Like a giant tree with a root system extending deep into the earth, Google seeks to expand and diversify far beyond mere online search.



In their quest, the little elves at Google never seem to sleep and toil endlessly to bring us new gadgets and gizmos intended to make our lives better, both online and offline.

These four latest free offerings from Google's Labs http://Labs.Google.com - will help you do everything from organize your thoughts to find the local pizza restaurant's phone number through your cell phone.

** Google Code Search ** http://www.google.com/codesearch

This one should have the geeks salivating like Pavlov's dog sniffing out a rump roast!

This new search tool at Google allows you to search for public source code, the lines and lines of code that make your nifty software programs actually function.

Instead of writing all the code themselves, programmers can find and grab huge chunks of code free for the taking.

This makes a great staring point not only for programmers who want a leg up on finishing projects, but also neat for would-be software entrepreneurs who want to surf for ideas.

** Google Voice Local Search ** http://labs.google.com/goog411/

Ok, I'll admit to some skepticism when I saw that Google would help me find the number for the local barbershop just by talking into my phone.

But Google actually surprised me when I dialed 1-800-GOOG-411.

The phone asked me to say the city and state I wanted to search, and then asked me if I wanted to search by business name or business category.

Once I found the business I wanted, Google went ahead and dialed the number for me.

I found the service no worse than the automated search from the phone company, and Google offers this service FREE.

Well worth a call if you find yourself paying some hefty 411 fees to the phone company or your wireless provider.

** Google Reader ** http://reader.google.com/

The jury is still debating whether my dear sweet mother will ever subscribe to an RSS feed (the syndication feeds from blogs, news services, and more), so I'm not sure how universal RSS will ever get.

However, Google doess offer a free RSS reader online that enables you to easily subscribe to blogs, news feeds, and any other RSS feeds you like.

The readers lets you organize your feeds, update, and view them all in one place.

Not as powerful as some readers you pay for, but very functional and hey, you can't beat free!

** Google Notebook ** http://www.google.com/notebook/

Google Noetbook is the most recent graduate of the Google Labs.

This handy program allows you to organize your notes and clippings as you travel the web.

Instead of just bookmarking a site in your favorites and trying to remember why you liked it, with Google Notebook, you can highlight what you want and click the "clip" button.

You can then organize your notes however you want and then search through your note text at any time.

You can even share your notes with others.

Google Notebook is available through your web browser after you download and install special extensions to help you clip items you find on the Web.

Copyright (c) 2007 Jim Edwards