OMG! Google Sidebar!

I've seen glwoing mentions in the biblioblogosphere of the new Google Desktop, which includes the Google Sidebar, but I hadn't gotten around to putting it on my machine. I just didn't want to be another Google-Me-Too kind of person, because I know what Google does with all that data. I know they track my every move. I was trying to resist giving them even more access to my habits.

This morning, I went to talk to a faculty member in the department I serve who had just installed it, and when I saw it, I said, "I was wrong. I gotta have that."

So, now it's installed, and I have to give it up to Google--Google Sidebar is one of the most exciting things I personally have seen in a while. It comes with little boxes that do news, web clips, a "scratch pad" for typing little notes, a photo viewer, "quick view" links to the last web and PC documents you have viewed, weather, stocks, more, and more! It's like My Yahoo, but up where you can see it, and with the extra bonus of desktop documents included.

I'm a little dismayed by the real estate it takes up, but with the search box and the "Quick View," I can clean up the toolbars in my browser and gain some screen zone that way. It auto installs to the right side of the screen but I've moved it to the left; it's less annoying for me that way.

I'm even a little amused by the "smart search" capabilities--I was looking for recipes for a minute this morning and it subscribed me to the Allrecipes Dinner RSS feed. I clicked on a couple of links to "praise" it.

On My Yahoo! I get my horoscope, and that's the only thing I can see that's missing from my Sidebar. I suppose if I could find a decent horoscope with an RSS feed I could add it that way.

I guess might as well drink the Kool-Aid and move from Yahoo! Mail to GMail, too. I've had that Yahoo! account since 1997, and I've been reluctant to give it up. But, but, but--the Sidebar will index my Gmail, too! How can I pass on that?!?

On a totally different topic, today was the first time I have had to use PubMed's Help on the Bookshelf since they moved it, and I am NOT impressed. I always loved the context-sensitive assistance you got when you clicked on the "Help" link in the left toolbar, so having to leave my search and drill down through a "book" really seemed like a step back. Maybe I just need to work with it more. Maybe I need to download it and have Google Desktop index it for me. Hmm.

Best wishes to all for a wondrous weekend.

WDT