The Year in Google
I'm getting ready to do a yearly presentation to the PC User's Group of CNY. Several years ago, I started doing a yearly Google update - I guess I had become known as a Google Girl. I'm not sure there is such an archetype, but if there is, I surely fit the mold. I've been a fan of Google since it was first launched.
At that time, Chuck Swanson, Al Fasoldt and I were still doing the TimeWarner weekly call-in show, Point 'n' Click. I had started using Google pretty much as soon as it was launched, and my co-hosts were amused that as soon as a topic was brought up on the show, I'd busily type a query into the now-famous search engine, and come back with amazingly accurate, on-target results.
That, of course, was the beauty of Google.
The other search engines (Yahoo, HotBot, AltaVista, etc.) all, in my opinion, monetized too quickly. That is to say, they allowed companies to pay for search terms. This, of course, seriously reduced the relevance of the results on any given search. Users were forced to wade through pages of paid-for placement before getting to actual, useful results.
Not so Google. Simple interface, straightforward results. Just what the world was waiting for.
And Google has kept its corporate eye on the prize - yes, it's a corporation and ultimately, it wants to make money. Its mission, according to its founders, is to organize all the information in the world (dare we say, universe?). This is a wonderful mission, to may way of thinking, because you never get "there." The goal is cloudy at best, and moving for certain - speeding away from us much faster than we can gain on it. Google employees will have something to do for the rest of their lives, their children's lives, and their children's children's lives.
Some people find this a little ominous, and I have to admit that we don't yet know the potential of having that much data - especially data about human behavior - not only available but quantified. Google has been amassing information about us, what we do, when we do it, how long we do it... since 1998. And just as Amazon never fails to amaze me in its ability to predict which products I'm likely to want to buy, Google knows probably more about my predictable behavior than I do!
Each year, as I prepare to do my presentation, I think about the ways in which Google has become part of my life: of course it's my search engine of choice. And now I extensively use Google Chrome as my browser (though I have to say that, as with search engines in days of yore, I used different browsers to accomplish different chores, because they don't all behave the same way with various technologies). I use Google Maps when I want to find out how to go somewhere, and how long it will take me to get there. (I also use this tool on my iPhone.)
I use Google Voice and have a phone number with that service, though this one hasn't caught on as well as I'd like. I loved th idea that I could program all my phone numbers (office, cell, home, and/or others) into the service, and it would ring through to all of them, allowing me to selectively pick up or not. It also asked the caller to identify himself (once was enough from each discrete phone number) and then I could pick up or let it go to voice mail. All my voice mails were transcribed and stored for me, and the message was sent to my Gmail (or other email account).
I use Google docs, of course. And I'm writing this now on Blogger, a blogging service Google picked up when it became apparent that blogging wasn't just a momentary fad. (I'm always amused at the way people tend to dismiss new technologies-cum-communication methods: they're fads and will never catch on. Like podcasts. Or Twitter. Or Facebook.)
Google Buzz and Wave have never really caught fire - and I'm not sure why. Buzz is perhaps just another also-ran. What's good about it is that it's available right on your Gmail interface. What's not good about it is it simply never developed the cachet of Twitter. Perhaps it was tied too tightly to the Google brand? Wave, supposedly a collaborative tool, is another idea that was good in concept, but just hasn't happened in reality.
I have found lots of use, though, for Google Sites. Both as a social tool (you can use them to set up a site where family members can organize a family reunion, for example, and share photos and videos after the event) or as a business tool (I use them to create project sites for my work projects - a location where all the details of a project can be stored, and where anyone associated with that project can have 24/7 access to links, files, progress reports, and to-do lists).
My next chore in preparing for my presentation will be to dig into Google Labs. If you've not been there, this is a great place to explore to get the pulse of what's going on in the computer technology world. Google Labs is all about the online technologies that Google is exploring, and that are almost-ready-for-prime-time. Of course, it won't tell you what other exciting stuff is going on under the covers, so to speak, but it does give you hints - and usually lets you play with products as they getting ready for general release.
One thing that seems very apparent to me: more and more of us will rely on Cloud Computing, plus small, portable notebooks (which will need very little in the way of processor and hard drive, because they will be mainly connecting to massive, ultra-fast servers, where all the software and data you'll be using will reside). Why carry a big fat old laptop around, when you can tuck a tiny, thin, cool-running notebook into your purse or briefcase, and link up just about anywhere to get your work done? And now, with built-in cell phone connections, you'll have access virtually anywhere you go.
Well, as you can see, I do love doing my homework for this annual event. (Sure, force me to learn about Google!) If you're out and about, stop by the Liverpool Library on Monday, June 7 at 7pm, and say hello.
At that time, Chuck Swanson, Al Fasoldt and I were still doing the TimeWarner weekly call-in show, Point 'n' Click. I had started using Google pretty much as soon as it was launched, and my co-hosts were amused that as soon as a topic was brought up on the show, I'd busily type a query into the now-famous search engine, and come back with amazingly accurate, on-target results.
That, of course, was the beauty of Google.
The other search engines (Yahoo, HotBot, AltaVista, etc.) all, in my opinion, monetized too quickly. That is to say, they allowed companies to pay for search terms. This, of course, seriously reduced the relevance of the results on any given search. Users were forced to wade through pages of paid-for placement before getting to actual, useful results.
Not so Google. Simple interface, straightforward results. Just what the world was waiting for.
And Google has kept its corporate eye on the prize - yes, it's a corporation and ultimately, it wants to make money. Its mission, according to its founders, is to organize all the information in the world (dare we say, universe?). This is a wonderful mission, to may way of thinking, because you never get "there." The goal is cloudy at best, and moving for certain - speeding away from us much faster than we can gain on it. Google employees will have something to do for the rest of their lives, their children's lives, and their children's children's lives.
Some people find this a little ominous, and I have to admit that we don't yet know the potential of having that much data - especially data about human behavior - not only available but quantified. Google has been amassing information about us, what we do, when we do it, how long we do it... since 1998. And just as Amazon never fails to amaze me in its ability to predict which products I'm likely to want to buy, Google knows probably more about my predictable behavior than I do!
Each year, as I prepare to do my presentation, I think about the ways in which Google has become part of my life: of course it's my search engine of choice. And now I extensively use Google Chrome as my browser (though I have to say that, as with search engines in days of yore, I used different browsers to accomplish different chores, because they don't all behave the same way with various technologies). I use Google Maps when I want to find out how to go somewhere, and how long it will take me to get there. (I also use this tool on my iPhone.)
I use Google Voice and have a phone number with that service, though this one hasn't caught on as well as I'd like. I loved th idea that I could program all my phone numbers (office, cell, home, and/or others) into the service, and it would ring through to all of them, allowing me to selectively pick up or not. It also asked the caller to identify himself (once was enough from each discrete phone number) and then I could pick up or let it go to voice mail. All my voice mails were transcribed and stored for me, and the message was sent to my Gmail (or other email account).
I use Google docs, of course. And I'm writing this now on Blogger, a blogging service Google picked up when it became apparent that blogging wasn't just a momentary fad. (I'm always amused at the way people tend to dismiss new technologies-cum-communication methods: they're fads and will never catch on. Like podcasts. Or Twitter. Or Facebook.)
Google Buzz and Wave have never really caught fire - and I'm not sure why. Buzz is perhaps just another also-ran. What's good about it is that it's available right on your Gmail interface. What's not good about it is it simply never developed the cachet of Twitter. Perhaps it was tied too tightly to the Google brand? Wave, supposedly a collaborative tool, is another idea that was good in concept, but just hasn't happened in reality.
I have found lots of use, though, for Google Sites. Both as a social tool (you can use them to set up a site where family members can organize a family reunion, for example, and share photos and videos after the event) or as a business tool (I use them to create project sites for my work projects - a location where all the details of a project can be stored, and where anyone associated with that project can have 24/7 access to links, files, progress reports, and to-do lists).
My next chore in preparing for my presentation will be to dig into Google Labs. If you've not been there, this is a great place to explore to get the pulse of what's going on in the computer technology world. Google Labs is all about the online technologies that Google is exploring, and that are almost-ready-for-prime-time. Of course, it won't tell you what other exciting stuff is going on under the covers, so to speak, but it does give you hints - and usually lets you play with products as they getting ready for general release.
One thing that seems very apparent to me: more and more of us will rely on Cloud Computing, plus small, portable notebooks (which will need very little in the way of processor and hard drive, because they will be mainly connecting to massive, ultra-fast servers, where all the software and data you'll be using will reside). Why carry a big fat old laptop around, when you can tuck a tiny, thin, cool-running notebook into your purse or briefcase, and link up just about anywhere to get your work done? And now, with built-in cell phone connections, you'll have access virtually anywhere you go.
Well, as you can see, I do love doing my homework for this annual event. (Sure, force me to learn about Google!) If you're out and about, stop by the Liverpool Library on Monday, June 7 at 7pm, and say hello.
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