Google on Wednesday announced that it will encrypt Gmail at all times, not just during sign-on, and make the process an opt-out feature rather than opt-in.

At this point, Google only uses this encryption process, known as HTTPS, during the sign-in process in order to protect your password. HTTPS keeps e-mail encrypted as it travels between your web browser and servers and is mostly used for things like banks and credit card company Web sites.

GOOD FOR Google. The company's decision to stop censoring its Chinese search engine is more likely to mean the end of its China-based service than a breakdown of Beijing's political firewall. But more important than the question of whether Google.cn survives is the larger issue that Google has now raised for other Western companies and democratic governments -- which is whether China's gross and growing abuse of the Internet should be quietly tolerated or actively resisted.

Today on the Google home page, an animated apple is falling, over and over, with a satisfying plunk—a 367th birthday tribute to Sir Isaac Newton.

The English scientist was born especially tiny but grew into a massive intellect and still looms large, thanks to his findings on gravity, light, motion, mathematics, and more.

Legend has it that Isaac Newton formulated gravitational theory in 1665 or 1666 after watching an apple fall and asking why the apple fell straight down, rather than sideways or even upward.

Amid all the hubbub over Google DNS on Thursday, the search giant also released two more helpful tools to help you get a richer search experience and improve your language skills. Google launched its dictionary project, offering a feature-rich resource that goes beyond simple definitions of words; and its new translated Web search makes it easier to find Web pages written in more than 40 languages.

Dictionary

Has Google found the final piece of its voice-calling puzzle? Rumors have it that the acquisition-happy search giant has acquired Gizmo5, a Skype-like VoIP startup. TechCrunch is reporting googlethat Google has plunked down $30 million in cash for Gizmo5, which offers a software app that lets you make free phone calls to other Gizmo users, as well as inexpensive calls to landlines and cell phones. It supports SMS and instant messaging, too.

Mozilla executives today took shots at Google for pitching its Chrome Frame plug-in as a solution to Internet Explorer's poor performance, with one arguing that Google's move will result in "browser soup."

The Mozilla reaction puts the company that builds Firefox on the same side of the debate as rival Microsoft, which has also blasted Google over the plug-in.

On Tuesday, Google announced the release of Chrome Frame, an engine that can be used within Internet Explorer 6, IE7, and IE8 that allows Chrome to render Web pages rather than Microsoft's IE engine; Chrome Frame also executes Google JavaScript programs. To enable Chrome Frame within Internet Explorer, surfers simply must install a plug-in while Web developers must insert a line of code into their pages that speaks directly with Chrome Frame upon each visit.

Google has released a Chrome Plug-in for Internet Explorer in an effort to please those still stuck using Explorer for one reason or another.

Plenty of people are still using Internet Explorer 6 because their place of work won't upgrade to the updated version of Microsoft's browser. With the introduction of Chrome Frame, Google is looking to help employees move on without forcing their bosses to do the same.

With the deal between Microsoft and Yahoo, which sees Bing become the search solution for both companies, sights can now be set firmly on Google. But all the behind-the-scenes work counts for nothing if Google is quite simply a lot better at delivering results than Bing. But does it? A blind search should solve the riddle and settle the Bing vs. Google argument.