Google Products & Services
A Quick Reference to
Google's Consumer Products
In 1996, Google started out as a research
project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Ph.D. students at Stanford University.
In 1998, Page and Brin — while continuing to perfect their technology —
bought a terabyte of disks at bargain prices and built their own
computer housings in Page's dorm room, which became Google's first data
center. In 1999, the beta logo came off the Google Web site. Since
then Google has expanded its search technology into blogging, mapping,
shopping, research and more. In fact, Google now has so many services it's hard to keep them straight. To help you get a grip on Google, our Google Services Quick Reference
will highlight the many Google-branded services and provide links
and references for each.
Google Search, Search Services, and
Applications
Google Search
Throughout its brief history, Google has focused on developing the
"perfect search engine" by combining overall importance and
query-specific relevance to present search results. Google offers a host
of Web search services you can access through the main search page.
For example, to use the calculator you simply type your math question
into the Google search box, or for dictionary listings simply type
"definition" in the search box before the search term — there is no need to load a separate
search page. Google also provides quick links to different types of searches
directly from the main Google search engine page, or you can access them
by clicking "more" on the main search page.
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Book Search: Search the full text of books
-
Catalogs: Browse
online catalogs
-
Calculator:
Google has a built in calculator function. To compute enter the
calculation into the Google search box and hit the Enter key
- Currency Conversion:
Google has a built-in currency converter. To convert, enter the
conversion you'd like done into the Google search box and hit
"Enter". For example you could use "100 USD in CAD" or "Canadian
money in American dollar".
- Definitions:
To see a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word
"define," then a space, and then the word(s) you want defined.
- File Types:
Google Search automatically searches 12 non-HTML file types and
provides an option to view as HTML. The file types appear in Google
search results
-
Froogle: Google's
product search (Shopping) service
-
Groups: Search results
from Google Groups may appear at the bottom of your relevant search
results page.
- I'm Feeling Lucky: Skip the
Google search results page and go to the first Web page returned for
your query.
-
Images:
Google Image
Search shows images matching your search query.
- Local Search:
Search the Web for businesses in a specific area by including a city
or zip code in your search and Google.
- Movies:
To find reviews and show times for movies playing near you, type
"movies", "showtimes" or the name of a current film into the Google
search box.
- Music Search:
Enter the name of an artist popular in the U.S. and reviews, song
titles, and more is shown at the top of the search results.
- News Headlines:
These links connect you to reports culled from numerous news
services that Google continuously monitors.
- PhoneBook:
U.S. street address and phone number lookup publicly listed phone
numbers and addresses
-
Refine Search: For searches within certain topics, you'll
notice links at the top of the search results page that help you
narrow the search.
-
Results Prefetching: On some searches, Google automatically
instructs your browser to start downloading the top search result
before you click on it so the destination page loads faster.
-
Search By Number:
Parcel tracking IDs, patents and other specialized numbers can be
entered into Google's search box for quick access to information
about them.
- Similar Pages Display:
The "Similar Pages" sends Google to scout the Web for pages that are
related to the result.
- Site Search Restrict:
Type the word site" followed by a colon enables you to restrict your
search to a specific site. For example "memory site:webopedia.com"
would search only Webopedia.com
- Spell Checker:
Google's spell checking software automatically looks at your query
and checks to see if you are using the most common version of a
word's spelling, and may offer spelling suggestions.
- Stock Quotes:
Enter a stock of mutual fund symbol in the search box to obtain fund
quotes
- Street Maps:
Use a U.S. street address with Zip or City and state to search. When
recognized links are returned from Google Maps
-
Travel Information: Use an airport's three letter code
followed by the word "airport" to obtain delay and weather condition
information.
- Weather Check:
Type "weather," followed by the location to obtain weather
information
-
Web Page Translation:
For results in other languages, click "Translate this page" and
translate that page into your language.
- Who Links To You?:
The query link:siteURL shows you pages that point to that URL. For
example link:www.webopedia.com will show all Web sites linking to
Webopedia.
List available on the Google Web Search
features page.
Google Code
Google code offers quick access to Google APIs and open source code for
developers.Current offerings include Google Maps API, Google Webmaster
Tools, Google Web Toolkit, Google AJAX Search API, Google Gadgets,
Google Desktop SDK, Google KML, Google Toolbar API, AdWords API, Google
Data APIs, Google Checkout API, and Google Talk XMPP. Google also
provides a Google Code FAQ.
Google Co-op
Google Co-op is a platform that let you customize Web searches
for Google users and users on your own Web site. You can create a custom
engine, where you specify the Web site URLs to be included in the
search, and also use this to place a person Web site search box on your
own Web site.
Google Labs
Nicknamed "Google's Technology Playground," Google Labs provides access to some of
Google's beta and in-development projects. You can
try the prototypes and then send your comments on the product or service
directly to Google developers. Some of the current prototypes available
include Google Extensions for Firefox, Google Related Links, Google page
Creator, Google Scholar, Web Alerts and more.
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Google Personalized
If you have a Google account, visit Google.com while
signed in and you can personalize your Google Web page with news headlines,
games, stock quotes, different Web site search boxes, a Gmail preview
window and more. You can also create tabs allowing you to organize your feeds - one for work and one for
play for example.
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Accessible Search
Accessible Search is an early Google Labs product designed to
identify and prioritize search results that are more easily usable by
blind and visually impaired users.
Blog Search
Similar to Google search this search allows you to look for your search
term within blogs only. Results are from all published Blogs, not just
those published through Blogger.
Froogle
Smart shopping through Froogle helps you find and compare product prices
both online and in nearby stores. With Froogle you can sort search
results by price, search within a specific price range, or compare
product prices. To use the local shopping feature, simply add a
geographical region to your search (e.g., Dell Inspirion, New York, NY) and
you'll see stores near your search location. You can also view a map or
get driving directions.
Google AdWords
Google AdWords provides a way to purchase targeted cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) advertising. AdWords ads are displayed along with organic search results on Google, as well as on search and content sites within the Google Network (including Google Maps and Blogger). To use AdWords you pay a one-time activation fee, and after that you pay only for clicks on your keyword-targeted AdWords ads, or for impressions on your site-targeted ads. You can control your costs by selecting how much you're willing to pay per click or per impression and by setting a daily budget for spending in your account.
Maps
Google Maps is mapping technology and local business
information —including business locations, contact information and
driving directions. Google Maps offers users business search results,
draggable maps, satellite images, detailed driving directions and
keyboard shortcuts to move around in a map view.
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Scholar
Google Scholar provides a way to broadly search for scholarly
literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and
sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles,
from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories,
universities and other scholarly organizations.
Special Searches
Google's special searches allows you to narrow down search results to a
specific topic. Current Google Special Searches include a public service
search university search, U.S. Government, Linux, BSD, Apple Macintosh,
and Microsoft.
Communicate Online with Google
Products
Blogger
Short for Web log, a blog is a Web
page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an
individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality
of the author. Blogger is an easy-to-use Web site that allows you to quickly and easily post
thoughts, interact with people, and more. This is a free Google service.
Page Creator
A free online tool that makes it easy to create and publish Web pages in
minutes. Google Page Creator is a Google Labs project, and requires a
login with your Gmail account to begin making pages.
Gmail
One of the first Google products, Gmail offers another option for
Webmail.
Webmail is software run by an ISP or online service that provides access
to send, receive and review e-mail using only your Web browser. Users
can enter the Webmail Web site URL in their browser's address or
location field, and use their Webmail account by typing in a username
and password. Google's Gmail is a beta service, but many users have
found it easy to get accepted or referred by someone else already using
Gmail. Gmail comes with built-in Google search technology and more than 2,600
megabytes of storage (and growing every day). There are no pop-ups or
untargeted banner ads in Gmail, only small text ads. Gmail also
integrates instant messaging into the e-mail through Google Talk
and integrates with Google calendar as well.
Google Talk
Google's free talk client offers a way to communicate over the Internet
using instant messaging, e-mail (using Gmail), or by voice. To use all
three communication methods using Talk, you need an Internet connection,
a microphone, and a speaker. Without the voice talk, you can still use
Talk as an IM client.
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Google Groups
Google Groups is service that allows groups of people to communicate
through e-mail and the Web. Each Google group has a home page
hosted by Google where members can start new discussions or reply to
older topics. Google Groups also allows you to easily create your own
announcement lists, mailing lists and public discussions.
Free Software and Google Mobile
Services
Google Calendar
One of the most recent additions to Google products is the Google
Calendar. This service is designed to allow users to organize daily, monthly and
yearly events and also share calendars with other people (co-workers or
family members). If you use Gmail, you can also send events directly from
e-mail to your calendar.
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Google Desktop
Google Desktop is a desktop search application that provides full text
search over your e-mail, files, music, photos, chats, Gmail, Web pages
that you've viewed and more. The latest version of Desktop also
includes Google gadgets — interactive mini-applications that can be
anything from games to search tools to media players, and they can be
any shape and size. You can also create your own gadgets in addition
to using the ready-made ones.
Picasa
Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps to instantly
find, edit and share all the pictures on your computer. It also offers
easy to use one-click editing tools and options.
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Google Pack
Google pack is a selection of free software for your desktop PC. This pack contains a selection of Google software
that includes Google Earth, Picasa, Google Pack Screensaver, Google
Desktop, Google Toolbar. Additional software includes Mozilla Firefox
with Google Toolbar, Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition, Ad-Aware SE
Personal, and Adobe Reader 7. The optional software list includes Google
Talk, RealPlayer, Google Video Player and GalleryPlayer HD Images.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets
Google Docs & Spreadsheets provides an online editor to format
documents, spell-check and more. You can upload Word documents,
OpenOffice, RTF, HTML or text, and then download documents to your
desktop as Word, PDF and more. Other features enable you to view your
documents' revision history and roll back to any version.
Google Mobile
Mobile is a Google service that allows mobile users to search the Web,
search images, or search the mobile Web (made up of sites that are
specifically designed to fit your phone screen). Google also offers
several products via mobile services, which includes Maps for mobile devices
(view maps and get directions on your phone) and
SMS (text messaging).
Internet Explorer 7 optimized for
Google
This customized Google edition of Internet Explorer 7 offers you a
Google home page to personalize, the Google Toolbar, and also sets
Google as your default search engine.
For a complete list of all products
and services offered by Google, you can visit the "More
Google Products" page of Google's Web site.
Vangie 'Aurora' Beal -
Writer, www.Webopedia.com
Last updated: December 22, 2006
Google Corporate
Information - Milestones
A timeline of Google milestones from 1995 to present.
Google
Blog
Official weblog, with news of new products, events and glimpses of life inside
the Googleplex.
Google Base(d)
E-Commerce
Google Base enables content providers to upload data with lots of attributes and
descriptions (like recipes, events or real estate listings) to Google, so that
the information can better be found when searched on Google.com and other Google
properties, such as Google Local and Froogle.
Internet News Special Reoprts - The Google Empire
The editors of Internetnews.com have compiled a list of our Special Reports, now
organized by topic, to help you find more information about the ins and outs of
tech.
How Web Search Engines Work
Search engines are the key to finding specific information on the vast expanse
of the World Wide Web. Without sophisticated search engines, it would be
virtually impossible to locate anything on the Web without knowing a specific
URL. But do you know how search engines work? And do you know what makes some
search engines more effective than others?
The Virtual Chase -
Tips for Searching Google
Some useful tips for using Google to search the Web.
Google
Guide: Using Search Operators (Advanced Operators)
You can enter the refined query in almost any Google search box. You'll
use advanced operators, query words that have special meaning to Google.
Since the advanced operators are convenient for searching, Google Guide
calls them "search operators."
Google Maps Mania
An unofficial Google Maps blog tracking the Web sites, mash-ups and tools
being influenced by Google Maps.
Inside Google
Google news, trends, headlines, product specific news and more. |
