any setting changes and lost data. Cached data is also kept intact, within the “cloud” of Google servers. Adding to user specification security, the user data within the browser, OS , and plug-ins are encrypted. Devices cannot share user data.

For any bugs found upon installation, the Chrome OS has set up an auto system update and patch. All this is done in the background, even while the user keeps on working online.

Now, that makes for a lot of exciting new stuff from a technology company that’s been very reliable and attentive to its users.

Gmail Develops Three-Pane View

     Gmail has introduced a preview pane feature that allows users to read emails without opening them. The setting gives the option of choosing between “previews” and “list views.” Users can modify the preview pane to appear either horizontally or vertically adjacent to their lists of emails.

Some users of Rapportive and Boomerang have complained of minor glitches when using the new Google Labs product. The preview is nearly identical to the preview feature seen standard on Microsoft Outlook.

Gmail users can activate the preview panel by going to “Gmail settings” and selecting “Preview Pane” in the “Labs” section.