So, how many of you use Google to search the web? Let me rephrase: how many of you don't use Google to search the web? I'm going to guess that not one person raised his hand – but that's more because it's silly to raise your hand in answer to a rhetorical question that you read online. How many use Google Image Search? Again, everybody. Gmail? Quite a few. Google Maps? Again, a fair number. Well, if you use those programs and call yourself a Google-nut, then think again. There are a TON more programs that Google offers that (in my opinion) make all of those seem pretty dull. Everything I'm talking about here – indeed, pretty much everything Google does – is completely free, and you know how I feel about quality free programs. It's time for you to see the other side of the mountain, and man is it good. Cool Google Toy #1: Google Earth Okay, so many of you already use Google Earth. For those of you that don't know, it's a program that you download onto your computer that is basically Google Maps on steroids; while it gives you directions like other programs, you can also turn on markers to call out schools, restaurants, movie theaters, and more. You can look in your area, then pan around to see nearby coffee chops. Better yet, you can give someone directions by mentioning prominent landmarks they'll see along the way. But my favorite parts of Google Earth most people don't even use, because they're more like toys. For example, you can turn on this great feature called Geographic Web that puts little markers all over the maps. The coolest ones are Panoramio snapshots: pictures that people have taken of that specific place and posted online. It's amazing; in heavily populated areas, you can take a photo tour of the city, looking down streets and at cool buildings as you go. (By the way, NU is conspicuously sparse. Let's fix that.) Another awesome feature is to turn on the "terrain" feature. This overlays the satellite images with topographical maps to make the mountains rise and fall before you, so it feels like you're flying. You can spend all afternoon just poking around the most random and interesting places on Earth in an amazingly rich interactive format. Cool Google Toy #2: Google Language Settings Okay, this one's just silly, but it's fun. Go to the main Google page and click Preferences next to the search bar. The first option you can change is the interface language. Click the scroll bar to look through the options. Notice anything odd? The language preferences can be set to, no joke, Klingon. The guys at Google had some fun, and they made it so that the words on the Google home page can be delightfully translated: Elmer Fudd (wif a wondewfuw wisp), Pig Latin (earchingsay inay odecay), and my personal favorite, Bork! Bork! Bork!. That's right – you can set the language to read like the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show. Has life ever been so sweet? A word of caution: setting it to the wrong language can be a pain to undo, because when you go to change it back, all the words on the list are also translated. Tom's Tip: If you get stuck in an indecipherable language, "Bork! Bork! Bork!" is usually easy to find because it repeats, and from there you can find your way back to good old English. (Oh, also, Kannada is NOT a setting for an amusing Canadian accent, but a bewildering squiggly language that's difficult to get out of. Take it from one who's tried.) Cool Google Toy #3: Google Calculator I know, you're wondering how on earth a calculator can be cool. (I am, after all, an engineer.) But this is a calculator unlike any you've ever seen before. You type calculations straight into the Google search bar, and it spits out answers to questions that would make your TI-83 cry. First, it's a normal calculator: typing (5+4)/3 gives 3, etc. But it can also read your words: typing (five plus four) divided by three also gives 3. You can also type in constants, like pi, e, or the speed of light. It isn't picky about consistency, conventions, or formats; its a smart cookie, and can figure things out for itself. Next, it's a conversion tool. Type 1/2 cup in tbsp and it will convert it. It's useful for all kinds of things: currency exchange, cooking quantities, English to Metric, anything. And boy do I mean anything. Convert Pascals into mm of Mercury. 100 mph into furlongs per fortnight or lightyears per day. Convert 42 into Roman numerals. Or hexadecimal. Or binary. Why? Hell, why not? True story: my roommates and I were planning our first huge party and wondered how much alcohol to buy. We guessed how many shots of alcohol we expected we'd need and plugged it into the calculator to find the amount in liters. Yes, Google can convert shots of, say, tequila, into liters. Of tequila. Math is delicious. Lastly, the best part of all for anyone in a science class where math is involved. Ever hate converting units in a problem to match? Had to add kilometers to miles because your professor is a prick? Not anymore. Google can combine the above two features into a equation solver, converting units and doing calculations all at once to give you the answer with barely any work. So I can add inches and centimeters or calories and joules without a second thought. You know Newtons F=m*a? Try it in ounces and feet per second. It will give you the answer in Newtons, no problem. For a fluid mechanics class this quarter, I typed in 5e5/((1.756e-3 slugs/ft^3)*(400 mph)/(3.534e-7 slugs/(ft*s))) in inches and Google spat out an answer. I can't tell you how much time it saves me. Cool Google Toy #4: Google Page Creator Amazingly good at web design? Me neither. In fact, programming and I have always had a rocky relationship. And by rocky I mean throwing rocks. Plus, it costs money. You have to pay to get a web address – either that or settle for a blog. And while blogs can be great, there's only so much you can do, and even then you've still got limited content and boring format. Google Page Creator is awesome. It makes designing a really spiffing webpage ridiculously easy. The format is like PowerPoint: you choose a layout and background color, then stick in text and photos wherever you like. [WARNING: SHAMELESS PLUG APPROACHING!!!] For example, here's my website. It's nothing fancy, and you can get a lot more creative with it if you like, but it suits me just fine. If you want to get more complicated, with a little extra work you can add just about anything to your page. There's a huge community of Page Creator people that post snippets of code you can stick into your website to add music players, videos, onscreen widgets, etc. Cool Google Toy #5: Google SMS It never fails: I look up the directions to somewhere I'm about to drive and think, Oh, thats easy, and within ten minutes I'm as lost as Amelia Earhart. (::gasp:: What, too soon?) If only I printed out the stupid map! Well, your lost days have come to an end. You can now Google something with a text message, and get a reply in seconds. Just text to 46645 (GOOGL) whatever you want to know – directions, addresses and phone numbers, weather, sports scores, movie times, the works. It'll even answer basic questions for you, like the capital of Burkina Faso or who wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, bringing an end to all those ridiculous arguments over facts you swear you'll look up when you get home. Note, however, that while Google doesn't charge a dime, your phone company may charge for text messages. Still, you'd probably end up calling a friend to Google it for you anyway, so give your friend a break and use this instead.m There you have it: five reasons that I think Google rocks that you may not have known about. But don't take my word for it; try a few of them out, or more importantly find a few favorites of your own. Google has a huge list of programs it does here; more importantly, though, is a section called Google Labs. It's where all the projects are that Google is still working on, and there's some amazing stuff coming out of there all the time. So explore! And let me know if you find a really good one. Tom would buy Google Shoes if they made them: e-mail him at tom.cohlmia@gmail.com if you agree.