Contents
Google Basics
How to Use Google
How to Use Google Web Search
How to Use Advanced Search
How to Use Google Image Search
How to Use Google News
How to Use Google Groups
How to Use Google Product Search
How to Use Google Toolbar
Other Google Services
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Other Google Services
Google continually adds new tools, archives, gadgets, and services. The best way to keep abreast of the latest offerings is to click on the “More” link on the Google homepage. This will take you to a complete list of Google products, including the search engines and products that Google considers “beta,” or still under testing. The following are some of the most popular of Google’s other services:
Google Web History
Web History (www.google.com/history) is a special Google search engine that:
- Takes into account your previous Google browsing (e.g., what keywords you’ve entered, what search results you’ve actually clicked) in order to gather more relevant search results
- Lets you view a summary of your past Google searches and shows you trends in your search activity—by month, day, and hour—as well as a list of your top searches, top clicks, top sites, and more
- Enables you to bookmark the pages in your search history that interest you and to access them from any computer
Google Directory
The Directory (directory.google.com) is Google’s attempt to organize its web archives into browser-friendly categories:
- Arts
- Business
- Computers
- Games
- Health
- Home
- Kids & Teens
- News
- Recreation
- Reference
- Regional
- Science
- Shopping
- Society
- Sports
- World
Each of these categories contains dozens of subcategories to choose from. Selecting a category and searching within this category is a quick way to narrow your web search.
Google Desktop
If you want to use Google’s searching capacity offline—to comb through your own hard drive or to locate an old email—Google Desktop (desktop.google.com) will enable you to do this and much more. Once you install the Desktop program, Google can search through your files, music, photos, email, chats, and even web search history.
Communication Tools
You can use Google to correspond with others, organize personal information, and plan your days. You will need a Google account to use most of these features.
Blogger
Google offers a free blogging server called Blogger (www.blogger.com/start) where you can post daily messages and photos in a public forum. You can also run searches and
advanced searches of Blogger and other blogs at blogsearch.google.com.
Calendar
Google Calendar (www.google.com/calendar) is a handy planning tool that allows you to insert events, keep an agenda, peruse public events on the web, and run a keyword search within your own calendar.
Gmail
Gmail (mail.google.com) is Google’s free webmail service. The main perk of Gmail is that you can search through your email using Google’s search engine and instantly locate old email messages. Other perks include:
- More than 2.5 gigabytes of email storage per account
- Organizing labels that allow you to file an email under multiple categories at once
- Grouping of emails by conversation
- Chatting capability within your Gmail interface
Picasa
A free program that helps you collect photos from your hard drive, organize them into albums, and edit them, Picasa also allows you to print your photos, email them, post them on your blog, and much more. Visit picasa.google.com.
Talk
Google’s version of instant messenger, Talk (www.google.com/talk) allows you to send messages from anywhere on the web. The service is free but requires a Gmail account.
Translate
This tool instantly translates the English text of any web page into the foreign language of your choice. The Google Language Tools website also allows you to visit dozens of Google sites in foreign domains, and browse for search results in a foreign language. Visit www.google.com/
language_tools?hl=en.
Google Mobile
Google now offers access to Gmail from your mobile device, assuming that your mobile device has a web-browsing
capability. Google Mobile (www.google.com/mobile) lets you open attachments and PDF files from your mobile device, and allows you to reply to a Gmail message by phone.
Google Labs
If you’re curious to know what Google will come up with next, take a peek at its latest inventions at Google Labs (labs.google.com). Newer Google products include:
- Google Book Search (books.google.com): An archive that allows you to search the full text of books
- Google Earth (earth.google.com): A 3-D interface that gives you access to satellite imagery and world maps
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