Beware: Google just got more personal ....

Google has extended its personal search feature to all users regardless of whether or not you are logged into Google. Yes, that means you.



A helpful feature - or Big Brother? You decide. But either way, don't forget you will need to adapt the settings if you are to remain in control of how your computer managing your personal data.

In the news:
Google extends personalised search to all users Guardian Online 07/12/09
Google’s Personalized Results: The “New Normal” That Deserves Extraordinary Attention

The Infallible Gospel according to Google

If ever we needed a gentle reminder about the dangers of the way in which young people go about using the Internet, then a recent report is a timely reminder. Research by Ofcom found that a third of teenagers believe that Google ranks its results in terms of a measure of truthfulness.

Ofcom Report: UK Children's Literacy 2009 Interim Report - Executive Summary
Ofcom Full Report: UK Children's Literacy 2009 Interim Report PDF
Daily Telegraph Article: Google 'ranks websites by how true they are', say UK children



For a discussion of the wider debate of these issues, see my ISC Bulletin Article - Educating Digital Natives

Is Twitter making us stupider?

Podcast of Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch and Is Google making us stupid?, in conversation with Fritz Nelson on Twitter, Google and Cloud computing. The podcast is a short-cut to understanding Nicholas Carr's ideas.