Besides the fact that it allows users to create documents online for free, it also incorporates the functionality of real-time working in which multiple users can edit a single document at the same point of time this not only facilitates discussion but also helps in problem spotting and solving.

Google Spreadsheets

Now coming onto the subject of the write-up, Google spreadsheets is one of the elements that comprise the Google Docs package. Based on the popular data entry models like MS Office Excel and Lotus 123, Google Spreadsheets brings to the users the ease of using the application online with similar functionalities. Also, the piece of software has been grabbing up market share because of its portability and adaptability to different platforms.

The starting of Google Docs was through Google Spreadsheets itself along with another product called the ‘Writely’. Google Spreadsheet features the ability to read a host of formats available in the marketplace. Moreover, the optional integration of MS Office documents with Google Spreadsheets is another factor to notice.

Why use Google Spreadsheets

The Google Spreadsheets API basically is designed to allow users to access and edit user data stored in online forms. Besides being a hub of worksheets, lists and cells, Google Spreadsheets can be utilized to carry out core numeric or gross finanacial calculations which call in the input of multiple brains or maybe the participation of a number of people to arrive at the required solution towards the end.

The reason behind the wide acceptance of the Google Spreadsheet API is because of the following reasons:

• As the file is on the World Wide Web, one can access it from anywhere having an internet access
• Online storage and easy sharing
• Editing in real-time and multiple access
• Compatible with MS Excel and most of the functionalities are incorporated into the API
• Free to use and doesn’t consume much processing power as the host of tasks are performed on the servers (cloud computing)

Google Spreadsheets Auto Complete feature

Google Spreadsheets Functions List

Here is the full functions list for Google Spreadsheets.

Like most of the data collection applications, Google Spreadsheets also has the wide array of formulas and filters that could be employed to get the only required data from a whole collection of data that had been gathered over the time.

Although a lot of similar software flood the market, but the major reason behind the success of Google Spreadsheets is that the software has taken care of incorporating with most of the common spreadsheet formats available. Also, the entire idea of having the software online and that too for free is what makes it really sought after.

Google Spreadsheets API

You can programmatically manipulate your Google docs spreadsheets as well as you can play with the data stored on your individual sheets with the help of this API. You can retrieve spreadsheets with particular IDs, manage worksheets form client interfaces, manage worksheet data as a simple list of items which can also be represented in different forms, also manipulate data as per different cells in every sheet.

Here is the Google Spreadsheets developer’s guide. Find more about Google Spreadsheets API here.

Top 10 Google Spreadsheets Templates

Family budget planner template

View preview.

Personal Monthly budget template

View preview.

Project Management template

View preview.

Service Invoice template

View preview.

To Do list template

View preview.

Monthly Household budget template

View preview.

Inventory Control template

Download XLS file.

Work Order template

Download XLS file.

Blood Sugar level template

Download XLS file.

Line of credit Calculator

Download XLS file.

Here is the Google template library for Google Spreadsheets. You can browse the most popular templates here and more are getting added regularly by Google spreadsheet users.

Checkout Google Docs here.

Language Support

At the initial stage, English and Haitian Creole translations were allowed following which French, German, Italian, Hindi and Spanish language translations were allowed to be heard. Now, 27 languages have been added totally to this text-to-speech feature that includes the following languages.

Afrikaans, Albanian, Catalan, Chinese (Mandarin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese and Welsh.

The audio quality of all these languages is not the same. You cannot get accurate and clear text-to-speech translation for all the languages; however Google is trying its best to enhance the performance and the number of languages supported.

Google Text-to-Speech API

There is no authorized or official API for Google Text-to-Speech service. However Weston Ruter had observed that anyone can access it in the same manner that is followed by Google. You can change the following URL according to your wish. You will obtain a MP3 file as a result that consists of the spoken translation. However this service is limited to only 100 characters.

http://translate.google.com/translate_tts?q=I+love+geeksdesk

Google Chrome API

Google Chrome now comprises of Text-to-Speech [TTS] API that is very much easier to use. You need to just include “tts” to your permissions and then write the following.

chrome.tts.speak(‘Hello, world!’);

You can also change the pitch, rate and volume too.

chrome.tts.speak(‘Can you understand me now?’, {rate: 0.6});

You can also register to get callbacks when the speech begins and ends. You will be able to obtain callbacks for separate words also, when a Text-to-Speech engine consists of that particular ability. You can even obtain possible voices list and request for any specific voice.

Refer to this URL to know more on this.

There are 3 extensions which you can try on your Google Chrome.

• TTS Demo (app)
• Talking Alarm Clock (extension)
• SpeakIt (extension)

Google Translate Android App

This Android app helps you to translate the text between 60 languages. You can speak the text and phrases for some languages [17 languages] and then obtain their equivalent translations. You can listen to the translations also [24 languages support this feature]. The translation can be shown in full screen mode to allow people nearby you to read it. You can make the translations to be your favorite and access the translations and the translation history even when you are in the offline mode.

Link

Syncing calendars enable you to keep in touch with your schedule irrespective of where you are. Since Google Calendar is a cloud based application, you can access it from anywhere and a backup of your calendar information is available to you at all times. iCal provides you the comfort of using calendar features even when you are offline.

For example: You can make a change to your iCal calendar and that change will be reflected in your Google Calendar when you connect to the Internet.

Sync iCal with your Google Calendar

Follow these step by step instructions to sync Google Calendar with Apple’s iCal:

1. Open iCal
2. Select Preferences
3. Select Accounts
4. Click + button to add an account
5. Enter a description of the account in the pop up window that appears on the screen
6. Add the following URL in the server options: https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/YOUREMAIL@DOMAIN.COM/user (Where YOURNAME@DOMAIN.COM is your email address)
7. Uncheck Kerberos v5 for authentication
8. Click Add
9. Click refresh
10. Add your email address by selecting Add Email. You will not be able to invite your contacts to events if you do not add your email address.

You have successfully synced your Google Calendar with your iCal. You can now continue using your iCal the way you used to and rest assured that the changes will be made on your Google Calendar too.

Your Google Calendar will now appear in the list of calendars displayed in iCal. You can select that calendar from here. All the changes made to your Google Calendar will be reflected in your iCal. You can also add invites from your iCal.

Learn more about iCal.

This feature is useful for those who do not have all time access to Internet but can connect to an Internet connection from time to time. You can draft a mail and save it offline so that you send it when the connection is available. You can also make use of advanced and robust features like folder management and favorites that are available when you use an email client like Microsoft Outlook.

Enable IMAP on Gmail

First of all you will need to enable your Gmail account to provide IMAP access. To do this please follow the following steps:

• Go to Settings > Mail Settings
• Select the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab
• There you will find the options to enable both POP and IMAP access on your account. Please select on Enable IMAP.

Now your Gmail account will give access to outside IMAP requests and now you can go ahead with configuring your email client.

In order to enable your email on an email client and sync it with your email account, you will have to manually enter settings in your client or provide your authentication details. Follow these step by step instructions to configure your email client:

Microsoft Outlook Express

1. Open Outlook Express
2. Select the Radio Button Yes
3. Click Next
4. Check Manually Configure Server Settings
5. Select Internet E-mail. Provide the following settings:
6. Incoming Mail Server: imap.gmail.com
7. Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.gmail.com (use authentication)
8. User Name: Your user name
9. Password: Your Gmail password

Mozilla Thunderbird

1. Click Tools
2. Click Account Settings
3. Select Add Mail Account
4. Enter your Gmail user name and password in the Automatic Configuration dialog box

You have successfully configured your email account to send and receive email using your Gmail account.

Note: If your email client is other than Outlook Express and Thunderbird. You can use the following generic settings to set up Gmail:

Incoming Mail Server: imap.gmail.com, Use SSL: Yes Port: 993

Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.gmail.com (use authentication), Use Authentication: Yes Use STARTTLS: Yes (some clients call this SSL) Port: 465 or 587.

Follow these step by step instructions to create a new Gmail account:

1. Go to the Gmail account creation page by clicking here
2. Fill in the first name and last name asked under the title “Get started with Gmail”
3. Enter the log in name that you desire to use as your email address
4. Click on check availability to see if the email address that you wanted is not yet taken
5. If your desired user name is already taken, choose one of the suggested user names provided by Gmail or type in a different one and check again
6. Choose a password. Ensure that the password is of good strength and contains numbers and special characters
7. Re-enter password
8. Check the Stay signed in radio button if this Gmail account is your primary mail account and you want to always stay signed in
9. Check the Enable Web History if you want Google to save your search results and web history for you to search data from it at a later time
10. Choose a security question from the drop down menu. This is to help Gmail identify you in case of you forgetting your password
11. Provide an answer for your security question. Provide an answer that you can remember.
12. Enter a recovery email. This is to help Gmail send your password to that email account if you lose your password
13. Choose your geographical location from the drop down menu
14. Enter your birthday date and year
15. Enter the Captcha that is given in a box into the text box provided. This is to help Gmail establish that a human is creating the account
16. Read through the Terms of Service
17. Click on “I accept. Create my account” button

You have successfully created a Gmail account. A Gmail account with the user name and password provided by you will be activated by Google. You can go to the Gmail log in page and access your account by entering your new user name and password on that page. You can also use Google’s other features by clicking on the relevant menu items displayed at the top left corner of your Google home page.

Create a Gmail Account for a Child

You can give your child a personalized Gmail account. You can also monitor it to ensure that they are viewing safe content but Gmail does not allow anyone under the age of 13 to sign up for the service. If your child is more than 13 years old, you can create a Gmail account by following the steps mentioned earlier in this article. If your child is less than 13 years, you can sign him/her up on Gmail by following these step by step instructions:

1. Create a Gmail account details on the Gmail sign up page by following the instructions given earlier in this article (Steps 1-17)
2. Enter your birthday date and year instead of the child’s birth date and year

Create Gmail Account in Outlook

You can configure a Gmail account on Microsoft Outlook by following these step by step instructions:

1. Open Microsoft Outlook
2. Click Tools, click accounts
3. Click on Add
4. Select Mail and enter your name under “Display name”
5. Click on next
6. Enter your Gmail address under  “email address”
7. Type imap.gmail.com in the incoming mail server
8. Type smtp.gmail.com in the outgoing mail server

You have successfully created a Gmail account on Microsoft Outlook

Create Gmail Account on iPad

You can configure your Gmail account on iPad by following these step by step instructions:

Note: Go to Gmail settings and enable POP/IMAP before configuring Gmail with iPad

1. Open settings application on your iPad
2. Select Mail
3. Select Contacts
4. Select Calendars
5. Select Add Account
6. Select Gmail
7. Enter your Gmail account information
8. Select next and save

You have successfully configured Gmail on your iPad

Create Gmail Account on Mac

You can configure your Gmail account with your Mac Mail by following these step by step instructions:

Note: Go to Gmail settings and enable POP/IMAP before configuring Gmail with MAC

1. Go to Mac Mail
2. Select File menu
3. Select Add Account
4. Enter your Gmail address and password
5. Check the Automatically set up account check box
6. Click on the Create button

You have successfully configured Gmail with Mac Mail.

Create Gmail account on Android

You can configure your Gmail account on your Android by following these step by step instructions:

Note: Go to Gmail settings and enable POP/IMAP before configuring Gmail with Android

1. Select Applications
2. Select Add Account
3. Select the Gmail icon
4. Enter your Gmail address and password
5. Check the Automatically configure checkbox

You have successfully configured Gmail on your Android device.

Create Gmail Account on iPhone 4

You can configure your Gmail account on iPhone 4 by following these step by step instructions:

Note: Go to Gmail settings and enable POP/IMAP before configuring Gmail with devices

1. Select Settings
2. Select Mail
3. Select Add account
4. Select other in the list provided
5. Type imap.gmail.com in the incoming host name box provided
6. Type smtp.gmail.com in the outgoing host name box provided
7. Select Save

You have successfully configured Gmail on iPhone

Create Gmail Account without Phone

You can create a Gmail account without a phone and activate it. Follow these step by step instructions:

1. On your Windows computer, go to start
2. Select control panel
3. Select regional settings
4. Select your geographical location
5. Log in using your new Gmail account

You have successfully created your Gmail account without a phone.

Note: Google checks your IP address with your location provided and if it is not the same will ask for your phone details to create your account.

Create Gmail Account without Email

You can create a Gmail account without an email. Follow these step by step instructions:

1. Create a Gmail account by going to the Gmail sign up page as shown earlier in this article
2. Leave the Recovery email box empty
3. Complete creation of the account

You have successfully created a Gmail account without an email account.

Google has multiple customer support systems, and different products have different support systems, though most of them are email support or forum support. Being a huge internet public giant it might be obvious to avoid telephonic support for the mass for which Google phone numbers are not available publicly.

Google Phone Numbers

If you have Google Enterprise or Educational account, you can contact Google’s 24 hour support using the following phone numbers.

• U.S. Technical Support: 1-877-355-5787
• International Technical Support: 1-404-978-9282
• Google Adwords Phone Number: 1-866-246-6453 and 1-866-2Google

Gmail Customer Support

You can contact Google through one of the support forums or directly if you have an enterprise account. Google does not support retail accounts through phone because of the volumes they have to deal with. Link: https://mail.google.com/support/

Adsense Customer Support

Google Adsense is the online advertising service that allows thousands of business and individual users use the system. You can use either the support portal or call them on the number provided earlier. Link: http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/request.py

Google Docs Customer Support

Google Docs is an online office suite that runs on the Internet. Corporate clients have the option to go for phone support which are intrinsic to them only. Retail users can use the support forum or if you find anything severely amiss, you can always contact them through mail or call one of their technical call centers to resolve your query. Link: https://docs.google.com/support/

YouTube Customer Support

YouTube, the world’s most used video sharing website, also does not provide direct phone service for this product, but you can nevertheless send them a mail or contact them through the support center in case of any help required.  Link: http://www.google.com/support/youtube/.

Blogger Customer Support

You can visit the official Blogger help forum and watch out your answers among the listed topics or post your own question.

Google Analytics Customer Support

Also the Analytics Help forum only. But if you have taken the corporate service through Google Apps, then you should have your own customer relationship officer.

Google Web Search Customer Support

Help with Google web search is provided in the Google Search Help Forums as well as there are specific tools to solve issues like removing your sites from Google Search.

Google Customer Support

Here are some more options for specific Google products users to contact Google customer support.

Google Sites Customer Support – Google Help Forum.

Google Chrome OS Customer Support – Google Help Forums.

Picasa Customer Support - Google Help Forums.

Google Talk Customer Support - Google Help Forums.

Google Calender Customer Support - Google Help Forums.

One of the main official reasons given by Google is that the features offered by Google Toolbar are already available, which is not always  the case. There are still many features offered by Google Toolbar that are unavailable natively on Firefox browser. Google Side Wiki support and the Google Translate are the two most notable ones that are not available on Firefox without the Google Toolbar.

How to Download and Install Google Toolbar for Mozilla Firefox?

You can download Firefox by following these steps:

1. Go to the Google Toolbar download site
2. Click on Accept and Download

If you are using a version of Mozilla that is greater than version 4, Google Toolbar cannot be installed.

You can, nevertheless install the following add-ons to add the same functionality that the Google Toolbar provides.

• A very neat AutoFill add on. You can download and install it from here:  add-ons to fill out forms.
• A very good Page Translation add on, you can download and install it from here: translation add-ons.
• Find in page feature is native to Firefox and you can use it by Ctrl+F keys.
• Firefox natively has Spell-Check software. You can find the documentation for the same here: built-in spell-check
• A very good Page Sharing add-on. You can download and install it from here: add-ons for sharing.
• A very compact add-on to add website thumbnails on a new tab, you can download and install it from here: add-ons for generating site thumbnails.
• A very useful Bookmarks add-on, download and install it from here: bookmark add-ons
• A Gmail notifications add on, download and install it from here: Gmail add-ons.

Google Maps are used by users around the world to as a route planner for travelling by car, motorcycle or foot. The business locator is used by many small and medium businesses to put their store, business details out on the world map for a fraction of cost that they had to bear if they go for an advertising option. Google Street view has been used at many educational institutions as a tool to teach students about different places and cultures.

The Google Maps are not updated real-time, they are either months or in some cases years old. But the fact that the mapping is done at all is a great deal important and serves the purpose for several users. The exclusion of areas like the polar caps is because they can be viewed using Google’s other offering, Google Earth.

Benefits of Using Google Maps

Google Maps has been used by many users for different purposes. But, the core application of this product remains the feature that lets people to find and locate exact geographical location of a particular place. Further benefits include features such as Google Ride Finder, which searches for taxi and Limousine service close to your place of choice by tapping into the GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) system. The Google Transit has been made available in some countries and locations; this service helps a user to calculate the travel time, cost and available public transport to that place.

• Google MY Maps has turned out to be a blessing for small business; they can put a marker on Google Maps to point at their business that can be used by users when they are searching for their product or services
• Google Flu Shot Finder is used to find places to get vaccinated from flu and other communicable diseases

Problems and Lawsuits that has Plagued Google Maps

One of the main initial problems Google Maps faced was that of privacy. Many civil rights groups protested having private properties and other sensitive places listed in Google Maps. The Google Street view project further increased Google’s problems in confronting the privacy issue. Google Street view captured people on the streets, some were caught at places where they weren’t expected to be and many contested Google’s right to publish such pictures on the internet.

Other bizarre lawsuits include a woman suing Google Maps after she got injured following a route on Google Maps for her region, reported in this The Guardian article. A couple in Pittsburg also sued Google for invasion of privacy after they were photographed by the Google Street View van while walking on the street.

Disadvantages of Google Maps

Although the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, we cannot overlook some of the flaws in the Google Maps service. Firstly, the maps provided by Google need not necessarily be up to date. With the constantly changing landscape in many regions, this could be a bane and render the service almost useless if you want to use it there. The other concerns are:

• Privacy issues
• Security issues

We had discussed privacy issues earlier; security is a dangerous issue too. Information if fallen into wrong hands can have dire consequences but risk is a price that many are ready to pay for an open and transparent service like Google Maps.

Download and Installation Google Earth Plug-in

The plug-in can be downloaded from here. As soon as the mentioned link is clicked, following page is displayed:

One needs to click on Download the Google Earth Plugin option. On clicking, a setup file is being downloaded with the name: GoogleEarthPluginSetup.exe. This is a small file of roughly 580 KB size. Open (double click) on this file and let the installation begin.

Click on Run to start the installation process. Also make sure to exit all the browsers before starting the installation process. On successful completion, below mentioned message shall be displayed:

Now again open the browser and go to plug-ins display page. For Chrome type about:plugin  in address bar while for Firefox go to Tools – Add-ons – Plugins. The installed plug-in shall be displayed as below:

Once more open the same page, which was used to download & install plug-in, to make sure that installation, is working. Now you can see 3D Earth globe as below:

With the help of controls alongside, zoom-in, zoom-out and place n move can be done.

Google Earth APIs

Google Earth plug-in and Java script library constitutes the basics of Google Earth APIs. These can be used to embed the functionality and features of Google Earth into your website. With the help of these APIs one can draw or display sophisticated 3D images or models on the website making it quite attractive and useful for the visitors.

Since it’s basically a web application, so to have superior browsing experience, the Internet speed should be high enough for imagery data transfer. Also as it is with most of the 3D objects and imagery software, quite a large amount of system resources (memory, CPU, etc) are consumed by this app.

Another good part is that this plug-in is also available on all major mobile platforms, tablet PCs etc. Currently as of now Android, iPhone and iPad are supported.

Tutorials and examples

For more information about how to use Google Earth, what all features and utility are available, etc please visit this link. Take a look at Street View or 3D Trees and engage yourself in this hi-tech technology advancement!