You know, I usually vote for the underdog. I stay away from those winning popularity contests - just probably out of spite, I guess. I didn’t once see an episode of Friends while it was on prime time. I have never seen an episode of Survivor, Big Brother or even American Idol for that fact. Why? - because for me it’s not the thing to do. “Ca ca” is a word that is commonly thrown out in distaste of the mindless prime time line-up. Throw me the History, Discovery and Sundance Channel any day.
When I was first exploring the world wide web many moons ago, Lycos was in my opinion the better search engine. Google started coming around and I thought what a terrible name and avoided it like the plague. Then I watched as Google grew in popularity, more and more people were talking about it - which made me steer clear of it even more-so.
Finally, one day, I needed something. I have blocked the painful event from my mind so I can’t even recall what exactly it was. I used Google. After that, I opened up more and more and started embracing the gifts that Google had to offer. I am now a Google junkie. With the time one spends on the internet these days it is just silly not to be. If you want to find something and find it quick. Google is the portal above all portals and let’s not forget the gadgets. Me like Google gadgets! They are constantly adding nifty tools and if you know what to use and how to use them weblife is so much easier, I promise you!
Gmail Gmail (googlemail) is a great mailbox if you hate spam. My yahoo was always full of spam, gmail has such a great filter that I haven’t had spam hit my inbox for years and only once or twice during that time has the wrong thing hit my spam box. Yes, it is that good. Other features? You never run out of space. You can forward other email accounts there and reply to that email using the same email address it was sent to and then there’s Gspace that you can use for extra storage of music, pictures, etc. which you can access from anywhere like your gmail account. Also you can chat from inside your gmail with either AIM users or google talk. They had it going on before Yahoo.
Picasa Version 3 is now out and if you ever upload photos to your pc - get Picasa. It organizes them so they are easy to find - it grabs them up from all over your pc so it’s not like finding a needle in a haystack just looking for pictures from last Christmas. Once they’re organized you can crop, edit, collage, add text - and even make a movie with music all while in Picasa.
As my main job and side jobs are all on the pc, I am a customization freak. iGoogle allows me to access a homepage that has a large variety of themes and widget to choose from.
Google Reader makes checking on your daily topics so easy in a feed. In fact you can have all of them come up right onto your iGoogle homepage using reader, though you can use it without having iGoogle as well.
Google Product Search Other than possibly a pack of gum. There is practically nothing that I don’t search on product search first to find the lowest price on something. Need a set of tires - know exactly what kind you’re looking for? Type that model into product search and sort by price or relevance. Try it with anything. What a time saver!
Google Earth While not for use on a computer with little memory, earth does quite have it’s advantages in planning trips, doing homework, etc - here is the tutorial
Mobile? Use Google on your phone as well. Need to know what the weather is? Type “weather” and send it to 466453 within seconds you will have current conditions and the forecast for the next couple of days on y0ur phone. Use it for movies, a tow-truck whatever! You may need to add your zip code to some of the searches but try it and see. I continually use Google Mobile!
Also use Google for your 411 information calls. It’s free and here’s the short tutorial on 1-800-goog-411.
Now these are just my personal favorites, but see for yourself what google has to offer. Don’t forget to check out the labs while you’re in there and see what’s in the testing phase now!
Have fun!
Cryptic Muse
fixyourcomputer.today.com
