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Google said it will no longer allow the social network Facebook to grab information about Google users' social and professional contacts through Gmail, Google's email service.

You know the feeling: opening up your e-mail to find hundreds of messages of varying importance. Some are automated reminders from your favorite sites, some are newsletters you have subscribed to ...

Already, Gmail serves as a control panel, an always-open tab, for the loyal Google user. It offers quick and simple access to our email, contacts, calendar, documents, chat and more. Soon, it may be home to a Web-based telephony client.

Having multiple accounts has been a pain for GMail users for a while. You have to log out of one account and log back in the next. Now, Google has introduced a way for you to link up to three accounts to your Google account, so you can sign in and switch between them at will - or even open a different tab for each account.

Microsoft Corp. is trying to make Hotmail cool again. The upgrade, expected to be available in July or August, will automatically sort incoming messages into different categories devoted to users' key contacts and Internet social networks. It will also provide previews of incoming photos, videos and other material without having to open an attachment or click on a link.

Gmail Sneak Peek allows you to get a preview of the message you’ve currently got selected, without actually opening it. Nested Labels allows you to put your labels in a hierarchy, which excites me less, but apparently is oft-requested.

You know how TweetMeme started out trying to be the Techmeme of Twitter before it ventured off plastering its ReTweet buttons on every blog on the Web?

Google is making important changes to Buzz to address criticism from users and privacy advocates.