More Storage

By default, Google gives you a lot of storage space for their various products -- 2.82GB for Gmail, 1GB for Picasa Web Albums, and an undetermined amount for Google Docs & Spreadsheets. But if that's not enough (and it never is), Google has rolled out a new "extra space for pay" plan. Now you can purchase extra space that gets shared between all Google online products (Gmail and Picasa Web Albums today, Google Docs & Spreadsheets soon). Rate range from $20/year for an extra 6GB to $500/year for an extra 250GB. I like the idea, but the rates seem a little high, especially when you can buy a 200GB hard drive for around $100. Still, it's worth considering if you store a lot of data online. Learn more and purchase storage here.

Customized Directions on Google Maps

Google Maps now lets you customize the directions it generates, to avoid or include certain roads or locations, or to route around bad traffic. To customize directions, simply drag any point on the purple directions line to a new location. Google Maps automatically recreates the directions and creates a new destination for the point you added. To remove a destination, right-click on any of the markers on the route and select Remove This Destination.

Google Maps Street View

In case you missed it, Google Maps is now displaying Street View 360-degree photographs of selected major cities (New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, etc.). Just click the Street View link and you see a ground-level photo of the current location; use your mouse to pan left and right around that point. It's probably more cool than useful, and has generated some privacy concerns, but still worth checking out.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets: New Interface

Google Docs & Spreadsheets is sporting a new folder-based interface. This should make it easier to store and find documents you're working on. Check it out!

Google Voice Local Search: Now with Maps

Remember 1-800-GOOG-411, AKA Google Voice Search, Google's free voice service aimed at replacing paid 411 services on your mobile phone? Now you can use it to send maps to your cell phone. Just dial a (free) call, tell it what you're looking for, then say "map it." Google will then send you text message with the details of your search plus a link to a map of the location you asked for.

Googlepedia: Radio Interview

I was recently featured on the Let's Talk Computers radio program, talking about Google and Googlepedia. Listen to a podcast of the interview here.

Google Gears

Google just announced a new API, dubbed Google Gears, that will let developers move web-based applications to the offline world. The first application of Google Gears is in Google Reader, which is now available in a freestanding (i.e., non-web) version. Expect a Google Gears version of Google Docs & Spreadsheets sometime soon, which will let Google compete more directly with Microsoft Office.

Google Spreadsheets Charts

Sometime in the past few months Google has added basic charting capability to its Google Spreadsheets application. Check it out -- it's relatively easy to use.

Universal Search

Google has instituted what they're calling Universal Search. What this means is that when you enter a query into the main Google Searh box, you get results from all over the Google empire -- Web Search, Image Search, Blog Search, News Search, Google Maps, you name it. If the result is relevant, it shows up on the results page. (Which means you might not see results from all the search sites; if you enter an address, or example, you'll get Web and Maps results, but probably not News and Image results.) You can filter your search results by clicking the appropriate link (Web, Blog, Image, etc.) in the information bar at the top of the results.

Universal Search is kind of cool, in that it puts all your results in one place; you don't have to jump from one part of Google to another to see the results. It's also relatively transparent, which is good.

Personalized Homepage is Now iGoogle

Lots happening at Google today. Google finally got some marketing smarts, renaming their Personalized Homepage to iGoogle. Google has also introduced a Gadget Maker function so anyone can create simple gadgets to put on their iGoogle page. Finally, Google is launching location-based personalized search results; if you've defined a default location in Google Maps, you'll see results of any Google search based on that location.