Gmail Sees All, Knows All

Google probably knows more about you than anyone, or anything, in the universe. This new Gmail/Calendar feature has me convinced.

It appeared in the Gmail sidebar where the contextual ads go. I’d exchanged e-mails about meeting someone this Sunday. “Meeting you” wasn’t in the subject line of either message, but appears in the first sentence of both. Neither of us specified the date or p.m., only “Sunday at 6:00.” Google correctly extrapolated that information all by itself. OK, it does know my preferred time zone is EST. The person I’m corresponding with is not writing from a Gmail account, by the way.

Gmail has been doing this sort of thing with package tracking, but arguably a UPS or USPS tracking number is much more uniquely identifiable and templated than the exchange with the woman I’m meeting Sunday.

The speed with which Google has integrated Gmail and Calendar is marvelous — and a little alarming, too.