google-tools

Google Tools

It's been just over a decade since the launch of the [|Google] search engine, and this company has single-handedly changed the face of the world wide web throughout this time. Upon arrival, Google quickly became the dominant search engine in the late 1990's, surpassing the likes of [|Alta Vista] and [|Lycos]. Today, Google is synonymous with searching for information on the web, and they have moved far beyond just purveyors of the Internet's most popular search engine. Here is just a smattering of the free tools, applications and services that Google provides Internet users with today:

1) [|Google Mail] Anyone can create a free e-mail account that comes with over six gigabytes of storage space. Google Mail (or Gmail) accounts are perfect for signing up for various Web 2.0 applications without divulging your work or home e-mail address or attracting too much spam/unwanted e-mail.

2) [|Google Sites] The collaborative nature of the internet has lead to an exponential increase in the number of people who are choosing to build their own websites. No longer do you need to be a programmer to design websites with basic HTML code. Instead, there are many services that allow users to design and host their own websites. Google Sites does just that - allows to to easily create and maintain your own website in a small amount of time, and with very little skill.

3) [|Google Maps] Google Maps is a very powerful, scalable tool that anyone can use for directions to/from any location around the world. Maps can be viewed with a variety of filters, including actual satellite images, basic street maps, and even a terrain view. Some locations have even been mapped with cameras from the street level, so that you can enter 'street view' to walk up or down the street and take advantage of panoramic views of these given locations. Google Maps even allows Gmail account holders to create their own custom maps complete with information included in multiple placeholders. For example, check out this map, 'Across The Pond', which I quickly created to highlight some locations I travelled to this past summer: media type="custom" key="1979262"

The following link contains a .pdf file that outlines the process of using placemarks to creating custom Google Maps:

4) [|Google Docs] This online word processor has become very popular for many reasons. One of the most impressive features that has attracted so many people to Google Docs is the ability to collaborate with others over distance. Documents that you create with Google Docs can be shared with anyone, and they have the ability to edit and revise those shared documents, even at the same time that you're working on them. Related to Google Docs is Google Presentation, which is essentially a no-frills slideshow application (much like PowerPoint or Keynote) with the same collaborative capabilities as Google Docs.

5) [|Google Reader] With the increased prevalence of blogging, there has been a growing need to keep track of all the blogs that interest you. Visiting each and every blog I'm interested in on a regular basis would be an insurmountable task. Therefore, I 'subscribe' to many educational blogs through RSS (real simple syndication). Google Reader is a utility that allows you to quickly and easily browse through all of the updates on the blogs that you are subscribed to. This means that you won't have to go looking for all of the information that interests you, it'll automatically be brought to your attention every time you log into your Google Reader.

6) [|Google Video] Google maintains its own library of digital video, the content of which has grown at approximately the same rate as YouTube (which, incidentally, Google bought in 2006). Anyone can visit the Google Video website to search through the millions of hosted videos and view their choice of online streaming videos.

If there are any Google Tools that you just can't live without, please feel free to add them here :-)