Free Favorites

I can get really excited about certain products: free ones of high quality. I like free. That's all I ask. ;-) It's an amazing thing when a company can provide services funded on advertising alone--and that advertising is unobtrusive and actually HELPFUL when you want to find particular products or services. It's a win-win. This is how capitalism should work.

Google, specifically is on my favorites list.

I recognize the company has a few sticky points, but in general they make me very happy. And since many people probably don't even know how cool they are, I'm going to tell you.

First of all, Picasa is their photo organizing software. In a completely accessible fun way, you can navigate through your photos, back them up, print them, and touch them up to give special effects like this:

All our contributor photos on our family blog were created in Picasa.

Second, Google Earth and Google Maps are very fun for mapping. If you search for an address on Google it gives you the option to map it in several different mapping websites. Its own mapping site allows you to drag the map, overlay satellite images, and search for particular establishments on the map. Very, very cool. Google earth adds to this the ability to zoom in and out on 3D topographies like the Grand Canyon or Manhatten. There's no good way to describe this but as exceptionally cool. You can look at Manhatten, for example, and then put overlays on for roads, lodging, dining, etc. You should probably have a high speed connection for maximum coolness.

And if you want to add your own buildings to Google Earth, you can. You first create 3D models in their free software called SketchUp. It's pretty easy and fun by itself. If you upload your creation, anyone can see it in Google Earth when they enable the Google Earth Community.

Gmail is a slightly unconventional e-mail client, but it's the best free webmail out there, in my opinion. It doesn't look particularly flashy, but it does what it does better than anyone. It organizes conversations, makes finding relevant messages instantaneous, gives plenty of storage space, and allows free pop forwarding and client usage. If you want an address and need an invitation, let me know.

But my favorite use for Google is just the pure search. I like their Toolbar and Desktop Search software to make it more powerful, but they aren't even necessary. Desktop search indexes the files on your computer so the Windows dog doesn't have to dig for 15 minutes to do a single search. You just type the term and all your docs with that term are listed instantly. My loyalties have just been dramatically shifted away from Microsoft to Google forever.

Plus, you can just type "define: synectoche" in a Google search and it gives you dozens of definitions from around the web. I type "weather: iowa city" and it tells me. I type "5 kg in pounds" and it calculates it for me. Look at all the cool stuff it does.

Google is my hero. You can download most of these programs for free from here.