Google+Froogle
There is no denying the fact that the Google is a web based search engine which is very much conducive to the surfacing of the information and data in the net. With the advancement in the sphere of technology, now a man can easily unpgrade his knowledge with the help of Google network.
Google Product Search (formerly known as Froogle) is a price comparison service launched by Google Inc. It is currently in beta test stage. It was invented by Craig Nevill-Manning. Its interface provides an HTML form field into which a user can type product queries to return lists of vendors selling a particular product, as well as pricing information.
Google Product Search is different from most other price comparison services in that it neither charges any fees for listings, nor accepts payment for products to show up first. Also, it makes no commission on sales. Any company can submit individual product information via Google Base
[1] or can bulk submit items for inclusion
[2]. Notably, advertising space is available for purchase to be displayed in Product Search in the form of an AdWords ad, similar to those in other parts of the Google network. This is, as elsewhere, noticeably separate from the main body of results.
Last but not the least that searches can be sorted by relevance (“best match”) or by price (either ascending or descending). You can also search for items in specific online stores (assuming they have provided Product Search a data feed). Product Search is only available for selected countries at this point. Google formally announced Froogle in December 2002, after the site had been active in beta for some years. It is now also offered in Wireless Markup Language (WML) form and can be accessed from mobile phones or other wireless devices that have support for WML.
Google talk
The presence of a search engine like Google has greatly eased communication and transfer of information in the internet. With new innovations dawning in the fields of science and technology, a very valuable discovery has been the VoIP which is also known as Voice over Internet Protocol. The Voice over Internet Protocol allows conversations to be carried out through the internet, the only basic requirement being a broadband internet connection. Google Talk, also prevalently referred to as GTalk, includes the instant messaging (IM) and VoIP services offered by Google. This program was first introduced by Google in late 2005 and is today a very popular means of communicating across geographical boundaries through the internet. The Jingle protocol aids in the working of the VoIP in Google Talk while instant messaging is supported ably by XMPP which enables XMPP customers all over to communicate with Google Talk users as they both are supported by the same technical tool.
It is necessary to remember here, that in order to subscribe to Google Talk, one has to possess a Google mail or GMail account. Chatting through Google Talk is also permitted through GMail. Moreover, social networking sites like Orkut owned by Google enable the users to communicate with members of their friend’s list in Orkut through Google Talk. Once logged in Google Talk, users are able to see the current status of those included on their friends list like available, busy or idle. These status messages can be chosen by the user himself according to his will.
Google Talk also facilitates voice mail services along with the VoIP. Even, users are able to receive instant messages sent to them while they were offline, once they are online. The option ‘sends files’ in the Google Talk chat window allows people to share files from across the internet with their friends.
Google Scholar
The communication benefits offered by the internet have facilitated educational opportunities as well and it must be mentioned that a huge amount of scholarly articles are now available to students all over the world on relevant topics on the internet. Google Scholar also referred to as GS is a search program offered by Google for free which provides a catalog of various scholarly articles along with their publishing details. It can be said without any doubt that it has been of great help to researchers worldwide as for them any information related to their object of study or interest can be obtained just a click away. It is definitely for most an easier means of attaining knowledge than running around different libraries often being unable to find all the necessary details.
The internet offers a comprehensive list of articles available, thus making it easier for the researcher to choose his requirements accordingly. Google Scholar boasts of having access to more websites and journals than many of its competitors like getCITED, CiteSeer and Scirus from Elsevier. Also recently in 2006, in order to combat the arrival of its major opponent Microsoft Windows Live Academic, Google Scholar introduced bibliography managers which are also available in the other search engines like getCITED, CiteSeer and Scirus.
However, Google Scholar has been criticized within academic spheres due to several reasons. It has been alleged time and again that searching by referring to publishing dates often produce erroneous results thus affecting research works. The database design is also unsatisfactory and not up to the mark. Moreover, certain journals and authorary articles have denied being a part of this search vehicle thus affecting the prospects of Google Scholar. But despite so, Google Scholar is still undeniably an easy means of acquiring necessary data and information from the internet.
Earn $10 1 Banner per month a>
Google product search
The name Google Product search is a recent title given to the service which was initially referred to as Froogle when it was introduced for the first time in 2002. The primary nomenclature was drawn as a jibe on the meaning of the word ‘frugal’ which meant prudent and economical. However, five years later in 2007, the name was altered to Google Product Search, by which it is known now.
From the very name Product Search, it is quite easy to determine what it means. To put it simply, Google Product Search is an automated search engine introduced by Google to allow users to find out various products and their prices and compare them amidst themselves to decide the appropriate choice. This search engine was designed and conceived of by Craig Nevill-Manning. The boundaries of the Google Product Search page allows the users to scribble the name of the product, upon entering which the search engine will provide a comprehensive list of the product, its manufacturing details and prices, thus presenting a comparison of costs enabling the client to make the perfect choice.
Using Google Product Search is profitable for most users as they do not charge any fees for subscribing to it unlike other price comparison search engines. While this Product Search is currently available only in selected countries of the world, its service is impeccable. Product Searches may be according to the best option matching the query entered or according to the varying degree of prices. No doubt, the presence of this Product Search has greatly benefited individuals. One can extensively study the pros and cons of the product and its prices before taking the final plunge of buying it. Now, Google Product Search is also available in Wireless Markup Language or WML and also in mobile phones.
What is Google Answers?
From the very name it can be drawn that this service provided by Google named Google Answers was a means devised by Google to respond to people’s queries on a particular issue by providing necessary, comprehensive and satisfactory answers. This service was launched in 2002. In fact this can be called a re-launch as it was a modified version of the Google Questions and Answers which was launched in 2001 and remained an unsuccessful venture.
Google Answers was not a free endeavor but a paid service whereby customers had to pay an initial enlisting fee which was non-refundable. Then they were to ask questions and on being answered they were to pay the required price for the answer. These questions were answered by researchers who were popularly referred to as Google Answers Researchers or GARs. It allowed the researchers to respond to the client’s queries and a satisfied client could also rate the researchers. These ratings were vital in judging the performance of the researchers as those with lower ratings were at the risk of losing their jobs. Researchers answered questions by logging in to a special page meant for researchers and ‘locking’ the question they were to answer. The answers magnitude varied with the amount paid for the question and the time period required for answering also depended upon those factors. A researcher was allowed to choose only one question at a time.
However, with the passage of time Google Answers was plagued by various shortcomings and criticisms galore. While various researchers complained that Google Answers was confiscating the duties of public librarians, there were also several attacks against it as it was alleged that Google Answers supports plagiarism as well. Such constant discouragement and condemnation of its services affected its prospects and finally on December2006, Google agreed to end the services offered by Google Answers finally.
Google Book Search
The Google Book Search is an instrument which allows searching of books in full textual format which have been scanned and stored by Google in its digital database. This concept was first introduced in the Frankfurt Book Fair of 2004 and was initially known by the name Google Print. The functioning of the Google Book Search service is very useful and extremely simple too. Upon typing in the key words, the user will be able to gain access to three results from the listings available in the Google Book Search. The users are able to view not only the pages of the book but also details about the publisher, year of publishing as well as other publications by the same publisher etc. however such viewing is within the limits conforming to copyright laws thus preventing full viewing of all the pages of the book and also putting a stop to unauthorized copying or printing. While it is true that Google Book Search allows certain works which are free of these copyright laws to be downloaded directly from the internet within the United States of America, outside the US Google has to be assured of providing this facility only if it is sure that those books are free of copyrighting in terms of the local laws.
However, upon its inception, certain controversies have gripped Google Book Search because of several authors and publishers suing Google for violating copyright laws by offering sections of the works available on the internet. But, despite these charges, Google Book Search still continues to function. The rising popularity and importance of Google Book Search is evident from the innumerable universities of the world like Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Michigan, Stanford University, University of Virginia, New York Public Library, University of California etc. which have pledged their participation in this scheme thereby contributing millions of volumes of books.
What is Googlepedia?
Encyclopedias can be considered as a storehouse of information on varied subjects from science and technology to the arts and fine arts, from movies and entertainment to economics and finance, from social affairs to the intricacies of politics. Therefore, since antiquity encyclopedias have quenched the thirst for information by having an index of almost everything which is perceptible by the senses in the world and beyond. With the coming of computers and the internet, communication has changed its means and course.
Today, the internet is not just confined to being a mere mode of communication, but it is also a source of learning where, any information can be obtained by entering the key words, the necessary data being just a click away. Therefore encyclopedias are also available in the internet which is known by the name Wikipedia. Googlepedia is software devised by Google which upon entering the key word in its search engine provides links to the corresponding articles in Wikipedia.
There is no denying the fact that such web based encyclopedias are highly beneficial in our world today where man is dependent on machines and books are a luxury to be spent on, both commercially as well as in terms of time. In such situations, these web based encyclopedias provide information with little effort, thus saving both one’s time and energy. Moreover, Googlepedia is very helpful in providing direct links to the Wikipedia articles and also links images to their original magnified versions. One can also use one’s local language in Wikipedia depending upon the language in the Google search engine.
Needless to say, Googlepedia does have some shortcomings, though it is immensely helpful and efficient. It often happens that since the Wikipedia commentary is not based on the Google search, often key words link to unimportant articles instead of the significant ones. But despite so, Googlepedia is undoubtedly a great tool for attaining information in the internet.
Google Mail
Google mail refers to the e-mail or webmail service supported by Google. It is usually referred to as Gmail. Initially, Google mail was a private service where one could become an e-mail account holder only if invited by an existing Google mail account holder. However, this is no more the case, and earlier in 2007, Google mail has emerged as a public domain like Yahoo, MSN, Rediff etc. In the beginning Google mail offered a storage capacity of 1GB which has been increased to 2GB recently.
Once signed in Google mail, one can send, forward and receive messages. Attachments can also be sent easily and faster through Google mail. All messages sent are saved in the ‘sent messages’ folder and can be viewed later and forwarded to other web addresses. In fact, even while one is composing a mail, a draft is autosaved after a stipulated period of a few seconds, so that in case one loses the contents of his writing, it will be possible to revive it from the drafts folder. Also, it must be mentioned that all e-mail addresses where the mails are sent are automatically added to the address book in Google mail in an alphabetical order. Most Orkut users are intimated about an entry in their ‘scrapbooks’ or new friend requests through their Google mail accounts usually. All spam messages are deleted instantly after a period of thirty days has commenced. The chat window in Google mail allows chatting with Google Talk users as well as other Gmail users without necessarily downloading Gmail.
Google mail is extremely popular and apart from providing a variety of services like the ones mentioned above, it also enables e-mailing in a whopping number of over forty languages. Therefore, one can conclude without doubt, that Google mail has managed to impress its clients over these few years and promises a variety of upgraded packages soon.
What is Orkut
The present world has suddenly experienced an upsurge of social networking sites which have spread all over the internet and are today popular means of interaction amidst youngsters worldwide. Orkut is the social networking site supported by Google which boasts of millions of users worldwide.
The basic requisites of possessing an Orkut account membership is by gaining an invitation from someone who already has a profile posted in Orkut. Once signed in as a member, an individual is required t fill up details about his professional, personal and social life. Though all the categories are not mandatory and one can fill as necessary skipping the unnecessary ones or those which he doesn’t wish to disclose. One can then search one’s friends in Orkut simply by typing the details and pressing the ‘enter’ key in the keyboard. Orkut also boasts of several communities to which members can subscribe to and thus stay in touch with friends. A very common example can be the communities dedicated to educational institutions which often enable people to rediscover long lost friends after years of leaving school.
Orkuttians stay in touch with each other by the means of writing messages, referred to as ‘scraps’ in each other’s scrapbooks. People are allowed to upload their pictures, their favorite videos and all these are visible to all. This is one point where Orkut has come under great criticism. Unauthorized viewing is risky as individuals can tamper with the photographs posted as they can be copied simply. Moreover the presence of fake profiles and abusive messages are often a problem. However, Google has ways of countering some of these problems like deleting profiles upon reports of abuse etc. Whatever the case may be, there is no denying the fact that social networking is the flavor of the times and would continue to be so in near future.
Earn $10 1 Banner per month a>
Google Earth
Google Earth, initially known as Earth Viewer was actually conceived by a firm named Keyhole, Inc. which was overtaken by Google in 2004. It enables one to observe an aerial view of the earth with the aid of GIS 3D globe, satellite imageries and through aerial photography. Google Earth today is available in personal computers supported by Windows 2000, Vista, XP. Other upgraded versions of Google Earth like Google Earth Plus and Google Earth Pro are also available at limited rate subscriptions.
The functioning of Google Earth is not complicated at all. One requires to download the software from the authorized website. Then, one has to enter the relevant address, town or city and country. In doing so, one will be able to view a glimpse of the locality, its people and buildings, cars and automobiles as if from the space. The use of the Digital Elevation Model or DEM information gathered from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is employed by Google Earth which facilitates better observation and also allows three dimensional perspectives of the locations thus providing a panoramic view. These three dimensional viewing is enabled to various locations over many countries like Japan, United States, Canada, Ireland etc.
In 2007, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, in coordination with Google produced Google Sky which permitted one to observe astronomical images and stars. It also reveals stars, constellations, galaxies and the planets’ passage in their orbits.
However, since its inception, Google Earth ahs faced immense criticism with several countries expressing their fear over the over exposure of certain sensitive locations risking their national security. While Google has hardly denied co operation in such cases, one can hardly deny the magnificence and awe of these technological innovations which allow the world to be confined within the extents of our living groom computer screens.
