Google Friends Newsletter - August 2005
Google Friends Newsletter
August 2005
Welcome, readers, to this late summer issue of the Google Friends
Newsletter. It's a monthly effort describing a selection of Google
services that you might enjoy, or might not yet know about. Details
about subscribing or canceling your subscription can be found at the
bottom of this email.
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Power Tips
* Never mind describing how Google SMS works - we'll show you. The new
interactive web demo lets you type SMS queries on your computer, and
preview the results as they'd appear on your phone. With Google SMS you
can look up local business listings, driving directions and more on
your phone. It's currently available on all major U.S. and U.K.
carriers.
http://www.google.com/sms/demo.html
* When you want prints or photo gifts from any of the scads of photos
residing in your Picasa photo albums, they're easy to order. Just
choose the photos you want (use the CTRL key to select multiple images)
and click the "Order" button. Then choose your favorite photo finisher
among such companies as Kodak EasyShare Gallery, Shutterfly,
Walmart.com and others. Sign in to your account on that site, and
Picasa uploads all your photos in seconds. Shop for prints, photo
books, mugs, mouse pads and more.
http://picasa.google.com
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Recent Google Launches
Personalized Homepage
We've added some new features to the way you can personalize your
Google homepage. Now there's a section for bookmarks, as well as a way
to add custom sections with the content you want from across the web.
Note that you must be signed in to your Google Account to create and
use your personalized homepage.
http://www.google.com/ig
Google Toolbar for Firefox
The Toolbar is kind of the "Swiss Army knife" for computing, making it
easy to search and do other tasks directly from your browser. You can
check spelling, autofill web forms, translate English words into other
languages, and lots more. Now the Google Toolbar is available for the
Firefox browser. (It's already out for Internet Explorer.)
http://toolbar.google.com
Google Maps Hybrid Mode
We've got Maps, we've got Earth, and now we've got a way to view
satellite images with map data. It's the "Hybrid" mode. Very handy for
seeing the lay of the land with, for example, street names on top. Look
in the upper right hand corner of the map image to switch your view
from Map to Satellite to Hybrid (and back again).
http://maps.google.com/
Google Groups Alerts
"Alerts" are a great way to inform you when keywords you have selected
appear in news stories, web search results, and now, are mentioned
within Google Groups topics. If you're tracking several subjects, this
is far easier than reading through a (possible) boatload of messages.
Just sign up to track Alerts of interest to you. There's a pull-down
menu under "Type" where you choose among News, Web, or Groups
notifications. And you can choose to receive Alerts daily, weekly, or
as they happen.
http://www.google.com/alerts
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Miscellany
Ten years ago the World Wide Web came into being for most of us, and
Wired Magazine is marking what has been a remarkable decade of life-
changing technology with a series of articles in its August issue. It
may seem obvious now, but those who first imagined the Web had an
uphill battle to persuade people that it was possible - and would be
useful. Kevin Kelly's "We Are the Web" details the public and
democratic nature of what we now rely on daily.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html
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The Google Blog features insights from Googlers on technology, our
products, and the company at large.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com
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