Adapted From Fox News
Google is creating an information bridge between its influential Internet search engine and its widely used Gmail service in its latest attempt to deliver more personal responses more quickly.
The experimental feature unveiled Wednesday will enable Google’s search engine to mine the correspondence stored within a user’s Gmail account for any data tied to a search request. For example, a query containing the word "Amazon" would pull emails with shipping information sent by the online retailer.
Such Gmail results will typically be shown to the right of the main results, though in some instances, the top of the search page will highlight an answer extracted directly from an email. For example, the request "my flight" will show specific airline information imported from Gmail. Something similar could eventually happen when searching for a restaurant reservation or tickets to a concert.
Although Google is the Internet search leader, it remains worried about social networks like Facebook, as they have made it easy to share information online. The web is starting to revolve more around people than keywords and links.
Google has been trying to adapt by building more personal services and plugging them into its search engine.
Blending email information into general search results could raise privacy worries. Google is trying to mitigate that by showing Gmail results in a collapsed format that users must open to see the details. For now, users must sign up to participate.
The concern of privacy is still in the eye of Google. They are being careful as they "hook" Gmail up to its Internet search. The new feature will be available only to 1 million Gmail users who sign up. After getting feedback from test participants, Google hopes to give all Gmail users the option of plugging their accounts into the main search. They are also willing to display information from other email services, but is having little luck with the other services willing to allow Google to do so.
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-Bryan