Google Tools

I can't get enough of Google. They just keep on cranking out great web-based tools! I'm lovin' it! My most recent discoveries are Google Checkout, Google Analytics, Picasa Web Albums. While most of these services are not new (except to me), I've added these to my growing list of other free tools from Google:

iGoogle - a customized search start page. You can fill this thing up with all kinds of RSS feeds from your favorite sources, and then organize them onto different tabs. There are tons of Google widgets you can add too, for showing a daily Bible study, local weather, movie times, your Gmail inbox, and just about anything else you can think of.

Gmail - Simply the best free webmail around.

Google Talk - A great IM program so you can chat with all of your friends.

Google Maps - My favorite mapping website of choice. The drag around feature is great, and their new "Street view" blows me away!

The Picasa Web Albums give you a free GB of storage for your images online. You can share any album, and it's a breeze to edit captions. And of course every image is searchable. And if you are a Mac user and use iPhoto, there's even a plugin for exporting images to Picasa web albums.

Google Analytics is a tool that lets you track ALL KINDS of information about people who are visiting your website. What browser they are using, what country they are in, which search engines are bringing you the most hits, average time a user spends on your site...you name it. And it even ties in with Google Adwords if you are paying for advertising.

And finally, Google Checkout, which lets you buy things online more securely (similar to Paypal) shop faster and even sell items. When you checkout from your favorite online vendor, if they support Google Checkout, you can keep your email address private and Google will relay emails to your account and if you start getting spammed, you can turn that store's unwanted emails off.

All-in-all, Google gets my award for the company producing the coolest stuff on the web. And most of it is FREE! Does it get any better?