Getting to Know Google

Introduction

Google is probably best known as a search engine, since that's how it started out. But today, Google provides many different services that you can use to do various tasks at home or at work. To use these services, like Gmail or Google Calendar, you'll need to create an account so that Google has a place to save your data and settings.

Popular Google Services

You've probably done a Google search before—you may have even done thousands. You may have also used the Google News search, Image search, Maps, or Translate. But Google has many, many more services that you can use. In order to use them, you'll first need to sign up for a Google Account.

What can you do With a Google Account?

Google Docs:
Don't have Microsoft Office? No Problem - you can use Google Docs to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawing directly in your browser. you can then choose to share them with other people, or keep them private.

Google Calendar:
With Google Calendar, you can have access to your calendar from any computer that has an internet connection. you can even view and edit your calendar from many mobile devices. since the calendar is online, you can choose to share your schedule with friends or co-workers, and you can have it send reminders to you via eamil or text messages.

iGoogle:
You can set up your own iGoogle homepage, which you can access from any computer that's connected to the internet. you can customize it with different themes and gadgets. Many of the gadgets allow you to view information from google Calendar, Google Docs, and other Google Services. of course, you can also do Google searches from your iGoogle page.

Google Reader:
If you read a lot of blogs or other websites, you can bring them all into one place using Google Reader. Like email, it keeps track of which things you've read, so you can focus on new items.

Google Checkout:
Many online stores use Google checkout to handle things like payments and shipping. Than means you don't have to create a seperate account for each store: you can just use Google Checkout, which keeps everything as simple and secure as possible.

Picasa Web Albums:
You can use Picasa web albums to share your photos with all of your friends, or you can just share specific photos with one or two of your friends. The donwloadable Picasa software makes it easy to find the photos on your computer, edit them, and upload the ones you want.

Source: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/googleaccount/1.2