Google updated their Terms of Service today sothat you allow them to use your reviews, posts, Plus Ones (“+1”), and other recommendations and ratings you provide through any Google service, along with your name and profile picture, as an “endorsement” in advertisements. Here’s how to remove yourself and opt out of Google’s “shared endorsements” advertising.

What should be here is the article about what to do when you get spam from a Gmail account. In it we ranted about how Royal Stage Christian Performing Arts from Sacramento, and their executive diretor, Tamara Warta, spammed us, using Gmail and Google Apps. And we decried how difficult it was to report spam from a Gmail account to Google.

You may have heard a bit about Google Chromecast, and may be wondering just what is Google Chromecast? It sounds like a process, but Google Chromecast is actually an Internet broadcast device (much like an Internet television device, such as Apple TV, or a Roku). So, just how does Google Chromecast compare to Apple TV, Roku or Myth TV? Here’s how.

Gmail has just rolled out its “new inbox”, with Gmail inbox tabs. Here’s what they are, and how to get rid of them if you want to.

Today, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, there was a widespread Google outage, and Google was down for many people in the United States.

The Internet, the country, and indeed the whole world is abuzz with the news of PRISM, the no-longer-secret program of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) first exposed by Glenn Greenwald of the British newspaper The Guardian, through which the United States federal government is accessing and mining all sorts of user data from the major ISPs and possibly cell phone companies. Data which is potentially about just about anybody and everybody, even you. The list of companies and ISPs alleged to be involved with PRISM, by which we mean allowing the government to data mine their users’ data, is impressive (read as “scary”) indeed, although most of them are quick to deny it. However, we have evidence (see screenshots below) that even though they are denying it, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, and AOL are all involved. There are rumours of DropBox and Amazon joining. And Verizon is also giving the Feds access to their user data. But as 1984 as this all is, we really only have one question: why is anybody surprised?

Google announced today that it is launching a new music service, which it is calling the Google Play Music All Access service. The new Google streaming music service will be by subscription, for $9.99 a month, and is clearly designed to compete with (or best) such fee-based services as Spotify.

The Google Glass has hit the fans, with Google Glass Glasses starting to ship to those who won the right to receive their very own Google Glass Glasses by wooing Google in the #IfIHadGlass contest on Twitter and Google+. It’s a big deal, at least for some, because at this point in time nobody else can buy Google Glass – only the 10,000 people who won the right to purchase them (at $1500 per) will have them along with, of course, a select few at Google. So, what are the best uses for Google Glass? Here are what the If I Had Glass contest winners plan to do. But first, just what are Google Glass Glasses?

Last year, Google acquired the popular travel guide publication, Frommer’s. The deal included the print version of the Frommer’s travel guidebook, and the online version. Of course, what Google was really paying for was all of the reviews, so that they could incorporate them into their online reviews. Last month, Google announced that it would discontinue the beloved and venerated print version of Frommers book. But just this week it has been announced that Google has sold the Frommer’s brand back to Arthur Frommer, who will continue to publish the printed travel guidebooks, as well as the Frommers.com website.

What’s blue, besides Smurfs? Gmail Blue, the newest release from Google. And just in case you’re asking yourself “Is Gmail Blue real?”, and in case it’s not clear – yes, Gmail Blue is Google’s latest April Fools joke.

Want to find out if there is a Google service outage or Google service disruption, or if a certain Google service is down? While Gmail is down more often than some of Google’s other services, other Google services also experience outages, and wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way to check on the status of all of the Google services at once? Well, there is just such a one-stop shopping status checker, and it will show you the status for Google Mail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Drive, Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets, Google Presentations, Google Drawings, Google Sites, Google Video for business, and even Google Groups, Google Admin control panel / API, and Postini Services!

Google Glasses are soooo yesterday. The newest thing is Google Shoes. Now, we are all familiar with Apple’s partnership with Nike, which allows your iPod to talk with your Nikes (or is it the other way around?), to track your distance and other pedometer sorts of functions. But with the Google Hi-Tops, the technology talks to you. These aren’t your mother’s Chuck Taylors! And how does YesYesNo factor into this?

Google is making clear how they will be handling warrants and subpoenas for users’ personal information. With January 28th being Data Privacy Day, Google Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, shared three initiatives on the Google blog, which detail how Google plans to protect user privacy when faced with a warrant or subpena to hand over private user information.

Today Google posted some news on their blog, along with the release of their Transparency Report, which shows increasing requests from the government for private user data. In fact, the report shows that, of all the governments in the world, the U.S. leads the pack in personal information requests.

We first reported that Google was aiming to provide free public wifi Internet access to the world over seven years ago, and they kicked off that goal by offering free wi-fi to Mountain View, and now they’ve announced that the area of Chelsea in New York City is the latest recipient of free Google wifi as they do their part to grow Manhattan’s Silicon Alley.