In no particular order, here are 10 things I want from Google this year (these mostly come down to consolidation of offerings, standardization of features, and leveraging of data):
2) Better management and control of the Google Chat and AIM chat within Gmail; also the ability to chat with AIM contacts on iGoogle. Also the ability to chat with users in Google Docs, which for some reason is only available in the spreadsheet application, not the word document application.
3) The long awaited consolidation of files hosted by various Google products into a web hard drive. It's a bit ridiculous that Google Panoramio has 2GB of free photo hosting but Google Picasa only has 1. If I wanted, I could host 7gb of photos in Gmail, also. In any case, I can't access files across properties and I can't utilize the web space they're offering how I want to (by redistributing it as I see fit for my various Google-hosted needs).
4) The formalization of the Google Social Network. So much social content contribution is happening on Google based products but it still doesn't pull together and live in one place. The Google profile is slowly being built out, but it isn't happening fast enough. The new iGoogle was supposed to have an information feed that could help pring this to life, but as far as I know that didn't happen. Everything I do on Google Maps goes into an abyss, why?
5) A more advanced Gmail that integrates some of the features 3rd parties are making a reality. Xoopit turns Gmail into a social network of sorts and enables easier organization of pictures and other files that are sent to and from friends. I also really want Xobni's features to make their way to Gmail - the way it connects data with email and Linkedin is great (Linkedin is the most trusted source of personal data), and the analysis of email data is great.
6) More advanced display and use of data in Google Reader. My biggest interest is seeing which feed items I emailed people, but there is definitely more all together that can be done with these engagement metrics. Also, there needs to be better recommendation around content. It's wierd that there's no built in Digg-style feed that you can switch over to view periodically, maybe in a page-layout like Techmeme (think the front page of Google Blogsearch).
7) Some major improvements in Google Chrome. Mainly, better crash protection - half the time, if my computer crashes or the browser crashes I lose my tabs, whereas this is 100% protected against in Firefox. Also, the lack of RSS detection in Chrome is ridiculous, the lack of integration with Google products (Google Bookmarks for example) is odd, and the fact that some of your own services don't even work (think Adwords and Doubleclick) on Chrome is embarassing. It is kind of a joke that Google took this out of beta so fast compared to their other products.
8) Google Desktop has made some huge headway this year but it needs a few more things. First, there's no Google Reader gadget for Google Desktop. Also the Google Calendar gadget is really unimpressive considering the polish of the other Google-developed gadgets. And how come the Photo gadget can't resize properly for pictures that are horizontal or vertical?
9) The ability to collapse the sidebar on iGoogle, similar to how it's done on Google Reader. Isn't this obvious?
10) Android on Verizon and ATT. If a good Android phone comes to Verizon, it might just keep me on their horrendous service past May of this year. Since I don't actually expect Verizon to improve by May '09, I am hoping to see Android on ATT so I can officially move over to ATT and have choice between the iPhone and Android (by the way Google you get a pardon for this, I know it's mostly out of your hands)
