5 Reasons Why I Love Google
Need directions? Google Maps comes in handy. Want to do a spreadsheet but don’t have excel? Why not try Google spreadsheet. Trying to find the best bargains? Froogle is the answer.
Just about anything and everything you need is provided by google. Here’s a rundown of my 5 favourite google applications.
- Google maps. Whenever I need to search for something I just type the full address into Google and then I am presented with a detailed accurate map with a balloon pointing to my exact location.
- Gmail. Everyone should know by now gmail is the best email application. It has a simple, fast loading interface and the ability to add labels and filters to your emails. Plus you can receive and send mail from your web domain email accounts all in the gmail interface.
Google Reader or Google Homepage. If you love to read all your favourite blog updates through a reader, Google reader is great. If you’re like me, and like to go to the actual website/blog to read updates, then Google Homepage is perfect. I set each blog to show 1 update, so each time the blog is updated I see the update and just click on it to visit the website. Google Homepage doesn’t just have to have RSS feeds either, you can add a Gmail notifier, games or even a weather tracker.- Google Pack. If you love the look of Vista but don’t have it then Google Pack is great. It has Google Desktop which is basically as good looking as Vista (if you like the look of Vista, but that’s an entirely different story) but is free. Included in the download are such options as Firefox, Photos Screensaver, Picasa, Google Earth and more.
- Google Notebook. My absolute favourite. I have the toolbar installed on my work computer and home computer. So whenever I am at work and I find a great article, I can copy the whole thing (or just a small quote) right-click and choose Note this and it will paste a note into Google Notebook with a link to the site you got the article from. Even if I am on a computer that doesn’t have Google notebook installed I can still access the notebook anywhere. I find this especially great when I am at work and I see an image online that I like and want to see again, so instead of saving it and emailing it to myself, or using my USB flash drive to save it I can just right click the image, click on Note this and the image will be noted. That way I never forget or lose the website the image originally came from.
Google is great! Gmail is awesome
And iGoogle is always fun, since I have a little game on there 
Comment by Emsz - November 12, 2007 7:58 am
O__o
That is one helluva Google homepage. I’m content with loading everything into Reader and clicking the title of the post there, though.
Everything that Google offers is pretty nifty, but I can’t imagine trying to use it without a broadband connection — one negative about Gmail, which would probably take a year and half to load on dialup. So fast-loading? Nay! Also, my laptop is circa 2004 and even though I have a high-speed connection, the time it takes for Firefox to render Gmail (thanks to all the Ajax) can go over 30 seconds — perhaps this is picky, but I can open Thunderbird in less time (but I don’t, because I don’t like desktop email clients). In fact, I know quite a few people who prefer Yahoo mail over Gmail precisely because of the “Ajax cruft” (as one person so bluntly put it) that comes with it. Gmail isn’t the only online email service that offers the things you mention, and I think you might want to refine that argument a bit more before proclaiming it the “best ever.”
Speaking of Yahoo, Vista totally ganked its desktop stuff from Yahoo, so Google’s really pulling off a double-gank here. As a Linux user…gDesklets ftw!
Comment by Leila - November 12, 2007 8:25 am
Damn straight. Google is my favourite search engine and my number one resource for basic utilities. Google maps is not just for directions too. I spend ages on there looking at landmarks using satellite view. Sad perhaps, but fun
Not to mention all the free stuff Google provides for web owners. Google documents is another fantastic service which allows people to collaborate on spreadsheets, presentations and text files which I’ve found useful 
I’d love to work for Google - have you seen photos of their work place and the stuff they get to do there?
Comment by Lil - November 12, 2007 1:13 pm
One thing I recently discovered is that Google maps is much more accurate than Mapquest.
I decided I would print out a version of Google maps directions and Mapquest directions for a job interview. Because I was more familiar with Mapquest, I decided to use it’s directions instead. It had me off by half a mile of my destination point. I then retrieved my Google map directions and found the mark exactly. So it was goodbye Mapquest after that.
Comment by Kiera - November 12, 2007 11:58 pm
My favourite is Gmail. I wouldn’t want to use anything else. And yeah, Google Maps is awesome, especially the satellite view.
Comment by Clem - November 13, 2007 1:36 pm
Google is wonderful for creating so many applications. I love how Gmail can collect emails from all my various email addresses. I want to download that software which creates houses in 3D view.
Google pack sounds great but the problem is my laptop is running on terribly slow speed I can’t kill it more. I probably won’t find Google Notebook very useful for myself because I don’t take down too many notes. I bookmark the sites directly. Thanks for sharing!
Comment by Rilla - November 13, 2007 5:07 pm
Leila- My google homepage is actually bigger, that is just what the screen shows. You need to scroll down to see more :p
You are right, I have never used gmail on a dialup connection so I am unaware how slow it is. I did use Yahoo years ago on dialup and I found the interface to be boring and slow.
When I say gmail is the best, I mean better than hotmail..but of course I said it with tongue-in-cheek.
Lil- I haven’t seen their workplace but I bet it is cool.
Comment by Bobbi-lee - November 15, 2007 4:17 am