I have come to realize the tremendous amount of information Google has on its users. I am a typical Google user, using Gmail, Google Reader. This means that right now Google now has the following information at its disposal:

• Who my friends are (Gmail)
• What we talk about (Gmail, Google Talk)
• What news sources I follow (Google Reader)
• How frequently I check them and which ones I consider important enough to share (Google Reader)
• A lot of other stuff
• What I search about and when (if I search when logged in) (Web search)

I have no reason to believe that this information is used for reasons other than adjusting what ads I am displayed when I visit a site with Google Ads. However, I have realised that I am in no position to be certain that this is absolutely true, or that it always will be.

On the other hand, I don't want to reach the uber-privacy-maniac state of maintaining my own email server and installing a desktop RSS reader in all my machines.

So, I am asking for your opinions:

What services constitute a good set of alternatives to the Google services, promising better privacy?

Pros:

• Privacy
• Free
• Powerful
• Usable