Continue to my Useful Tools collection…

Google has updated Gmail to include a “Buzz” tab, where you can prevent the public from seeing your followers list, remove the Buzz inbox from Gmail, and, as the nuclear option, completely kill your Buzz account

That last link, with the warning sign and red text, completely removes Buzz from your Google Profile, according to its wording. A commenter notes that it might also kill your Google Profile entirely, so be cautious if that’s something you want to keep around.

I’m blocked from Gmail at work and can’t bring up the full desktop version from my iPhone, so I guess I’ll have to wait to do this until later this eve. But there is that note about deleting your Google Profile that will be interesting to watch. I find it interesting that Google is taking a course of action here that will not just bring you back to where you started before Buzz, but actually to a lower level of end-user engagement by deleting profiles. If anything, this privacy debacle has made me take a good look at what I use my Google account for besides email, if not thinking about pulling my personal email from Google entirely – with the full support from my lovely wife who noted that it’s not like I haven’t changed my address a bunch of times recently.

UPDATE: Yup, it works as advertised from what I can tell. No more Buzz and no more Google Profile.

You’ve got to wonder how badly you foobered up your product release when the Electronic Frontier Foundation has this to say about Buzz:

If you’re going to use Google Buzz, we recommend that you opt-out during profile creation. If you have already created a profile,¬†change it to private immediately. Then go through the suggested list, and edit it as appropriate before making it public again. PC World has a helpful¬†privacy checklist to help users understand the privacy implications of Google Buzz options.

How many people are going to want to read through such checklists and really tweak their profile/settings in order to actually take advantage of Buzz while maintaining some semblance of privacy? I just turned it off and removed anything I could find related to Buzz in my profile. If anything, it made me take a closer look at how open my profile was on Google.

Fail, Google. Really really really huge fail.

Didn’t realize that Google Buzz gets turned on with some really, really huge privacy-nuking options. WTF, Google?

From the Silicon Valley Insider:

A Google spokesperson asked us to phrase this claim differently. Like this:¬†“In other words, after you create your profile in Buzz, if you don’t edit any of the default settings, someone could visit your profile and see the people you email and chat with most (provided you didn’t edit this list during profile creation).”

I guess I could take some time to figure out how to protect myself, but instead I’ll be sitting it out for now with a tech tip from Consumerist:

You can go into Buzz and selectively follow/unfollow certain people to avoid this kind of incident, but the best evasive maneuver is to scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click “Turn off Buzz.”

Wow… just wow, Google.

’cause I’m dead-set on an iPhone, and I’m dead-set against T-Mobile. But how cool of a feature is My Tracks?

Many GPS receivers require you to plug a separate device into a computer, install software, transfer, convert and upload your track to the web. With My Tracks, this has become a whole lot simpler. I no longer need to carry multiple devices when I go out for a ride, and I can easily share my rides on the spot with anyone I’d like by recording and uploading my track right from my phone and then sharing it out via email or even Twitter.

Granted, I think that Twitter is utterly stupid, but how useful would this be for motorbike rides, 4-wheeling, mountain biking, proving just how many tracks you got in last weekend at Mary Jane? So cool…

EDIT: The folks at TheAdventureLife.org have posted up their top 25 outdoor iPhone apps. Maybe “Trails”?

Fully owning the fact that I’m all sorts of choked-up geek about this. One of the main reasons I wanted a laptop was the ability to take my photos with my everywhere – home to see my family, on trpis to upload stuff while on the road, etc. And I’ve always found iPhoto a little counfounding and a little too behind-the-scenes. Not any more with Picasa!

For one thing, after installing it, Picasa does the cool “let’s scan all your junk” thing, and find all those pics you had squirreled away in random folders. Don’t want ‘em? Right click the folder and choose to remove them from Picasa. Simple as that. In the future, you can just go into Tools -> Folder Management and select examctly which folders you’d like to have Picasa monitor – by default it was placing all my junk in date-sorted folders.

But the kick in the nuts for Apple? The import from iPhoto feature. I took all the photos I had in Apple’s little database (20+gig) and pulled them back out into folders that normal human beings can understand. I have always hated the iPhoto database. One hint: I imported all my iPhoto pics to Picasa, then removed it from Picasa using the Folder Management piece of Picasa. Then? Re-added it. This allowed me to rename the default “Imported from iPhoto” folder that Picasa created for me – and that I couldn’t easily figure out how to rename.

On first blush? Picasa has killed iPhoto. It’s hella faster, it’s prettier, it’s organization of your photos makes sense (folders, anyone?) and if you don’t care about being able to create Apple-pre-defined calendars and books right from the interface, you’ve definitely got on of the next top ten apps for your Mac. Thank you, Google!

More reading about Picasa for the Mac:

Hands-on with Picasa for the Mac
Official Google Blog: Introducing Picasa for Mac (at Macworld!)
Picasa for Mac Beta Released, First Look
After an Agonizing Wait, Picasa for Mac Finally Arrives