Google (part 1): 5 Stars

So, the other day my sister and I were joking about how Google runs our lives but we are happier because of it. This post is just part one of my shining review of google products.

The first, the only: Of course they have arguably the best search engine on the internet today. In addition to being a normal search engine there are several other things that google.com can do. You can search inside websites by going to the advanced search page. Most websites that do have a search option aren't worth the click it takes to access them so I use google instead. It even does unit conversions. Just type in the conversion you need like, how many pints in 5 gallons, and it comes back with the answer (40)!



Email like you've never seen it before: Gmail is awesome! A Gmail account is like any other email account, only better. Much better. Space is one the neat things about gmail, each user has 6970 MB. That pretty much means you don't ever have to throw an email away, ever!

My favorite part about gmail is the concept of conversations. If you get an email about an upcoming family reunion and people reply back (without changing the subject of the email) all of these emails appear together as a conversation. For instance I sent out a prayer request to 20 people each time I got a reply it did not appear as a different line in my inbox, instead all of the replies are grouped together in the "prayer request" conversation. Very cool.

Other than conversations, labels are my favorite thing about gmail. Instead of putting your emails into folders you can just tag emails with different labels. Then you can use the labels as a way to quickly sort and store emails.

There are too many features for me to list/review them all here but here is just a few of the others that I had to mention:

• Emailing from different accounts: I can write an email in gmail but make it look like I sent it from my work email.
• Chat: Most school and work routers block chat, but not so with gmail chat. Somehow it hides the chat inside the browsers window and you can practically chat from anywhere.
  
• AIM: When signed into gmail chat I am also signed into my AIM account. That way I can chat with people who are just on aim and don't have gmail chat.
• Documents: Gmail can open excel, word, powerpoint, etc. It stores them online and you can share them with other gmail users.
  
• Calendar: Not only can I see my calendar, but I can see my husband's, my sister's, and I even made one for my son to keep track of his childcare during the week.
• And much more!

So needless to say, I love gmail and if you want an account just let me know and I'll invite you!

Free 411: So we don't have a land line and to dial 411 from a cell phone it costs over $2.00 a call. But not anymore! Not since I have discovered Goog411. This is a free 411 service that connects you to your buisness of choice. I feel like I have a national phone book in my cell phone now! "What time does the zoo open?" was a recent question my friend posed. "I don't know, but I can find out!" I replied. Two minutes later I was connected to the zoo and listening to their hours, all for free! Simply too cool.

There are several other things about google that I love, but I'll save those for another post.