Thing 12: Google Me

     Okay so you must be joking. I am really going to sound like a Google-fanatic after this post. Really. I think you're right in the direction you're assuming. Today, I'm going to talk about Google and it's amazing qualities :) So excited! You see, Google is not just a search engine for general web pages. (I think I made that a little bit clear in my last post where I used Google to find the term "pineapple" in a variety of blogs.) But it can be used for other things, like translating, alerts, calendars, work sharing, etc. The list could, inevitably, continue. 

     Fortunately for you, however, I am only going to discuss TWO of Google's many talents. The first will be Google Translate. You see, as an English Education major, I have to (unwillingly) take two semesters of an intermediate foreign language. My choice of poison is Spanish. (I'm really not that resentful, I just have a big test coming up and I swear I don't have any time to study for it!) Like I was saying, this is intermediate Spanish dos, and let's just say that I'm a pretty big English-speaker. So Google Translate is definitely my best friend. Without even setting the preferences for language, you can type the language in and if it's Spanish, then the Spanish icon will appear and it will begin to translate. Pretty neat, right? It automatically picks up on what you're saying.

     Not only can it do that, but you can get the Spanish word for "redhead" and if you want to use a different word or spelling, you can double-click on the word and it offers you a variety of alternative words you could use rather than that one. You can also hear what you're typing. (Which is SUPER COOL!) If you know how a word sounds, but you don't know how to spell it, you can simply listen until you hear the right word. Not like I know from experience or anything ;)

     On another note, Google Alert is really a separate yet neat idea. If you are doing research on a specific topic and can't find any good sources, you can sign up for Google alerts and anytime something comes up and relates to your keyword, you will get an email sent to you. How convenient, right?! So perfect :) You can disable these alerts at any time and they are extraordinarily easy to sign up for. Do you believe me now that I've pretty much proven to you that Google is AMAZING! If you really can't, don't, or won't believe me, then you just need to go and figure it out for yourself. Go Google :)

Yours,

TPlummer