10 Very Useful Google Services You Should Know

In only a few years Google has become the king of the Web. It went from a college research project to the most popular search engine that rakes in billions of dollars every year. They've expanded to mobile, OSs and, in the past few days, promising the fastest broadband Internet to thousands of homes in the States.


We use the Google search engine on a daily basis, but Google has lots of other great services out there.  Recently, we talked about 5 Great and Unknown Google Products.  I want to dive back into that topic and share a few more services that Google has going that you should know about.

The List

1. Aardvark

Aardvark is a social search service that finds people who can answer all of your questions. When you submit your inquiry, Aardvark searches your circle of friends and finds someone who can answer your question. The answer is sent to your IM, or you can check it on your Aardvark profile. The service was bought on February 11th, so just a few days ago.

2. Sets

Google Sets is a simple service that creates sets of items from a few examples you give. Simple indeed, but extremely fun. Let's say you want a list of popular TV shows. All you have to do is insert two or three shows you know and Google will predict the rest. Voila, you have at least 15 other TV shows listed.

3. Audio Indexing

Let's say you really want to know in what videos your favorite topic is mentioned. Google Audio Indexing is a technology that scrutinizes all the audio in YouTube videos. While it is only for politics now, the service will probably get expanded in the future.

4. News Timeline

How does news change through time? See it on the Google News Timeline.  Results are shown in a timeline, with articles, videos and photos.

5. Living Stories

While major newspapers are not available in News Timeline, Google got together with The NY Times and The Washington Post in order to bring us Google Living Stories. This service shows news that is designed for the online environment. Stories are covered completely with all development gathered in one place.

6. City Tours

If you're planning to visit a big city and don't know where to go sightseeing, go to Google City Tours and enter your starting address. The search engine will generate the best itinerary, telling you the time you will spend and draw you a route to follow for every day of your vacation.

7. Image Swirl

After Bing announced Visual Search, Google decided to strike back with Image Swirl. Images are organized in groups (swirls) based on their similarity (whether visual or semantic). For instance, if you are looking for a jaguar, Google will organize the results in swirls: the car, the cat, logo. Additionally, images are organized by their angle, colors and so on.

8. Dictionary

Sure, you can find dictionaries all over the web, but Google Dictionary provides you with a little extra.  When you search for a word, it gives you a definition, a phonetic transcription, synonyms, related phrases, related languages (if the word appears in other languages as well) and web definitions. Oh, and if possible, they give you a photo.

9. Squared

Squared is one of the niftiest services on Google, regardless of how simple it might seem. Let's say you're looking for landmarks in London. Squared creates a table with names, images, descriptions, locations and telephone numbers, but it doesn't stop here. You can add your own columns: opening times, height, when they were constructed.  The possibilities are almost unlimited. In case the list does not exist, you can help them and add it.

10. Fast Flip

If you love news and you like to get it online, but don't have enough time to check all the news websites, use Fast Flip.

Conclusion

I immersed myself in Google alternatives a few months ago, because I wanted to see what Google has to offer. I was very surprised at what I found. Google is really more than just a search engine.  They are constantly trying to make your online experiences better.  Many of the services mentioned are in beta, but they are all worth checking out.
In case you know other interesting and useful services by Google, feel free to mention them in comments.


(By) Alex is a blogger from Slovenia who loves internet novelties and runs the Renton Blog.