Welcome back...

There have been a lot going on at Google. I have recently got addicted to Google Reader and Google Calender, I will discuss about them in the coming sessions. Google is acquiring many online companies which offers free as well as paid services. This practice is going on for the past few weeks as a regular practice.

Google acquired Picasa more than a year ago, it started out as a simple Picture manager which had cool editing features and ability to send pictures to your email as an attachment. Now Google has extended its feature by adding web space of 200MB to it. The pictures can be uploaded from Picasa to picasaweb.com for easy access and addition of albums to your Website. I personally felt Flickr.com had better features compared to Picasaweb.com, but this is only when it comes to online presence. When we combine Picasa system client with Picasa Web it becomes one of the best picture editing and storage application available.

Google Docs, well that is what they call it. Google Docs includes Spreadsheets and Presentations (to be added shortly). This is another feature rich service provided by Google. You can save and edit a Spreadsheet, a Document and to be added shortly Presentation'. Imagine a place "online" where you can store your documents which can be edited and shared with other users with same (well! almost same) features you use in MS Office or Open Office Org. Google Docs support extensive support for various file formats (which covers almost all the popular ones). I have even used Google Docs to convert some of my ".ods" format files to ".doc" without no trouble. Although Spreadsheet cannot run Macros it still can help you manage a decent spreadsheet with few important functions and charts. I often use the Google Docs to edit and save the documents which I want to publish online or through Blogger (which can be done directly). Google Docs is a must use for Web dwellers.

Google Browser Sync:Google has been funding Firefox as part of improve open source community and providing free software application which has become a basic necessity while going online. Google Browser Sync is a Firefox extension (so it works only with Firefox browser) which I use almost everyday. This extension helps Firefox to sync basic settings of one Firefox browser with another one. By installing this extension in Ffirefox at my office and at home I ensure I don't miss any Bookmarks and other browser settings which I have configured at one place. It uses your Gmail ID to store information and settings of the browser. For example if I add a bookmark at my office and come home and open my Firefox, which is also configured to sync using my Gmail ID, I will find the bookmark already there for me to use. This is a cool stuff which I wanted to share with you.

This is it for current edition...coming next...we will see Google Analytics, Google Calendar, IGoogle, Google Notebook and some more.

Next edition will be the last of "Google Introduction", after this we will be digging deeper into each services.

Till then....enjoy the artful presence

Google all the way...

Hi then, I am back with some more interesting information. Yes you guessed it, its about Google and the way it works.

Most of us know Google for its search engine and email (gmail), and some of us don't even dare to try and understand what all Google can offer you FREE... I am about to tell you some of the coolest products provided by Google for newbies.

First and foremost, this blog itself is by Google, most of the people around the world didn't even knew this unless Blogger announced that gmail account can be used as Blogger account. Believe me, there are some maniacs who cannot live without blogging, blogging became a mean of projecting ideas to the whole world.

Google has many other products other than search engine, gmail or blogger. Google offers a wide range of products, not only web based but also based on enterprise requirement. Google has products which includes Baseball bat to Network routers. For now I will deal only with Web based products.

Some of the most interesting and useful products I worked with were, Google - Page Creator, Reader, Earth, Sketch Up, Groups, Code, Trends, Docs & Spreadsheet, Picasa Web and not to forget Maps.

I have used Google Page Creator extensively, using Page creator one can create their website (say 15 to20 pages) within 1 to 2 hours. And believe me this is one of the best WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) website creator I have ever used. You are allowed to use advance scripting (for those who know them) or use the predefined templates and methods to build you own unique website. The features can compete with any paid web hosting service available in the market. Google gives you 100MB of file storage space and a limitation of 500 pages (including files), you are free to use any advertising service in your site (AdSense) and best of all it comes free along with your Gmail account.

Google Reader, this is the newest product that I have started using from past few months. This was in Beta version for a long time and has not graduated from Google's lab. For those who don't want to keep searching Internet for a topic and want to keep themselves updated about a particular topic, this is the best tool. Reader simply keeps track of RSS (a technology to publish all the topics in particular site/topic). You can get all the required information under single site. After some initial configuration part you would have able to get all that interests you.

Google Earth, Sketch Up and Maps are interlinked. Using Google Earth you will be able to zoom though the streets of your place and find routs between two locations. Using Sketch Up you will be able to design complex buildings and actual buildings with ease. I built my home (with little difference) in not more than 2 hours. Once equipped with the knowledge to build structures you will find it very easy to make or break any thing you like. Some geeks build their house and upload it to Google Earth as a module. This building can be seen in 3D view by using Google Earth. Soon google is going to provide live weather related picture free. This will be revolutionary as only the deface or core govt. department had access to these information. This is possible due to the recent agreements between Google and NASA.

Google Group is like any other group provided by any other providers; Wrong!. I have been using google groups and was astonished by its features. For normal users it does not have any big difference, it provides all standard features as provided by other Groups or forums. In Google groups can also be used as Forums. You can post a question and even track it for answers till you find one. You can have your groups Home Page and host a mini website which can hold up to 100MB of data.

Google Code an open source forum run by Google to create, discuss and share open source APIs for programmers. This one is a great place for programmers who want to test their codes on various systems across different platform. There are already millions of codes available in the site to a newbie to start exploring and create his own application which is robust and reliable.

Google Trends, can be used by those enthusiasts who want to know what the world is looking for. Nothing much to talk about it, its about experiencing. You will be able to find out trends with respect to any specific topic. The result can be viewed for a particular period and region. This is a great tool for those who are in advertising and marketing industry.

Google Docs & Spreadsheet is comparatively new to google. Earlier Google only had its Spreadsheet service, later Google acquired Writely.com which offers Document support like .doc, .pdf, .html ect.

I will include Picasa, Picasa Web and GMap in the next article...

Till then....enjoy the artful presence.