Google Israel's development center was behind Google Related, Google Inc's (Nasdaq: GOOG) new toolbar feature, launched yesterday, which provides information about related websites. The service is available on Google's Chrome toolbar and can be installed on Windows Explorer. It is currently only available in English.
Google Related automatically pops up a toolbar along the bottom of the screen, which displays additional information, locations from Google Maps, Google Images pictures, and YouTube video clips related to the topic of the search.
Results will remain minimized until selected, when they will open up immediately on the browser window, eliminating the need to open multiple new windows or tabs. The built-in +1 button enables the information to be shared.
In Google Blogs, Google Related development team manager Ran Ben Yair writes, "If you decide you’d rather not see the Related bar, you can easily hide it for specific pages and sites through the Options menu. If you use Related as part of Google Toolbar, you can disable Related entirely through the Options menu as well."
Given that Google Related effectively informs Google about the web address a user is on, as well as the user's IP address and other personal information in order to offer related content, some users may decided to forego the option.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 17, 2011
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