Google just announced three widgets for Mac OSX:  one to post to your Blogger.com blog, another to see your GMail in a glance and a third to view your archived search history.   It's easy enough for me to watch a Firefox or Safari tab for the number of new emails in my inbox.  And my search history?  No thanks!  See the following survey from the University of Connecticut, released yesterday, discovered via SearchEngineWatch.com.My favorite excerpt:

Companies operating search engines say they store information on users' search behaviors to improve search performance. Critics say that it threatens users' privacy if the information is stolen or shared without their permission.   Do you support or oppose companies permanently storing search behaviors of their users?   (PROBE: SUPPORT/OPPOSE STRONGLY/SOMEWHAT)

Strongly Support .......................................................................................... 13%

Somewhat Support ....................................................................................... 19%

Somewhat Oppose ....................................................................................... 27%

Strongly Oppose .......................................................................................... 33%

Don't Know/No Answer (vol) ...................................................................... 8%

Please, tell me I'm wrong about all of this.  Tell me this is great, because I honestly don't get it.   Google seems so hit and miss with their 20% products (things developed in the 20% of the work time Google employees are encouraged to spend experimenting).   These ones don't seem very cool to me.  Maybe they are targeted towards mass markets and I'm thinking like somebody who consumes this kind of information all the time, but if you have to make widgets about a Google News widget that runs search results on my dashboard.  I wouldn't mind that.