I’m in love with Google.

Thursday July 6, 2006 at 3:48 pm | Filed under On the Web, Software

Sorry Monique, there’s another love in my life lately. It’s Google, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

I had to post about this because it’s not just one thing, it’s many that this company has done lately to make me change the way I use the internet. It’s all about Google Maps/Local/Earth, Gmail for domains, and Google Browser Sync for Firefox. Other hot Google things worth mentioning, and definitely worth a look, are Sketchup, Google Checkout, Google AdSense, and Google Spreadsheets.

Google Maps, Google Local, and Google Earth… man, what an interface! If you haven’t used these, where have you been? Go check them out.

I know I’m incredibly late to the Gmail party, but after signing up when it first came out, it took joining the Gmail for domains beta program to really get my attention. I have replaced horde as our webmail client on e-popp.com with Gmail and I’m just amazed with it. The interface is so nice, the way that labels work, the POP access, the 2GB of space that no longer lives on my server, and the overall speed of the thing makes it a no-brainer. I often find myself using webmail at home now instead of Apple mail! Fitting nicely in with gmail is Google Calendar: a standards compliant ical-based calendar that works so well with gmail that it will look through your emails for words that resemble invitations and ask you if you want to add it to your calendar. All of the functionality of a stand-alone application, with the benefit of being able to access it from anywhere. I even have reminders sent to my cell phone. Brilliant!

That leaves Browser Sync. I’ve been looking for something like this for a long, long time. In short, it syncs up your bookmarks on any computer you use firefox on. For example, I have the same bookmarks at work on my mac and my PC as I do on my mac and my laptop at home. If I add or delete a bookmark on any of the computers that are using Browser Sync, all of the others are automatically update next time I use them, and the update is fast too. Different computers, Operating Systems, platforms, whatever, as long as it’s Firefox, it’s synced.

Some would say that all of these server-based applications leave openings for privacy to be breached. This is a huge debate and it’s something Google will have to confront and assure its users about while developing all of these

I know this entry kinda reads like a paid advertisement, but Google is really making some quality stuff that will improve the quality of collaborative web-ware in the future. To keep up with Google’s new stuff, keep tabs on Google Labs.  Google Google Google.

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2 Responses to “I’m in love with Google.”

  1. Uncle Olt Says:
    July 8th, 2006 at 11:02 am

    Where do you want the check sent ,home or work?

    :)

  2. Danny Says:
    July 10th, 2006 at 1:18 pm

    Looks like we have something else in common…Google. Don’t have a gmail account, but registered for the Gmail for domains…has got to be better than NeoMail. Recently started using Google Calendars - brilliant. I love these “web 2.0″ online applications - no software to install on my computer, and access from any computer (since I don’t have a laptop it’s great). I know Google bought Writely, an online word processor a la MS Word. Can’t wait for them to get that up and running. Signed up with AdSense a long time ago, but have been too busy to implement it on The Drive…hey, if I can make a buck here or there. Just downloaded BrowserSync – can’t wait to get home to try it out (love Firefox - 2.0 comes out 7/11). Also got Sketchup…that should be a good use of my “free time”.

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