Google Toolbar Tells You Where to Go

Google has enhanced its Toolbar 6 Beta with My Location features identical to those oh-so-creepy Google Latitude services unveiled in February. It is also part of Google’s ongoing mission to add location-based services (including advertisements) in its mobile products. With My Location enabled, Toolbar searches are matched to your computer’s IP address: everything you seek is now also seeking you. It can scour your Wi-Fi IP address as well, making it easier to find a “better” Starbucks from your current Starbucks.

The updated Google Toolbar, available for download now, is an extension of Google’s Labs services, bringing ongoing updates, enhancements and nifty add-ons just like it does for Gmail. Add-ons haven’t always been helpful, but to their credit, many of them show promise and Google’s commitment to evolving its products.

Beware attempting to access My Location from behind a firewall. I tried this service from work and discovered that Google didn’t want to intrude upon my productivity by helping me find someplace I’d rather be.

Google Toolbar with My Location features is oddly only available on Internet Explorer 6.0+. Why wouldn’t Google embed this code into its own browser, Google Chrome? Due to the slight, I won’t use My Location on a regular basis. For those, like me, who would never use Internet Explorer, I’d advise downloading this when it becomes available on Firefox or Chrome.