Week in Google news: Google Dashboard, Droid fever, focus on e-commerce

Also, Google shines up Chrome and celebrates Sesame Street

A look back at the week's biggest Google-related news:

Google Dashboard debuts 

Google on Thursday launched its "Dashboard," a tool for giving users of its services an all-in-one view of their personal information tied to the various Google services they use. Google Dashboard is being touted as a way for users to, at a glance, see information about their Web usage, email usage and more when they are logged into Google services such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Calendar. Once the initial flurry of excitement subsided, some began questioning just how much of a security/privacy boost Google Dashboard would offer.

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A look back at the week's biggest Google-related news:

Google Dashboard debuts 

Google on Thursday launched its "Dashboard," a tool for giving users of its services an all-in-one view of their personal information tied to the various Google services they use. Google Dashboard is being touted as a way for users to, at a glance, see information about their Web usage, email usage and more when they are logged into Google services such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Calendar. Once the initial flurry of excitement subsided, some began questioning just how much of a security/privacy boost Google Dashboard would offer.

Android fever heats up

Official Verizon/Motorola Droid availability had some enthusiasts lining up at stores Friday and others compiling helpful guides to keep all your Android facts straight. And the Verizon/Motorola Droid isn’t the only Droid out there either, as a modified HTC Hero called Droid Eris also debuted. 

10 Stunning 3D buildings made with Google SketchUp

Google Chrome advances 

Google has released the 4.0 beta of its Chrome browser. The main new feature is a way to synch your bookmarks across multiple computers. The synch technology is based on the same XMPP-based servers that power Google Talk.

Google meets Sesame Street Google doodles (the art adorning the Google logo atop its search page) this week paid tribute to Sesame Street’s 4th anniversary, with images of Big Bird’s feet on Wednesday, the Cookie Monster on Thursday and Bert and Ernie on Friday.

Google zeroes in on e-commerce 

Google on Thursday launched a new search engine service specifically designed for large e-commerce sites. The product, dubbed Google Commerce Search, will bring some of Google’s best search innovations to sites like Birkenstock USA. These features include Google’s spell checker, query stemming and synonym recognition.

Network World's sister publications, including PC World, contributed to this report.

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