Google’s new Google Now app for Android phones promises to put the world at your fingertips, with seamless integration of information from its other services in one easy to use search system.

Google Now takes personalized searching to a whole new level, from showing users the nearest gas station on the route home to suggesting restaurants based on personal food preferences.

Google claims that Google Now makes life easier.  But for some, this level of customization feels intrusive – and downright creepy.

How Google Now Works

Google Now is an extension of two existing Google platforms: the Google Knowledge Graph and Google Voice Actions.  For Google Now to work, the user must input large amounts of personal data into the Knowledge Graph and allow its Maps and Latitudes functions to track locations.

Based on a user’s preferences and previous searches, Google Now is able to anticipate questions and make suggestions. If a user ends up in an unfamiliar place, Google Now can suggest a restaurant that serves the favorite dishes it has on file.  If a user is on the road, the app will display the quickest route home or show the cheapest gas stations.

Personalizing Google Now

Google Now draws information from its entire network of services and combines it with the personal data directly offered by a user to take the uncertainty out of travel and decision-making.

Because it can “know” preferences about food, shopping and other activities, it can match users with compatible services from Google’s vast database of advertisers and networks in virtually any location.

Too Much Information?

Although Google Now seems to put a world of custom-tailored services at a user’s disposal anytime and anywhere, some find the scope and reach of the app downright disturbing. Google Now  performs at its best when users provide Google with as much personal information as possible.

This information is kept available in case it should be needed in a new situation.  But because Google Now is always there, anticipating needs and making unsolicited suggestions, this kind of electronic hovering can seem over-helpful and even intrusive.

Combined with the wealth of data already collected by Google in other ways such as online searching, the amount of information required for Google Now means that an enormous profile on each user has been compiled.

And while it isn’t entirely clear what Google intends to do with all this information, skeptics raise concerns about how this data can be abused, or at least how user information can be exploited for targeted advertising.

Google Controls the Information Flow

In addition to questions about Google Now’s use (or misuse) of user data, other concerns relate to the availability of information outside of Google’s own network.  If users want to access information from sources outside Google, those sources will not appear on the graph that collects the data for Google Now.

At this point, third party providers have no way to link in, so Google Now users are locked in to services and providers in Google’s network.

With its highly personalized functions, Google Now can save time and even money. But the app is only as good as its data.  Because Google Now relies on user input, the more information it has, the more effectively it performs.

Still, that wealth of personal data that drives Google Now also becomes part of Google’s massive collection of user information, and what Google plans to do with that information is not yet entirely clear.  For some users, Google Now may be entirely too helpful for comfort.

Author Bio:  Aaron Gormley is a proponent of using technology, whether it be cellphones or RVs, when outside city centers.  This is why he writes this article on behalf of Kanetix, a site that offers you recreational vehicle coverage rates.

Mozilla, the makers of the Firefox web browser, have spent the last year working on an HTML5 powered operating system introduced as Firefox Mobile. According to Mozilla, the first devices using Firefox Mobile will be made by TCL Communication Technology (Alcatel) and ZTE.

These devices will use Snapdragon processors from Qualcomm Incorporated. In addition, network operators such as Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and Telenor all support the Firefox initiative. Like the browser itself, Firefox Mobile will be open-source; therefore, programmers (as well as malicious hackers) will have complete access to the code and all its features.

Firefox Mobile is a Linux-based system powered by Mozilla’s Gecko, which is Firefox’s browser engine. All features of the device can be accessed using HTML5 so that the delivery of exciting and useful applications can be attained at lower cost than other methods of application development.

While this is what developers long for the most, will the device be secure from hackers? According to a recent article from Mozilla about browser security, Firefox is already preferred (at least over Internet Explorer) by experts.

The article says security failings in Internet Explorer caused experts (which included the Computer Emergency Readiness Team at the United States Department of Homeland Security) to suggest that consumers use browsers such as Mozilla Firefox rather than Internet Explorer because Mozilla browsers are unaffected by many security problems that have plagued Internet Explorer.

The main concern about Internet Explorer is its tight integration with the Windows Operating System. This provides the attacker with a good degree of access to the operating system, which browsers are meant to defend against.

Specifically, Mozilla mentions four areas of vulnerability in Internet Explorer that Firefox does not suffer from:

a) Firefox does not allow a website to download, install or execute code on a user’s computer without the user’s permission.

b) Firefox does not designate content as “local.” Malicious content can be sent to a user’s machine and falsely identified as “local” using Internet Explorer. This false identification allows the content to gain access to the user’s machine. At this point additional malicious programs can be downloaded by this original “local” file. These programs can include key loggers and programs to log credit card numbers. Firefox is unaffected by this type of vulnerability.

c) Internet Explorer uses ActiveX which allows programs to be downloaded and executed on a user’s computer without their consent. ActiveX uses the concept of “local” files, which further opens the possibility of security holes, which allow the introduction of malicious files.

d) Firefox maintains a separation between applications and the operating system. Internet Explorer integrates the browser and the operating system to such an extent that it suffers from exploitation risks that Firefox is not vulnerable to.

It is clear that Mozilla is using a good architecture for its browser by keeping away from the concept of “local” content. Since devices powered by Firefox Mobile will be “booting to Gecko,” you can be assured that the device will be as safe as a computer running Firefox.

With full HTML5 access to the operating system and Gecko engine security, devices running Firefox Mobile should be secure from malicious content. Mobile devices powered by Firefox Mobile will be appearing in 2013.

Gregory Henderson is a web enthusiast,which is why he writes on behalf a site that offers a great godaddy coupon.