Maximizing your GMail
written by Corey L. Stokes
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If you are new to Google’s G-Mail service you may not know all there is to know about your g-mail account. From Google Books to Google Voice, Google has truly created a once stop shop to stay connected.
If you thought your g-mail and your search engine was all that Google had to offer, you may want to take another look. Recently, I began researching a way to get my news in one area. With my email being clogged with useless information or at least information that was not useful to me, such as advertisements and spam, I came across Alerts, Google Reader and a host of other applications i found very useful… well it really didn’t just fall in my lap, a few clicks off of Google’s home pages and they were right there in front of me. But not just applications for news and readers; a slew of applications that provided a variety of solutions.
Google Alerts, one such solution, according to Google web site description allows you to receive email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Making is much easier to stay up-to-date on exactly the information you want. With a few click to customize your settings you can start receiving updates on say… the latest technological advances… or the last news on political offices. Instead of searching everyday for articles that are posted on your topic Alerts allow you to receive those post in your email on a daily basis. Hows that for cutting the search out of research. In the same fashion, Google reader, an RSS reader allows you to subscribe to the news feeds of all your favorite news outlets, like the BluestripesIRM.com RSS Feed. Similarly, If you are not getting over flooded with information already, Google’s blog search, allows you to search through and subscribe to the blogs to see what others are saying about a given topic. Whether you are looking for videos, images, news, financial data, and blogs, to quote a famous phrase from the popular apple commercials, “there is an app for that”. And it’s all right from your g-mail account.
Pursing Google’s web site however, was not only to find the latest news updates, or the newest blog posts from other technology guru’s. while completing a Masters of Science Google Scholar provided the a library’s worth of scholarly journals or, as Google puts it, scholarly literature, that kept me informed what the professionals where saying about a given topic. In addition to feeding my inner nerd, Google Books satisfied my fancy for entertainment reading; without leaving my computer or my g-mail account. With thousands of e-books, including many of those in the public domain which are available as an Adobe download. With the e-book market rapidly growing Google books give you the opportunity to enjoy the many e-books in publication without having to purchase a reader. For mobile enjoyment of e-books however, choosing to purchase an e-book reader of your choice may be beneficial. Google list of solution however, doesn’t stop with scholarly studies or Entertainment Reading, their repertoire also includes various types of apps for web design, 3D model building, and photo sharing and even a desktop side bar.
So let’s see, we have email, rss reader, desktop tools, an online library for entertainment and scholarly reading but… what if you merely wish to connect with friends, check email, use spread sheets, and type documents? Google still has something for you. Of course you’ve heard of glue of it all G-mail, which is adding new services and features everyday. Google Documents gives you mobile access to any document, spreadsheets and more. It also makes editing and sharing your documents that much easier than basic email or document tracking. But don’t think of it as a replacement for your current word processor however, if you have not purchased the licensed copies of other word processes it makes for a viable and competitive option. Even the G-Talk application provides VOIP, Chat and a Video chat, that also allows for file share. It seems Google has thought of everything. Even connecting your telecommunication devices and land lines to one number with Google Voice. So what’s the Buzz around the net… If you ask me it’s Google.
Chances are, even if you don’t use G-mail, you have everything that I’ve highlighted here. but you probably use several different usernames and passwords, and different applications..And you are probably getting along just fine. Google however, gives you one place to go with one username and password remember. And the best part… Its Free!!! So I ask you Are you getting the most out of your GMail?
Corey Stokes 