Web Tools: Google
by Brad Johnston on May.04, 2010, under tech
Google has a variety of web tools. Included in the long list of tools, Google has further detailed ways of searching and different ways of communicating.
One that caught my eye was Google Health. I was able to easily enter and store my health statistics, link up with a pharmacy that I purchase my medication through, store my insurance information, download my medical records–to name a few.
The site was mobile friendly. This would come in handy if you were without your medical card. Also if you needed to know how many milligrams of whatever pill you were taking.
Since this is a private sort of tool, it’s limited to personal use and obviously there were no examples to see how other people are using it.
Another Google tool available that I haven’t tried until recently is Google Desktop. While this isn’t specifically a Web tool, it works with your web browser to configure Google Desktop’s settings and view search results.
Google Desktop is a utility installed on your computer. You can add “gadgets”, much like what other OS’s and similar products call “widgets”. These range from mini applications that display computer usage, weather, random quotes, photos–just about anything you can think of.
Google Desktop is very easy to install. Simply download a single executable file, launch it, and then follow the easy to answer steps to install the software. After its installed, gadgets are easy to search for and add or remove.
I can see it having its place at home and at work if used–depending on what gadget you may be interested in. Also the file search can be useful in both a professional and private setting.
The application may make some people nervous, seeing their file search results shown within google.com but everything is being integrated with the site–not actually sent to Google’s servers so that content is served locally from the PC.
