Dear Google,

It’s been a year of ups and downs. There were some great Google Doodles, such as the one above for Sally Ride's 64th birthday (she was the first woman in space), as well as this recent interactive one celebrating Beethoven's 245th year:

LifeLock, an identity theft protection company, has been ordered to pay $100 million to the US Federal Trade Commission for failing to protect user information. The settlement comes as a result of the company’s failure to adhere to a 2010 federal court order which required the company to secure consumers’ personal information and stop deceptive advertising practices.

Sometimes we complain about Google’s privacy incursions, such as the Timeline feature which tracks your location by default. Yet some of these features can come in handy when your phone has gone missing. If you have an Android phone, there are several Google services which you can use to locate it or perform additional functions if it is lost or stolen.