IHCPL #85 Google, Resistance is Futile

Google Products

Google is my favorite site for searching, I have tried many others and still like Google best. I use many Google tools. The maps are used regularly if I am going somewhere or if someone needs addresses or directions. I use it plan what I want to see on vacation. The Satellite view is fun and I can look at sites that I can’t see like places in England my friend s e-mail be about while they are traveling. G-mail filters my incoming e-mail well and allows me to read my e-mail from anywhere any time I have internet access. Outlook express is my original e-mail but it doesn’t allow me the access I want and does not filter as well as G-mail.

I use Google docs for personal spreadsheets and word files. I have open office on my personal pc. I have an old Microsoft word program and no spreadsheet program. Google docs allows me to do everything I need to do without spending a lot of money on something I do not use that much.

Google Calendar helps me keep my work and personal life on track. I started using it for work and found that I can look at my personal and church calendars and plan ahead when I need time off. I keep a ‘old time’ hard copy calendar in my work space but it stays at work and I also have a calendar on my pda but do not have it right beside me all the time and there is usually a pc or laptop nearby. Since you can have more than one Google calendar and see them all together or independently I need to update my personal Google calendar and add all of my contacts then I may quit carrying my out of date pda.

Picasa is where I keep all of my photos on my personal pc. I have scanned almost all of my parent’s photo albums and am preserving them online. I am going to keep a Picasa web album so if my hard drive crashes I have another source besides my cd backups. Picasa makes it easy to upload, keep and use photos. Just a few are sent to family and friends but they get to see them immediately instead of picking them up somewhere or waiting for the regular mail to come.

I use the image search often in my personal life as well as at work. It helps to have images to share when I am teaching or presenting information that is foreign to the children or adults I am working with.


Some products such as translator and You Tube I use occasionally. I have an IGoogle page but haven’t found it as useful as I thought it would be. I also have Google wave which will allow me to communicate and collaborate in real time as well as Google Voice. At this time I am not using them as I can’t find anyone else I need to share documents with and just haven’t taken time to incorporate Google Wave into my life.

Google Labs

I love to travel and City tours looked interesting. Google news timeline could be useful to people needing specific timelines for papers and research. Google Transit would have been helpful when I was in Boston a while back.

Google Books

I searched “Hound of the Baskervilles” by Arthur Conan Doyle. I found it as a pdf download. This title is on a reading list every year and all of our copies get checked out. We can refer students and their parents to Google books and they can complete their homework assignment on time.

They also have works by Wilkie Collins such as “The Woman in White” that I can read when I have time and don’t have to worry about turning it back in or buying and storing it on my bookshelf.

I think that in the near future I will utilize Google products in every way I can.