scuzzman Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Google - more than just a search engine!With Google being as big as it is, and growing more every day (not to mention I was in the mood to write) I decided Google would be a good target for a review, so take from this what you will :)Google has many services yet untapped by the general public, only because most people don't know they exist, something I wish to remedy with this article.Specialised SearchesOne of Google's most overlooked gems, Google offers the ability to specialise searches to attain better results. Google caters to most internet communities with it's ability to specialise searches pertaining to: The US Government, Linux, Microsoft, *BSD, and even Macintosh. Aside from these, Google even offers Public Service Search and University Search.GMailUnless you've been living under a rock the past 6(?) months, you've had to have heard of GMail. I love it. Google, with it's GMail initiative, offers for free what most services offer for a price, including POP/SMTP access, HUGE storage (1000 MB), 50 mail filters, mail forwarding, and a host of other things. Along with this, they've redefined webmail to a large extent. Powered by Google search, email is now faster and easier to keep organized than ever - you don't have to! The email search works that well! Along with this, GMail offers the ability to view message conversations in a threaded format - this means when someone replies to a message you sent, the message and reply are grouped together, kind of like a forum thread. This makes email much easier to read than ever before. Folders are a thing of the past with GMails labeling system. Instead of filtering email into different folders, one can simply apply a label to said email it and archive for future retrieval either through searching or simply by clicking the label. Also, you know those emails that will fit into multiple folders/topics, so you don't know which one to put them into? This problem is solved by labels. You can apply multiple labels to each email to allow it to fit into those multiple subcategories! If you haven't yet tried GMail, I sincerely reccomend you do - you'll never look at email the same again! If you want to try it, just contact anyone with a GMail account, chances are they have a few invitations left over.Google GroupsFor you USENET junkies out there - Google's got one for you too. Google groups is, essentially, a web-based USENET reader and poster! All you need is a Google account (GMail accounts work fine) and you can read, subscribe to, and post to different newsgroups simply by paying a visit to Google Groups. As for this service, I find the interface a little annoying, but useable - but hey, it's still in beta.Google DirectoryGoogle Directory takes the raw power of Google search, and breaks the internet (or at least a large portion of it) into categories - allowing for much easier casual browsing of web pages, or a look for very specific information. While not earth-shattering, definitely worth a look, and incredibly functional.Google NewsGoogle has taken news browsing by storm as well with Google News. Using it's incredibly advanced web crawlers, coupled with it's patented PageRank system, Google makes casual browsing of the news a breeze. Constantly updated, and offering several links to every article, Google News will more than satisfy your pallette if you're in the mood for current events. Again this service is coupled with Google's search technology, allowing for very efficient searching of news if you're looking for that specific story, and is broken down into World News, US News, Business News, Science/Technology News, Sports News, Entertainment News, and Health News if you just want to see stories pertaining to a specific topic.Google Image SearchGoogle Images allows you to find that perfect image for any scenario. Whether you're looking for a new wallpaper, or your favorite cartoon character, you can find it using Google Images. Again, not earth-shattering, but very easy to use, very effective, very fast, and Google-powered!That about wraps it up for this review, I hope someone gets something out of this. There are many more Google services available, but unfortunately I'm quite unqualified (due to lack of experience) to review them. If you want a full list, check out Google Options and Google Labs to see what they're cooking up.That's it, and have a great day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Set this as your home page and you have the whole world at your finger tips. :) http://www.google.ca/help/features.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Good review Scuzzman :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joysness Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Excellent review scuzzman.Oh, and if anyone is interested I have 50 Gmail invites available :blush: If you would like one, pm me with your first and last name and email address and I'll send you one :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 5, 2005 Report Share Posted March 5, 2005 Good review. With a company of that size, it is easy to overlook some of their offers. Although still in Beta, Google Desktop Search is one of the most useful tools if you have large numbers of documents on a computer.It creates and maintains an index of all mail, AOL messages, Internet content, text and Office documents, as well as C or other program source. I have documents as far as 10 years back, and a multitude of disks and folders; I simply couldn't find my stuff before Google Desktop Search.http://desktop.google.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 Don't forget maps.google.com :) Well, if you're American anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&saf...816&btnG=SearchUS ONLY! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artist Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 Good review - but an excellent thread all round! :clapping: :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 Remember also Picasa to sort and store all of your pictures.Excellent program from Google.Find it here http://www.picasa.com/download/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 Remember also Picasa to sort and store all of your pictures.Excellent program from Google.Find it here http://www.picasa.com/download/index.phpI particularly like the slide show facility in Picassa 2, It is so easy and does not need any configuration at all, just a click of the mouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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