Recently I've been getting more and more absorbed by the Google borg. I've been slowly moving more of my data to the platform, as the platform has become more open. I'm sure you're all using things like Gmail, Google Search, iGoogle, Google Maps and Google Calendar, but do you know about these less well known products?
Google Contacts
A standalone version of the Google contacts application. It integrates nicely with Google Mail and Google Voice (along with other products), and even syncs to your phone. My Samsung Blackjack does 2 way contact synchronization natively with Google Contacts. Same with the iPhone as far as I know.
Google Tasks
A standalone task manager. Again, this can integrate with your Google Mail if you enable it (as it is a lab feature). There is also an iGoogle widget for easily updating your task list. Would be nice if this supported active sync like Google Mail and Contacts does.
Google Profiles
Probably not Google trying to compete with Facebook, MySpace, etc. My guess is that this is more likely going to tie into Google Contacts and Google Voice as a kind of 411 service for people/identities. Allows you to 'Verify' yourself via a credit card or a valid 411 entry. Also allows you to specify pictures, some basic stats, sites you are connected to and verified email addresses.
Google Voice
I blogged about this back in March in, "Google Voice is Awesome" and my opinion hasn't really changed. Really great service, I've been giving out that number more and more. Really helps with call spam. The voice transcription leaves a bit to be desired but it's free so I really can't complain. I did end up having to turn off the transcription delivery via SMS since it ended up sending me 3 or 4 SMS messages and they weren't the understandable anyway.
Goog 411
An automated and free 411 service from Google. Increadibly useful, as long as you're in a very quiet place. I've even had the wind be a problem. Since Goog 411 uses speech recognition, it's extremely sensitive to background noise like music, traffic, wind, etc. It also can be kind of a pain to use if your search gets back a number of results (Jimmy Johns in Indianapolis, Indiana comes to mind). Still, it's free. I use this before ever calling 411 for my cell phone provider.
What services did I miss that are super cool? Let me know.
Google Contacts
A standalone version of the Google contacts application. It integrates nicely with Google Mail and Google Voice (along with other products), and even syncs to your phone. My Samsung Blackjack does 2 way contact synchronization natively with Google Contacts. Same with the iPhone as far as I know.
Google Tasks
A standalone task manager. Again, this can integrate with your Google Mail if you enable it (as it is a lab feature). There is also an iGoogle widget for easily updating your task list. Would be nice if this supported active sync like Google Mail and Contacts does.
Google Profiles
Probably not Google trying to compete with Facebook, MySpace, etc. My guess is that this is more likely going to tie into Google Contacts and Google Voice as a kind of 411 service for people/identities. Allows you to 'Verify' yourself via a credit card or a valid 411 entry. Also allows you to specify pictures, some basic stats, sites you are connected to and verified email addresses.
Google Voice
I blogged about this back in March in, "Google Voice is Awesome" and my opinion hasn't really changed. Really great service, I've been giving out that number more and more. Really helps with call spam. The voice transcription leaves a bit to be desired but it's free so I really can't complain. I did end up having to turn off the transcription delivery via SMS since it ended up sending me 3 or 4 SMS messages and they weren't the understandable anyway.
Goog 411
An automated and free 411 service from Google. Increadibly useful, as long as you're in a very quiet place. I've even had the wind be a problem. Since Goog 411 uses speech recognition, it's extremely sensitive to background noise like music, traffic, wind, etc. It also can be kind of a pain to use if your search gets back a number of results (Jimmy Johns in Indianapolis, Indiana comes to mind). Still, it's free. I use this before ever calling 411 for my cell phone provider.
What services did I miss that are super cool? Let me know.
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