LAT: Google Is Set to Bring Web to Users

[DeepModem Mom]

Google Is Set to Bring Web to Users
Software called Sidebar will cull news stories, photos and other data without using a browser.

By Chris Gaither, Times Staff Writer


SAN FRANCISCO — Reinforcing its intent to expand beyond the Internet searching that made it a household name, Google Inc. today plans to launch software that pulls news stories, photographs, weather updates, stock quotes and other features onto a user's computer without opening a Web browser.

The new application, Sidebar, highlights Google's efforts to become a ubiquitous gateway for online information. It also puts Google more squarely into competition with Microsoft Corp., which is trying to integrate similar features into the next version of its Windows operating system, and with Yahoo Inc., the Internet's most popular portal.

Sidebar is "not an operating system, it's not a browser," said Greg Sterling, an analyst with Kelsey Group. "But it has elements of both in a certain way."

Sidebar comes bundled with an updated version of Google Desktop, a search tool that finds information on PC hard drives. It sits on the side of the computer screen and frequently queries the Web to update folders displaying news stories and other information. A search box also lets users find files stored on their computers, e-mail they've received and Web pages they've visited.

"We want them to sit back and let the Web come to them," said Nikhil Bhatla, product manager for Google Desktop....


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google22aug22,0,830102.story?coll=la-home-business

[htuttle]

1. Bah....this just combines two things popular with advertisers

1) 'Push' advertising, ie., defeating the 'user driven' model of the web by pushing ads at the user on the advertisers' schedule.

2) Monopolizing the browsing experience, ie., only showing those ads that have paid Google for placement.

They say: "We want them to sit back and let the web come to them" -- there's already a technology that works that way: Television.

[Mithras61]

12. Ah yes, the old "sit back...

and we'll tell you everything you need to know."

Could this be about a media takeover of the Internet, since the people who are most opposed to Shrub are getting the majority of their info from the Internet instead of drooling on themselves & being fed pablum by the MSM?

[northzax]

2. isn't this basically

like Tiger's Widgets? My gmail is actually my desktop, makes life easier.

[henslee]

3. "Gmail is creepy" link.

http://www.google-watch.org/gmail.html

[northzax]

5. I function under the assumption

that everything I have ever typed into a computer with an internet connection, whether active or not, is avaliable for someone else to read. this applies with text messaging as well. Any digital communication, of any kind, is stored somewhere and readable by someone else. Get used to it. Frankly, my Gmail isn't all that interesting, if someone wants to read through a 75 message thread where I'm trashtalking with the guys in my Fantasy Football league, then go right ahead. You want to develop a list of every website I've ever visited and publish it? go right ahead. Spend all your money direct marketing to me, I ignore it.

there has never been privacy in the digital realm, get used to it, it's not what the internet was designed for. Assume that someone is reading your mail.

given that reality, gmail is the most convenient mail service out there. so I use it. There are ways to increase confidential communications, but most of them just attract the attention of people, use PGP to encrypt your email, and the NSA will pay attention to you. better to hide in plain sight.

[henslee]

6. I agree about privacy but it is the "spirit" of google that bothers me.

And as far as your ability to ignore direct marketing, I don't see how you can measure the subliminal effect it may have on you.

[northzax]

7. actually, you have a point

it does affect me. any organisation, corporation or other institution that sends me unsolicited email, phone calls or direct mail is removed from my lists of potential businesses. I don't open mail that is not addressed to me and from an organization I know, it goes straight into the shredder. I use varying combinations of my names with different companies I work with (for instance, my three credit cards are all slightly different, so I know who sold the list, I know who sold my name.

there may be a subliminal effect, but I'm a fairly concientous consumer, and faily eclectic, I bet i'd be hard to pin down.

[Skidmore]

4. But I don't want the web to come to me until I tell it too.

[SoCalDem]

8. I don't WANT that.. I'll go where I like

not where Google wants me to:(

[high density]

9. Remember Pointcast? Google doesn't remember recent history.

At one point Pointcast was even bundled with Internet Explorer and it died in the late 1990s.

http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_17/b3626167.htm

[Moochy]

10. It's been 7 years, so we've forgotten about it :)

Castanet Marimba Pointcast... the compelling commercial push network for web users.

We just sit here while they show us banner ads! yay! thats what I want. Less interaction and control! Clicking on banner ad links is so tedious! Far better to allow the advertiser 15-30 seconds each to make their case.

[NYC Liberal]

11. Which internet though?

Hey, someone had to make the joke ;)