We look at Google's tool to let you control your information.

We can remember back in early 1999 when an associate told us about a strange new search engine that was making waves on the internet. We checked it out and it seemed like it worked pretty well so we made it our search engine of choice. That site was Google. That was nearly eleven years ago and we never looked back.

Now everyone in the world has heard of Google. Chances are that Google touches the lives of every one of Kung Fu Drafter’s readers. Whether it is email, voice, search, cell phones or any number of geeky endeavors Google has its fingers in that pie. It seems that everywhere you turn on the internet Google is there providing services that the public gladly eats up. In fact, we use so many Google services it gets somewhat difficult to track of it all.

Where did you create an account with a Google service? Which services connect to one another? Do you have a Blogger account or not? Yeah, that is all very daunting. Of Google has a solution for this problem. You just had to know they did.

Enter Google Dashboard.

By visiting Google Dashboard, you can instantly see what accounts you have with Google services and what information Google is collecting about you. But be prepared, it is slightly surprising to realize how deep you may be in the Google fold. For instance, when we first visited Google Dashboard we learned we more Google related accounts than we ever suspected. Currently our Google account is associated with the following services:

• Analytics
• Blogger
• Buzz
• Calendar
• Contacts
• Docs
• Friend Connect
• Gmail
• Profile
• Reader
• Talk
• Search (of course)
• YouTube

That doesn’t even account for several services that Dashboard hasn’t yet connected to. See, we told you it was a bit overwhelming. Our personal accounts use even more services!

Now that you know all of the Google services you are using you can take control of that information. Use the options in Google Dashboard to manage your account settings or clear your search history. Of course, you could just access all of those lost accounts and start reaping those benefits. Whatever you choose to do with your Google accounts you now have control over your information.

So there you have it. Who else but Google is going to give you a chance control your information? Even if it is Google that has all that information ...

- KFD -