Are Google apps really that good?

Here's some information about FREE Google apps you may find interesting!

Know about Google

For the last few months I've been slowly learning more about the many tools Google offers for free. (This should make Microsoft very nervous!) Most of us are familiar with the Google Search engine (to browse the internet), Google Maps (for, duh!, finding your way around town), and Gmail (for your email needs). But as I help people who have technology issues, I've noticed most are not familiar with many of the tools available to them just by having a free Google account. You can access all of these from your computer at https://www.google.com; just click on the Google Apps Launcher or the Waffle icon - the little nine dot icon on the top right of the window, just to the left of your Google profile picture.

Interesting tidbit: the Waffle is only available (as far as I know) when you use Google in a computer. To use these tools on a mobile device, you will need to download the respective app.

So let me list just a few to make your Google discovery a bit easier.

Docs, Sheets & Slides

These are Google alternatives to the Microsoft suite of Office products; Google Docs is akin to MS Word, Google Sheets aligns with Excel & Google Slides matches PowerPoint.

Before you start using these, let me introduce some caveats:

The documents you generate are automatically saved to your Google Drive. This is a great feature if you (like me) forget to save often. A downside to this is that you can't simply download and share a Google document; you can only download as other formats (i.e. PDF).
Most of the most-used features are included, but there is a learning curve associated with finding and using them. But Google search makes it easy to find how-to sites.
Did I mention these are free?

Calendar

See all your appointment and special dates in one location; by day, week, month, year and more. I find it very useful that you can see a 4-day view of the calendar!

Interesting tidbit: I was able to share my Yahoo and Google calendars in the respective tools, so I can see my appointments in both without having to enter the appointments twice!

Translate

This one I used extensively from my phone on my last trip to South Korea and Japan. It is super easy, barely an inconvenience, to use by typing or talking to the app. And there are over 240 languages to choose from!

Gemini

An umbrella term for a family of AI models and products from Google, acting as a personal AI assistant that can generate ideas, write emails, summarize documents, create images, and help with tasks by integrating with Google apps like Gmail and Google Drive. Users can interact with Gemini via a mobile app or website, using text, voice, or photos to get help with brainstorming, learning, planning, and more. Gemini's key features include its ability to understand and act on queries, its integration with Google's ecosystem, and its capacity to learn and personalize responses over time.

Interesting tidbit: This definition was actually generated by Google Gemini - I just did a copy and paste (hope Google doesn't mind).

Interesting tidbit: I could have used Gemini to help me write this page, but decided to do it the old fashioned way.

YOUTube

YouTube: Did you know Alphabet (the parent company of Google) bought YouTube in 2006? With YouTube you can can upload, watch, share, and comment on videos covering a vast range of topics, from entertainment to education. If you are a DYI (do it yourself) kind of person, then YouTube is great for you. Click here to see some fantastic content on video games.

Blogger

A free, online platform for creating and hosting blogs, owned by Google. It provides a user-friendly interface for publishing blog posts, selecting a cool template to get you started, and adding multimedia content.

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