Google is the king of the Internet

A couple of years ago while I was in college, I learned of the best search engine that one could ever imagine. Google was a great search engine, but once I learned how to use Boolean operators and their functions, it really made my web research experience much more enjoyable.



Later on, Google started to expand their services. One of the first things they did that affected me was to introduce GMAIL. They revolutionized internet based e-mail. I used to use Hotmail and they gave you 2 free MB's. Google offered 1,000 MB's of space. Services like Yahoo and Hotmail were then forced to increase the amount of their storage space they made available in fear of losing everything to gmail. Gmail is invitation only still because it is still in the Beta, but if anyone wants a Gmail account let me know, I have 50 to give away.



Next, they introduced Google Scholar this past November. The ultimate search engine for doing academic research. It actually returns your query and it also returns a query on who has cited this source and how many times it has been cited.



Then about a month ago they introduced Google Video. It too is in it's Beta and hasn't been fully published yet. It allows you to search video of TV shows broadcast in your area. I haven't really played with it yet.



The new Beta however is the one that I am really impressed with. As you all know I'm a Geographer and a bit of a mapping nerd. When it came to internet mapping I have always said that Mapquest was the best one to use. Yahoo's was nice, but mapquest just seemed to be the best.....until now. Google has teamed with NAVTEQ to create the most user friendly mapping system I have seen on the internet. It is still in it's Beta and was just recently put online, they are still working the bugs out, but Google Maps has just blown any other internet mapping software out of the water. Give it a try, I'm sure you will find it user friendly and enjoyable to play with.



If you want to see what Google is working on next or what they have in the Beta, just go to Google Labs and you can see what's going to be introduced to the unternet first with the rest of us internet geeks.

If you want to see everything Google can do, just go to Google help.



P.S. I STILL hate snow.