Saturday, April 03, 2004

GMail Roundup: "The Creeps". The meme most media outlets have given to their second day coverage of Gmail is that it gives folks "the creeps." In essence, the idea that machines will be reading folks' email freaks a lot of observers out. Privacy advocates are connecting the dots on mailing lists like Farber's IP, and Cnet, the LA Times, and Wired News have written stories turning on this angle. I think the jury is out on this issue. If people willingly give up their privacy to get a gig of storage and the ability to search their email (email search is one of the biggest search hairballs out there, IMHO), who's to say that's wrong? On the other hand, this does create a lot of potential for trouble, given... [John Battelle's Searchblog] 2:53:34 PM    comment []

Paid Search Programs Finally Growing Up. The search industry has come a long way since the days of running poorly targeted banner advertisements on search results pages. Enhanced keyword targeting capabilities and powerful new bidding and analysis tools have raised the value of search as a promotional channel. [Search Engine Watch] 2:53:18 PM    comment []

Welcome To The Google Desktop?. Will Google's new Gmail free email system be just the first of many things we begin moving to a new Google Desktop? If so, Microsoft might have a lot more to worry about than web search. But might concerns over privacy prevent Google's success? [Search Engine Watch] 2:53:07 PM    comment []