As the co-founder of a busy tech company with offices across the globe, I think anything that increases productivity – and reduces frustration – is worth talking about. In this post, you’ll learn about 15 lesser-known Google services that can help you out with everything from building your business to tracking down loved ones when crisis hits.
Google Scholar
A personal favorite of mine, Google Scholar is a great way to keep up to date with academic research and progress in science and technology. Easily and quickly search across masses of scholarly literature from one place.
Google Keep
This Google service is light on features, but great for keeping you super organized and on top of things. Set the time, use geo-tagging so you always know where you are (or should be), and change the color for personalized reminders throughout the week.
Google Inbox
The newest addition to Google’s ever-expanding suite of services, Google Inbox gives you a refreshing minimal interface and shows you what’s most important in your inbox – without even having to open the message. Everything from flight status updates, reservation details to pictures and attachments from family and friends is organized for you. Try it out for yourself by emailing inbox@google.com for an invite.
Trendalyzer
Also known as Gapminder, this Google service helps you easily put together interactive bubble charts that animate your statistics. Fun, easy and colorful, it’s a great way to make your figures and presentations stand out.
Google Business View
Give prospective or current clients (or your parents!) a full 360° view of your office to fully integrate them into the spirit and culture of your company. Just make sure the ping pong tournament is in another part of the building.
Google Correlate
Everyone knows correlation is not causation. But this Google service lets you look at searches run on their engine that correlate with real-world data. For example, check out a user’s search below on which words are the most Googled during winter. The possibilities are endless.
Google Goggles
Now you really can search everything. Snap a picture and let Google crawl its database. If it finds the image in there, it will do what it does best: give you useful information.
Google Sites
Plain and simple: a streamlined way to build a website from scratch – or from pre-existing templates. Build one for your growing company, for your family, or for just because. It’s that easy.
Google Fusion Tables
Who doesn’t want to get more out of the data they’re working with? Google Fusion Tables gives you new ways to gather and look at your data, including merging it with other sources and easily sharing for seamless collaboration.
Google Classroom
Though this one is only relevant to those working in education, Google Classroom is a great tool (without ads!) to help teachers organize assignments, communicate announcements to students, and give quick feedback.
Google Crisis Response
Hopefully you won’t have to use this one – but if disaster strikes, there’s no better tool to make information about response efforts and developing news easily available. The service partners with government agencies, relief efforts and more to bring helpful information and resources to the right places.
Google Person Finder
This service helps people reconnect with loved ones after a disaster hits and chaos has descended.
Google Art Project
For this service, Google collaborated with art institutions all over the world to give people a chance to see brilliant art from the comfort of their homes. If nothing else, you’ll definitely feel more cultured!
FieldTripper
Who doesn’t enjoy the odd field trip? This app serves up location-based information to you as you move around a new (or old!) city with tidbits of information about your surroundings. Expect everything from what old movies were filmed to architecture factoids.
Google Shopper
Packed with features that show you everything from what the barcode on an item means, daily and nearby deals to the ability to search for an item by voice, Google Shopper makes it easy to shop in a much smarter and more efficient way.
What are your favorites? Sound off in the comments! Featured photo credit: Kristina Alexanderson via flickr.com
