Google comes from the word "Googol," a mathematical term for one followed by 100
zeros. Certainly the site has lived up to its mathematical derivative, for it
contains a wealth of data that has turned it into the most popular search engine
of our time. However, Google isn't just a search engine. Innovators at Google
devote 20 per cent of their week to work on new and ground-breaking ideas. As a
result, the site is continuously upgraded with various, new features that make
it all the more interesting.

Let's take a look at these features - many of which are currently running on
beta mode. Nonetheless, they could possibly change the whole process of
searching.

For scholars

An novel approach for scientists and scholars, Google Scholars is specifically
designed for academic literature, including theses, books, peer-reviewed papers,
abstract and technical reports from all major areas of research.

Just like its web search, Google Scholar indexes your search results according
to its relevance. The most useful reference appears on the top. This relevance
ranking takes into account the full text of each article as well as the
article's author, the publication in which the article appeared and how often it
has been cited in scholarly literature.

On the other hand, Google analyzes and arranges citations automatically and
presents them as separate results. You can also learn more about older articles
and other online stuff. The full text of articles only appears from opening
access journals and preprints.

Web quotes

A few search engines (like Teoma) already provide suggestions or recommendations
for the websites that you look up. However, Google's WebQuotes does not let you
indulge in guesswork about a site, that is, whether it will be worth visiting or
not. By including comments from other websites alongside your results, you get
to see what other people think of the site before you click on its link.

This service is still running as a beta version, but it offers you a full
description of a site's content. WebQuotes intelligently farms sites for the
most relevant comments.

Compute

Donate your PC's spare resources for serious medical and scientific research
like SETI@home, by downloading Google's Compute tool bar. You can receive data
packets which can help you find a cure for Parkinson's disease or give
scientists the power to simulate protein synthesis.

One of the beneficiaries of this effort is Folding@home, a non-profit academic
research project at Stanford University that is trying to understand the
structure of proteins, so they can develop better treatments for various
diseases.

Google's interest in this service is not entirely selfless. The company wants to
use distribution computing to improve the search engine - which itself can
operate in a vast distribution network. Till that happens, of course, you can
join hands with researchers to fight against some of the more lethal ailments.

Desktop search

Desktop search offers you multi-purpose full text search of email, computer
files and the web pages you may have viewed. After installation, Google's
desktop search can look for your personal items through all file types in your
PC. It can also search chats from AOL messengers. Currently, it is available for
Windows XP and Windows 2000 updates and above.

After downloading this feature, you can search your personal items as easily as
you look for information on the internet through Google. Unlike traditional
computer search software that updates once a day, Google Desktop Search updates
continuously for most file types, so that, for instance, when you receive new
email in Outlook, you can find it within seconds. The index of searchable
information created by Desktop Search is stored on your computer.

Libraries

Towards the end of 2004, Google announced that it would provide details of
digital books, so that worldwide users can look them up through the search
engine. Working in collaboration with Harvard, Stanford, the University of
Michigan, Oxford University and New York Public library, the Google print
program helps publishers put their books and information in a searchable mode.
On the other hand, Google is working with the world's major libraries to
integrate its contents on Google's index, making it searchable for users world
wide.