Google Providing Better View of Personal Data

By Dan Gaul November 5, 2009

google_logo — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google is offering a new privacy control that will make it easier for people to see some of the information being collected about them.

The “Dashboard” feature unveiled Thursday pulls together all the data that pour into Google’s computers whenever Web surfers log in to one of the company’ services.

That includes summaries of an individual’s e-mail, search requests and viewing habits on Google’s video site, YouTube. Before, a user would have to check multiple places for all that.

The snapshot doesn’t include any activity that occurs when a person isn’t logged into a Google service.

Dashboard represents Google Inc.’s latest step to give its users more control over their personal information and appease privacy watchdogs.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Google

Chief Technology Officer

Dan Gaul is the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) for Digital Trends Media Group, a Portland, Oregon-based…

Computing

Google’s AI just got ears

Gemini Advanced home page.

AI chatbots are already capable of "seeing" the world through images and video. But now, Google has announced audio-to-speech functionalities as part of its latest update to Gemini Pro. In Gemini 1.5 Pro, the chatbot can now "hear" audio files uploaded into its system and then extract the text information.

The company has made this LLM version available as a public preview on its Vertex AI development platform. This will allow more enterprise-focused users to experiment with the feature and expand its base after a more private rollout in February when the model was first announced. This was originally offered only to a limited group of developers and enterprise customers.

Computing

Google quietly launches a new text-to-video AI app

A photo of Google Vids running with a sample timeline

Google quietly announced an AI-powered video creation app today. Called Google Vids, the new app is designed for Google Workspace users and uses the power of Google Gemini to help you create informational videos for the workspace.

Currently in testing with select Google Workspace Labs users (a public beta ispromised for later), the new online tool builds on some of the AI-powered features we've already seen in Google's other apps like Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The difference is that with Google Vids, you can manually create a video storyboard using your media or use AI to create one using basic words and simple prompts. This allows you to edit and put together much more informative videos in a short time.

Computing

How to create folders and move files in Google Drive

Google Drive is an excellent cloud storage platform for individuals and teams. You can use Drive to upload, share, and collaborate on just about everything, from docs to spreadsheets, images, and videos. Best of all, every Google Account receives 15GB of free storage. So what’s the best way to start moving files around? You should probably start by creating some folders in Google Drive, and load them up with content.