I LOVE GOOGLE!

I absolutely love Google. I know they have a reputation of trying to take over the Internet and maybe that's why some people don't like them to much. But as a consumer, I must say that if they continue to churn out products as fabulous as what they already have then they deserve it.

Disclaimer: Google is in no way paying me to write this post. Maybe they should! I just want to reflect on how wonderful Google's products are and show my support through word of mouth advertising to you, my friends.

James loves to laugh at me when I get excited about new products, be it a Google product, an advertisement I see on television or a new catalog in the mail. According to him, I'm a "marketing company's dream consumer". I can quote TV and radio advertisements from memory far more easily than historical facts and scientific figures. For example, according to the radio, you can buy good wine cheap (not cheap wine) at stores in Forest Hill and Carlton.

The google products I use:

1. Google search engine
This is where the journey began for me and probably for you too. Did you know that "Google" is now an official verb in the Oxford English dictionary? Can't remember where I heard that, but I checked out some sources online which confirm that it was added as a draft in June 2006, although I am not sure whether this draft was accepted or not but can't imagine why it would not be. A company who is able to make their name into a dictionary word is what I would deem to be successful. I wonder if I'll be able to do that one day!

2. Gmail
When I found out that Google provides an email service, of course I was sold. Looking for an alternative to my junk-mail infested Hotmail account, I made the switch. I had 1GB of storage space allocated to me when i first signed up. But it gets better ~ this has since increased to almost 3GB ~ and counting (yes that's right, there is a storage space meter on the gmail login page that goes up every second).

3. Blogger
In a world where blogging is becoming very much the norm of the current generation, this was of course the next logical step to take, although at the time I had no idea blogger was part of what I like to call "the google group". This one's pretty self-explanatory ~ after all, you are reading my blog right now!

4. Beta Blogger
However, what you may not know is that this blog, unlike my others, is done in beta blogger which ROCKS. Better features, easier page customisation, and it's getting better every day! I eagerly anticipate the day that I can transfer all my other blogs to this version.

5. Picasa
A wonderful photo editing program which is idiot-proof. By this I mean that if you edit your photos in Picasa and hit the 'save' button, your original photo remains unchanged. You need to actually export your edited photo out to a new file to get a photo with the edits on it. For anyone who has accidentally hit 'save' rather than 'save as' like I've done many times, this could be very welcome information!

6. Picasa Web Album
Of course this is the next natural progression from Picasa. It's an online photo album with 250MB free storage which can be upgraded for a fee. This is still in 'test' version having only recently been launched but I anticipate more features will be added as the wonderful, wonderful google developers continue to work on it. You can check mine out too if you haven't already!

7. Google Reader
This is a must-get for anyone who checks friends' blogs or online news or both regularly. I have had it for 2 weeks now and loving it. Google Reader informs me of updates to any blogs, hence I don't waste time checking blogs with no new posts. Furthermore, I am more up-to-date than ever with my friends' lives whereas previously I would have to wait for a couple hours' free time to scan the Internet for all my friends' blogs.

8. Google Calendar
My newest toy! If you get one, let me know. The great thing about this is you can also see friends' Google calendars if they let you, thus comparing schedules to find times to hook up. There is also a function that enables you to send invitations to events from the calendar to anyone who has an email address and they can RSVP to your calendar so you know who's coming and who isn't.

9. Froogle
I also have a Froogle wish-list out in cyberspace somewhere but I haven't quite figured out how to use this thing yet, although I figured it bore mentioning because this service does exist. I think you can look mine up using my email address, although it's pretty sparse. I welcome anyone who has it figured out and can help me with it. I do like presents, "gifts" is my primary love language. :) How was that for a completely un-subtle hint? LOL.