Seductively easy to use, this service has the ability to create willing dependence while delivering exactly what you need at the moment.

Some people would pay big money for this type of service. The rest of us can get it from Google for (almost) free.

It’s called “personalized search” and the Chrome Browser’s Omnibox is another step in that direction.

Marissa Mayer, VP, Search Products & User Experience at Google talks about personalized search in her recent post on the Google Blog.

Especially interesting are her comments about the search results page transforming itself into something that feels more like an answer to you than the current “10 independent guesses” feel it has right now.

On thing about personalized search though, you have to give a little to get a lot in return. As Marissa explains, the search tool needs to watch, learn and make use of personal “signals” in order to provide this wonderfully transcendent search experience.

In sort of a high tech version of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”, this means Google needs to know more about you.

Everything’s a trade off and the key for most people his how much privacy will this seductive new service cost them. Hopefully as little as possible.

You can read Marissa Mayer’s blog post here.

Post from: The Chrome Voice "The Chrome Voice" is your source for news and information about the Google Chrome browser.

The Seductive Allure of the Chrome Browser’s Omnibox

The change comes about in response to criticism and concerns raised about Google storing IP addresses and search terms of Chrome users.

Good move Google!

Seriously though, Google also says that they were only holding data from 2% of the users. This means it wasn’t holding 98% of the data it received. Still, it’s great that Google stood up and did the right thing.

Separately, Sean Carlson, Google’s Australia public affairs rep, reportedly said that Google doesn’t capture any more information than what is already being captures by Microsoft (IE), Mozilla (Firefox), and Apple (Safari).

That may be true or it may not be true, but now at least we have an official policy from Google which provides us with an alternative.

You can read Urs Holzle’s full post here.

Chris Keall at National Business Review New Zealand has more about this topic in his article here.

Post from: The Chrome Voice "The Chrome Voice" is your source for news and information about the Google Chrome browser.

Chrome’s Omnibox to go anonymous in 24 hours