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Friday, 13 April 2012


Tasks 3 and 4: I heart Google


Task 3 – Google Everything

This task was a delight to do, as I use Google frequently. Many of the tasks were familiar and many of the products I already use, such as Gmail, Google Search, Reader, Maps, Docs, Translate, YouTube, and Chrome. iGoogle was fun for a while but I gave up using that product because I found it too cluttered. What I rely on now is the ‘Most Visited’ display in Google Chrome – 8 simple image/links to your most visited sites – easy as!

The thing I love about Google is that it is playful (e.g. Google Doodles) and they have a sense of humour. Have you ever typed ‘askew’ or ‘do a barrel roll’ into Google Search? Or, played with the language options in the search interface - Google Pirate, the Muppets Swedish Chef, or Elmer Fudd?


If you want to experiment with a trick that’s a little more complex, go to Google Reader, then use your cursor keys thus: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a. You’ll be visited by a super-secret ninja guy.


Task 4 – Google Maps


As I mentioned above, I do currently use Google Maps – they’re fun, useful and convenient. I use it to look up places I’m heading off to, as most people do. But I also make use of the ‘My Places’ option and create lists of places I’ve visited in Australia, and overseas, as well as lists of places I’ve lived and worked. Maps allows me to visit my favourite places while sitting on the couch at home with the laptop, and it’s great for checking out the position of a hotel before you book it, e.g. how far is the hotel from the pub or the chocolate shop?


Google Maps is incredibly helpful with its suggested modes of transportation as well. Did you know that you could kayak for 5400km if you wanted to travel from Brisbane to Japan, and from Japan, you can jetski across to China? :P

Overall I have a lot of respect for Google’s policy towards its staff. Google allows its engineers to spend 20% of their work time playing, experimenting and developing their own ideas. Satellite view in Google Maps, and Google Mars were both results of the 20% time policy for example. The organisation makes internet browsing fun, and not at all tiresome. And though I am aware of the criticism around Google (particularly the privacy issues in gmail), at present nothing compares to Google (for me).

On a final note, did you know that ‘google’ is now an official term (a verb) in the Oxford English Dictionary? Go forth, fellow bloggers, and google your way into google-blivion




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