I’ve always been a loyal Google fan. No other search engine has thus far impressed me more. Shockingly enough I realized that not all people even know what is? I suppose I cannot blame them, but as for us bloggers, I assume we all know what Google is, and what it does. Well, maybe not all of it… I was surprised to find a few more items to add to the Google functionality list… If you have a gmail account you get access to a lot of really cool services – all for free! Have a look at the list below, because you may not not about them all. I still have some Gmail invites left, so if you’re interested in getting a Gmail account, you can e-mail me and request an account, or you can leave a comment. I only have a certain amount left, so first come first serve!

…Google AdSense is adverts which you include on your website or blog, and when someone clicks on an advert, you get paid! Easy as that!

…Google Analytics offers very detailed information on who visits your website or blog, where they’re from, what links were clicked etc. Once again you have to add a small bit of script to your page(s).

…Google Calendar allows you to add calender notes, appointments, and birthday, and also comes with an option to set an alarm for each even you add, for which you will get an e-mail reminder!

…Docs and Spreadsheet allows you to either create or upload word documents and spreadsheets. These are not limited to Microsoft word documents, or excel spreadsheets, but you can also upload OpenOffice documents and spreadsheets, as well as RTF and HTML documents. This includes a spell checker, and most of the formatting found in Microsoft Word. You can also download these documents again, as word documents and even pdf’s! You can also share your documents, choose between making your documents public, or only inviting certain people [by e-mail address] to view your documents. You can even publish your documents to your blog!

…Gmail is Google’s web based e-mail service. This is by far the best free web based e-mail account I have EVER had! You can set it up to download as POP3 [Meaning you can receive your mail into Outlook, Outlook Express and Thunder Bird].

…Google Talk is part of Gmail, and you don’t need to download anything to use it!! If you have your Gmail e-mail account open in a browser, you can chat with your friends in the same browser! You can however download the Google Talk application which is relatively small [1.5MB], and enables you to make a phone call to someone else who has Google Talk, send files, and type chat.

…Google Groups allows to join a group of people in a discussions, or create your own group. Groups are divided in categories, such as science, technology etc. When creating your own group you can set it to be public, or private. When set to private, only people you invite will be able to join your group. This is especially useful if you want other people’s opinions on a specific subject, or if you want to create a place of discussion, instead of sending out loads of e-mails to a group of people.

… A personal favorite of mine is the Notebook, here you can keep all your notes. Shopping lists, ideas for birthday gifts, and even notes about your next blog entry.

…Reader is a built in RSS Reader. If you’re wondering what an RSS reader is, its the abbreviation for “Rich Site Summary”. This basically mean that you can subscribe to a blog with the RSS Reader, and whenever there is a new post you will be able to see it in your RSS Reader, without having to go to the blog to check manually.

…Google Video allows you to upload video’s and share them with your friends, or to watch already uploaded video’s. These are again categorized, just like the Google groups, to allow you to find what you’re looking for fairly easily.

… Google Photos is something which I’ve only noticed recently, and haven’t tried out myself. Apparently you can download Picasa for free, or use the Google web interface to upload your photo’s to an online album. Again you can choose to keep your photo’s private, or make them public. There’s 250MB of space to use, which is not too much, but should allow for about 65 fairly large photo’s. They do however have an option to increase your storage space for an annual fee. Here are the different upgrade options: 6.25GB [$25 per year], 25GB [$100 per year], 100GB [$300 per year], 250GB [$500 per year].

…There’s also a pretty neat extention for Firefox called Gmail Space. This extension allows you to use your Gmail Space [2.5 GB and growing] for file storage.

Apart from the features listed above, there are a whole long list more, see below if you’re interested!

Note: The features below don’t require a Google account, and is accessed from the normal Google search page. The applicable keyword must just be entered in the search box along with the commands listen below.

Glossary & Dictionary

…For the glossary of any English word, type define:word for which Google will return definitions. This page includes all the definitions for the word that Google found on the web.

…You can also try adding “What is” in front of the word you want to know the definition for. Like what is sleep, for which Google returns a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended.

Calculation & Mathematical Constants

…Google calculater handles basic addition, multiplication, subtraction & division. But also helps you with more advanced calculations such as, trigonometric functions, inverse trigonometric functions, hyperbolic functions, and logarithmic functions. Just enter the proper formula into the search box, and wait for Google to display the answer. By entering 4 + ((16 x 66) / 2) Google will give you the answer, 542 - easy as that!

…In addition to performing calculations, Google also knows a variety of mathematical and scientific constants, such as pi, Avogadro’s Number, and Planck’s Constant. It also knows the radius of the Earth, the mass of the sun, the speed of light, the gravitational constant, and a lot more. For example, if you’re not sure what the value of pi is, just enter pi into the Search box and press Enter; Google returns 3.14159265, as it should. How about the speed of light? Enter speed of light, and Google returns 299,792,458 m/s.

Converter

…If you want to convert any unit of measure into another, for example 5 minutes in seconds, you type just that, and voila, you get 300 seconds. You can do the exact same with mass, temperature, and probably every other unit of measure you can think of.

…Google lists facts, so if you type in the key words of what you’re looking for, Google will give you the facts. For instance, if you type in William Shakespeare birthday, Google returns Date of Birth: 23 April 1564. Google will also be able to return the population of a certain country, birthplace of a well known person, currency of any country, and even the current president of a country.

As you know there is also Google Earth, which is a application you can download showing satellite images of nearly the whole Earth! Froogle is Google shopping, but I haven’t spent much time researching that, as it really doesn’t interest me. If you know anything else interesting about Google, make sure to leave your comment!

Sources: Google, and Informit