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the many features of google
Written by: William Knelsen
For those of you who don't know, Google is much more than a search engine. There are many more tools available from Google, including email, customized searching, documents and spreadsheets, and maps, just to name a few. To check out all of Google's tools, visit their products page and take a look around.
Below you will find listed a few tools that we have found quite useful, both personally and professionally.
1. Docs and Spreadsheets - This is something we use everyday at Pixels. Our task lists, revenue and price lists are located in a privately shared spreadsheet. We also create most documents, including much of the content on this site, with Google Docs. This enables everyone within Pixels to view and edit the documents without having to retrieve them from our server.
2. Gmail - The main reason for using Google's Gmail is because of their massive amount of disk space (currently 2.5gb and rising), and their amazing search capabilities. With Gmail, there is no need to delete any email. When you want to find an email, simply search for a keyword or the person who sent it.
3. Maps/Earth - Maps is an online tool, and Earth is a desktop application that you can download from Google's products page. This is a useful tool for getting directions. We also enjoy simply checking out what different locations look like from the sky.
4. Picasa - This is a desktop application that you can download. Unfortunately it is only available on PC's, but it is fairly similar to iPhoto, which comes with every Mac. For a free application, Picasa is an incredibly powerful application, with the ability to remove red-eye, crop and adjust colors.
5. Calendar - The main reason Google calendar is so great is because you can share your calendar with others. We know of a local organization that uses Google calendars to book all of their rental groups, and anyone can view those calendars by simply logging on with their Google account.
6. Web Master Tools - This is also a tool we use quite regularly at Pixels. Google has set up a nice site that assists web masters in submitting site maps, checking how often our sites are being crawled by Google's robots, and a discussion section for developers to talk about all things internet!