Google, like Heathrow Airport, is somewhere you go because you want to be somewhere else. But hang around at Google's website for long enough and you'll soon discover that as well as providing the computing world with its favourite search engine, the company seems determined to make itself indispensable to net users. The search engine is now offering a toy box of add-ons, extras and free software:
Book club
Google are currently digitising every book (including children's) that it can get its corporate mitts on and thus make them as easy to search as web pages. You can even download a sequence of five pages or so from any of the books. If you want to read more, you have to go to Amazon and get out your credit card.
Windows to the world
If you use Windows XP or 2000 and are not concerned about data privacy, Google has another interesting service. Its Desktop 3 application can search your hard disk in the same way as the search engine surfs the web. And if that isn't enough, Google can copy your files to a location somewhere in cyberspace which you can then access from any computer you happen to be using.
Google Mail
If you have a Google Mail account you can claim a further 2.7 gigabytes of web space and some nifty software to create your own website. Surprisingly, you can't sign up for gmail unless an existing member invites you.
Google Earth
Then there is the jewel in Google's bling-encrusted crown - Google Earth. Described by the experts at www.geographypages.co.uk as "the killer app for Geography teachers" Google Earth is a 3D interface to the planet.
Zoom in on a chosen area and you're guaranteed to be gobsmacked as you see in remarkable detail, for instance, the tail back on the Champs Elysées or the washing in your neighbour's garden. Use it in conjunction with Google Maps or Local, and you can get a detailed route between any two addresses on the planet.
But that's just the start. You can superimpose layers onto this virtual globe illustrating simple features such as national boundaries or a rash of hotspots that link to the National Geographic Magazine's database of articles and images. The educational potential is truly incalculable.
Before trying out any of the above resources, why not remind yourself how to make the most of routine searches by visiting the Google Help Center.
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Doodle 4 Google is back
Google's national schools competition to design a Google Doodle which reflects what it is to be British has already attracted more than 1,000 entrants. Entitled "Doodle 4 Google - My Britain", it's open to every one of Britain's 10 million school children. The winning doodle will be displayed on www.google.co.uk for a day.
"There has been a great deal of debate in the last 12 months about what it means to be British," said Google's vice president for Europe Nikesh Arora. "At Google we want to play a constructive part in that discussion and believe that this competition will help shed some light on how youngsters view modern Britain."
www.google.co.uk/doodle4google |
